· This wet winter has elevated Lake Kinneret’s water level by 7.25 feet but it still needs to rise a further 12.66 feet to reach its optimal level. Happily, this seems to be a possibility in view of the heavy snow falls on the Hermon and mountains north of the lake which will result in a record thaw when the warmer weather arrives.
· The Bedouin population in Israel’s South have been granted a license for a photovoltaic installation, the first time a license for a solar project has been granted to a Bedouin community in Israel. The Public Utility Authority gave its approval for the $30 million joint project between the Tarabin tribe and the Arava Power Company which is to be built on privately owned Bedouin land. The CEO of Arava Power Company explained that this is a dream come true for the Bedouin population as solar energy will provide a fixed source of income and will grant an economic and social solution for one of Israel’s disadvantaged populations.
· Jerusalem is going to have its first ever Ice Festival which will take place during March and April. It will include ice sculptures of many of the city’s major sites, an ice skating rink, a concert area and an ice-bar. This will be very exciting for a city that sees only a dusting of snow every few years. Last week, Jerusalem’s children were bitterly disappointed when on Shabbat morning, they woke up to rain and slush instead of the heavy snowfall that the weather forecasters had promised them. The festival is being organized by the Jerusalem Municipality and 35 designers, technicians and sculptors are coming from China specially to create the exhibits.
· The Tel Aviv Museum of Art has won the Best Museum Award in the prestigeous “Travel & Leisure Award 2012,” for their new “Herta & Paul Amir Building” which opened last November. Travel & Leisure Magazine, considered one of the most influential travel magazines in America, commended the Tel Aviv building stating that “In contrast to many dramatically shaped new art museums, it succeeds in being at once breathtaking and deferential to the art on display.” Architect and Travel & Leisure judge, Billie Tsion, said “The Tel Aviv Museum is quite a piece of sculpture but it is a sculpture that accepts art.”
· Apart from sending out information about Israel, BIG is involved in building bridges between its members and Christians who love, travel to and volunteer in Israel. In the last month The Director of the International Christian Embassy in Jerusalem, Dr. Jurgen Buhler, his wife and four children have been hosted for a Friday night dinner by BIG as have four volunteers from Germany who are in Israel painting and decorating the homes of poor immigrant families. A group of Christian Friends of Israel members from the U.K. also visited the homes of various members of BIG. Stuart Palmer from Haifa gave the same group a lecture while they were staying at Kibbutz Lavi and also gave a lecture to a group of 38 Sar El volunteers at an army base. Twenty-five percent of this group were Christians from countries such as Holland, Finland, Germany and Norway. The gist of the lectures was how to get the true picture of Israel over to the general public on their return home, bypassing the bias of the general media and using the many stories available from the real Israel. In addition, he and his wife, are continuing the connection they have with the Christian community in the Druze village of Issafiya and helping them to develop a newsletter for them to send out to the Christian community at large.
