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del.icio.us Digg It!  new Eli Moyal's resignation / The mayor of wretchedville By Daniel Ben Simon Tags: Israel, Qassam, Eli Moyal  Quasi-punk and quasi-politician, Eli Moyal fit Sderot like a glove. He took the town by storm with his big and empty promises. His eloquent but excoriating tongue, not mention subversive ways, resonated with residents. He jumped at the chance to lambaste the state, the government, the establishment, Arik Sharon, Ehud Olmert, finance ministers, the left, the army - the list goes on. As bad luck would have it, shortly after he took office, Sderot became a convenient target for rocket fire from Beit Hanun, the neighbor across the way. It wasn't enough for Sderot residents to be poor and unemployed, now they had to contend with a ceaseless downpour of rockets that drove them nuts. Since April 2001, angry Palestinian neighbors have rained 5,780 rockets and mortar shells on the poor city, not including the 20 that hit it yesterday. Moyal, who was elected in 1998 to boost the town's standard of living, instead became an expert on the nature of the Qassam and its remnants. Thus the southern lawyer with the big ambitions went from firebrand to one who puts out fires. Advertisement As their troubles increased, residents' dependence on the state grew, along with their cries for help. The result was devastating. From a community that was on a forward track, Sderot regressed back to those bad years when it needed the state's charity to survive. Now every hit elicited good-will gestures and truckloads of food and clothes. Kibbutzim and moshavim and major cities and medium-size towns and high-tech companies and insurance firms and banks and factories began funneling generous aid to the city to ease its pain. Mayor Eli Moyal oversaw this wretched change. The city regressed 20 years and Moyal, along with the community's managers and city council members, regressed along with it. The man who once dreamed of getting residents of poor towns to become more independent gave up and watched as the opposite process grew stronger. Soon after his election to a second mayoral term, Moyal lost interest in the job and also in the residents. He was fed up with the shouting and the threats and the cries of despair. At low moments, he found comfort in the pleasures of the big city, Tel Aviv, taking up residence in television studios. The residents lost faith in their absentee mayor, as he had in them. In the past two years, he sought refuge everywhere. In 2005 he considered an appointment as ambassador to France, then ran for Knesset on the Likud list. Both attempts failed, and Moyal continued seeking his future elsewhere, as far as possible from Sderot. Police inquiries into suspicions of irregularities finally broke him. A few months ago, he suspended himself, and now he has quit. Bookmark to del.icio.us Humanitarian Crisis The Red Cross says conditions have worsened in Palestinian areas. 'Sacred basin' At Camp David, Israel pushed for a body to ensure religious freedom in J'lem for all.   1.   Appeasenick D.B.Simon jumps to rescue of wretched Barak&Olmert 11:14  |  Absolute Sweden 13/12/07   2.   Pathetic article by pathetic author 16:58  |  Smithy 13/12/07   3.   Angry Palestinian neighbors rained.... 18:05  |  Nora 13/12/07   4.   another proof,that leftis`m is mental disease 18:47  |  chaim 13/12/07   5.   Thanks Nora! 18:51  |  A very disapointed 1 13/12/07   6.   More elitist nonsense from Haaretz 20:16  |  Raymond from DC 13/12/07   7.   Agreed, this author is disgusting. 22:12  |  Etoile 13/12/07

Today Online Document reveals progress on core issues at Camp David Responses: 242 Rosner: U.S. report on Iran should have been tossed, not published Responses: 83 Red Cross: Israel worsening Palestinian humanitarian crisis Responses: 108 Russia: Deal reached with Iran on nuclear plant construction Responses: 44 Avineri: U.S. only effective on Mideast conflict in war or talks Responses: 48 More Headlines 23:44 Barak declares 'special situation' in Sderot 23:11 IAF strike kills 3 Palestinians detected launching Qassam 23:37 U.S. ambassador to UN calls Iran report a 'goal against ourselves' 01:07 Bush warns Syria not to interfere in Lebanese politics 19:09 Greek historian convicted over book denying the Holocaust 02:00 Record number of students take part in Birthright Israel this year 20:05 Druze MK probed for contacts with foreign agent 17:07 Red Cross: Israel worsening Palestinian humanitarian crisis 18:36 Olmert vows to reduce class sizes in major education reform 18:17 Police arrest four suspected of attempting to smuggle ecstasy Previous Editions Select Day 13 dec 12 dec 11 dec 10 dec 09 dec 07 dec 06 dec 05 dec 04 dec 03 dec 02 dec 30 nov

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