The Soldiers Welfare Committee announced today that it will erect 150 lighted shelters at road junctions and other sites along the country’s highways where soldiers congregate to hitch rides.
The project, which will cost about $500,000, is a security measure. Hitch-hiking sites have been a favorite target of terrorists. The shelters will be enclosed by plastic and will be lighted by solar-powered batteries where no facilities exist for plugging into the electric power system.
The army, meanwhile, has launched a campaign to discourage soldiers, particularly women, from taking rides in unknown civilian cars to and from their bases. The campaign began last month after a young woman soldier, Hadass Kedmi, hitched a ride near Haifa, only to be Kidnapped, raped and murdered. (See separate story.)
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.