Last update - 00:00 25/06/2007
Prohibition hits Herzliya as cops crack down on violence
By Roni Singer-Heruti, Haaretz Correspondent
A municipal ordinance prohibiting the sale of alcoholic beverages at kiosks between 10 P.M. and 6 A.M. on Thursday, Friday and Saturday went into effect in Harzliya three weeks ago.
The police say that since the regulation went into effect, there has been a significant drop in violent incidents in the area.
Until recently Candy Tower, a kiosk in the Herzliya industrial area, employed four persons during weekend night shifts. But last weekend only two employees were necessary to meet the demand, and they busied themselves selling cigarettes and soft drinks to the relatively small number of customers.
The other five such shops in the vicinity experienced a similar decrease in nighttime business since the new municipal ordinance took effect.
The phenomenon of youths drinking at clubs - trying to become intoxicated quickly with less expensive drinks purchased outside - is well known in many parts of the country. But, while the Knesset is threatening legislation that would curtail the sales of alcohol, the Herzliya city council went ahead with its own initiative.
The municipality informed the kiosk owners that it will begin implementing the regulation requiring that they close up shop by 10 P.M. every night - unless they stop selling alcohol after that hour on weekends. The owners agreed to abide by the new rule, which only applies to the kiosks in the industrial zone and does not restrict the sale of alcohol inside clubs or pubs.
"We would like to combat the phenomenon of public drunkenness that leads to violence," Mayor Yael German said. "We can sit at home and shut our eyes, or we can fight. When our children return home drunk, or stabbed, it is a different story."
The police argue that in the industrial zone of the city there have been many instances of violence as a result of drunkenness. They also say that in a brawl between inebriated youths outside a club, 28-year-old Eli Abraria was stabbed to dead in October 2006.
The new regulation went into effect three weeks ago and the Glilot police commander, Chief Superintendent Yitzhak Gotniv, has been enthusiastic about ensuring that it is enforced.
"There are some problematic clubs where there have been instances of stabbings, shootings and murder near there," said Superintendent Ronen Aberjil of the Glilot police force. "Alcohol was a major factor to these instances of violence. The more we restrict the sale of inexpensive alcohol and easy access to it in the kiosks, the more we will limit the violence."
The owners of the kiosks are bitter about the new ordinance. The owner of Candy Tower challenged it at the Court for Administrative Matters, but the judge rejected his claims after police showed evidence linking alcohol and violence. He says he is now planning to meet with the mayor and even to take the case to the Supreme Court.
Mayor German is now planning to introduced a regulation forbiding young people from public drinking in the street, and said: "We have declared war on this phenomenon, on drinking and violence, and it will not be carried out with kid gloves."