THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

Will Jewish Settlers Create
Shift in Galilee Population?

By JOAN SILBERSTEIN

Jewish National Fund

ISRAEL — Wherever a
Jew lives he is in the minor-
ity except in his own cowl-
, try, Israel. Yet even here
this circumstance is chang-
ing rapidly. Jews are al-
ready outnumbered in parts
of the Jewish homeland.
The Galilee, northern Is-
rael, has a population of half
nillion: 135,000 Israelis,
—05,000 Arabs. The Arabs,
with the highest birthrate
in the world, have five chil-
dren for every two born to
Jews. According to Defense
Minister, Arik Sharon,
600,000 Israelis are needed'
in the Galilee to insure its
security.
"Depending on what land
we settle," said Benny Tan-
nenbaum, whose family was
the first to move into Mitzpe
Adi, 20 miles east of Haifa.
Israel shrinks or expands.
For every Jews who leaves
the Galilee or doesn't come,
two Arabs will take his
place. If we don't settle the
north, they will. Then it will
no longer be part of the
Jewish State."
To prevent this, the Is-
rael government and the
Jewish National Fund
have established 33
mini-settlements in the
Galilee. They are set in
isolated terrain on bare,
limestone hilltops. The
roads connecting them to
main highways are
carved out of solid rock
at government expense.
Access roads leading to
settlements, within them,
and connecting them to
one another have been
built.
To blast out gigantic
boulders, haul fill, flatten
earth, and lay a section of
road four miles long costs
$500,000. During the past
two years the Jewish Na-
tional Fund has put in 80
miles of new roads, though
some are only covered with
quarry stone and not yet
paced because of inadequate
cash flow to finish them.
What the Tannenbaums
and the 13 other families
with them at Mitzpe Adi
want to build is a tourist
center. Adi itself is nothing
more than 14 small houses
on one block at the moment.
"But," said Tannenbaum,
"the Jewish National Fund

.

has bought enough land for
400 families to live here.
And they own 3,000 acres of
forest on the next hill. They
are willing to give it to us to
develop tourism: parks, hik-
ing paths, restaurants,
guest accommodations,
areas for sports and outdoor
cooking and relaxation. To
do that we need only two
things: money and people.
"Most of us who live in the
Galilee and in the Negev
have a feeling of patriotism.
We are ready to sacrifice ev-
erything for our country be-
cause we love it. But pa-
triotism and sacrifice do not
pay for what we are doing.
We need help from the rest
of the Jews, wherever they
are."

JWV Urges
Enforcement
of Nazi Law

WASHINGTON (JTA)
Robert ZWeiman, national
commander - of the Jewish
War Veterans of the U.S.A.,
warned Monday that "the
recent case of a known West
German Nazi musicologist
being invited as an honored
guest in the United States,"
demonstrates the peed for
constant vigilance in these
matters.
The
musicologist,
Wolfgang Boetticher, has
reportedly cancelled his
attendance at a
Schumann-Mendelssohn
music festival sponsored by
the University of North
Carolina and Duke Univer-
sity.
Noting that Boetticher
visited the U.S. in 1961,
Zweiman explained that
this was before passage of
the Holtzman Law in 1978
which forbids the granting
of visas to anyone who was
engaged in religious, racist
persecution under the
Nazis.

May 2 Radiothon
Benefits Soldiers

CHICAGO — The 1982
Shirutrom — Radiothon for
the benefit of the educa-
tional and recreational
projects of the Association -
for Welfare of Soldiers in Is-
rael will be held in New
York, Chicago, Los Angeles
and Israel on May 2.

.

Students Exchange Views

Sinai Resort Feels the Pain of Evacuation

By SANDRA COHEN

World Zionist Press Service

JERUSALEM — Ten
years ago, 45 miles south of
Eilat along the Red Sea, a
moshav was established
named Neviot. Had you vis-
ited the area, then called
Nueiba, just 12 years ago,
you would have found your-
self in the middle of the des-
ert, surrounded by virgin
sands, with only the sounds
of the Red Sea waves lap-
ping .onto shore and Be-
douin passing on camels.
The Six-Day War changed
all that.
Today one can only mar-
vel at the transformation;
today, there is green where
once there were but cream-
colored untouched sands
stretching as far as the eye
could see; today, a small,
but thriving community of
Israelis has converted this
barren soil into land reap-
ing plenty. But this, too, is
to change, for by April 26
the area reverts to Egypt
and 40 families of Moshav
Neviot will be packing up
and driving away from all
that has become home.
Adjacent to the moshav is
its Holiday Village, open to
Israelis and foreign tourists
since 1972. Vacations here
have been unforgettable;
sights and sounds of the city
pushed far back to the dis-
tant corners of the mind, un-
forgettable days of sand and
sun and sea. Here, the seem-
ingly endless satin sands
are just a whisper away
from giant purple moun-
tains facing the blue hues of
the Red Sea.
Egypt has expressed an
interest in keeping the
resort open and working
the moshav's lands. Time
will tell whether this will
indeed be the case or
whether the desert will
once again gain the
upper hand.
There is an air of gloom
today. We stayed at the
Holiday Village for the last
three days before its closing
— this retreat where sunba-
thing, snorkling, skin di-
ving, wind surfing, and
most of all peace and calm
have been a paradise to so
many.
Everything in Neviot was
modest and comfortable — a
kibutz-style .dining room
with good unpretentious
food; small, clean air-
conditioned rooms, and

Israel Inviting
Brandeis Prof

An Israeli student, at left, and an Egyptian stu-
dent are shown during the first half of a recent stu-
dent exchange. Sixty high school students from Egypt
recently visited Israel for 10 days. A visit to Egypt by
their Israeli counterparts is scheduled for this spring.

Friday, March 5, 1982 61

WALTHAM, Mass. —
Robert L. Koff, director of
performing activities and
professor of music at Bran-
deis University, is the first
non-scientist to be invited to
Israel under the auspices of
the Mortimer and Raymond
Sackler Institute of Ad-
vanced Studies at the Uni-
versity of Tel Aviv.
A former member of the
Juilliard String Quartet,
Prof. Koff is a concert vio-
linist, chamber music per-
former, conductor and lec-
turer. He will spend the
1982-1983 academic year in
residence at the University
of Tel Aviv.

The beach at Neviot's Holiday Village.

above all a feeling of tran-
quility and relaxation.
The resort was solidly
booked for these last 72
hours. Most of the potpourri
of European and Israeli
guests have been here many
times, and everyone was
feeling the impendirig loss.
On the beach is a sign
reading "Neviot — A
Moment Before Evacua-
tion." Some-one re-
marked that the feeling
was as if a flag was flying
at half-mast. •
For the staff, comprising
both volunteers from all
over the world and Israelis,
life here had been good and
for the Israelis for whom
this is a home and not only a
job, leaving will not be easy.
"It has been wonderful,"
signed Rachel, reception
manager since 1979. For-
merly from Tel Aviv, Rachel
came to Neviot looking for a
change from the big city. "I
wanted to live far away, yet
remain in Israel," she re-
called. Neviot captivated
her with its closeness to na-
ture, its incomparable
beauty, informal life-style,
and its refreshing cross-
section of people from
different parts of the world.
Her eyes fill with tears as

Negev Health
Plan Succeeds ,

she speaks of leaving. "I will
never find anywhere like
this place. It's heartbreak-
ing." And what of her fu-
ture? "I can't see myself re-
turning to Tel Aviv," she
says, "to the buses, the
noise, the rat race. I want to
settle in a small town."
Emanuel has been man-
ager of the Holiday Village
since 1975. "I am a practical
man," he insisted.
"Everyone goes through
hard times, and I'm pre-
pared for changes." Yet he
takes ,on a different tone
when the subject touches on
the final accord with Egypt.
"Something should have
been worked out so as to
- leave the moshav and Holi-
day Village with us," he
said. When Neviot °loses,
Emanuel will be settling in
a moshav near Natanya.

A member of Neviot
since 1971 and head of the
Holiday Village diving
center, Shmuelik came
south from Haifa to begin
a new life. As one of the
pioneers, he sees the end
of Neviot as the end of a
dream. "Try to describe
the worst feeling in your
life and put it on paper,"
he says.
Pointing with unreserved
pride to the fields flourish-
ing with vegetables, me-
' ions, watermelons and
chrysanthemums which the
moshav has cultivated over
the years, he said, "Neviot
gave me a chance to build
something. People don't ap-
preciate things started from
scratch any more. They
want everything ready-
made.
"You see all this?" he asks
as we look out over the fer-
tile fields. "We literally
made the desert bloom. We
proved that with love and
care it was possible. In a few
months, might it not be des-
ert again?" Neviot, which
for years meant sun, sea and
laughter, is now char-
acterized by sorrow, doubts
and regrets.
Shmuelik moves on to
Eilat now, where he will run
a diving center. For him, for
them all, it will never be the
same. But they leave Neviot
with the painful, yet stark
realization that this is the
price of peace.

.1-

To: The Jewish News

17515 W. 9 Mile Rd.

Suite 865

Southfield, Mich. 48075

WE'VE JUST

BEERSHEVA — Project
Negev, an innovative medi-
cal program designed to
provide 100,000 Israelis in
the northern Negev with
improved care by upgrading
neighborhood clinics, offer-
ing family-oriented preven-
tive health and ultimately
relieving pressure on over-
crowded and expensive hos-
pitals, has entered its third
year of operations. Accord-
ing to a report of the Ameri-
can Jewish Joint Distribu-
tion Committee (JDC), one
Paste in
of the project sponsors, it
"seems to be headed for suc-
cess."
Henry Taub, president of
the JDC, credits the op-
timistic outlook to the
"idealistic and committed
young graduates" of the
Ben-Gurion University
Medical School and to the
dean of the school, Prof.
Moshe Prywes. JDC has
committed $3 million to the ,
five-year pilot program.
Other sponsors, in addition
to the medical school and
NAME
JDC, are the Israel Ministry
of Health and the Kupat
Holim clinics of the Histad-
Effective Date
L
rut.

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