Strike Force

Polish Church
`Day of Judaism'

Rome (jTA) The Polish
Catholic Church has designated
Jan. 17 as an annual "Day of
Judaism" in Polish churches.
The day will be dedicated to
interfaith dialogue and to teaching
Polish Catholics about Judaism.
The initiative, slated to involve
all Roman Catholic dioceses in the
country, follows the example of the
Italian Catholic Church, which
declared Jan. 17 an annual. Day of
Judaism in Italy several years ago.

Palestinians Employ
Jewish Judge

Sydney (JTA) — An Australian Jew
will help the Palestinians rearrange
their legal system.
The unusual pairing was created
after an Australian legal group,
which is headed by a prominent
Jewish figure, Justice Marcus
Einfeld, was appointed by the
Palestinian Authority to overhaul its
judicial system.
Australian International Legal
Resources Inc., which was esmb-
fished four years ago, has had links
with the Palestinian Authority, since
Einfeld visited the Middle East in
1995.

Can The Bible
BeatJeopardy'?

New York (JTA) — The Bible has
been around for more than 3,000
years— but can it beat out
"Jeopardy"?
That's the question that will be
answered beginning next spring if a
game show based on the Bible hits
the airwaves.
The show, tentatively titled "In
the Beginning," is the brainchild of
Michael Callie, a former joke writer
for the "Hollywood Squares" game
show and a former comedy club
owner.
Current plans call for teams of
the same denomination to compete
against each other.
The prize money will be given to
a charity or community service pro-
ject designated by the church or
synagogue.

CONTINUED on page 112

12/12
1997

110

Israel's 700,000 workers shut down the country with a
strike and reemerge as a major political factor.

LARRY DERFNER
Israel Correspondent

•

he peace process, government
scandals and unwinding spy
plots took a back seat in this
country last week. That's
because until Monday night, the
Histadrut national labor federation's
general strike effectively brought the
tiny State of Israel to a halt.
The entire public sector — govern-
ment services, banks, Ben-Gurion
Airport, sea ports, utilities, and even-
tually buses and public schools —
stopped working. The garbage in Tel
Aviv piled up so badly that people in
some neighborhoods actually were
walking around wearing surgeon's
masks.
Some 15,000 Israelis were stranded
abroad, their return flights delayed
because workers at Ben-Gurion
wouldn't let them land. Emergency
cases only were admitted to govern-
ment hospitals. Pockets of residents
throughout the country went without
tap water...

contempt of court charges against
When the strike ended, anybody
Peretz.
but the blind could see who had won.
The issue was pension benefits. The
At Histadrut headquarters, union
Histadrut had a generous pension
leader Amir Peretz was being lifted on
agreement with the previous govern-
the shoulders of his aides. At the
_ ment, and Ne'eman had tried to can-
Finance Ministry office, Minister
cel it, saying it was illegitimate and
Ya'acov Ne'eman and his aides looked
financially ruinous to the state.
like the roof had just caved in.
In response, the Histadrut
The Histadrut, an organiza-
Travelers wait called 700,000 workers off
tion today seen as a living sym-
for flights as the job, and despite public
bol of everything bad about the
workers shut opinion, the law, the prime
country's socialist past — nepo-
down
Israel's minister and the president,
tism, laziness and so on — . had
served notice: The reports of its international the union got to keep its
airport.
pension benefits almost
death had been premature.
exactly the way it wanted
Militant unionism in Israel was
them.
back, stronger than it had been in a
The victory was not only an organi-
decade. The workers would again have
zational one for the Histadrut, but a
a say — possibly the decisive say — in
personal one for Peretz. The fiery
the country's economic way of life.
union leader and Labor Party Knesset
Meanwhile, the union's public
image (as if they apparently cared) had
member, whose poor, Moroccan
immigrant background and Zapata-
been rocked. President Ezer Weizman
like mustache makes him Israel's
tried repeatedly to convince Peretz to
working class hero, will probably run
call it off. The National Labor Court
unopposed in the Histadrut's elections
ordered the union back to work. The
union didn't comply and Attorney
next year. The success of the strike also
General Elyakim Rubinstein initiated
establishes him as Labor's second most