THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
Detroiter Helps Build Bases
for Israeli Air Force in Negev
By BERNARD MALMUD
(Editor's note: Mala-
mud is chief of the Tech-
nical Branch, Detroit Dis-
trict, U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers. He has just re-
turned from four months
temporary duty in Is-
rael.)
From what was once bar-
Caricatures
for your party
By
SAM FIELD
Call
399-1320
ren wasteland in the Negev
Desert, two complex air
bases, comparable in size to
small cities, are nearing
completion. These are the
highly-sophisticated bases
that the U.S. agreed to con-
struct as part of our com-
mitment to the April 1979
Camp David peace treaty.
• One base at Ramon is lo-
cated just south of
Beersheva. The other,
called Ovda, is north _of
Eilat. These are to replace
the existing Israeli bases in
the Sinai which Israel
abandoned when it turned
over that area to Egypt last
Sunday.
Facilities of this mag-
nitude normally would take
six to seven years to con-
struct. The U.S. Army
Corps of Engineers, using
an innovative method
called "fast-track" is getting
the job done in three years.
The Testament' Paperback
Edition Due Next Month
Friday, April 30, 1982
FACIAL HAIR
PERMANENTLY
REMOVED
Eyebrows, Neckline, Arms
Elie Wiesel's "The Tes- lack of motivation a Soviet
Recommended by Physicians
This takes botli Manpower tament" Will be published citizen surely must feel."
and know-how. In addition as a paperback by Bantam
FREE CONSULTATION
Wiesel's novel, according
to the corps, others involved in May.
to the reviewer, "is an im-
SHIRLEY PERSIN
include the Israeli Air
Registered Electrologist
The novel was inspired by plicit call to action in behalf
Force, the U.S. Air Force the ordeals of the unknown of the Russian Jew today,
- ADVANCE BUILDING
and U.S. and Israeli support poets and novelists who caught yet behind a barrier
23077 GREENFIELD. Room 260
Near gorthland & Providence Hospital
and construction contrac- perished during the Stalin of silence in a labyrinth of
PHONE 557-1108
tors. For the Ramon base, purge of 1952. The story is unpredictable and inex-
Over 20 Years Experience
the workforce _consisted in the form of a diary writ- plicable madness."
411=111 ■ 11 ■ 11.11111M1M.
mainly of Portuguese and at ten by Paltiel Kossover, a
Ovda, Thais.
fictional Soviet poet await-
SINCE 1959
The designs for the new ing execution.
Call Now For
bases were faken and
Free Home Estimates
The hardcover edition of
RESIDENTIAL-COMMERCIAL
upgraded from the two the book, published last
existing sites in the Sinai summer, was reviewed in
at Etam and Etzion. the Jewish News by Bette
Naturally, since the plans Roth (Aug. 21, 1981, p. 22).
were originally prepared That review stated:
in Hebrew, they had to be
"In 'The Testament,'
translated to English. As Wiesel turns his attention
part of the "fast-track" to yet another Jewish
system, materials were tragedy, Stalin's sense-
CUSTOM SHUTTERS
CUSTOM WOVEN WOODS
ordered and construc- less execution of Russia's
Horizontal
& Vertical
tion started before the finest Jewish poets and
by Joanna, Delmar,
By Joanna, Mastercraft
designs were complete.
Graber
novelists . . .
"Kossover, a fictionalized
Initially, Israel had
limited capacity in doing character,. can be seen as a
FREE INSTALLATION
the job since they were composite of all of the Yid-
loaded with work in Iran. dish artists who fell victim
They asked that the U.S. to Stalin's rage . . . The
contractors meet their per- reader feels the tedium and -
VERTICAL BLINDS
HORIZONTAL 1" blinds
sonnel and material re-
aluminum decorator
quirements from non-Israel
Maimonides' two most
many decorator colors
cloths & suedes, P.V.C.
sources. When the Ayatol- famous works are "The
by LEVOLOR
macrame, wood
lah Khomeini came to Guide for the Perplexed," a
power in Iran, the late Shah philosophical work, and
excluding previous orders
and Israeli contractors were "Mishne Torah," a compila-
HOUSE of
559-4668
persona-non-grata. Return- tion of the laws of the Tal-
SHUTTERS 25511 SOUTHFIELD RD., SOUTHFIELD h
ing home hungry for work, mud.
the Israelis pressed for and
received some of the con-
struction and material pro-
curement.
The Ramon base is sited
on a mountain range with
much drilling and blasting
required to clear and grade
the area. Much care had to
be taken since this was also
a former artillery range.
Shells, live and duds, were
found during the construc-
tion.
The Ovda base is in the
lower Negev Desert and lies
in a large wadi. A flood con-
trol channel was required to
divert poetntial flash floods.
Both sites are approx-
imately 6,000 acres in area.
Strict religious
standards were main-
tained in construction of
the mess facilities. Two
kitchens, one for meat
and one for dairy, were
built and turned over to
the military.
Living quarters for con-
struction personnel at the
bases consisted generally of
10-person trailers with pri-
vate small bedrooms and
bathrooms and a shared liv-
ing room. Commissary,
mess halls, barber shop,
medical facilities, in addi-
tion to a recreation hall,
The Highland Scots, so the story goes, have laid claim to
baseball diamond, tennis
being
descendents
ofthe Ten Lost Tribes of Israel. Whether they
courts and a swimming pool
really
are
or
not,
we'll
never know But one thing we do know for
allowed for all the comforts
sure is that the first Jews of modem times came to Scotland in the
of home.
In addition to the base
1600's, found it much to their liking, and settled there.
quarters, we also converted
OnCe established, the settlers undoubtedly discovered
the Palace Hotel in Tel Aviv
one of Scotland's most fartious pleasures, 1&B Rare Scotch.
to serve as both living and
office space for government
Carefully blended from a selection of the finest scotches,
and contractor personnel.
J&B has such a smoothness and subtlety that it can truly be
The construction
said to whisper. No wonder it's become the favorite scotch
schedule made the bases
here in America. Serve J&B to your-tribe, clan or-mish-
"operational" by Sunday.
Our objective was to phase
pocha. One delightful sip will see the start of a tradition
construction so as not to
that will never be lost.
have one Israeli fighter
plane out of service for even
one hour during the move to
86.Proof Blended Scotch Whisky. . 1982 The Paddington Corp . NY
the new bases.
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