NORTH A new quarter was opened in downtown Haifa this month, comprising 33 studio spaces for artists and designers of fashion, textile, bags, shoes, jewelry and music. The complex, which is called Compound 21, was launched by the Haifa Municipality and assigns the spaces to selected artists and designers free of charge for two years. Twenty-five artists and designers were chosen out of 150 applications that were submitted to the artistic committee. The new studios join eight other design stores in the area. Visitors to the complex can receive free detailed maps of Compound 21 in various tourist centers.The municipal enterprise enables designers and artists to create and sell their work without having to worry about finding space and paying rent. The stores are open during the day all week long. On the weekend, cultural and musical events will be held in the evening in various spaces of the complex.“Downtown Haifa is undergoing a heart-lung transplant,” said Haifa Mayor Yona Yahav, adding that the area was on its way to becoming the city’s new tourist center.Tiberias to see its first new hotel in years The construction of a large hotel is set to commence in Tiberias, the first tourist complex to be built in the city in many years. Called Ganei Meir, the hotel will be built near the hot springs in the southern part of the city.The hotel, the project of foreign investor and real estate entrepreneur Josef Lahmani, will cover 17,000 square meters and cost NIS 140 million. It will have 72 luxury apartments, marketed mostly toward foreign buyers, and 110 hotel rooms. The opening of the complex is slated for 2015. It will be managed by an international chain.Ganei Meir is being planned by Danny Keidar of AlefBet Planners Ltd., in a manner that will suit a wide range of customers, including the haredi sector and religious pilgrims. The complex will include restaurants, shops, a spa and a large convention center.CENTER Masked assailants kill moshav resident Two masked assailants killed a man after attacking him and his wife at their home in Moshav Kfar Truman near Ben-Gurion Airport on Sunday night.Magen David Adom paramedics pronounced the man dead at the scene. Police were searching for suspects.The motive of the attack was not clear.Activists stage protest outside the homes of Lapid and Shalom Groups of citizens cooked up a storm last week outside the homes of Finance Minister Yair Lapid in Tel Aviv and Energy and Water Minister Silvan Shalom as they prepared shakshuka in a symbolic protest against gas exportation. The activists demanded that the export of natural gas be halted until Israel has enough natural gas for domestic use.The young activists made portions of the scrambled egg-based dish, and offered it to passersby as a symbol of “the shake-up of percentages” of gas exports intended to be implemented by the two ministers.As companies continue to explore and drill through Israel’s eastern Mediterranean waters, export allowances have become a source of contention across the country. The 282-billion cubic meter Tamar reservoir is already flowing into Israel, and its neighboring approximately 535b. cu.m. basin Leviathan is slated to come online within the next few years. Although the Zemach Committee – headed by Energy and Water Ministry Director-General Shaul Zemach – recommended a maximum export allocation of 500b. cu.m. this fall, the government has yet to officially approve any export policy.“The government is about to approve a resolution on export before it is even clear how much gas there is,” one activist said as she cooked shakshuka outside Lapid’s residence. “What we are requesting is that they wait until the data are organized and clear rather than making decisions under pressure. The government should work for the citizens and not for the tycoons.”“The biggest economic decision of the Israeli government, that is worth double the state budget, should be made in the Knesset, not in the dark… between the monopolies of Delek and Noble Gases and the ministers,” Mor Gilboa, CEO of Megama Yeruka, called out on a megaphone outside Shalom’s house.Police nab suspects who allegedly committed robbery abroad Modi’in Illit police last week stopped a car for inspection and found more than $100,000, which they suspected to be counterfeit, along with assault tools, pepper spray and gloves. An initial investigation revealed that one of the suspects belonged to a gang that had committed a large jewelry robbery abroad and smuggled the stolen goods into Israel. Police discovered that one of the suspects had previously fled the police station in Netanya while under arrest, and the other was violating house arrest.Man dies in Tel Aviv fire caused by gas balloon explosion A man died on Sunday night when a fire broke out in his apartment – likely caused by a gas balloon explosion – on Hovevei Zion Street in Tel Aviv. Magen David Adom pronounced the man dead at the scene. Fire fighters arrived and put out the fire.SOUTH Teenage ‘baywatchers’ receive Environmental Negev Award Teenage ”baywatchers” were honored last week with the Negev Environmental Award for 2013. The ninth- to 12thgrade environmental activists clean the rivers so that they do not pollute and litter the sea, collect garbage that accumulates on the beaches and run hasbara (public diplomacy) activities on the importance of keeping the region clean. Once a month, they put on their scuba gear and, armed with red garbage bags, they rid the Red Sea bed of waste. The group has been operating for eight years and comprises some 50 students from Eilat and Arava communities, working to protect Eilat’s natural resources on land and sea.This is the fifth year that the award has been granted. It is part of an initiative of the Sustainable Development for the Negev NGO in cooperation with Ben-Gurion University of the Negev and the Beersheba Municipality.The group of teens was recommended by the Eilat Regional Environmental Unit. In his recommendation, Assaf Admon, director of the Regional Environmental Unit, said that the group and its leader, Mori Chen, are worthy of the prize on the merit of their voluntary and unique work of protecting the cleanliness of the Red Sea and its shores and raising awareness about the issue. Admon described the activity as an example of educational values and personal responsibility.Eilat Mayor Meir Yitzhak Halevi, who has been involved with the group since its founding, warmly welcomed the award, saying that the teenagers deserve all the appreciation and encouragement they are getting. “Winning the award shows, more than anything, the scope of the work and the contribution of these students to strengthening environmental values,” he said. Halevi added that he would continue to cooperate with the project’s partners in working to garner the necessary resources for the group’s activities.Beersheba resident suspected of animal abuse Beersheba police last week arrested a 28-year-old man on suspicion of filming himself abusing cats and then uploading the images on the Internet, the Local website reported. Police also called in a municipal veterinarian to treat the cats.Preceding the arrest, the Let the Animals Live organization filed a complaint at the Beersheba police station, in which they said that the man posted clips of himself strangling and biting the cats. Police launched an investigation into the incident, which led to the suspect’s arrest. The police said this was a serious offense involving cruel and aberrant behavior that would not be tolerated.Greenpeace activists break into Ashdod natural gas refinery Six Greenpeace activists infiltrated the Ashdod natural gas refinery early Monday morning dressed in bright yellow sun costumes, accusing the government of “disregard of a critical shortage of electricity due this summer.” They further claimed that the government was ignoring the solar power solution as a clean and safe energy resource. Upon entering the facility, the activists waved banners that read “Where’s the sun?” and “The sun is right here!” The group remained on the premises for about an hour and a half until security arrived. Ashdod police detained four of the activists and later released them.
