Internet giant Yahoo! is coming to Israel. In its battle to survive in the face of Google and Microsoft, Yahoo! will open a research and development (R&D) center in Haifa, potentially in the popular Matam industrial park, and will partner up with Walla!, which is partly owned by the left-wing Israeli news provider, Haaretz.

Google currently maintains R&D centers in Haifa and Tel Aviv.  The company opened its doors in Israel in July of 2006, despite an ongoing war with Lebanon.  Microsoft holds R&D centers in Tel Aviv and Herzliya, as well as a sales and marketing branch in Raanana. 

Yahoo! hopes to loosen Google's grasp on the Israeli search market and to compete with the company in search-based advertising.