STRIVE, an intensive work-readiness program, is modeled after an initiative of the same name that began more than 20 years ago in New York\’s Harlem in an effort to help women on welfare overcome their severe difficulties in finding and keeping meaningful jobs.
Anti-poverty activists and residents say the situation of many towns like Shechunat Hatikvah is the result of decades of government neglect and poor planning — places seen as dumping grounds where immigrants were settled in demographically strategic locations but far from job opportunities.
Eilat generally has escaped the violence of the six-year Palestinian intifada, but even its remote setting couldn\’t forever insulate the Red Sea resort city from the region\’s tensions.
Teddy Kollek, the longtime Jerusalem mayor who died this week at the age of 95, is being remembered as the most prolific builder of the city since King Herod.
Sderot is far, by Israeli standards, from the country\’s more prosperous center. But in the last six years, it has found itself unwittingly on one of the front lines of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Its location, about two miles from the Gaza border, has made Sderot an easy target for terrorists\’ Qassam rockets. Before a surprise and partial truce went into effect about a week ago, fighting had escalated, especially in recent months, between the Israeli army and Palestinian terrorist groups.
Gay issues have never been at the forefront of Israeli domestic politics — unlike in the United States — but some wonder if that will change after ultra-Orthodox protesters used violence to prevent a gay pride parade.
The goal is to give young, secular Israelis an education that will show them that they too have a rich culture to tap into and explore.
The former army intelligence officer with an easy smile was busy as the face of Israel\’s foreign media outreach, giving more than 80 interviews to international media networks and newspapers during the war.
When tens of thousands of Israelis fled their homes as Hezbollah rockets began raining down on northern Israel, they left behind not only hastily locked-up houses but, in many cases, their pets. After days and weeks of being left to fend for themselves, many of the animals were found starving and dehydrated in the streets of northern towns and cities. Estimates put the number of animals in distress at about 8,000.
In a meeting room with gold silk curtains and tiled walls, a delegation from the American Jewish Committee (AJC) takes their seats at a long, glass-topped table facing Tunisia\’s foreign minister and his aides. Soon the questions begin: When will Tunisia resume official relations with Israel? What is the country\’s stance on Iran?
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