This week in Jerusalem: Red or Green?

Red or Green?

The light rail’s Red Line was supposed to reach Neve Yaakov and Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital six months ago. While Jerusalemites have no idea when this is finally going to happen, as a small consolation, work on the Green Line started last week in the Malha neighborhood.

The work is expected to take several months and will be carried out Sunday through Thursday, between 11 p.m. and 7 a.m., and on Fridays until 2 p.m. Vehicle traffic will continue as usual, but traffic lanes at the intersection will be reduced.

A month and a half ago, Safra Square officials blamed the delay on the war, with project workers called up to the reserves; and the absence of experts from abroad required to complete tests. Moreover, in light of Home Front Command directives, it is not possible to commit to the opening date of Red Line extensions at this stage. The promised time for the light rail to reach Hadassah seems far away.

Then and now

The discovery of hidden weapons in the Judean desert is ranked No. 1 in National Geographic’s list of the seven greatest discoveries of the world for 2023. The rare weapon slick was discovered in a cave in the Ein Gedi nature reserve: four swords and the head of a ram’s bayonet that are about 1,900 years old, preserved in excellent condition in wooden and leather sheaths.

“This is chilling evidence of a moment in time,” said researchers from the Israel Antiquities Authority, Ariel University, and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. It seems that the weapons, taken as spoils of war from the Roman army, were removed by Jewish rebels who hid in caves.

With the discovery of the swords, it was decided to organize an archaeological excavation in the cave on behalf of the Antiquities Authority under the management of researchers Uriah Amichai, Hagai Hamer, Eitan Klein, and Amir Ganor. A bronze coin from the days of the Bar Kochba rebellion was found at the foot of the cave’s entrance – perhaps a clue as to the time period that the cave was used as a clearing. The survey of the Judean Desert, led by the Antiquities Authority, was done in collaboration with the Ministry of Heritage and the Archaeology Department of the Civil Administration.

Where do you park?

Officials at the Yad Ha-Rav Nissim Synagogue and Research Institute uprooted trees and damaged a conservation wall in order to create a small parking lot. While the municipality maintains that the construction is considered an offense that is under legal assessment, the Institute says that it acted under the guidance of a conservation architect.

The institute, located next to the Van Leer Institute in the heart of Rehavia, a location that has very few parking solutions, decided to use a small space to add to its parking. However, what initially seemed to be a creative solution to the parking problem turned out to be legally questionable and is being clarified in a municipal lawsuit.

The institute gave up the garden that surrounded the rear part of the complex facing Molcho Street, uprooted several trees, and destroyed a section of a historic fence wall that was slated for preservation and was included as an integral part of the entire complex – a building that was used as a hotel during the British Mandate period. These actions required, among other things, the issuance of a building permit from the municipality; the approval of the local planning and construction committee and the conservation committee; and as a change of zoning for the area converted to parking. According to officials at Safra Square, none of these procedures and requests were carried out, and none of the works included in the preparation of the area and its conversion into a private parking lot were coordinated with the municipality; rather, they were done without its knowledge or approval.

Yad Ha-Rav Nissim is a Torah research institute and book publisher named after Sephardi chief rabbi of Israel Yitzhak Nissim, father of Moshe Nissim, a former MK and deputy prime minister. The municipality stated that the construction offenses on the site are being dealt with and that an offense file is included in the prosecution. The institute said that it uprooted a sick date tree that posed a danger to the environment, that it repaired a damaged fence, and that it acted in accordance with the opinion of a conservation architect. All the details have been forwarded to the municipality.

We don’t need no education 

There is still no date for the end of the war, but earlier this week the committee of the heads of Israeli universities, joined by some of the colleges, announced that the opening of the academic year would be December 31.

“A diverse basket of adjustments will be used, in addition to finding individual solutions for all those who will still serve in the reserves,” the committee announced. This is a postponement of one week from the previously set date of December 24, which was postponed from the original date of December 5. In the coming weeks, preparations for the opening, orientation days, organization days, and more will be held at all the universities. The heads of the universities added: “A detailed announcement about the opening procedures at the various institutions will be given to the student community at each of the universities during the coming week.”

It should be noted that some of the colleges in Jerusalem have already announced that they will align with the universities. Some, such as the David Yellin College of Education, the Azrieli College of Engineering, and the Bezalel Academy of Art and Design, have already done so. Hadassah Academic College–Jerusalem is expected to make a decision this week as to whether it will open on December 24 or postpone it by another week.

Let’s go to work

In October 2022, there were 7,736 job seekers in the capital. Now the number has risen to 12,253, according to data from the Research Department of the Israeli Employment Service. A more moderate increase of 28% was recorded in east Jerusalem. According to the service, there are consistently more women than men who apply for unemployment. For example, in October approximately 52% of women contacted the Jerusalem branch, compared to approximately 48% of men. But in east Jerusalem, there was a sharp change: In contrast to September, when 43.2% of inquiries were from men, in the following month the trend reversed and 45.7% were from women. ❖