News in Brief - June 19, 2010

Israel Philharmonic to play for Schalit; Palestinian sewage plant to be built.

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF, AP
gilad schalit 2 298.88 (photo credit: Channel 2)
gilad schalit 2 298.88
(photo credit: Channel 2)
Schalit envoy’s tenure extended Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu extended the tenure of Hagai Hadas, his special envoy to negotiations on the release of captive IDF soldier St.-Sgt. Gilad Schalit until June 2011.
Hadas, a former senior Mossad official, was appointed Netanyahu’s special envoy to Egyptian brokered talks with Hamas in May 2009.
The previous envoy, Ofer Dekel, volunteered for the role when Ehud Olmert was prime minister. Netanyahu, however, decided that Hadas would work for the state under a contract.
In the statement released by the Prime Minister’s Office, Netanyahu said the efforts to free Schalit have been nonstop, even if they are not always reported in the press.
• Jerusalem Post staff
Israel Philharmonic to play for Schalit The Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, in cooperation with the Campaign to Free Gilad Schalit and local authorities, will be giving a concert titled “Anguished Cry to the World for Help” conducted by Zubin Mehta near Kibbutz Kfar Aza opposite the Gaza Strip next Monday, July 5, at 5:30 p.m.
“The aim of this concert will be to draw the attention of the world to the plight of Gilad Schalit, to the urgent need to receive information about his condition and to secure visits to him at his place of captivity somewhere in the Gaza Strip,” the organizers said in a statement ahead of the fourth anniversary this week of Schalit’s capture.
They said the concert will be secured by the IDF and the police. Traffic will be directed by the security forces from Sderot to parking areas near the concert venue.
• Jerusalem Post staff
2 Palestinians hurt on Gaza border Two Palestinians who approached the Gaza Strip security fence on Saturday were shot and wounded by soldiers, the IDF said. An IDF spokesman said the soldiers fired warning shots in the air when they entered the no-go zone adjacent to the fence. Gaza medical services said three men sustained moderate wounds in the incident, near the northern Gaza border town of Beit Hanun.
• Jerusalem Post staff
Palestinian sewage plant to be built The Palestinian Authority prime minister has laid the cornerstone for a $50 million sewage treatment plant. The German-funded plant is the West Bank’s second and will treat three million cubic meters of waste water a year.
Some of the treated water will be used by farmers to help ease a growing water shortage in the West Bank.
Israel also benefits from the project as the untreated sewage currently flows toward its land. The project was initially approved by Israel in 2001, but was held up during years of Israeli-Palestinian fighting. The cornerstone was laid Saturday by Salam Fayyad and visiting German development minister Dirk Niebel.
 •AP
Three wounded in Holon street fight Two men were stabbed and a third was struck on the head by a chair in a brawl which broke out in Holon on Friday night. A 25-year-old man, who was hit by the chair, was in serious condition at the Ichilov Hospital in Tel Aviv, while two men in their 40s were hospitalized in light condition with multiple stab wounds, paramedics said.
Police received a report of a street fight between two groups over a minor disagreement on Friday afternoon.
Police are investigating the incident.
 •Yaakov Lappin
Sewage plan for IDF bases approved
The government has approved the plan to connect the last 150 IDF bases to sewage treatment systems, the Environmental Protection Ministry announced Thursday.
The joint proposal from the environmental protection and national infrastructures ministries has been tied up for months over disagreements on funding for the project.
The decision that passed concluded that the Defense Ministry and the Environmental Protection Ministry would share the NIS 400 million cost over five years, with the Defense Ministry contributing the lion’s share.
The lack of proper sewerage for IDF bases represents a threat to ground and water, Environmental Protection Minister Gilad Erdan said.
• Ehud Zion Waldoks