A burial cave was discovered along the southern section of
the Trans-Israel Highway near Sdeh Moshe in the area of
Kiryat Gat. Whether the graves are Jewish graves has not yet
been ascertained. In the meantime Transportation Minister
Meir Shetreet has ordered his Director General not to unearth
the graves until a solution is found.
Representatives of the Association for the Prevention of
Grave Desecration say the Antiquities Authority plans to harm
the graves found along the route of Highway 6 near Sdeh Moshe
and Noam, at the request of the Trans-Israel Highway Company,
which was commissioned to pave the highway.
Activists working to safeguard the honor of the dead told
Deputy Transportation Minister Rabbi Shmuel Halpert that, by
chance, they learned that the Kiryat Gat Police are preparing
to provide security for the work slated to be done at the
site and to prevent the chareidi public from interfering with
the destruction of the graves.
Following a memo from Rabbi Halpert, the Transportation
Minister said that anywhere graves are found along the
planned route for the Trans-Israel Highway, he would keep his
pledge to halt work immediately, pending an inquiry into the
matter by the special ministerial committee, which would seek
the approval of the Chief Rabbinate of Israel.
Shetreet instructed his new director general, Mr. Aryeh Bar,
to act in accordance with his pledge, and said he has
forbidden the Trans-Israel Highway Company from performing
work at the site of the graves.
