Offenders could even be condemned to the galleys, a sentence that did much to sustain hatred of the gabelle and for its associated exemption, the 'franc sal '. Although the gabelle was revoked in 1790 by the Constitutive Assembly, it was very soon re-established and not finally abolished until the 1946 Finance Law. Japan's Finance Ministry has announced an end to the 90 year old monopoly of the salt market in March, 1997. O ne day in 1938, a convoy was grinding slowly up the road from the Dead Sea to Jerusalem. Suddenly, the trucks halted and the armed escort disappeared into the hills.
Shots rang out and shortly afterwards the police returned with the bodies of two Bedouin.
There was a monopoly on salt in force the sergeant explained and the men were suspected of smuggling. It was not the first such incident. Salt Industries willing to scrap cartel with Dead Sea Works Salt Industries has agreements with Dead Sea Works for buying fixed quantities of salt at fixed prices until 2010. Salt Industries' reaction was not available by web-posting time. Until salt was mined in quantity in comparatively recent times, its availability was subject to vagaries of climate and environment.