While agreement has been reached and a caravan set into place to serve as a temporary shul for Beit Knesset Ayelet HaShachar in Givat Ze’ev, not all residents are smiling.

It appears the location chosen to place the caravan is a soccer field for the city’s non-religious students and the parents and students are less than pleased. Many tried to prevent the placement of the caravan but without success. Some parents actually visited the soccer field and tried blocking the placement of the caravan. They explain the site selected is far from suitable as it leaves the children without their soccer field. MyNet quotes some parents saying “It is not the right place for person unaffiliated with the school to be. There are too many pedophiles in the country and we are afraid for our children”.

Officials in Givat Ze’ev City Hall reject the legitimacy of their grievance, explaining the location is a public one and it does not belong to the school.

The shul was built without permits in 2000. The heirs of an Arab man challenged the legitimacy of the shul being on what they insist is privately-owned Arab land. They succeeded in persuading the High Court of Justice and the latter ordered the demolition of the shul. In an agreement reached with the state, the caravan will serve as a temporary shul until the new one is built, with the state paying over NIS 5 million to construct the new shul.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)