Hi Everyone!
The English article below is 1 month old.
The additional news is that Ariel (yes the same city 
that is in the news about the fence) has started free 
experimental WiFi in various placesin the city including 
their Internet cafe. 
The Hebrew article about this is located at:
http://www.ariel.muni.il/apps/hebrew/place.asp?TableName=SYNAG
OGUE&AppId=34&PlaceId=44&NewWin=1

I read on a mailing list that Dizengof Center in Tel-Aviv also has
a WiFi access point. It will be interesting to watch how quickly this
technology spreads in Israel.
Chag Sameach,
Jacob

Civilians may use bluetooth, WiFi from October 31
 
by  Oded Hermoni
01.9.2003
http://www.themarker.com

From October 31, 2003, civilians may legally use devices with 
bluetooth and WiFi capabilities. Communications Ministry director-
general Uri Olenik advised a Knesset committee today. 

The Communications Ministry and Defense Ministry have reached an 
agreement on use by civilians of devices with bluetooth and 
standard 802.11 WiFi capabilities that operate at 2.4 gigahertz. Until 
now the frequencies had been reserved for military use. 

Originally civilians were to be allowed access from the 2005. But the 
defense establishment finally capitulated to the bitter reality of 
proliferating smuggled devices bearing bluetooth and WiFi 
capabilities. 

Defense Ministry director-general Amos Yaron made the decision 
last week after three years of battle between the hi-tech sector and 
the military, which has been using those frequencies. 

The battle reached the big leagues after Prime Minister Ariel Sharon 
decided to intervene himself, in his capacity as communications 
minister. His director-general, Avigdor Yitzhaki, wrote to Yaron that 
the frequencies should be freed by October 2003. 

"The use of these devices is developing fast around the world and 
they are being imported to Israel privately and illegally, and are in 
fact being disseminated in Israel with our permission or without. This 
technological advance cannot be stopped," Yitzhaki wrote. 

The Defense Ministry did not bow its head and capitulate, but 
instead claimed budgetary reasons not to relinquish the frequencies 
for civilian use. But Finance Ministry had rejected the Defense 
Ministry request for an NIS 90 million budget to replace the systems 
the army uses, it explained. New systems cannot be in place until 
2005, Yaron wrote back. 

Also, the decision about the frequencies should be made in a joint 
Defense Ministry-Communications Ministry frequencies committee, 
Yaron claimed. It is however a forum in which the defense 
establishment has an unbeatable majority, because of votes from 
the police and army. 

But the defense establishment has now reversed, perhaps 
persuaded by the growing public pressure and illegal use of the 2.4 
gigahertz frequency. The frequencies committee will be convening to 
approve the decision. 

Bluetooth and WiFi are universal standards that operate at 2.4 
gigahertz, as do microwaves. They are used by all communications, 
hardware, and electronics companies around the world, except in 
Israel and in a few other countries. Israel is considered advanced in 
its use of cellular technology, but had banned bluetooth and WiFi 
technology, since electronic warfare systems used those very 
frequencies. Importers of cellphones equipped with bluetooth 
capabilities had to neutralize the advanced properties before selling 
the handsets in Israel. 

Bluetooth is a technology that connects nearby electronic and 
portable devices to each other through radio waves. WiFi stands for 
Wireless Fidelity, and describes a high-frequency wireless local 
area network, also known as WLAN.