For Immediate Release
Israel Contact: Col. Ilan Egozi, 03 641 6674, mobile 52-255-0762, h
09-957-2555
US Contact: Linda Frankel, Friends of Israel Disabled Veterans,
212-689-3220, mobile 646-643-3440
lfrankel@fidv.org

Tel Aviv, July 27, 2006

In the Midst of War, Israel's Disabled Soldiers Reach Out to Others

Mattresses for Sleeping Now Cover Wheelchair Basketball Court for Families
of Disabled Veterans and Terror Victims Fleeing Rocket Fire in the North

With a deeper understanding of what it means to face the enemy head-on than
most of us will ever have, Israel's disabled veterans in the Tel Aviv area
are opening their Beit Halochem center, their homes, and their hearts to 150
families from the north of Israel.

These are families of other disabled veterans who live throughout northern
cities and who have come under daily fire from Katyusha rockets from
Lebanon.They are coming from Nahariya, Haifa, Kiryat Shemona, Carmiel,
Hatzor and a host of other cities, towns, Druze villages, and kibbutzim
throughout the north.

They have suffered serious disabilities from combat, or they may have been
civilian victims of terror. T he trauma of being in the line of fire, of
again hearing the wail of sirens and the screaming of rockets is compounded
by the nightmares of past battles, and they are reliving those nightmares.

Beit Halochem Centers, which are supported in the United States through the
Friends of Israel Disabled Veterans, are rehabilitation and treatment
centers throughout Israel for soldiers and victims of terror.They provide
therapeutic and recreational facilities to help these young people re-enter
life after suffering traumatic injuries.

The families from the north will be given temporary living quarters in the
Beit Halochem facility in Tel Aviv. The sports halls, normally used for
wheelchair basketball, etc., are being turned into sleeping accommodations
with mattresses provided for some 400 people. The families will be able to
use all the facilities of the building including the showers, kitchen, etc.A
playground area is being set up outside for the children and various
programs are being planned to keep the youngsters occupied during these
difficult times

As well, members of Zahal Disabled Veterans Organization, the soldiers who
use the Beit Halochem facilities, are being approached and ask to host
others from the north. In characteristically Israeli fashion, they are
opening their homes and their hearts to their fellow veterans.

As Israel struggles with war on two fronts, her "finest," her disabled
veterans, are doing their part by opening their homes and their lives to
their fellow veterans who are under siege, who are in the line of fire once
again.

For further information, please contact Linda Frankel at Friends of Israel
Disabled Veterans, 212-689-3220. E-mail: lfrankel@fidv.org. Or in Israel,
please contact Col. Ilan Egozi, 03 641 6674, mobile 52-255-0762, h
09-957-2555.
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Beit Halochem Tel Aviv
49 Shmuel Barcay Street
Afeka, Tel Aviv61392
03 641 6674, mobile 52-255-0762, h 09-957-2555.
Friends of Israel Disabled Veterans, Inc.
Linda Frankel
1133 Broadway, Suite 232
New York, NY 10010
212 689-3220, mobile: 646 643-3440
Serving Israel's Disabled Veterans and Victims of Terror
Friends of Israel Disabled Veterans (FIDV), founded in 1987, assists over
50,000 Israeli men and women who have given the ultimate for their country.
At the recreation, sports and rehabilitation centers in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem,
Haifa, Beer-Sheva (2008), and the convalescent center in Nahariya, they
find, for themselves and their families, the emotional support and physical
rehabilitation they need to help them regain their self-confidence, their
dignity, and control of their lives.