6—Friday, September 9, 1966 Alignment Accepts Eshkol Economic Plan, Other Parties Balk as Israel's Woes Mount JERUSALEM (JTA)—The dom- inant alignment partners in Pre- mier Levi Eshkol's government- Mapai and Ahdut Avoda — have endorsed separately the same ver- sion of Finance Minister Pinhas Sapir's three-year austerity pro- gram to deal with Israel's eco- nomic difficulties. However, the remaining hurdles to full coalition agreement on the plan are still formidable. When the coalition partners met Wednesday for a general discussion of the austerity plan, Mapam was still insisting on a compulsory loan and heavier income taxes on higher income groups. Sapir is strongly op- posed to a compulsory loan. The National Religious Party and the Independent Liberals oppose both the loan and the proposed steeply higher income taxes. Moshe Shapira, interior min- ister and NRP leader, said before the meeting that his party gener- ally supported the Sapir plan but after many compromises, about all that was left of it was a pro- posed cut in cost-of-living allow- ances to Israeli wage-earners. He added that the present gov- ernment was unable to approve a plan which could deal effectively with Israel's severe economic problems and that the plan which will be eventually approved will not go to the roots of the problem. Meanwhile, the ministerial eco- nomic committee decided to raise electricity charges by 6 per cent. The reason given for the steep in- crease was that the treasury was no longer able to pay a million- pound subsidy to the company. The proposal approved by the Mapai secretariat and by the Ahdut central committee would expand imports by keeping wages down, by revising work norms upward and would seek more efficient use of labor through worker transfers if nec- essary. The parties also ap- proved proposals for increased taxes on capital gains, and re- ductions in expense alowance3 to businessmen. In addition, the two parties moved to find jobs for 25,000 workers currently unemployed, a figure which they feared might reach 50,000 by next year. They accepted a proposal by Akiva Gov- rin, chairman of the alignment's economic committee,' to set up a special "Unemployment Author- ity" to seek work for the jobless. Dismissals of workers have con- tinued in a number of plants and factories throughout the country, following decreases in production schedules. Efforts are now being intensified to prevent further dis- missals on the eve of the High Holy Days, while a new wave of unemployment is feared by the end of this month. Mapam sources said Israel should seek "a more just distribu- tion of the burden of fighting un- employment." They said this was the basic reason for Mapam's de- mand for a compulsory loan as well as for higher taxation on middle and higher incomes. The Tel Aviv secretariat of Mapai urged immediate govern- ment action to curb unemploy- ment in the building trades in Tel Aviv. Mayor Mordechai Na- mir told a Tel Aviv branch meeting that applications for new building permits were down almost to zero, and said there would be severe unemployment among building workers in Tel Aviv. The Mapai branch then en- dorsed the mayor's demand that the government carry out a prom- ise to start slum clearance proj- THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS Jewish Students Insist God Is Alive but Question Relevance for Today ects and build housing for young couples. T h e Mapai - Ahdut agreement also provides for continuation by the government of its education, housing and social welfare pro- gram, and for assisting develop- ment areas hardest hit by Israel's swelling unemployment; calls for a balanced budget, aimed at eco- nomic advancement and for assur- ing "social justice;" and urges more efficient investigation of in- come tax obligations so that "all sectors of the population" will pay their required taxes. The plan calls on labor to be more "conscious of its responsi- bilities" and "more fluid" in pass- ing from one sector of the econ- omy to another "as circumstances demand." STARLIGHT. Pa. (JTA) — A group of 221 Jewish students par- ticipating in the annual summer institute of the Bnai Brith Hillel Foundation here, was seen to be in general agreement .that, while they accept the existence of God, they have severe doubts as to whether the Supreme Being has any meaning for their own exist- ence. The students, from 129 American and Canadian colleges. dismissed , the "God is dead" debate as a "Christian controversy." The viewpoint of the student par- ticipants on the "God is dead" debate was summarized by a Prin- ceton University junior who said that American Jewish undergradu- ates "are all believers, divided be- tween those who think about it and those who do not." However, many of the students questioned in It calls on the government to assure stable prices, which would include supervision of monopolies and cartels. Under the plan, the capital gains tax would be in- creased from 25 to 30 per cent, while commissions of banks and insurance companies would be re- duced by 10 per cent. Foreign currency allowances for visits abroad would be cut from $500 to $350. The plan would give main emphasis to incentives to increase exports by tax reduc- tions and by government subsi- dies to exporters. Meanwhile, the cabinet began discussions of Israel's 1967-68 budget, which reportedly will reach 5,000,000,000 pounds ($1,670,- 000,000), nearly 10 per cent higher than the current budget. The addi- tional income for the expenditures of the next fiscal year, which starts April 1, is expected to come from increased taxation. Finance Minister Pinhas Sapir had requested that the Cabinet be- gin consideration of the new budget several months earlier seminars and workshops whether it was possible to achieve a con- cept of God acceptable to both mod- ern man and to Jewish tradition. The students applauded an ad- dress by Rabbi Jack Cohen, Hil- lel director at the Hebrew Uni- versity in Jerusalem, in which he challenged current education- al practices and asserted that the contemporary Jewish commu- nity "must catch up with its ar----/ cestors by providing a qual.1., of Jewish education based free inquiry rather than ok..- schools of indoctrination." A 19-member faculty of Hillel di- rectors and guest lecturers guided the eight-day seminar on whether "Jewish distinctiveness" has con- temporary meaning and purpose. THE BEST IN SALES AND SERVICE than in previous years, because of the changes to be brought about by the austerity program. One Israeli economist termed the threat of business recession "almost biblical. We've enjoyed seven fat years since 1959, and there is every indication we are facing seven lean years." The increase in the gross na- tional product dropped from its normal 10-12 per cent a year to 7 per cent last year. There are indications that it may be about HANK NEWMAN 9 per cent this year. President In 1965, fewer autos, refrigera- tors, gaS stoves and radios were purchased—a 5 per cent increase, compared with a normal rise of 20 per cent. The slowing down of immigra- tion was blamed partly for the de- cline in housing demand. 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