THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS Friday, December 28, 1984 0 Wit& 546-6200 Tel Aviv gets word on austerity: fire city workers, raise taxes Tel Aviv (JTA) — The Interior Ministry told the Tel Aviv Munic- ipality that it had better fire sev- eral hundred city employees and raise local taxes by ten percent if it expects to be bailed out of its current financial difficulties. ( ,7) The austerity-or-else scenario was outlined by the Ministry's di- rector general, Haim Kubersky, at a press conference last week. Kubersky was responding to charges by Tel Aviv Mayor Shlomo Lahat that the govern- ment's failure to allocate funds was responsible for the 11-day strike by city workers to protest the non-payment of their Novem- ber salaries. The strike ended Saturday night after commercial banks agreed to lend the city council an additional IS 2 billion 4 (about $3.3 million) so that it could meet its payroll. Kubersky insisted that the city government must make sacrifices in the interests of an economic re- covery plan. Lahat said elements of the plan proposed by the gov- ernment are "unreasonable and impossible." But according to the Interior Ministry, which oversees local governments, cutbacks in expenditures are a prerequisite for further government assis- tance. Kubersky explained, however, that the city will not receive direct financial help from the state. In- stead, the government will encourage local banks to loan Tel Aviv more money, which the city will have to pay off from its re- sources. The government official con- Analyzing human rights New York — Direct political ac- tion is less likely to bring on social change in the Soviet Union than the current human rights move- ment, asserts a noted authority on Soviet repression of dissidents, himself a Russian emigre now liv- ing in the United States. Valery Chalidze, co-founder with Andrei Sakharov and Andr.3i Tverdokhlebov of the Soviet Human Rights Committee, points out that there is no telling how long a preliminary struggle must continue in the Soviet Union be- fore direct political action be- comes possible. Stressing that the approach of the human rights movement in the Soviet Union, which em- phasizes understanding of the rule of law, is more effective than direct political action in encouraging the necessary social development. Chalidze adds: "Any direct political challenge in the Soviet "Revolutionaries and human rights activists in the Soviet Union are critical of the authorities. Nevertheless there is a fundamental incompatibility between them." Union would require greater sac- rifices and achieve fewer results." Chalidze's views are expressed in a 50-page pamphlet entitled The Soviet Human Rights Move- ment: A Memoir just published by the American Jewish Commit- tee's Jacob Blaustein Institute for the Advancement of Human Rights. In a foreword, Richard Maass, chairman of the institute, emphasizes Chalidze's conviction that "revolution does not auto- matically or necessarily result in more freedom or justice, or in greater respect for human rights either by governments or their peoples." Chalidze believes, Maass notes, that "before respect for human rights can be achieved in the USSR, knowledge and under- standing of the rule of law must spread among the leadership and the people." The Russian human rights ad- vocate points out that in the West traditions of pluralism, peaceful political struggle, and tolerance of differing opinions have developed over the course of centuries. "It is quite unrealistic," he states, "to expect that Russia can achieve the same level of social development within a few years." Not only is the regime too strong and too insecure to permit serious unsanctioned political ac- tivity, Chalidze believes, "but the pursuit by separate political groups of specific concessions would divide, rather than unite the people." "Both revolutionaires and the human rights activists in the Soviet Union are critical of the authorities," writes Chalidze, "and both take considerable per- sonal risks to pursue their goals. Nevertheless, there is a funda- mental incompatibility between them" he explains. "We human rights activists hoped that by exercising our rights in exemplary fashion, and by encouraging some of our com- patriots to do so, we would lay the groundwork for positive change in the Soviet Union and persuade the government, over time, to yield to public pressure and show greater respect for the rule of law. For the revolutionaries, however, the Soviet system is beyond rede- mption." Both the revolutionaries and the reformers think they are right, Chalidze notes, adding that he believes that "a realistic ap- praisal of the strength and stabil- ity of the Soviet system, as well as of its historical experience, favors the reformers." The world functions by -com- promise and deals, Chalidze as- serts, and insistence on moral absolutes and utopian ideas will only inhibit the practical politics that can lead to a better and freer life for Russian citizens. Specialists In Housing Pest Control ERADICO PEST CONTROL 1030 WOODWARD HGTS. tended that Tel Aviv's financial problems were of its own making. He accused the municipality of spending money on non-essential projects such as development of its Haaretz Museum and $1 million for an art school that will serve only 200 pupils. Lahat had complained that the city was forced to spend large sums providing services for out- of-town visitors who do not pay local taxes. Kubersky replied that Tel Aviv's budget was almost twice that of Jerusalem which has more residents in its municipal area. Because of the outsized budget, the government cannot take into account the commuters who stream into Tel Aviv every day, Kubersky said. At the same time, in northern Israel, employees of the Ata tex- tile mills and hundreds of other workers from the Haifa area took to the streets in an angry demon- stration against the imminent closure of the Ata plant. The textile combine, one of the largest employers in the Haifa district, has been in the hands of government receivers for several months. Formal bankruptcy has not been declared while the re- ceivers search for a buyer or in- vestment group that would keep the mills running. Thousands of jobs are at stake. With commercial banks refus- ing to extend further loans, the deadline for shutting Ata down is Monday. The demonstrators cheered loudly when Pinhas Groob, chairman of the Ata Workers Committee, declared, "They will have to cut us into lit- tle pieces before we leave Ata." The Haifa Labor Council has threatened to call strikes throughout northern Israel if Ata's doors are closed on Tuesday. The Shmuel Eisenberg Invest- ment Group, which holds the majority of Ata shares, said that it has invested some $10 million in the faltering industry and cannot affort to invest any more. FERNDALE, MICH. 48220 • PROFESSIONAL, QUAUTY SERVICE FOR HOME, APARTMENT AND INDUSTRY • SERVICING SOUTHEAST NtICHICAN FOR 50 YEARS IN ALL PHASES OF PEST C JNTF OL FREE ESTIMATES REASONABLE RATES '85 PONTIAC FIERO 939 Mo. FULL FACTORY EQUIPMENT NATIONWIDE EQUIPMENT LEASING & SALES CORP. 353-6363 3000 Town Center 4000 Town Center American Center Bldg . Lathrup Village 48 MO. CLOSED-END LEASE + TAX 0 A.0 51500 CAP. 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With regard to Israel's de- pendence on the import of Ameri- can weapons, General Lapidot said that notwithstanding Israel's capacity to manufacture the Lavi aircraft, the country will still de- pend upon the U.S. in the future for the American-made Phantom jets and for other military equip- ment. - s e , 626 LUXURY SPORT SEDAN. PROOF OF WORLD-CLASS '48 MONTH LEASE. ZERO DOWN AND TAX AND LICENSE. 1765 Telegraph, Bloomfield Hills (One Mile North of Square Lake Rd.) 338-4531 VOLKSWAGEN • PEUGEOT • MAZDA 21 .