By Yedioth Ahronoth reporters.

The Israeli bathing season officially opened and will last until October 17. Israel’s beaches spread across 306 kilometers (190 miles), but the authorized public beaches measure a little less than 19 kilometers (11 miles) in length. Another 190 kilometers (118 miles) belong to beaches which have not been declared, but which the public has access to. The public has no access to some 97 kilometers (60 miles).

In total, Israel has 137 authorized beaches, including 92 along the Mediterranean Sea, 24 in Lake Kinneret, 17 in the Dead Sea and four along the Red Sea. Continue Reading

Beryl Ratzer

As the sun sets today, the fifth day of the month of Iyar according to the
Hebrew calendar, we here in Israeli shift our mood from the sadness of the
national day of mourning for all those who have fallen in the defence of
Israel to one of happiness and thankfulness as our tiny state, the Jewish
State of Israel, celebrates its sixty first birthday.

The equivalent date in the general calendar is 15th May and on that date the
Moslem population in Israel will commemorate  their Nakb’a, their disaster,
the day on which, in 1948, the Arab Palestinians failed to do what the
Jewish Palestinians did – to declare statehood in those areas of the defunct
Palestine which were under their control. Continue Reading