ISRAELI PRESS REVIEW
Israeli Press Review of 10.06.2013
- Government figures show spike in settlement construction
Official Israeli figures show housing starts in West Bank settlements rose significantly in the first three months of 2013 compared to the same period last year, Yediot Aharonot reports..
A government document on housing starts showed that building in the West Bank jumped from 313 housing starts between January and March last year to 865 the same period this year.
The statistics bureau’s report detailed housing starts country-wide. The West Bank housing represents the highest relative spike since last year compared to other regions in Israel, but it made up the smallest portion of new building compared to overall construction around the country.
Click here to read the full article in Yediot Aharonot
- Israel to compensate Palestinians killed by Hamas rocket
A defence ministry committee has decided that two Palestinian families in Gaza, who lost close ones in a Hamas rocket attack in 2005, are entitled to compensation payments, Yediot Aharonot reports.
Each family is due to receive NIS 1 million, about 200,000 euros.
During the incident in question, two Palestinians and a Chinese national were killed when a Qassam rocket fired by Hamas terrorists exploded in the greenhouse they were working in.
Five additional Palestinians were also wounded in the incident, which took place in the former Israeli settlement of Ganei Tal. The settlement was situated in the southern part of Gaza before Israel dismantled its settlements in Gaza and pulled out of the area.
Click here to read the full article in Yediot Aharonot
- Netanyahu meets Warsaw Ghetto survivor ahead of Poland visit
Three days before traveling to Poland, Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu met on Sunday with Simcha Rotem (Kazik), described by the Prime Minister’s Office as the last survivor of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, the Jerusalem post reports.
Rotem, 89, fought alongside Mordechai Anielewicz in the Jewish Combat Organization.
He told Netanyahu, as well as Education Minister Shai Piron and Immigrant Absorption Minister Sofa Landver, how he served as a liaison between the bunker inside the ghetto and the underground on the “Aryan” side of the city. He also explained how people were smuggled out of the ghetto through the sewage pipes.
“We are a people known for its many talents, but ultimately these talents were not suited for the strength required of us to survive the horrors of the Holocaust,” said Netanyahu, who called Rotem a national and international hero.
