I NEWS
DIAMOND BAKERY
WISHES ALL THEIR FRIENDS
AND CUSTOMERS A MOST
HAPPY and HEALTHY
NEW YEAR
6722 Orchard Lake Rd.
West Bloomfield
I
A Happy & Healthy
New Year To All
Our Friends, Relatives
And Customers
626.22121
Berkley Health Foods
2823 Coolidge, Berkley
543-3505
aht-thi;r
a.
Wishes All Its Customers
and Friends
A Happy, Healthy
New Year
Donna and Elaine
And All The Girls
Members of the nurses' union conduct a hunger strike outside the Israel
prime minister's office.
Exercise
regularly.
WERE FIGHTING FOR
YOUR LIFE
American Heart
Association
Stability And Growth
Mark Israel's Past Year
•
Ga
SHIMON BEN NOACH
Special to The Jewish News
‘ r}
4w‘
iSENZUNIPS,W,4,
j
PREMIERING SOON
OUR NEW STORES:
CROSSWINDS MALL
Orchard Lake at Lone Pine
TWELVE OAKS MALL
in Novi
- LAKESIDE MALL
In Sterling Heights
VISIT OUR OTHER
FINE LOCATIONS:
BIRMINGHAM
Downtown on Maple
DEARBORN
Fairlane Town Center
MILANO
FUR & LEATHER
:7
160
RIMY SFIDTRARFR A 14ASI
FOR MEN &
WOMEN
erusalem — The past
year has been charac-
terized by continued ex-
pansion in the private sector
and an ongoing crisis in the
public sector. In spite of the
Arab uprising in the ter-
ritories, there has not been a
recession, as initially feared,
though there has been an in-
- evitable slowdown in growth.
Economic stability has been
maintained and exports have
soared to record levels.
Perhaps the major achieve-
ment in the last year has
been continued public expen:
diture restraint, despite the
fact that this is an election
year. But there has been enor-
mous industrial strife as a
result, with strikes and sanc-
tions for higher pay and sit-
ins to prevent factor closures.
The best known victim of
public expenditure cuts was
the Lavi fighter jet. After the
withdrawal of American
financial support for this
prestigious project, develop-
ment of the aircraft became
an enormous economic
burden with a further billion
dollars needed.
A close cabinet vote decid-
ed that the Lavi was a luxury
Israel could not afford. "Con-
tinuation of the project," said
Defense Minister Yitzhak
Rabin, "would have meant
cutting smaller items that
together are more vital for
the country's security." All
the Labor ministers were
against continuing the pro-
ject, while the Likud
ministers wanted to push
ahead, with the decisive ex-
ception of Finance Minister
Moshe Nissim.
I
-The country's hospitals
have also suffered from
Nissim's determination to
balance his books. Doctors,
nurses and administrative
workers have all held strikes
in order to further their wage
claims, and Israelis have been
haunted by TV news pictures
of unattended, chronically ill
patients, and more recently
members of the nurses' union
on hunger strike outside the
prime minister's office.
While many have decried
the lack of responsibility of
hospital professionals in
striking, others argue that if
doctors' wages are not raised
The major reason
for the decrease in
unemployment has
been the country's
export boom.
above their current average of
$600 per month, and those of
nurses and administrative
workers above $500 per
month, then there will soon
be a lack of good staff in the
health system. "We cannot
spend money that we have
not got," asserts Nissim. "If
we grant a salary increase to
one sector, all the other sec-
tors will expect the same."
Israel's schools and univer-
sities are also facing similar
problems with lack of budget.
The trend in schools is for the
wealthier parents to supple-
ment their child's education
with private afernoon classes,
thus accentuating the plight
of the disadvantaged. The
position of the poor has been
further aggravated by cuts in
government subsidies which