• Are you battling with your
child over food?
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Economic Upsets
Child poverty, unemployment rise in Israel;
key economic figure quits.
NAOMI SEGAL
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Jerusalem
T
roubling statistics on poverty
and unemployment in Israel
came to light last week, at
the same time that a key fig-
ure in building a more stable national
economy announced his resignation.
According to a government study
reported Tuesday, an estimated
417,000 children live below the pover-
ty line — a four-fold increase over the
course of 20 years. The total was
revealed one day after the employment
bureau reported that 166,789 people
were unemployed in October — a
new record. The figures reflect a 3.6
increase in unemployment since June,
a month before Prime Minister Ehud
Barak took office.
Barak's campaign promise to help
the disadvantaged recently was called
into question by a month-long strike
launched by disabled Israelis seeking
more public assistance.
Barak ultimately acceded to the
protesters' demands, but not before he
drew criticism for stating he was "not
moved" by the strikers' tears.
The statistics were released amid
the surprise resignation announcement
of Jacob Frenkel, governor of the Bank
of Israel. The resignation challenges
Barak to name a successor whose poli-
cies will be in line with the prime
minister's pledge to spur economic
growth and employment.
Barak has offered the post to
Elhanan Helpman, an economics pro-
fessor at Harvard University and Tel
Aviv University. It was not immediate-
ly clear if Helpman would agree to
succeed Frenkel, whose resignation
takes effect at the start of the year.
There are reports that Helpman is
inclined to reject the post.
The latest statistics on child poverty
spurred children's rights activists to
demand special government action,
including the creation of a Ministry
for Children's Affairs.
"All of these years, we hear the sta-
tistics," child welfare advocate Esther
Luvohinsky told Israel Radio. "But no
solutions are offered for the prob-
lems.
She lashed out at the Ministry of
Labor and Social Affairs, which she
described as "weak, and traditionally
has been so." She added, "The minis-
ters, with a few exceptions, have been
concerned primarily with the needs of
their own interest groups. They don't
get into the problems in depth."
Labor Minister Eli Yishai denied
that he is too involved with the politi-
cal wrangles of his Shas Party to func-
tion effectively in his post.
"I would like to remind you that in
the previous Knesset, I was the one
who brought the issue of children at
risk to the Knesset agenda," he told
Israel Radio. "We blocked cuts in chil-
dren's allowances, elderly support — a
long list of items — only because of
our political power." 11
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ing in determining which lands will
be handed over.
The latest snag comes as Israeli
and Palestinian officials continued
the final-status negotiations. Israel
and the Palestinian Authority have
set a mid-February deadline for
reaching a framework agreement for
a final peace agreement. They hope
to conclude the final agreement by
next September. Negotiators of the
two sides this week set an agenda for
the final-status discussions, dividing
the issues into the categories of
Jerusalem, settlements, Palestinian
refugees and final borders. fl
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substantial Arab population. At issue
is whether the Palestinian Authority
has any say in which lands are turned
over by Israel. Israeli officials are
maintaining that, under the terms of
already signed accords, they alone
make that decision.
"We have an agreement, and it
would be better not to get smart or
play games for it is the decision of the
government that counts," Foreign
Minister David Levy said Tuesday.
Levy added that the pullback might
still be carried out this week.
Palestinian officials are meanwhile
claiming that no clause in the latest
agreement bars them from participat-
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