24 Friday, October 28, 1983
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
Municipal Elections Inconclusive
JERUSALEM (JTA)
Labor made some gains and
Likud held its own in Tues-
day's municipal elections in
Israel which drew a rela-
tively low voter turnout de-
spite being a workers' holi-
day.
Local issues and per-
sonalities predominated,
frustrating those who had
hoped to spot a national
trend pointing toward the
possible outcome of the next
Knesset elections.
Pundits agreed that there
was no massive protest vote
against the Likud govern-
ment's economic or other
policies. Shevakh Weiss, a
Labor MK and leading
political analyst, observed
that those who expected a
large-scale punishdient "of
Likud were disappointed."
Labor Party chairman
Shimon Peres professed
to be "encouraged" and
spoke of the beginning of
a political turnabout. But
all he could cite in sup-
port of that assessment
were Labor gains in some
Negev development
towns which were swept
by Likud in the 1977 and
1981 national elections.
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30333 Southfield Rood (between 12 & 13 Mile Rds.)
Petah Tikva. In Haifa,
Laborite incumbent Mayor
Arye Gurel was re-elected
with 63 percent of the vote.
The rapidly-declining
National Religious Party,
riven by internal strife,
managed to elect only one of
its candidates to the
Jerusalem City Council.
The NRP entered the elec-
tion with two rival lists, one
representing its "Young
Guard" and the other its
Lamifne faction. _
Barely 50 percent of Is-
rael's eligible voters cast
ballots Tuesday, corn-
pared to an 80 percent
turnout for Knesset elec-
tions. This led analysts
and politicians to agree
that the decision to hold
municipal elections
separate from national
elections was an unsuc-
cessful experiment.
Communist candidates
did poorly in most Arab
population centers of Israel.
The Democratic Front, a
surrogate for the Moscow-
oriented Raka Communist
Party, lost control of five
large Arab villages in
Galilee. Their most serious
setback was in Sakhnin
near Acre in Lower Galilee
where a Labor-backed can-
didate triumphed. Sakhnin
has a population of 14,000.
AIn Umm el Fahem, the
largest Arab village in Is-
rael with a population of
20,000, the election was
close and a run-off will be
held in what was until now
a major Communist stron-
ghold.
But the Communists
strengthened their grip on
Nazareth, the largest Arab
city in Israel. Incumbent
Mayor Tawfik Zayyad was
re-elected with 70 percent of
the vote and his list won 11
of the 17 city council seats.
Kirlwatrick Scores Abuse
of Israel in United Nations
BALTIMORE (JTA) —
Ambassador Jeane
Kirkpatrick defended the
But Likud candidates United Nations as an im-
won in some Labor stron- portant forum for the reso-
gholds, leading Likud MKs lution of conflicts despite a
Haim Kaufman and Ehud decade-long "obsessive"
Olmert to observe with anti-Semitic campaign in
some credibility that the the UN that has "nothing to
opposition leader "didn't do with the particular
have much to be policies of the different Is-
encouraged" about.
raeli governments.
In the local elections
She said that during the
mayoral candidates run as past 10 years, Israel has
individuals and town coun- been "isolated, despised,
cil members are elected humiliated and victimized"
from party lists. This re- in what she termed "ritual
sults more often than not in denunciation." But Mrs.
split votes.
Kirkpatrick asserted that
A case in point was the Israel's situation in the UN
sweeping victory of is now improving.
Jerusalem's ever-popular
The envoy made her re-
Mayor Teddy Kollek, who marks during an address to
was re-elected with 63 per- 600 delegates at the bi-
cent of the vote in a city that ennial convention of
is traditionally a Likud- Pioneer Women/Naamat
Herut stronghold. But Kok_ which presented her with
lek's "One Jerusalem" its Golda Meir Human Re-
(Laborite) list emerged with lations Award for "her
a bare one-vote majority in staunch defense of Israel in
the new city council. It will the UN" and her "vigorous
have 16 seats in the 31- advocacy" of the emigration
member body.
rights of Soviet Jews.
Incumbent Likud Mayor
In a related develop-
Shlomo Lahat of Tel Aviv
took' 58 percent of the vote ment, Israel's credentials
in a city where Labor usu- to the 38th General As-
ally dominates in Knesset sembly were approved
elections. His Labor Party last week despite an at-
rival, Dov Ben-Meir, got a tempt by Iran, backed by
bare 22 percent and 42 other Third World and
maverick independent Abie Arab states and the
Nathan, the perennial Soviet Union, to suspend
peace advocate, finished Israel from this year's
third with a respectable session of the world
eight percent. But Likud organization.
At the opening of the
won less than 50 percent of
the Tel Aviv City Council, General Assembly's meet-
which places Lehat at the ing, the Iranian Ambas-
mercy of his small coalition sador to the UN, Said
Rajaie-Khorassani, intro-
partners.
The two biggest upsets duced an amendment to the
occurred) in Herzliya, the report of the Credentials
wealthy suburb north of Tel Committee which recom-
Aviv where Likud chal- mended the approval of the
lenger Eli Landau defeated credentials of some 120
incumbent Labor veteran delegations, including Is-
Yosef Nevo for mayor; and rael's.
Charging that Israel ig-
in Rishon Lezion, south of
Tel Aviv, where Labor chal- nored UN resolutions and
lenger Meir . Nitzan unsea- occupied Arab territories,
ted the incumbent Likud the Iranian amendment
read: "The General Assem-
Mayor Hananiah Gibstein.
Labor incumbents were bly approves the first report
re-elected in Holon and of the Credentials Commit-
tee, except the credentials of
Israel."
Norway, acting on behalf
of the Scandinavian states,
proposed that no action be
taken on the Iranian
amendment: Although the
legality and validity of the
Norwegian motion was
challenged by Iran and
other nations, it was ap-
proved by a vote of 79-43
with 19 abstentions. Egypt
supported the Norwegian
motion. The Lebanese dele-
gation did not participate in
the voting.
This was the second
consecutive year that
Iran attempted to block
approval of Israel's cre-
dentials in the General
Assembly through an
amendment to its Cre-
dentials Committee's re-
port. The Iranians were
thwarted last year by a
no-action motion intro-
duced by Finland.
Before the Assembly ses-
sion opened, the 42 coun-
tries backing the Iranian
amendment circulated a
letter to all delegations ex-
plaining their opposition to
the approval of Israel's cre-
dentials. The letter cited Is-
raeli actions in the occupied
Arab territories and its re-
fusal to implement UN reso-
lutions.
Israel's Ambassador to
the UN, Yehuda Blum, cir-
culated a letter of reply de-
nouncing the letter of the 42
countries as a "crude . . .
attempt" to abuse the cre-
dentials procedure for ex-
traneous considerations
and a manifestation of the
"obsessive hatred" of cer-
tain states of Israel.
Invention Cited
HAIFA — A chemical
separation instrument de-
veloped by the Lidex Corp.
of Haifa has been named
"one of the 100 most sig-
nificant technological ad-
vances of 1983" by the Dun
& Bradstreet publication
Industrial Research and
Development.