FEATURED JOBS
Comments (0)Some Tel Aviv residents are angry that they were not consulted over plans to double the city’s housing capacity by eschewing city blocks lined with low-rise apartment buildings for high-rise blocks.
The city last week released a plan, dubbed “T.A./5000,” which recommends lining Tel Aviv’s main streets with apartment buildings up to 14 stories in place of the current four-story buildings, Ha’aretz reported.
Residents are upset because the municipality claimed that the new plans were drawn up in consultation with city residents.
As of 2008, Tel Aviv had 178,000 living units and now plans to build 83,000 more, according to the newspaper. Eventually, under the new housing push, the city could boast 460,000 living units by 2025.
Couples and young families often struggle to find affordable housing in Tel Aviv.
New Section of Wall Discovered in Jerusalem
Archeologists have discovered a section of an ancient city wall of Jerusalem that may have been built by King Solomon.
The wall, which dates back to the First Temple-period based on potsherds found in the vicinity, is located on the hill between the Temple Mount and the village of Silwan.
Also uncovered in the city wall complex: an inner gatehouse for access into the royal quarter of the city, a royal structure adjacent to the gatehouse and a corner tower that overlooks a substantial section of the adjacent Kidron valley.
The dig, led by Hebrew University’s Eilat Mazar and funded by Daniel Mintz and Meredith Berkman, a New York couple interested in biblical archeology, is a joint project of the school, the Israel Antiquities Authority, the Israel Nature and Parks Authority, and the Company for the Development of East Jerusalem.
“The city wall that has been uncovered testifies to a ruling presence,” Mazar said. “Its strength and form of construction indicate a high level of engineering. We can estimate, with a high degree of certainty, that this was built by King Solomon toward the end of the 10th century BC.”
Artifacts found near the excavation, including clay seals with Hebrew names on them, are indications that the wall was part of the royal structure, the team said.
Israel Plans to Construct New Highways and Train Tracks
Israel’s Cabinet approved a $7 billion plan to create a transportation network that would construct highways and lay train tracks in the north and south of Israel.
The plan would connect the center of the country to both Eilat in the south and Kiryat Shemona in the north.
“The time has come to open the bottleneck and join the State of Israel in one country,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said. “There will no longer be three countries, no longer a greater Tel Aviv metropolitan area country, which is also stuck, and others in the distant Galilee and the even more distant Negev. We will take our small country, one of the smallest in the world, and will allow Israelis to travel quickly, without bottlenecks, and in comfort.”
Nineteen ministers voted for the 10-year plan; four opposed and one abstained.
It is not yet clear whether the money for the plan would be taken from other ministries’ budgets or if new money can be found.
Now Made in Israel: Chunky Monkey
Ben & Jerry’s ice cream company is set to open a new factory in southern Israel.
The factory will open in northern Kiryat Malachi—in a facility that formerly served as a soup factory—at a cost of about $2 million. The company also will open 16 restaurants in spots throughout the country.
Ben & Jerry’s once had 16 stores in Israel, but the outbreak of the second intifada affected business and the company shut down its Israel operations until now.