-vow() VOLVO VOLVO VOLVO VOLVO VOLVO '96 VOLVO ; LIQUIDATION SALE! MSRP $34,850 OR LESS 0 Sabbath Siege Jerusalem's secular and observant Jews battle over a small stretch of the street, but many say it's just a start. INA FRIEDMAN ISRAEL CORRESPONDENT 0 NEW 1996 VOLVO 960 0 0 Leather, Moonroof, Power Seating & Much More! $3000. CASH BACK 010 APR 40% Down Up to 24 months THE 1 996 VOLVO 960. LORDED WITH WHAT MATTERS. Only Volvo offers 2 front air bags and 2 side air bags standard on every 1996 car. PLUS...Air conditioning, stereo/cassette, ABS brakes, power windows, power locks, cruise, intermittent wipers, rear defrost & more! • uburban THE VOLVO STORE CJD w CJD LLI ( 810 ) 643-8500 1821 Maplelawn TROY MOTOR MALL •Based on approved credit thru Volvo Car Financing until August 10, 1996. Down pymt. based on 40% of MSRP of $34,850. Finance option in lieu of cash incentives. ILENE ADLER! ASK FOR 1 fm I LI vow() VOLVO Assistant Manager () Arcalvo vow° vow() erusalem's secular and re- dealing with it, he appointed a ligious Jews have found a commission to study the matter. new way to relax together It recommended that the street on Shabbat. They riot be closed only during prayer against one another, catching the times on Friday evenings, Sat- police in the middle of their urdays, and holidays. Three weeks ago, the new transport wrath. "The Battle of Bar-Ilan Street," minister, Yitzhak Levi of the strictly forbidden during the reg- modern-Orthodox National Reli- ular week, has been going on for gious Party, decided to adopt that weeks. And it does not have any solution. But, after an appeal to the end in sight. But this is far greater than your typical in- High Court of Justice, the court ternecine Israeli battle. Bar-Ilan issued an injunction to keep the Street has become the litmus test street open until it can rule. In for broader issues, ranging from the meanwhile, the contesting the protection of civil rights to the parties have taken to the streets. So for three weeks running, social, economic, and even polit- ical future of the always volatile city. All this, and the accompany- ing considerable rhetoric and vi- olence, centers on about a half a 15 mile of road in northern Jerusalem. Haredi (Orthodox) residents, backed by the country's three religious parties, want it closed on the Shabbat and holi- days. Secular residents of the sur- rounding neighborhoods, backed — Elazar Strum by the ardently secular Meretz party and some members of La- bor and the Third Way, want it thousands of residents of the Bar- kept open. In reality, many streets in Ilan area have lined the thor- Jerusalem's Haredi neighbor- oughfare shouting "Shabbos" at hoods are closed to traffic on passing drivers. A few have Shabbat. Mayor Ehud Olmert, thrown bottles and stones; some whose religious partners on the have tried to block the street with City Council outnumber those of everything from nails to garbage. But the real objects of the hare- his Likud Party, notes that his venerated predecessor, Teddy di wrath are the policemen who Kollek, closed some 130 of them. have orders to keep the road But Bar-Ilan. Street is differ- open. They are being pelted with ent. On the one hand, it cuts stones, bottles, and even dirty di- through the heart of a large apers, not to mention a stream of Haredi neighborhood. It is also angry epithets such as "Nazis!" part of the main east-west artery and "Anti-semites!" This is par- connecting Jersnalem's entrance ticularly true when they have with Mt. Scopus (site of the He- used force (including water brew University campus and a canons) to keep the Haredi branch of Hadassah Hospital) crowds at bay. Cold statistics suggest that nei- and many Jewish neighborhoods built in east Jerusalem since ther side has a compelling case in the Bar-Ilan affair. Studies 1967. There is an alternate route to have shown that the usual traf- these neighborhoods, which takes fic rate of 15,000 vehicles per day a few minutes longer. But secu- drops to some 3,400 on Shabbat lar residents argue that in an and to a mere 740 during prayer emergency extra minutes could hours. But for the warring camps, be critical. Besides, that second this is less a matter of need than route runs by a new haredi neigh- one of principle. The haredim borhood and it's rumored that speak of their right to enjoy the once Bar-Ilan Street is closed, the sanctity of Shabbat. The secular next demand will be to block the dwells on its fear of "creeping co- ercion." alternate route. "These Haredim know no lim- The Bar-Ilan Street controvery has been swirling around ever it," cried Meretz leader Yossi since Mr. Olmert became mayor Sarid at a rally for "Free three years ago. To postpone SIEGE page 126 161 "Within a decade, maximum years, there will be a Haredi majority, even absolute Haredi rule, in Jerusalem."