Opening of the Tel Zafit National Park

As promised, I finally got down to writing something about the very nice ceremony that I participated in on Wednesday afternoon (April 2, 2008).

Here is a nice view of the tell from the north

The story goes like this: Several years ago, when the Israeli National Electric Company requested to expand the “Zafit” electric station, which is just to the north of Tell es-Safi/Gath, they were granted their request on the condition that they give substantial funds for environmental conservation in the region. Due to this, ca. 1000000 NIS were allocated for works on the Tel Zafit National Park and the Elah Valley Nature Reserve. Following a very impressive collaboration between the Yoav Regional Council, the Nature and Parks Authority, the Antiquities Authority, the Keren Kayemet (the Jewish National Fund), and several other public institutions, over the last year or so, work has been carried out at Tell es-Safi/Gath, as part of the planned opening of the “Tel Zafit National Park“.

In addition, quite a large crowd of people came, including members of the el-Azi family (including the Sheikh, Yunis el-Azi), some of the Safi staff (Uri Reiss and Amit Dagan), members of Kibbutz Kfar Menachem (where up till recent seasons, we used as our field base during the summer), local school children, and many others. There was even a local choir that sang some songs during the ceremony.