Dina Kraft

Demolitions Central to Jerusalem Fight

Published on August 18, 2009

Deep in a valley below Jerusalem’s Old City, a narrow alleyway leads to the remains of three bulldozed Arab homes in an area slated to become an archeological park.

No New Settlement Approval, So Far

Published on July 8, 2009

Although the pounding of jackhammers and the dull roar of bulldozers still can be heard across Jewish settlements in the West Bank, no new construction has been approved for Jews in the area since Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government came to office.

How a Settlement’s ‘Natural Growth’ Appears at Ground Level

Published on June 3, 2009

Pushing a baby stroller and clutching her toddler’s hand, Hanna Yadler walks through the shiny lobby of her new apartment building and explains how she’s relieved her family found a place to live in Modiin Illit.

Fund Seeks to Improve Israeli Arabs’ Lives

Published on May 20, 2009

A group of American Jewish philanthropists crowd into a classroom to watch Iman Abu Zaid, a young Arab teacher, give a lesson to her class of Jewish fourth-graders.

Tel Aviv Then and Now

Published on April 9, 2009

When Yoram Kaniuk was born in Tel Aviv in 1930, it was a small place with just 20,000 people and a handful of paved roads.

Lieberman’s Moment

Published on February 11, 2009

Lieberman’s Moment

Published on February 11, 2009

“Lieberman! Lieberman! Lieberman!” a cluster of young Israelis shouted into megaphones as Avigdor Lieberman, leader of the nationalist Yisrael Beiteinu Party, made yet another stop on his Election Day tour.

Livni Plays Gender Card as She Runs 2nd in Race

Published on February 2, 2009

When Tzipi Livni, Israel's foreign minister and a candidate for prime minister, spoke before a group of women lawyers last week, she received three standing ovations. Her male rivals in the race had to make do with polite applause.

Israel Human Rights Groups Wage War Over Warfare

Published on January 22, 2009

Sari Bashi, a prominent Israeli human rights lawyer, was on the phone last week with a Palestinian utility official in the Gaza Strip who had worked closely with Israelis for years and had just learned that his house in Gaza was no longer standing.

Eight members of the Levi family adjust to rockets in Ashkelon

Published on December 30, 2008

Another rocket warning siren wails and eight members of the Levi family, including a grandmother and a newborn, quickly cram into the small bedroom made of reinforced concrete that serves as the family's bomb shelter. "Come on, come on! Get in!" they shout. Just before the metal door thuds shut, the family dog, Pick, is whisked inside.

Despite diplomas, Ethiopian Israelis can’t find jobs

Published on December 26, 2008

Of the approximately 4,500 Ethiopian Israelis who have earned university degrees, fewer than 15 percent have found work in their professions, according to a recent study. Instead, most end up working temporary public-sector jobs serving the Ethiopian Israeli community, remaining disconnected from the larger professional Israeli workforce.

Showdown in Hebron as IDF evicts settlers

Published on December 4, 2008

The violent eviction Thursday ended one standoff between Jewish settlers and the Israeli government but spurred another

African AIDS fight uses Israeli circumcision skills

Published on November 26, 2008

The United Nations announced last year that the procedure could reduce the rate of HIV transmission by up to 60 percent. It was in Israel, with its experience performing adult male circumcision on a wide scale, that the international medical community found an unlikely partner in the global fight against AIDS.

Discovery of King David-era fort stirs debate on size of kingdom

Published on November 20, 2008

Some scholars argue that David's Jerusalem was merely a backwater village glorified into a mythical place by those they say penned the Bible centuries later. Others suggest that true to its biblical description, it was a genuine power overseeing a strong and united kingdom. The discovery of what is being called the Elah Fortress has quickly been used to reinforce the latter argument.

Israelis catch U.S. election fever

Published on October 28, 2008

Israelis -- including the American citizens among them, as many as half of whom hail from swing states -- have been closely following the election campaign across the ocean with a mix of interest, concern, bemusement and validation

Diverse trio running for mayor in troubled Jerusalem

Published on October 23, 2008

It sounds like the beginning of a joke: A rabbi, a Russian oligarch and a high-tech millionaire are running for mayor of Jerusalem. Except there's no punch line, just each of them offering up himself as salvation for the hallowed capital's many troubles.

Candidate Profile: Tzipi Livni—a clean record but some say untested

Published on September 8, 2008

Polls show that Livni, 50, is the leading contender to win Kadima Party primaries Sept. 17 to succeed Ehud Olmert

Israel taps ‘political outsider’ as new U.N. ambassador

Published on August 12, 2008

Criticized by some in Israel because she is a political outsider, Gabriela Shalev, Israel's incoming U.N. ambassador, wins the praise of past and current colleagues who say she is an exceptional legal mind with an unflappable exterior

Red-Dead canal idea stirs controversy

Published on August 3, 2008

The World Bank is conducting a $14 million study of a plan to build a canal from the Red Sea to the Dead Sea. Environmentalists say the canal idea is a risky proposition to save the Dead Sea, which is rapidly shrinking.

Israeli women gymnasts train long and hard for Beijing games

Published on July 31, 2008

On one side of a cavernous gym in Netanya, halfway between Tel Aviv and Haifa, six members of Israel's first Olympic rhythmic gymnastics team warm up in a circle, chatting softly in a mix of Russian and Hebrew while stretching their legs in effortless splits on the mat

Sderot welcomes Obama

Published on July 25, 2008

Sderot's residents expressed optimism about the latest of a series of high-profile visitors to the town, the man who one day may be U.S. president, Barack Obama

Food prices squeeze Israel’s needy

Published on July 21, 2008

As the price of food staples have risen, Israel's poor and the nonprofit groups that serve them have been hardest hit, with some impoverished Israelis skipping meals to pay their monthly bills

Israel's clean tech advances attract foreign investors' green

Published on July 15, 2008

Spurred by skyrocketing oil prices and growing interest in energy alternatives, a wave of new companies and investors are scouting out new clean technologies in Israel.

Israel invests in clean tech as energy crunch looms

Published on July 2, 2008

Industry observers say more aggressive government policies, such as underwriting renewable energy initiatives and granting more land for power plants, are needed to bolster the development of alternative energy.

Israelis are not in a partying mood

Published on May 1, 2008

Israel is turning 60, but few here in the Jewish State seem in the mood to crack open the champagne.


Israelis are still gloomy about the country's perceived failures in the 2006 war with Hezbollah in Lebanon, and every day brings fresh reminders that no solution has been found for the growing problem of cross-border rocket fire from the Gaza Strip.

Segway inventor Dean Kamen brings his high-tech vision to Israel

Published on April 24, 2008

Dean Kamen, the multimillionaire inventor renowned for the Segway personal transporter, traveled to Israel with a message for teenagers: Careers in science will help make them the rock stars of their generation

Fending off the end of aliyah

Published on April 3, 2008

Founded with the express purpose of "ingathering of the exiles" -- but with no more large groups of Jews to save -- Israel is facing the end of the era of mass aliyah.

Yeshiva terror attack cut religious Zionists deeply

Published on March 9, 2008

In the close-knit world of religious Zionism, no one feels far removed from the grief for eight young people gunned down while studying Talmud in their Jerusalem yeshiva.

Ashkelon is the new front line in the war with Gaza

Published on March 8, 2008

Practically overnight, life in this quiet coastal city has changed dramatically. Thirteen rockets landed in Ashkelon over the course of four days, and with the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) having launched a ground invasion into Gaza over the weekend, shaken residents here suddenly find themselves in a war zone.

As U.S. dollar plummets, Israelis rediscover the shekel

Published on March 1, 2008

No longer the subject of derision or victim of hyperinflation, the shekel is now among the strongest currencies in the world. For the first time in years, businesses and real estate agencies that once dealt only in dollars are now instead setting their rates to the shekel.

Fund assists Israeli cancer researchers

Published on February 21, 2008

Howard Cedar is among hundreds of Israeli scientists whose research has been supported by the Israel Cancer Research Fund (ICRF), a charitable organization funded predominately by North American Jews that aims to keep Israeli researchers in the country performing cutting-edge research instead of losing them in a "brain drain" to institutions abroad with more money and resources.

‘Meadow Soprano’ explores her Jewish spirit in Israel

Published on January 31, 2008

Jamie Sigler, who played the daughter of Mafia kingpin Tony Soprano on the acclaimed HBO show "The Sopranos," grew up in a Jewish home in Jericho, N.Y., going to Hebrew school and having a bat mitzvah. But it was only during her recent visit to Israel that she said she felt a true spiritual and emotional connection to her roots.

Israelis keep a close eye on U.S. elections

Published on January 17, 2008

With a mix of concern for their future and amusement at the marching bands and baby-kissing style of U.S. electoral politics, Israelis are tuning in to see who might be the next U.S. president.

‘Non-Jewish’ Jews endure challenges living in Israel

Published on January 3, 2008

In Israel, the "non-Jewish Jews," as some Israelis call them, are everywhere. They drive buses, teach university classes, patrol in army jeeps and follow the latest Israeli reality TV shows as avidly as their Jewish counterparts. For these people -- mostly immigrants from the former Soviet Union who are not Jews according to Israeli law -- the question of where they fit into the Jewish state remains unanswered nearly two decades after they began coming to Israel.

Splinter group keeps settler outpost movement alive

Published on December 13, 2007

Her heart pounding, the 15-year-old girl with a long, honey-colored braid down her back scrambled down the steep hillside in the black of night, running from police who had swarmed in to evacuate her and others who had come to set up an illegal settlement outpost.

Ben-Gurion University of the Negev reaches out to Bedouin women

Published on June 28, 2007

Bedouin women are increasingly attending college. Here at Ben-Gurion University, there are 250 female Bedouin students.

Does Hamas takeover mean new hope for kidnapped Israeli soldier?

Published on June 21, 2007

Hamas' takeover of the Gaza Strip is spurring hope for the safe return of an Israeli soldier kidnapped nearly a year ago by the fundamentalist Islamic group, even as it issued a terse warning to Israel not to harm its leaders "or forget about Gilad Shalit."

We’re goin’ to Ha Aretz and we’re gonna get married ...

Published on June 7, 2007

Some couples marry in candlelit caves, others choose a chuppah wrapped in gauzy silk and lilies on the beach or a rooftop overlooking Jerusalem's Old City at sunset. Welcome to destination weddings, Israel style.

Army base provides haven for refugees from Sderot

Published on May 24, 2007

Driven from their homes by Qassam rockets, Eimvet Yitao and her colleagues from a Sderot day care center gathered under the shade of a sprawling tree at an army center in Givat Olga, swapping stories of their fears.

What now after Winograd?

Published on May 3, 2007

With "failure" officially stamped on Ehud Olmert's management of last summer's war against Hezbollah in Lebanon, the question is: What happens now?

Israelis fear anti-Semitism imported from Russia

Published on April 26, 2007

n recent years, sporadic acts of anti-Semitism have hit Israel, most of them carried out by disaffected immigrant youths from the former Soviet Union (FSU). Although the youths came to Israel under the Law of Return, they are among those who identify not as Jews but as ethnic Russians. Under Israel's Law of Return, a cornerstone of Israel's identity as a haven for all Jews, anyone with a Jewish parent or grandparent is permitted to immigrate and be granted citizenship.

Sudanese Discover Parallels in Visit to Yad Vashem

Published on April 5, 2007

A group of refugees from Darfur on a visit to Yad Vashem lingered next to a model of the crematorium at Auschwitz, taking in the ghastly sight of bodies carried on cots and pushed into ovens.

Poverty in Israel: The divide deepens between the haves and have-nots

Published on March 8, 2007

Once idealized as a socialist paradise, Israel is increasingly becoming a country of two classes -- those who have soared in the increasingly capitalist economy and those who have stumbled in its wake.

American ideas boost bid to get Israelis to work

Published on March 8, 2007

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.

Tough neighborhoods, hard times feed cycle of poverty

Published on March 8, 2007

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.

Palestinian terror reaches Eilat

Published on February 1, 2007

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, Jerusalem’s modern-day Herod, dies at 95

Published on January 4, 2007

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.

Depression grips Sderot as rockets continue to fall

Published on December 7, 2006

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.

Could Pride rally tension put gay issues on Israel’s agenda?

Published on November 22, 2006

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.

‘Secular Yeshiva’ answers young Israelis’ questions

Published on October 26, 2006

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.

American-Born Spokeswoman Big Asset to Israel

Published on August 17, 2006

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.

Pets left behind in the North are focus of Israeli volunteers

Published on August 14, 2006

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.

Israel Holds Off on Bombing Response

Published on April 20, 2006

More than 40 people were injured in attack, several of them critically, rescue officials said. Guy Sadeh was among the first at the scene, passing by on his way to pick up new business cards. He helped treat and calm the injured.

"I saw things no one should see," Sadeh, 36, said as he lay on a hospital gurney while being treated for cuts on his right foot. His khaki pants were splattered with blood.

‘State Department for Jews’ Hits 100

Published on April 13, 2006

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?

Settlers See Grim Future

Published on March 30, 2006

The Israeli withdrawal from Gaza last summer, and Interim Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's pledge to withdraw from isolated settlements like Avne Hefetz by 2010, haunts the settler community.

The New Face of the Israeli Right

Published on March 30, 2006

Avigdor Lieberman's party, Yisrael Beiteinu, became the fourth-largest party in Israeli politics Tuesday, winning seats in the next Knesset from a strong base of Russian-speaking voters as well as tens of thousands of veteran Israelis.

Israeli Candidates Battle Voter Apathy

Published on March 23, 2006

Shimon Peres joins a young couple having lunch at a seaside restaurant and asks them who they are voting for in Israel's upcoming election. They smile nervously, glance up at the swarm of photographers and TV cameras that surround the former prime minister and admit the truth: They don't know.

Pupils Vote Yes on Democratic School

Published on February 23, 2006

The Hadera Democratic School, which receives funding from both public and private sources, was the first of its kind in Israel. Since its founding in 1987 in this city about 60 kilometers north of Tel Aviv, 23 other schools have opened around the country based on its model of democratic education, in which student participation and choice is emphasized.

Program Tries to Sell Youth on Negev

Published on January 19, 2006

The two-day event over Chanukah, dubbed "Light Up the Negev," was organized by the Jewish National Fund-Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael (JNF) with the express purpose of "selling" the Negev to Israel's youth.

Gaza’s Ties to Jewish History

Published on August 4, 2005

Modern Israeli settlement in the Gaza Strip resumed only after the 1967 Six-Day War, but even with those settlements set to be evacuated, Jewish roots in the sandy strip of land where Egypt, Israel and the Mediterranean Sea meet run deep.

Opinions differ on whether the area was or was not included in the Land of Israel conquered by the ancient Israelites in the Bible.

Mensch Seeks Shayna Maideleh

Published on June 9, 2005

A team of scouts is scouring the Diaspora for the ideal single Jewish man for a new Israeli reality television show. Once selected, the bachelor, who according to producers preferably will be good looking and "financially secure," will come to Israel for the summer, when 15 young Israeli women will compete to capture his heart.

"We all grow up in Jewish houses and we know the dream of Jewish mothers is that their son finds a nice Jewish girl," said Gadi Veinrib, a producer for the show, to be called -- what else? -- "A Nice Jewish Boy."

Sharon, Abbas Meet in ‘Summit of Hope’

Published on February 10, 2005

Israelis are calling the Sharm el Sheik summit, held next to the sparkling waves of the Red Sea, the "Summit of Hope" -- hope that the speeches and handshakes really will signify the end of four and a half years of bloodletting and despair.

Who Wants to Be Israel’s Ambassador?

Published on February 3, 2005

Like Donald Trump's "The Apprentice," at the end of every episode of "The Ambassador," the panel of judges kicks another contestant off the show. The winner will be rewarded with a yearlong job at Israel at Heart, a New York-based organization that promotes Israel's image.

Settlement Might Relocate En Masse

Published on January 27, 2005

Nestled in a green valley dotted with fir and palm trees lies the farming village of Mavki'im. Soon the modest one-story homes that punctuate its wheat and potato fields may house a new group of residents -- former members of the Gaza Strip settlement named Pa'at Sadeh.

Unsettling Prospects

Published on January 27, 2005

Talya Eluz walks into her cream-colored sunken living room and takes in the view of sloping sand dunes leading to the shimmering blue Mediterranean Sea and the electric fence that surrounds what she calls paradise.

Vote Generates Mix of Hope, Wariness

Published on January 13, 2005

Edna Bar-Or wants to be optimistic about the prospects for peace after this week's Palestinian elections, but like many Israelis, she is not sure she can.

"I very much hope it will bring good," said Bar-Or, 55, surrounded by stacks of laundry and hangers full of pressed shirts at her dry cleaning shop. "I want to be optimistic, but I don't think anyone knows what will be.

Israelis followed news of the Palestinian Authority elections Sunday, pausing to listen to radio and television news broadcasts and to read newspaper front pages plastered with large photographs of Mahmoud Abbas, better known as Abu Mazen. Yasser Arafat's former deputy won the vote by 62 percent and will become the next president of the Palestinian Authority.

Orthodox Stress Strong Israel Ties

Published on December 2, 2004

North American Modern Orthodox Jews say they can explain their connection to Israel in one word: Torah.

"It's an organic existence. An Orthodox Jew grows up and believes that Eretz Yisrael and the people of Israel are one. The fulfillment of Torah is Eretz Yisrael," said David Cohen, director of Orthodox Union (OU) activities in Israel. "It's not about connection. It's who we are."

Emergency Room Serves as Memorial

Published on December 2, 2004

The gleaming digital tracking board that dominates Shaare Zedek's new emergency room, with its color-coded system for monitoring patients, has Dr. David Applebaum's fingerprints all over it.

So do the more private individual rooms for patients, the improved nurse-to-patient ratio and an area for paramedics to rest and grab a cup of coffee between calls.

Garden of Eden Now a Paradise Lost

Published on October 14, 2004

Diving among coral reefs, lounging on colorful pillows by the sea, taking in views of rose-colored mountains, ordering plates stacked high with honey-drenched banana pancakes -- Israelis have long made Sinai a favorite vacation destination.

Opportunities Open

Published on September 30, 2004

A recent day brought welcome news for a small group of young Bedouin women who weekly gathered in a tin shed in a corner of their windswept desert village of Kasr Alssr, Israel, to study.

Opportunities Open

Published on September 30, 2004

A recent day brought welcome news for a small group of young Bedouin women who weekly gathered in a tin shed in a corner of their windswept desert village of Kasr Alssr, Israel, to study.

Madonna, Marla Do Tashlich in Tel Aviv

Published on September 23, 2004

Pop diva Madonna was among the praying, swaying and singing masses of kabbalah enthusiasts who made the pilgrimage to Israel for the High Holidays, seeking spiritual transformation through a brand of Jewish mysticism.

Israel Buries Beersheba Bombing Victims

Published on September 2, 2004

Again Israel turns to mourning the dead, but this time the list of those killed has been slow in coming. As the bombs used in suicide bombings become more sophisticated, producing deadlier and deadlier blasts, it takes more time to identify the remains of the dead.

Israelis Call for Choices in Marriage

Published on May 13, 2004

When Galit Weidman Sassoon got engaged last year, her thoughts turned to the kind of wedding ceremony she and her fiancé wanted -- meaningful, egalitarian and Jewish.

Israel Trip Reunites

Published on April 22, 2004

The two men walk as one -- in steady step, shoulder to shoulder, their words a torrent of Yiddish.

There is much to catch up on since the former neighbors and schoolmates last met. That was more than 60 years ago, when the transports, fear and separations that characterized Jewish life during World War II reached their Polish hometown.

Most Ethiopians in Israel Find Life Hard

Published on April 15, 2004

The mix of Western and African culture at the Zamena club, one of a small number of discos that cater to Israel's young Ethiopian immigrant set, appears to be an extension of these young Ethiopians' experience in life in Israel, in general.

Some were born in Israel or came here as young children. Along with their parents, they made their way to Israel as part of the modern exodus-style airlifts of Operations Moses and Solomon in 1984-85 and 1991.

An Act Of Kindness Ends In Murder

Published on March 18, 2004

It was an act of kindness reciprocated with murder.

One Voice Gets Alexander’s Vote

Published on February 26, 2004

For Jason Alexander, best known as Jerry Seinfeld's hapless sidekick, George Costanza, a grass-roots peace initiative to promote Israeli-Palestinian peace is more than just "yadda yadda yadda."

Avi Chai Grant Saves Birthright

Published on February 26, 2004

Since the program began, it has brought some 60,000 Diaspora youth between the ages of 18 and 26 to Israel for free 10-day guided trips of the country. For many, it is their first trip to Israel. Only youth who never before have been on a peer tour of the country are eligible to participate.

A Tale of Two Cities Divided

Published on February 12, 2004

Kalkilya is surrounded on all sides by what Israel calls the separation fence, a barrier the government says it must build to protect its citizens from suicide bombers, snipers and other Palestinian terrorists.

Residents of Kalkilya say it has turned their city into a ghetto.

But Kfar Saba residents are solidly behind the wall.

Suicide bomb in Jerusalem kills 10

Published on January 29, 2004

"How will I find anyone alive?" the 21-year-old
security guard asked as he broke down the door and climbed onto the charred
ruins of bus no. 19, stepping over body parts and choking on the smell of
burned flesh.

Suicide bomb in Jerusalem kills 10

Published on January 29, 2004

"How will I find anyone alive?" the 21-year-old security guard asked as he broke down the door and climbed onto the charred ruins of bus no. 19, stepping over body parts and choking on the smell of burned flesh.

Settlers Struggle to Hold Biblical Israel

Published on January 8, 2004

Migron, the largest and most established of the 100 or so illegal Jewish outposts set up across the West Bank, is on the front lines of a looming showdown between the settler movement and the Israeli government. Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon recently pledged to dismantle such settlements in accordance with the U.S.-led "road map" peace plan.

Arabs, Jews Mix at Haifa Holiday Festival

Published on December 18, 2003

Thousands of Jews and Arabs fill the winding stone alleyways of a Haifa neighborhood, sampling latkes, roasted chestnuts and pastries dripping in honey at a coexistence festival to mark the holidays of Chanukah, Christmas and Ramadan.

Israel and Saddam Share Long History

Published on December 18, 2003

Spewing anti-Israel vitriol was one of Saddam Hussein's specialties. Of all the leaders in the Arab world, Saddam seemed to have the most to say against Israel, and he seemed to say it the most often.

Now that he has been captured and faces possible trial, experts are asking whether the Jewish State will again be his target of choice.

Israelis Debate Peace Proposals

Published on December 11, 2003

The regulars who take their morning coffee at the sun-bleached Good Day Cafe aptly have nicknamed the spot "Moshe's Parliament."

Sitting on red plastic chairs and leaning over flowered tablecloths over the weekend, retirees dissected and debated the various new Middle East peace proposals.

Israel’s Poor Endure Tough Situation

Published on November 27, 2003

Three years of Palestinian violence have scared away investors, a worldwide economic downturn has devastated Israel's once-thriving high-tech industry, factories are closing because of foreign competition and government cutbacks in welfare and social spending in response to a $6 billion deficit have taken their toll.