FROM OUR ARCHIVES
65 YEARS AGO
December 26, 1952 “I was surprised to hear that the kibbutz gave me a wife and received an allowance for her in my name from the Defense Ministry,” said Nissim Varon, a bachelor, during preliminary court inquiries. The kibbutz, Gvulot, was charged with receiving money under false pretenses. Varon was a member of the kibbutz from 1947 until 1950 after which he enlisted in the army. When he applied to the ministry for a family allowance for his parents who had meanwhile arrived in the country, he was refused on the grounds that his kibbutz was already receiving money for his “wife.”
Tel Aviv’s Caucasian Quarter slums near the central bus station would soon disappear when the 300 families living there would be moved to municipal housing in the Yad Eliahu quarter. Ninety families living in Nissen huts, erected by the British for World War II veterans near the Yarkon River, would be given flats in Nahalat Yitzhak. M. Kalir, Tel Aviv’s deputy town clerk, said the municipality owned 3% of the housing in the Tel-Aviv-Jaffa area. It should own at least 10 times as much, as was the rule in European countries, he said. Tel Aviv had an average of three people for every room.
50 YEARS AGO
December 26, 1967 The revolutionary urban dwelling complex called “Habitat 67” that was one of the highlights of “Expo 67” in Montreal was criticized by some who said that “It does not suit the climate of Canada. It looks as if it belongs in Israel.” This was according to the Haifa-born architect of Habitat 67, 29-yearold Moshe Safdie, who was in Israel for the World Congress of Engineers and Architects. Safdie said that the typical Israeli housing project “does not conform to what I consider a minimal environment.” He added that it was no worse than the average housing projects in the US or Canada, but there was no reason why Israel’s shikunim (housing developments) should look like replicas of those elsewhere. “We have reached the point in our maturity and security when we should have our own architecture, suited to the Israeli climate, landscape and society.” Driving through the countryside, Safdie said he was struck by the fact that the traditional Arab villages did a much better job of blending with the landscape than the modern housing projects did. On the other hand, he was favorably impressed with Israel’s public buildings and estimated that there were more public buildings per capita in Israel than in any other country.
25 YEARS AGO
December 26, 1992 Israeli cats and dogs could breathe easy; in the event of an Iraqi biological or chemical attack they could be protected by pet-friendly gas masks. They would be available in a number of sizes to fit cats and dogs of all varieties from chihuahuas to Great Danes, according to veterinarian Rafi Kishon, the gas-mask inventor. Kishon said he came up with the idea for the gas-mask kits during the first Gulf War, when his dog suffered from hysteria during missile attacks. Kishon said that his dog “took Saddam Hussein’s pledge to eradicate ‘the Jewish dogs from the world’ personally.”
–Daniel Kra