Cities' antenna feud leaves parents fuming

By MIRIAM BULWAR DAVID-HAY (TRANSLATED)
Parents and students at Kfar Saba's Ussishkin elementary school are hoping that they will finally see an end to the cross-border sniping between their city and neighboring Hod Hasharon that has left them with a cellular telephone antenna right in front of their school, reports www.local.co.il. The parents and students were furious when the antenna went up two months ago, but with their school located on the Kfar Saba side of the border and the antenna located on the Hod Hasharon side, they were left helpless victims of the long-standing friction between the two cities. According to the report, the antenna was moved in front of the school two months ago, after Hod Hasharon residents requested that it be moved away from their homes. Parents and students from the school spent weeks protesting publicly against the antenna, to little effect, and were even more infuriated when they learned that two more antennas are being planned for the area. A Kfar Saba municipal spokesman said that Hod Hasharon had reneged on an agreement to move the antenna to an open field further away from the school. But a Hod Hasharon municipal spokesman said the site met requirements and had all the necessary permits from the Ministry for Environmental Protection. The spokesman said the Cellcom cellular telephone company had offered to move the antenna 180 meters further east, and that Hod Hasharon had relayed this offer to Kfar Saba, but the latter had not responded. "The city of Hod Hasharon emphasizes good neighborliness and has made every effort in order to bring about a solution to this matter, but to our sorrow the city of Kfar Saba did not agree to the suggested solution," the spokesman said. But the report said that it does seem that a solution is now in sight after both cities and the Forum of Israeli Cellular Telephone Companies agreed to move the antenna to an open field 210 meters east of its current location, which would place it 277 meters away from the school. Two more antennas will also be installed within the next few weeks. A Forum spokesman said the World Health Organization, the Health Ministry and the Ministry for Environmental Protection all agreed that more antennas meant reduced radiation.