See Avital runThe Israel Teachers’ Union, which represents teachers and principals in elementary schools across the country, may have a Jerusalemite CEO as of next week.Yael Avital, principal of the Ma’ayan school in Ein Kerem, is running for the position. With a first degree in education and second degree in Bible and Jewish studies, serving as principal for 14 years of the school for city children with special needs, Avital has also won a ministry education prize.If she wins the position, Avital plans to reopen the wage agreements of teachers and the conditions of those who have reached retirement, unveil a major plan to introduce more digitalization in the schools and put more freedom of planning and organization in the hands of educational staff.Avital, head of the union Nahal list, has been involved for years in various activities to improve the wages and status of Israel’s teachers. Charges droppedThe municipality has decided to cancel some of the charges against demonstrators who hung banners illegally at the Prime Minister’s Residence during last summer’s demonstrations at Balfour. So far, only seven out of the few dozen who were penalized have been notified that the cases against them have been dropped.
In one case, city supervisors gave one of the demonstrators five separate tickets within less than an hour, for hanging a banner at one of the gates to the residence. Each ticket involved a fine of NIS 475 – and last summer, there were protests almost every Saturday evening, in addition to the larger gatherings on the Azza Road side. In another case in the past few months, protesters illegally installed a statue depicting the protest on the east side of Paris Square, opposite the main entrance to the official residence. The statue was removed almost immediately, and none of the protesters who were involved in its installation have been charged. Back to schoolTamar and Rimon are two kindergartens that have been serving pluralist residents in Ramot for the past 35 years. But the Education Administration at Safra Square recently notified parents that the two kindergartens would be closed for the coming school year to make room for the children of the neighborhood’s haredi community. Yet a quick, strong reaction from parents opposed to the move may have derailed the plan. It turns out that the municipality’s longer-term plan is to construct a large campus for the haredi children, so that in fact, the planned closure of the secular and religious public classes will be necessary for only two or three years. Frustrated parents asked why it is necessary to disrupt a successful ongoing educational project for a transitory period. As demonstrations at Safra Square and further plans to oppose the municipal plan have kicked into high gear, sources close to the affair say there seems to be a reconsideration of the whole plan. Hagit Wolf-Hacohen, chairwoman of the Ramot Local Council, says the residents and the council were not informed about the plan at all, even though it has been in the works for a few months. At press time, the municipality announced that an alternative solution has been found for haredi needs and thus Tamar and Rimon would not have to be displaced. Wolf-Cohen concluded that common sense had prevailed thanks to the parents’ prompt and strong reaction.Good tidings or spin?At the opening of the monthly city council meeting last Thursday, Mayor Lion made a dramatic declaration that Reches Lavan (White Ridge) will be designated a national park, and thus will not be a site for future construction. But within a couple of hours, the declaration elicited a heated reaction from environmental activists. Without disregarding the positive aspects, the activists point out that the decision does not include the Reches Lavan slopes, and hence does not prevent what is considered the city’s last nature reservoir from transforming into a large building plan. About 5,000 housing units are planned on the slopes and the announced new national park does nothing to prevent their construction. According to Lion’s plan, the Lavan valley and the Refaim springs will be preserved, but according to environmental activists, if the major construction plan is not canceled, the result will be, nevertheless, a fatal blow to the city’s last green lung and its natural resources. On several previous occasions, Lion has noted that there is an urgent need to create as many housing solutions as possible for Jerusalem, despite his declared concern to also preserve nature. What goes up illegally...The municipality is resuming demolitions of illegal construction in the city’s Arab sector, according to NGOs working to track and represent Arab residents who face these demolition orders after they have received judicial approval.Traditionally, no demolition orders are implemented during holiday periods, both on the Jewish and Arab sides. Recently, due to the heightened tension between the sides and the violence in the Arab neighborhoods, the municipality decided to delay implementation of these orders, even after the end of the recent Muslim holidays. Yet last week Arab residents in illegal structures again received warnings that they will be facing demolition orders in the coming days. Sources at Safra Square say that illegal construction in the Arab sector harms foremost the Arab residents themselves, as too often houses are constructed without any engineering supervision and on areas designated for public use – like roads, schools and kindergartens. Following a municipal decision last year to promote supervised master plans for the Arab neighborhoods, there is even less willingness to tolerate illegal structures. This does not include demolition orders issued by the Interior Ministry but only the local orders issued by the municipality and approved by the Local Affairs Court. Not good enoughWhat is good for the goose is sometimes a nightmare for the gander. This is the case with nightlife at Mahaneh Yehuda.The activity and noise caused by the bars and restaurants open into the wee hours have become a vexing problem for local residents, who last week met with the staff of the Lev Ha’ir local council led by Dr. Ophir Lang, trying to obtain relief from the nightly disturbances. However, even though the meeting’s decisions were not yet presented to municipal authorities, shuk merchants and owners reached an agreement of their own approved by the municipality, mandating that the bars will stop their outdoor activities at 3 a.m., after which they will be authorized to continue only inside the bars.For residents, this only prolongs their nightmare and will continue to deprive them of the calm they have lost over the past several years. The residents are adamant they will continue their struggle.