First publication:
Chairman of the lobby for the preservation of heritage sites, MK Ze'ev Elkin, today (Sunday) sent an urgent letter to Prime Minister Netanyahu, requesting to save the Ammunition Hill heritage site from closure.
The memorial site's budget was cut in half until those in charge informed the government that in the absence of the required budget they would close its doors in the coming weeks.
Back to Ammunition Hill, with the children of the fallen (archive) |
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Behind the scenes it turns out that the site fell between the thrones of the current government.
At the time of the distribution of roles and ministries in the establishment of the current government, a fight emerged between the Minister of Heritage and the Minister of Jerusalem, one ministry that was split into two in light of the coalition's demands, regarding the responsibility for the site.
This is how the following compromise was born: responsibility for the website will rest with the Prime Minister's office until a committee is established to decide on the issue.
In the meantime, the site was forgotten and so was the fight for it, and within the framework of the overall cuts, out of five million shekels in the budget, 2.5 million shekels remained, while the Prime Minister's office did not answer the people of the site who asked to ensure its continuity.
MK Ze'ev Elkin, photo: Noam Moshkowitz
Ze'ev Elkin, who served as Minister of Jerusalem and Heritage, wrote to Prime Minister Netanyahu in a last ditch attempt to prevent the planned cut: "I will ask for your immediate intervention to restore the ongoing budgeting required to maintain the place at 5 million NIS per year, as it was in 2022 in order to prevent its closure. Yes, I will ask to immediately take care of deciding which of the ministries will be the corporation's responsibility from now on, in accordance with the original government decision."
The communication trench in Ammunition Hill, in 1967, photo: Mishna Milner/Leam
MK Elkin also wrote: "Precisely in these days when a war is being waged with many martyrs, the importance of commemorating heroic battles receives renewed validation.
57 years after the heroic battle that took place on the hill, in which 36 fighters fell and many were injured, it is impossible for this site, which is a symbol of the heroism of the Six Day War, to be closed.
Yigal Alon said that "a nation that does not know its past, its present is poor and its future is full of fog", precisely today we have the moral duty to show our warriors that their heroism is not forgotten."
The Minister of Jerusalem and Israel's Tradition, Meir Proosh, convened the people of his office today to discuss an immediate solution that would allow the continued operation of the heritage site.
Minister for Jerusalem and Tradition.
Meir Proosh, photo: Oren Ben Hakon
"My office team formulated a plan to provide an immediate response that will continue the center's activities and I intend to meet with Mr. Maoz tomorrow, and formulate together with him the arrangement that will ensure the budget necessary for the basic activity of the place during this year," Minister Proosh said.
"Although, unfortunately, the important center is not under the responsibility of my office, I will dedicate the required amount for this important purpose. After we ensure the continuation of the basic activity of the place, I will work to make sure that this situation, in which a body that was a cornerstone in the memory of the fighters who fell in the war for the unification of Jerusalem, does not God forbid he will fall between the thrones again."
added the minister for Jerusalem and Israel's tradition
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