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The Other Agenda

Violence has again postponed Barak's
social 'revolution' plans.

political crisis to the top of the nation-
al agenda, the growing possibility of a
long-term conflict has left some social
activists worried.
"Since the beginning of the unrest, the
media have been dealinc, in an almost
obsessive way with security and political
issues, and this has pushed social issues
off the agenda," says Efrat Fink, head of
the legal department at Yedid, a non-
profit organization that provides consult-
ing services for disadvantaged Israelis.
Fink says that several pressing issues,
which in the past would have been

AVI MACHLIS
Jewish Telegraphic Agency

Jerusalem

Mi

l hen Tsahala Gelfand was
brutally strangled to
death by her husband
last week, Israelis were
reminded of a grim domestic issue
that has been overshadowed by the cri-
sis with the Palestinians.
But even though the third wife-
killing in a week — and the 16th this
year — sparked a debate over domes-
tic violence in Israel, the
murder did not distract
Israel from the No. 1 issue
on its agenda: the mini-war
with the Palestinians.
srael's Feb. 6 election got even more tangled
The issues of religion and
last week.
state have not disappeared,
Prime Minister Ehud Barak's One Israel
but they are not nearly as
Knesset members, joined by the 17 members
prominent as they were
from the ultra-conservative Shas Party, blocked
before.
a measure that would have forced all the parlia-
Just 19 months ago, Ehud
ment to stand for office. Saying no prime min-
Barak came to power as
ister could govern effectively with the Knesset
prime minister after perhaps
divided as it is, former Prime Minister
the first Israeli election cam-
Binyamin Netanyahu said he won't run, ceding
paign run on a platform
the Likud nomination to the party's current
that emphasized social, eco-
leader, Ariel Sharon.
nomic and religious issues
Current polls show the hawusTh Netanyahu
as much as peacemaking.
well ahead of Barak but the race between Barak
.But after the election,
and Sharon much closer, mostly because many
Barak made peacemaking
Israelis blame his Sept. 28 walk on the Temple
his top priority. By his own
Mount for triggering the current violence.
admission, he did little to
On Tuesday, former premier Shimon Peres,
seriously address pressing
who shared the 1994 Nobel Peace Prize with
issues associated with a soci-
Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat
ety burdened with growing
and then-Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, said
income gaps and a deep
he might run. That could drain enough peace-
religious-secular chasm.
process votes from Barak to assure a Sharon

ISRAEL'S 111

Long Ignored

ER

win -- reminiscent of Ralph Nader's effect on
the U.S. presidential race. LJ

In recent years, the increas-
ing attention Israelis have given to
social and religious issues was seen as a
natural consequence of the move
toward peace with their Arab neigh-
bors and the Palestinians.
Many of these issues had been
ignored for years because the public
agenda was preoccupied with a perpet-
ual state of war. According to conven-
tional wisdom, the onset of regional
peace had freed up Israel to finally
address social issues.
Now, as recent violence has again
pushed Israel's security problems and

debated intensely, have been virtually
ignored.
For example, a bill had been pro-
posed in the Knesset to create a "Basic
one that serves in lieu of a
Law"
constitution — to ensure fundamental
social rights to every citizen. Shas, the
fervently Orthodox party that usually
supports welfare spending, shot it
down with little public attention.
Shas, which has a constituency of
poorer Sephardi Jews, has used the

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