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This is a fifteen second marathon. Picture Look at this picture. What do you see? Eight children; or is it seven? Can you tell? What are they doing? Well, the four on the right look like they’ve started to race. You can even tell by their body positions that this isn’t going to be a jog; it’s an all-out sprint. The others, meanwhile, look like late-starters. They’re already behind. The boy closest to you, wearing a green shirt, appears to have decided to drop his bike to join the race. Will he be last to finish? Who’s last in this...

The Film Class, Uri Rosenwaks, current exhibitions, (Petach Tikva Museum) 9 Feb 2012 – The community of black Bedouins ("Afro-Bedouins") in the desert town of Rahat faces racial and class discrimination deeply rooted in the social conventions of the traditional Bedouin community in the Negev. The black Bedouins' roots lie in East Africa, where they were captured by Arab slave traders and sold in the markets of Zanzibar and Saudi Arabia to white Bedouin tribes. These markets operated until the early 20th century; many of those abducted and their offspring continued to serve as slaves in Palestine until 1948 (when...

Polish fighter jets arrived in Israel this week for joint training with the Israel Air Force in the Negev. The Polish dispatched a number of F-16 fighter jets which have been holding maneuvers alongside IAF F-16 and F-15s. The maneuvers are based in the Uvda Air Force Base near Eilat. "We learn from one another and it helps us learn from the Poles, how they fly and their doctrines," a senior IAF officer said Wednesday. Gen. Broni Lech Majewski, commander of the Polish Air Force, arrived in Israel on Monday to oversee the drill. This is the first time that...

The IDF's Southern Command is establishing a new regional brigade that will operate as part of the Edom army group. The IDF website explained that the Eilat Regiment "was born as a result of tension along the border with Egypt, that rose following the toppling of the government in Egypt and intensified after the terror attack on Route 12 in August." Eight Israelis died in the combined attack by terrorists who reached the Eilat border area by traveling from Gaza through the Sinai. The new brigade will operate in the Eilat area and along part of the Israel-Egypt border. It...

Terrorists in Hamas-controlled Gaza attacked a Western Negev community Monday night, and the IDF immediately retaliated. No one was injured, and there was no property damage in the Kassam missile attack in the Sha’ar HaNegev region, which includes Sderot. The IDF confirmed a direct hit on a weapons manufacturing site in its retaliation, which has become long-standing policy after every rocket firing on southern Israel. The number of missile strikes from Gaza has dropped in the past few days, but the total for the month of August was more than three times higher than in July. After the Sharon government...

Another sleepless night for the residents of southern Israel as Gaza terrorists launch at least 19 rocket and mortar attacks at communities across the region. Two Israelis were wounded in the night-long barrage, including a baby. A few minutes after midnight, three medium-range Grad Katyusha missiles were fired at Be'er Sheva. The Iron Dome anti-missile system intercepted two of the projectiles, destroying them upon impact. The third landed in an open area on the outskirts of the city. No physical injuries or damage was reported. At around the same time, the Color Red rocket alert system also activated for Ofakim,...

Terrorists from the Gaza Strip fired on Wednesday evening a Grad rocket at the Lachish region. The rocket fell in an open area between Sderot and Kiryat Gat, close to one of the communities in the Lachish Region. One woman suffered anxiety from the fall, but no other injuries were reported and no damage was done. Army Radio reported that the “Red Alert” siren was heard in the communities in the area just before the rocket fell. The report noted that this is the farthest that terrorists have fired a rocket into Israeli territory since before Operation Cast Lead in...

Thousands of residents of southern Israel spent Shabbat in bomb shelters, as Hamas terrorists from Gaza continued firing rockets at Israeli targets in the Negev. Since Thursday, Arab terrorists have fired over 100 mortar shells and Kassam rockets at Israeli targets, with fifty fired since early Saturday. The rockets hit not only areas near the border, but areas further inside Israel, including the Ashkelon area. Four Grad-style Katyusha rockets hit areas near the city, but there were no injuries or damage reported. However, several people were hospitalized for shock, and as of Saturday night, three were still in the hospital....

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu is playing with fire. And Israel is getting burned. Over the past week, it has been widely reported that the Obama administration and the Netanyahu government are conducting secret negotiations regarding future Israeli land surrenders to the Palestinians in the Jordan Valley and Jerusalem. According to the reports, the Obama administration has presented Netanyahu with a plan whereby Israel will cede its rights to eastern Jerusalem and the Jordan Valley to the Palestinians and then lease the areas from the Palestinians for a limited period. The reports on the length of the lease vary. Some claim...

NOTE: THIS IS THE NEW ISRAEL-RELATED THREAD Note The following news brief is a quote: Report: IDF attacks targets in south, central Gaza Strip Published: 08.17.10, 23:45 / Israel News Palestinians reported that the IDF had fired towards open ground in Khan Younis and attacked the smuggling tunnels in the south of the Gaza Strip. No injuries were reported. Two IDF soldiers were lightly wounded Tuesday morning from shells fired into the western Negev. (Ali Waked)

SNIPPET: "Police are working to figure out the origin of the rocket that was fired from the Gaza Strip Saturday evening and exploded near Kibbutz Nahal Oz, without causing damage or injures. A total of four rockets and two mortar shells were fired at Israel on Saturday, causing no injuries. An initial examination revealed that the rocket fired at Nahal Oz was manufactured using professional means, most likely outside of the borders of the Gaza Strip. The rocket had a diameter of 115 millimeters, and police sappers were working to locate fragments of it to be tested."

IDF strikes in Gaza in response to rocket Air Force planes target weapons warehouse, two smuggling tunnels in Strip; no injuries reported Hanan Greenberg Published: 06.25.10, 07:57 / Israel News Israel Air Force aircraft bombed a weapons warehouse in northern Gaza and two smuggling tunnels in the southern Strip on Thursday night. The Israel Defense Forces said the targets were hit and that all planes returned safely to their base. There were no reports of injuries. The attack was a response to the firing of a rocket and mortar shells at western Negev communities on Thursday. The IDF stressed that...

"Navy foils attack in waters near Gaza" SNIPPET: "As Gaza flotillas make headlines, Palestinian cell wearing diving suits attempts to launch attack from sea. IDF force spots cell members in waters of Nahal Aza area, opens fire. Al-Aqsa Brigades say four people killed, one missing. Shortly afterwards, IAF attacks rocket launching cell attacked in northern Gaza; one gunmen moderately hurt SNIPPET: "As the Gaza-bound flotillas continue to make headlines, the Israeli Navy thwarted an attack from the sea early Monday. According to the Israel Defense Forces Spokesperson's Unit, a Navy force spotted a cell in the waters of the Nahal...

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"Air Force strikes in Gaza" SNIPPET: "IDF retaliates for deadly Qassam attack: Air Force hits several Gaza targets, including metal foundry, smuggling tunnel; Vice PM Shalom says Israel to offer strong response to rocket attack that killed Thai worker Thursday" SNIPPET: "IDF aircraft struck at least four targets in the Gaza Strip on Friday, a day after a rocket fired from the Palestinian enclave killed a Thai worker in Israel, Hamas security officials and witnesses said." SNIPPET: "Israel also sent a letter of complaint to United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, who is due to visit Israel at the weekend,...

(IsraelNN.com) International travelers in and out Israel may find themselves in the Negev instead of at the venerable Ben Gurion Airport in a few years. Deputy Prime Minister Silvan Shalom, who also is Minister for the Development of the Negev and the Galilee, has proposed a new international facility to boost growth in the Negev and take the load off the Ben Gurion airport, located between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.

"I disagree with many policies of the Obama administration, but I know that President Barack Obama and [White House Chief of Staff] Rahm Emanuel believe that what they are doing is good for Israel," says Rabbi Asher Lopatin, who for the past 15 years has been the spiritual leader of one of Chicago's most active Jewish communities, the Anshe Shalom Bnai Israel congregation. "Rahm is a tough guy - and I'm not sure he's the best diplomat," he adds, "but I think that ultimately they think what they are doing is good for Israel." Emanuel had to leave the community...

SNIPPET: "Israeli warplanes bombard two smuggling tunnels in southern Strip early Sunday after Palestinians fire rocket at Negev on Saturday" SNIPPET: "IDF fighter jets struck two Palestinian smuggling tunnels in the southern Gaza Strip in a pre-dawn raid on Sunday. The army said that two of the tunnels had been hit but there were no reports of casualties. The strike came in response to a Qassam attack on Israel's western Negev on Saturday. The Color Red alert system was sounded in parts of the area and residents reported of hearing a loud blast. No injuries or damager were reported in...

Publication: Terrorism Monitor Volume: 7 Issue: 14 04:31 PM Age: 11 hrs By: Urged by a senior al-Qaeda ideologue to take over Pakistan, members of jihadi internet forums have begun to examine the possibility of controlling Pakistan’s nuclear weapons (al-faloja1.com, April 24). At the same time, jihadis continue to collect information on nuclear facilities around the globe, especially Israel’s nuclear projects, waiting for an opportunity to perpetrate successful terrorist attacks against these facilities after massive terrorist attacks using conventional weapons failed to give rise to the global supremacy of Islamic law (al-faloja1.com, April 22). On March 14, al-Fajr Media Center...

If only they could pave highways with this stuff. Scientists have discovered a patch of the earth's surface that remains virtually the same as it was 1.8 million years ago - and it looks pretty good for its age. Researchers are calling an expanse of "desert pavement" in Israel's Negev Desert the oldest continuous surface on earth, the current issue of the journal GSA Bulletin reports.