Texas Jewish Post (Fort Worth, Tex.), Vol. 33, No. 49, Ed. 1 Thursday, December 6, 1979 Page: 2 of 40
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TEXAS JEWISH POST HANUKA ISSUE THURSDAY, DECEMBER 6, 1979 PAGE 2
Histadrut Cancels Strike
Austerity Pinches Israel
JERUSALEM [WNS] _ -
The Histadrui, at the urging
of the national Labor Court
here, cancelled on Nov. 26 a
general strike called for
Nov. 27. The court did not
act on an appeal by the
Manufacturers Association
that such a strike be
declared illegal but did
arrange a compromise in the
interests of “good labor
relations.” Plans for the
strike were touched off by
the impact of implementa-
tion of a severe austerity
program, developed by the
new Finance Minister Yigal
Hurwitz, to cope with
Israel’s searing inflation.
The Labor Court, promising
to review the situation soon,
agreed Histadrut could reac-
tivate strike plans. The
Histadrut leadership had
appeared determined Nov.
25 to proceed with the
nation-wide walkout after a
Tel Aviv district Labor
Court refused to ban a
said they would not partici-
pate, unwilling to lose a
day’s pay.
Some effects of Hurwitz’s
stringent program were
reported. One report indi-
cated the labor market is
responding to Hurwitz’s
efforts to shift employment
to production output from
the service sector. Soaring
prices stemming from elim-
ination of government sub-
sidies in the Hurwitz pro-
gram were hurting consum-
er sales. Winter sales are
starting now instead of in
December. The shoe indus-
try said it was loaded with
unsold footware. The de-
velopments appeared to
support a warning by
Avraham Shavit, Manufac-
turers Association presi-
dent, of looming large-scale
job lessness. He said he had
supplied Hurwitz a week
before with a list of plants
which could absorb immed-
strike. The decision to strike iately 1600 workers but, he
was taken at a stormy
session marked by fist-fights
between Labor party and
told a press conference, the
list is no longer valid and
many plants face bankrupt-
other opposition members cy because of credit tighten-
and Likud representatives ing. The only available help,
of Premier Begin’s coalition- TnrsSW, 'IS’idSfTs in Israeli
government. A Likud-spon- pounds at an interest rate of
sored motion on non-confi- 120 per cent or dollar loans
dence in Histadrut Secre- at 12 per cent. A firm of
tary General Yeruham financial consultants of Bank
Meshel was beaten. A Leumi published a study
general strike apparently , predie'ing a 40 per cent
would not have been fully inflation jump over ihe next
effective because some pub- three men hs and that
lie service union workers consumer prices will rise 20
per cent higher than origin-
ally anticipated. Manufac-
turers reported that the
credit freeze alone would
force them to boost prices by
ten per cent.
Hurwitz warned on Nov.
27 he would end government
support for El A1 Airlines
unless all parties in the
carrier find a way to
rehabilitate it. Speaking
before the Likud Knesset
faction, Hurwitz said El A1
was losing $70 million a year
and projected losses for next
year were $110 million. He
said that when the price of
milk for children had to be
doubled, there was no
justification for government
financing of El A1 losses. He
defended his austerity pro-
gram with the prediction it
would bring a “significant
drop” in the inflation rate in
five to ten months. Members
of the Likud faction repeat-
edly told Hurwitz El A1 was
a key test for his policy.
Eliezer Shostak, for exam-
ple, said El A1 labor
relations had been “poison-
ing” the entire economy for
the past two years. Hurwitz
spoke in the Knesset a few
hours after Meshel told
thousands of workers meet-
ing near Histadrut head-
quarters in Tel Aviv Hista-
drut would fight the new
economic hardships. He told
the 5000 workers that the
general strike would take
place eventually.
Santa Katerina Fully Egyptian
Begin Gov't Proposes
Autopsies Limit
JERUSALEM [WNS] -
Premier Begin’s Likud-led
coalition government has
decided to present promptly
to the Knesset an amend-
ment to Israel’s Pathology
Law severely limiting cir-
cumstances under which
autopsies can be performed,
a move intended to placate
the Agudat Israel bloc which
was angered by the recent
defeat of an anti-abortion
measure and has been
threatening to quit the
coalition on that issue. The
autopsy amendment mea-
sure, approved unanimously
by the Cabinet on Nov. 25,
would permit autopsies only
if the dead person had
agreed before death or if the
family consented after
death. The sole exception
would be cases involvirig
suspicion of foul play. A
panel of three doctors can
now override a family’s
objections to an autopsy. It
has been a cause of bitter
secular-religious strife. Doc-
tors and Orthodox families
have battled over possession
of a body, though such
disputes have declined as
Israel’s medical teaching
hospitals have been able to
obtain an adequate supply of
cadavers from abroad. The
Israel Medical Association
4 f * T { ♦ •*• *
opposes the amendment. A
delegation of doctors plan
to lobby Knesset members
but coalition whips have said
the amendment will not
encounter the kind of Knes-
set opposition which led to
defeat of the anti-abortion
^amendment. What is not
clear is whether passage of
the autopsy amendment
would satisfy the Aguda
while the relatively liberal
abortion law remains in
force.
But a dormant issue has
been revived by MK David
Glass of the National Reli-
gious Party which could
bring a major battle in the
Knesset and possibly topple
the government. As chair-
man of the Knesset’s Legal
Committee, Glass has start-
ed hearings on the “who is a
Jew?” amendment to Isra-
el’s Law of Return, which
has evoked massive Parlia-
mentary battles in the past.
The amendment, proposed
more than a year ago by
Kalman Kahana of the
Poalei Agudat Israel, would
— as in previous efforts at
amendment — add to the
law on conversions to
Judaism the phrase “accord-
ing to Halacha,” a provision
which would nullify conver-
sions performed by any but
Orthodox rahbis. Such, an
amendment is one of several -
concc ssions to the Orthodox
to wnich Begin committed
himself in exchange for their
support in forming his
coalition two years ago.
Strongly opposed within
Israel and among Reform
and Conservative Jews
abroad, it is just as strongly
supported by the three
religious factions — the NRP
and the two Aguda parties.
The amendment’s explosive
implications have prevented
a full-scale Knesset debate
but now Glass’s committee
has started taking testi-
mony. At the committee’s
session on Nov. 28, Prof.
Ezra Spicehandler of the
Jerusalem branch of the
Hebrew Union College, the
American Reform seminary,
said the amendment would
“sow division” among the
Jewish people at a time
when maximum solidarity is
needed, offending “85 per
cent” of American Jews in
the Reform and Conserva-
■ live movements. In reply to
a question from Glass,
Spicehandler said the Re-
form movement would give
“favorable consideration” to
the idea of a joint Orthodox-
Conservative - Reform Beth
Din (religious court) to
handle conversions. i
BY YITZHAK SHARGIL
SANTA KATERINA,
Egyptian Sinai, [JTA] —
One week ago, the sign at
the small airfield near the
Sania Katerina Monastary
said, in bold Hebrew and
English letters, “Mt. Sinai
Airport.” Today, the sign, in
Arabic and English, reads
“Santa Katerina Airport.”
The Hebrew lettering on
this and on all other signs
designating places, roads
and buildings has been
blotted out with black paint.
Ii is a small thing but it
brings home bluntly the
obliteration of 12 years of
Israeli presence in this
region at the foot of Mt.
Sinai that was officially
returned to Egyptian admin-
istration last Tuesday, two
months ahead of the time-
table set by the Israeli-Eg-
yptian peace treaty. Even
the plaque on the airport
terminal building stating
that it was built by the
Israeli Army Corps of
Engineers has been covered
— in this case by a large
portrait of President Anwar
Sadat who formally took
possession of the area last
week, on the second anni-
versary of his visit to
Jerusalem.
Certain unremovable evi-
dence of Israeli enterprise
remains. There are the
paved roads, the tourist
motels and shops, an Israeli
field school specializing in
ecology and various water
wells dug by Israelis in this
arid region. And Israeli
tourists who are flocking
here with passports or
identity cards are given a
warm welcome by the new
owners.
Of course, they must
bring dollars. The Israeli
Pound is no longer legal
currency. The Egyptians
have opened a small bank at
the airport where visitors
can exchange Pounds for
dollars or Egyptian curren-
cy. It is needed to pay the $3
landing fee. A glass of
mango juice costs $1, or its
Egyptian equivalent. The
biggest customers at the
bank are local Bedouins who
somehow have accumulated
sackfulls of Israeli currency.
Israeli Tourists Arrive
Regularly
Planes and busloads of
tourists from Israel ar
here every day and pick
Egyptian entry visas at t
airport or the bus station. It
is a simple process. Any
holder of an Israeli passport
or identity card need bring
only an extra photo which is
pasted on the Egyptian for,
and stamped with the offic
seal.
I
But this special treatment
will end on January 25, 1980,
’.he day the area was
originally scheduled to be
handed back to Egypt. After
’.hat, Israelis will have
apply in advance for Eg
tian visas, just like touri
from any other country.
Meanwhile, in the remote
southwestern region of Sin-
ai, the last Israeli techni-
cians have left A Tour and
the offshore Alma oilfiel
That region was formal
returned to Egypt
departing Israelis look with
hem the $15 million floating
oil rig which had beeff
drilling in the Gulf of Suez.
I' was dismantled and taken
to Eilat where it will remain
unless the Egyptians agi
to buy it. They are expectj
to eventually, in which c;
the rig will be refloated and
towed back to the Gulf.
anu
el<^
I
1
Alma Oilfields Return To Egypt
BY GIL SEDAN
JERUSALEM [JTA] -
The Alma oilfields on the
Gulf of Suez, the last of the
Sinai oilfields in Israeli
hands, were formally return-
ed to Egypt Nov. 25 in brief
military ceremonies in the
town of A Tour in southern
Sinai. The Israeli Flag was
hauled down and replaced
by an Egyptian flag.
The Israelis departed just
two years after oil was first
discovered at the Alma site.
The wells built there pro-
vided Israel with two million
tons of crude oil annually, a
quarter of its total consump-
i ion. Their return to Egypt
represents the first direct
large-scale financial benefit
to the Egyptians from their
peace treaty with Israel.
Under an agreement re-
cently concluded between
the two countries, Israel will
continue to receive two
million tons of Sinai oil
annually from Egypt. Israel
will pay $23.50 per barrel,
'.he price set by the
Organization of Petroleum
Exporting Countries
(OPEC), during the first
year. Negotiations are
scheduled over the price of
oil after that period. The
Egyptians are expected to
ask for $32.50 per barrel, a
price recently quoted on the
Rotterdam spot market.
2500-Square-KM Area
Also Returned
Israel turned over a
2500-square-kilometer area
in southwestern Sinai to the
Egyptians along with the
oilfields. On Jan. 25, 1980, it
will relinquish a much larger
area including three strate-
gic passes in central Sinai.
Egypt will then control
two-thirds of the peninsula.
The new demarcation line
will run from El Arish on the
Mediterranean coast to Ras
Mohammed on the Red Sea.
I
The final withdrawal frrtn
Sinai in 1981 will be P.
Israel’s original internation-
al border with Egypt. At
that time Israel will give up
the town of Yamit in the
north and Ophira in K
sou’ h along with its mililBy
airfields in Sinai. B
The documents transfer-
ring the Alma oilfields to
Egypt were signed at a
separate ceremony by Dr.
Elazar Barak, director gen-
eral of Israel’s national Bl
corporation, and Dr. MB-
moud Ayouti of the Egyp-
tian oil company. The
Egyptians intend to make A
Tour their district headquar-
ters in southern Sinai. The
area is presently inhabited
by some 1200 Bedouins, m
The last Israeli lechB
cians departed some days
ago and the last tanker left
Alma with 50,000 barrels of
oil for Israel. A large sign on
the local canteen wall was an
epitaph for 12 years
Israeli presence there,
read, “The story is over.
INDEX
PAGE
Dallas Doings..............................................................3
Postorlal: "The Big Lie'.................................................4
Letters.........................................................................4
Jewish Book Month at Emanu-El..................................5
S. Israel Sisterhood Hanuka Donor..............................5
America's Foreign Policy: An Assessment..................8
Battle To Wear Yarmulkc i Ends................................10
AJ Committee To Honor James 0. Berry....................12
JNF Offer: $500 For Best Blue Box Letter..................14
New Young Judaea Alumni Group............................16
Time Again For Christmas Mltzvot............................17
With Our Rabbis........................................................18 t
Synagogue Services..................................................f 9
Cooking.....................................................................21
PAGE
Dallas Dining and Entertainment.........................22-2fl|
PLO Wins Points At UN..............................................?■
St. Louis Dentist Charms Tourists To Israel................2^
Fort Worth Around The Town....................................27
Heilman To Speak at FW Federation Meeting...........27
Current Plight of Soviet Jewry...................................28
Israeli Gymnasts Enjoy 'Cowtown,' ’Cousins'.............30
Murray Greenfield To Probe World Crisis.................30
Fort Worth Dining and Entertainment.......................31
Jewish Students Decline Curtailed [Part II]...............32
Rosenthal Chairs Reform's National Convention.......35
Bob Segal Examines 'The Jerusalem Challenge'........3
JCC Winter Holiday Program for Children.................3
Syrian Jews Cling To Past..........................................3
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Wisch, J. A. Texas Jewish Post (Fort Worth, Tex.), Vol. 33, No. 49, Ed. 1 Thursday, December 6, 1979, newspaper, December 6, 1979; Fort Worth, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth753449/m1/2/: accessed March 19, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; .