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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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.