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Exhibit 31.1

# Certification of
Principal Executive Officer pursuant to 17 CFR 240.13a-14(a),as adopted pursuant to
§302 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act

I, Yosef A. Maiman, certify that:

| | 1. | I
have reviewed this annual report on Form 10-K of Ampal  American Israel
               Corporation;
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| | 2. | Based
on my knowledge, this report does not contain any untrue statement of a
               material fact or omit to state a material fact necessary to make the
statements                made, in light of the circumstances under which such statements
were made, not                misleading with respect to the period covered by this
report;
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| | 3. | Based
on my knowledge, the financial statements, and other financial information
               included in this report, fairly present in all material respects the
financial                condition, results of operations and cash flows of the company
as of, and for,                the periods presented in this report;
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| | 4. | The
companys other certifying officer and I are responsible for
               establishing and maintaining disclosure controls and procedures (as
defined in                Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e)) and internal
control over financial                reporting (as defined in Exchange Act Rules
13a-15(f) and 15d  15(f)) for                the company and have:
| | -- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

| | (a) | Designed
such disclosure controls and procedures, or caused such disclosure           controls and
procedures to be designed under our supervision, to ensure that           material
information relating to the company, including its consolidated           subsidiaries,
is made known to us by others within those entities, particularly           during the
period in which this report is being prepared;
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| | (b) | Designed
such internal control over financial reporting, or caused such           internal control
over financial reporting to be designed under our supervision,           to provide
reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting           and the
preparation of financial statements for external purposes in accordance           with
generally accepted accounting principles;
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| | (c) | Evaluated
the effectiveness of the companys disclosure controls and           procedures and
presented in this report our conclusions about the effectiveness           of the
disclosure controls and procedures, as of the end of the period covered           by this
report based on such evaluation; and
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| | (d) | Disclosed
in this report any change in the companys internal control over           financial
reporting that occurred during the companys fourth fiscal           quarter that
has materially affected, or is reasonably likely to materially           affect, the
companys internal control over financial reporting; and
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| | 5. | The
companys other certifying officer and I have disclosed, based on our
               most recent evaluation of internal control over financial reporting, to
the                companys auditors and the audit committee of the companys
board of                directors (or persons performing the equivalent functions):
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| | (a) | All
significant deficiencies and material weaknesses in the design or operation           of
internal control over financial reporting which are reasonably likely to
          adversely affect the companys ability to record, process, summarize and
          report financial information; and
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| | (b) | Any
fraud, whether or not material, that involves management or other employees           who
have a significant role in the companys internal control over           financial
reporting.
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Date: March 5, 2009

| |  | By: /s/ Yosef A. Maiman
Yosef A. MaimanChairman of the Board ofDirectors,  President and Chief Executive Officer
| |  | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------



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