_ THE
.
bruce m. weiss
VIDEO Pan • VIDEO PLUS AUDIO • VIDEO PLUS •
HOME VIDEO GUIDE
Gone With The Wind • Crimes Of Passion
Star Trek III • The Bostonians
Revenge Of The Nerds
Once Upon A Time In America
Country • Supergirl
The Little Drummer Girl
VIDEO PLUS
* VIDEO
PLUS AUDIO
Evergreen Plaza
12 Mile Rd.
at Evergreen
569-2330
Old Orchard
SHOPPING CENTER
Orchard Lake at Maple
855-4070
*VHS & BETA*
*VHS ONLY':
$35.00 membership fee
VIDEO PLUS • VIDEO PLUS AUDIO • VIDEO PLUS
VIDEO PLUS AUDIO • VIDEO PLUS • VIDEO PLUS AUDIO
VIDEO PLUS AUDIO • VIDEO PLUS • VIDEO PLUS AUDIO •
Advertising in The Jewish News Gets Results
Place Your Ad Today. Call 354-6060
LETTERS
Jewelers
26325 Twelve Mile Rd.
Southeast corner Northwestern
Behind Gabe's Fruits
In The Mayfair Shops
Mon.-Sat. 10-5:30
Thurs. 10-8:30
Do Saudis Need
Peace With Israel?-
King Fand of Saudi Arabia
came to Washington and was told
bluntly by President Reagan: "Sit
down and talk peace with Israel."
This rises an interesting question:
Will Fand be another Sadat?
Sadat did not make peace with
Israel out of the goodness of his
heart. He was faced with catas-
trophe — Egypt was facing eco-
nomic collapse and peace with Is-
rael was the only way out. So he
decided to end that situation and
made his trip to Jerusalem.
King Fand is now likewise con-
fronted with disaster. Khomeini
is not after the Saudis' oil. But the
Iranians are very anxious to cap-
ture Mecca. That would make
them the spiritual leaders of the
whole Moslem world. And the
Saudis have built up their armed
forces to repel external invasion,
but the bulk of the labor force of
the east coast of Saudi Arabia —
where the oil is — are Shiite Mos-
lems. The Royal family of Saudi
Arabia has some chance of resist-
ing external invasion, but it could
easily be toppled by the Shiite
enemy within.
The only force in the Middle
East that could effectively help
the Saudis in combating this
353-1424
D.O.E.
Where Everything
Is Discounted
Eve Day!!
DISC OUNTT
OFFICE EQUIPMENT
1991 COOLIDGE-BERKLEY
548-6900
would be the State of Israel. It has
the military power and the
technological strength. The U.S.
is too far away and is not geared
up to cope with that situation any
more than it was prepared to save
the Shah. Thus King Fand not
only has to make peace with Is-
rael, he has to win her as an ally.
This raises the burning ques-
tion: Will he make the trip to
Jerusalem as Sadat did, and make
it in time, or will he wait till it is
too little and too late?
Hyman Olken
Livermore, Calif.
Correcting
The Rabbi's Name
In your piece (which I enjoyed
reading) of March 15 regarding ---
the six Detroit women (in clergy
vanguard), you were kind enough
to mention our daughter, Jill.
However, you should know that
she is married and the mother of
three small children and her cor-
rect is Rabbi Jill Colman (no "e" in
Colman) Ruskin. The Jewish
News in June 1983 reported her
ordination. Best wishes.
Albet M. Colman
NEWS
Kessar Leads Histadrut
BY SIMON GRIVER
IA ✓ OULINE BEEN BETTER OFF
AT TAMAROFF
Buick Honda
28585 Telegraph Rd. Across From Tel-Twelve Mall
Southfield, Mich.
353-1300
111111111111111.
Born in Yemen, and brought up
in the slums of Jerusalem, Yisrael
Kessar rose through the ranks of
the Histadrut Labor Federation to
become the top man last May
when he succeeded Yeroham
Meshel as secretary-general.
With the job comes a guaranteed
Knesset seat, and Kessar was
placed number six on the Labor
party list during the last election.
The fact that Labor is now in
government ironically makes
Kessar's task all the more awe-
some, as the government imple-
ments a package of austerity
measures to cure the country's ail-
ing economy. He cannot haggle
with the Treasury as an opposi-
tion outsider and blame unpalat-
able policies on an intransigent
government. Instead Kessar must
sit around the table with govern-
ment ministers as an equal part-
ner and thrash out an agreement
that strikes a delicate balance:
protecting workers' living
standards, while at the same time
complying with some of the dras-
tic measures that Israel's present
economic plight demands.
The Histadrut Labor Federa-
tion that Kessar heads is much
more than a trade union move-
ment. Seventy-five percent of all
Israelis are members of the His-
taclrut, as are thousands of Arabs
in the administered territories,
either through trade unions, the
Kupat Holim clinics and sick fund
and the kibbutz and moshav
movements. Furthermore, the
Histadrut owns some 40 percent
of Israeli industry and commerce
through enterprises like Koor in-
dustries, the country's largest
Yisrael Kessar
conglomerate, the Solel Boneh
construction company and Bank
Hapoalim, amongst the biggest
100 banks in the world. These
business interests are managed
by Hevrat Ovdim, a Histadrut-
owned holding company of which
Kessar is now chairman.
Many critics of the Histadrut
have been feeling disillusioned
with the movement, claiming that
it has deviated from its original
socialist principles and become an
impersonal capitalistic corpora-
tion like any other. Much of this
resentment was focused on Kes-
sar's predecessor Yeroham
Meshel, who despite his unpopu-
larity clung to power for ten years
(though in the last Histadrut elec-
tions in 1980 Meshel did beat his
Likud rival David Levy). Meshel
was no longer able to withstand
the pressure for his resignation
after the suicide, earlier this year,