KKL-JNF to dedicate memorial to Halabi in the Carmel

Stenzler said the memorial would be a testament to the strong relationship and alliance between the Druse community.

By MICHAEL OMER-MAN
Google Street Car 521 (photo credit: H. Glass)
Google Street Car 521
(photo credit: H. Glass)
NORTH
Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael – Jewish National Fund World Chairman Efi Stenzler announced Saturday that the organization would dedicate an area in the Carmel as a memorial to IDF soldier Majdi Halabi, whose remains were recently found in a forest near Usfiya.
Speaking during a visit to the soldier’s family, Stenzler said the memorial would be a testament to the strong relationship and alliance between the Druse community, whose sons serve in the IDF, and the State of Israel and KKL-JNF. Halabi’s father expressed his gratitude, telling Stenzler that “KKL-JNF is a member of our family, and we greatly appreciate the gesture.”
Halabi went missing in May 2005; a Carmel resident discovered his remains two weeks ago.
Golan Druse students return to studies in Syria
Scores of Druse students from the Golan Heights crossed into Syria late last week to complete their studies at universities there. The 36 students left via the Kuneitra Crossing.
In total, 130 Druse students requested permission to attend university in Syria in spite of the civil war there.
Restaurant set alight in Usfiya
Unknown persons set fire to a restaurant in the northern village of Usfiya early this week, in what police described as a likely case of arson. The fire caused minor damage to the restaurant. A motorcycle was seen leaving the scene of the crime. Police opened an investigation into the incident.
CENTER
Lifeguards depart Tel Aviv beaches for the winter The swimming season officially came to an end in Tel Aviv-Jaffa on Monday, with lifeguard hours and stations gradually closing for the winter over the coming months.
The Tel Aviv-Jaffa Municipality stated that “in order to prevent the endangering of lives, the city is asking the public not to swim at beaches that don’t offer lifeguard services, and to make sure to [go in the water] only during hours in which lifeguard services are offered,” the Local website reported.
The municipality will continue to provide lifeguard services at the city’s gender-segregated beach until December 31. Lifeguards will be present at the city’s Aviv Beach Sunday through Thursday, excluding holidays, through February 28. The city will continue lifeguard services at Bograshov and the North Cliff beaches throughout the winter, until April 10. At all of the four beaches, lifeguards will work between 7:15 a.m. and 1:45 p.m, according to Local.
Rehovot declares Succot festival a success with 50,000 visitors
Some 50,000 residents and visitors participated in Rehovot’s Succot Festival earlier this month, the city said last week, enjoying children’s programming and concerts. Performers and vocalists included Yehoram Gaon, Yonatan Razel, Oded Paz of The Pajamas, Eliana Tidhar of Galiss, and the main act, a performance by Danny Sanderson and Mazi Cohen, the Local website reported.
“The decision to hold the activities during the holidays and vacation proved itself,” the report quoted Mayor Rahamim Malul as saying. “Rehovot residents were thirsty for activities at home, they stayed at home, and I was happy to see the pride exhibited at Founders Park [where the event was took place].”
According to the report, municipal director-general Doron Milenberg, the man behind the festival, said, “It was a pleasure to see how the Rehovot public knows how to consume culture, knows how to enjoy every performance and to appreciate quality activities. I am happy that we decided to hold the first festival in the city during Succot, and [the city] will continue to operate at the same pace in all areas of life.”Tiv Ta’am presents funds to JAFI for at-risk youth
Following a weeks-long campaign to raise money for the country’s at-risk children, the Tiv Ta’am supermarket chain held a ceremony at its Poleg branch last week to present a NIS 33,070 check to the Jewish Agency for Israel’s development division.
Attending the ceremony were Tiv Ta’am CEO Adi Cohen and Jewish Agency executive vice president for development Nella Feldsher. The funds were raised in the supermarket’s check-out aisles.
Schneider gets new administrative director
Petah Tikva’s Schneider Children’s Medical Center will soon have a new administrative director, the hospital announced this week. Ilan Shemesh, Schneider’s former CFO, will take the reins. The married father of two daughters has a BA in business administration from Tel Aviv University and an MBA in health systems management from Ben- Gurion University of the Negev, the Local website reported.
Shemesh will replace Tammy Ben-Ron, who served in the position for the past five years, almost since the hospital’s establishment.
Schneider director Prof. Joseph Press thanked Ben- Ron for her years of service at the hospital, which he described as greatly successful. Likewise he welcomed Shemesh, saying he was “convinced he will stand up to the expected challenges and will lead the administrative management at Schneider to new achievements, as he has done so far as the hospital’s chief financial officer.”
SOUTH
Ashkelon students get ‘bullet-proof bags’
Some 500 first graders in Ashkelon are set to receive specially designed bulletproof school-bags donated by a non-profit organization in the United States. The bags – which pupils can use as protection against shrapnel from the Kassam rockets that terrorists regularly fire at the South from Gaza – were donated after meetings between the company and Ashkelon Mayor Benny Vaknin during a recent trip to the US.
“The bags are basically bullet-proof vests, a contribution from The Shield of David organization, which made the humanitarian donation in order to protect Israeli citizens in the South who suffer from continued attacks by Hamas,” said Vaknin. The municipality, he added, would make efforts to distribute additional bags to students in the city.
The Shield of David executive director Bart Britt, who described the bags as lightweight, said recently that “the need to protect Israeli citizens is very important in light of the continued threat against the southern region by Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah’s control of Lebanon. Our mission as Evangelical Christians is to offer help to the people of Israel where it is needed. We need to show our support and to stand in solidarity with Israel.”
Judge OKs evictions of Eilat promenade vendors
The Beersheba District Court ruled last week that illegal street vendors on Eilat’s beachside promenade could be evicted without further delay, following numerous court rulings in favor of the Eilat Municipality. As part of the ruling, Judge Daphna Avnieli upheld a previous ruling that the illegal vendors must remove all of their belongings and leave the promenade in a clean and orderly state. She also authorized the Israel Lands Authority to carry out the evictions if the vendors did not evacuate on their own within 60 days.
The Eilat Municipality has long fought to clear the tourist promenade of unlicensed vendors.
In her rulings, Avnieli acknowledged the long conflict between the parties, describing the illegal positioning of the vendors’ stalls as intimidating to tourists attempting to navigate their way through the narrow path and to enjoy the sea breeze and scenery of the Red Sea resort city. Therefore, she continued, the municipality has not only the right, but a clear obligation to remove the stalls to ensure the public’s right to enjoy a proper and safe tourist promenade.
A previous ruling levied fines of up to NIS 50,000 on illegal vendors who did not voluntarily evacuate.Google Street View debuts in Kiryat Arba
Google Street View has begun taking photographs of Kiryat Arba, near Hebron, according to residents who witnessed Google cars shooting in the area during Succot. Malachi Levinger, chairman of the Kiryat Arba local council, commented: “The introduction of Google Street View in Kiryat Arba indicates the strengthening of international legitimacy for the communities of Judea and Samaria.”
Street View was launched in Israel last April. The photographs enable users to see what a particular location looks like, as if they were actually standing at that spot. The process takes a few weeks for photographing and a few months to “sew” the pictures seamlessly together to create a continuous panorama.
Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and Haifa were the first cities the new technology mapped out. Afterward, Google Maps expanded to include smaller cities, and it has made a concerted effort to map holy sites, archeological and historical sites, and natural wonders such as Lake Kinneret and the Ramon crater. It appears Kiryat Arba was next on the list, after Google cars were spotted in other West Bank settlements as well.