Two residents of Ramle's Old City.

+ 3

Yossi pushes the "eight" on the
blue computer and yafeh, nice,
flashes on the screen. On a red
computer, pony-tailed Rachel prac-
tices memory exercises. Erez is
completing a computerized graphic
puzzle.
The fourth grade's math
teacher is sick today. Instead of
torturing a substitute as they used
to, the children use the hour to
work at their own levels. The quiet
of the classroom is punctuated by
soft shouts of triumph from the
students at the terminals.
A feeling of triumph is in or-
der. The upbeat atmosphere of the
computer room would please
educators in Southfield or Oak
Park. But Yossi, Rachel and Erez
are students in the Bialik School in
Ramle's Old City, a neighborhood
that only seven years ago was a
prime contender for 'the toughest
neighborhood in Israel." Old Ramie
lived up to its reputation, with a
disadvantaged population, crime,
drugs, broken sewers, unemploy-
ment, juvenile delinquents, un-
paved streets, broken down homes,
patches of overcrowded public hous-
ing, undesirable schools, corrupt
municipal administrators and un-
zoned industry.
In addition, the Old City had a
problem not shared with most other

24 Friday, June 19, 1987

RENE WAL

IN

RAMLE

Detroit's Project Renewal partner
begins to shed its bad image

THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

BARBARA SOFER

Special to The Jewish News

disadvantaged neighborhoods in Is-
rael: tension between the shrinking
Jewish population and the fast
growing number of poor Arab
families moving in.
Where is Ramie? The city lies
in the heart of Israel, 28 miles from
Jerusalem on the way to Tel Aviv,
a few minutes' drive from Ben-
Gurion Airport and from the main
plant of Israel's aircraft industry.
Ramle, "sands" in Arabic, arose on
sandy soil 1,100 years ago, the only
city- established by Arabs in the
country. Medieval Moslem and
Mamluk towers and mosques are
interspersed with ubiquitous auto-
mobile body shops and
puncturemachers who mend flat
tires.
The Old City was the whole
city in 1948. Most of the Arab resi-
dents fled during the War of Inde-
pendence. Those who stayed re-
mained in the Old City. The houses
were used in absorbing the immig-
rants during the first years of the
state, and were subsequently char-
acterized by high resident turn-
over as Jews moved from ram-
shackle homes for newer homes in
more established cities or in new
Ramie. Those who could get out,
did. Consequently, the area became
home to the most disadvantaged
Jews and even more distressed
Arabs.
Because of its central location
and its non-enforced zoning laws,

