YUVAL NE鈥橢MAN has been appointed as Minister of Energy and Infrastructure,
Science and Technology, in Israel鈥檚 new government. This is his second term
in the science ministry, which was set up in 1981 in order to give him a
cabinet position to reward his right-wing Tehiya party for its support.
Ne鈥檈man, director of the Institute for Advanced Studies at Tel Aviv
University, is one of Israel鈥檚 most distinguished physicists and a specialist
in quantum string theory. Before becoming an academic, he was deputy head
of Israeli military intelligence and subsequently chief scientist at the
defence ministry.
Ne鈥檈man founded the Tehiya party as a radical breakaway from the Likud,
mainly in protest against the 1977 Camp David agreements with Egypt. He
strongly backs Jewish settlement in the Occupied Territories and welcomes
the immigrations of thousands of Jewish scientists from the USSR.
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Ne鈥檈man is expected to try to revive a billion-dollar plan to build
a canal between the Mediterranean and Dead Sea, 400 metres below sea level,
which would also be used to generate hydroelectric power and to stop the
Dead Sea from drying out.