Democratic Palestine : 2 (ص 8)
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- عنوان
- Democratic Palestine : 2 (ص 8)
- المحتوى
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The Zionist Entity
Unresolvable Crisis?
The acute economic and political crisis in the Zionist entity has
reached an unprecedented level and at the same time proved
immune to any solutions in the foreseeable future. Successive
developments, arising from this fact, have raised questions about the
future of the Likud government. It has become clear how divided
and unstable the Likud
coalition is.
Moreover, public
disenchantment with the Likud government is deepening; the latest
opinion polls indicated a sharp drop in the popularity of Shamir and
his government.
This mounting crisis did not emerge
recently. On the contrary, it goes back to
the nature of the economic system and
social structure of ‘Israel’. Heavy empha-
sis on military spending, and structural
dependence on outside aid, are twin as-
pects inherent in the Zionist entity. In
order to finance its super-aggressive pol-
icies, the governing coalition adopted a
policy of gross overspending. This is ex-
emplified by the misconceived military
adventure in Lebanon and a miscon-
ceived domestic policy.
The cost of war and settlement
The outgrowth of Zionist aggression-
continuing occupation and annexationist
ambitions - exact huge security expenses
in South Lebanon (estimated at $400 mil-
lion per year), and the other occupied
territories. To this is added the massive
funds for the Zionist settlement policy in
the West Bank, Gaza Strip and Golan
Heights. It is believed that the govern-
ment invests some $200 million a year in
the West Bank, apart from “defense” ex-
penditures. These sums are carved from
the budgets related to health and social
services. Added to the above is the cost
of developmental military projects, such
as producing the Lavie fighter plane. Al-
together, this means that the Defense
Ministry swallows 30% of the total state
budget.
The Likud is still insisting on the May
17th agreement as the basis for Israeli
withdrawal from South Lebanon. This
entails a continued stay for the Israeli
army in Lebanon, and all that this means
in financial and social costs. The result
will be escalated political opposition to
the Likud government, as well'as deeper
public disenchantment.
The Likud’s policy has greatly compli-
cated the economic crisis in ‘Israel’, lead-
ing to spiraling inflation, and even great-
er deficits in the balance of payments
and foreign debt. In the meantime, the
8
economic measures whereby the go-
vernment has attempted to alleviate the
crisis have been limited. Finally, the go-
vernment lost the ability to control the
economic situation. The deficit in the
balance of payments, as of the end of
1983, reached $5.1 billion, inflation
191.7%, and the foreign debt increased to
$24 billion.
The grave economic situation has neg-
living. Last autumn, Israeli citizens expe-
rienced an unprecedented rise in the cost
of living (21.1% according to the October
index figures). The standard of living is
expected to fall by 7% in the 1984-85 fi-
nancial year. Workers and employees
ative effects on the average standard of
563 Israelis dead in Lebanon
On January 19th, Israeli radio reported
the death, the day before, of an Israeli
soldier, who was wounded in an ambush
of an Israeli military convoy in South
Lebanon. The radio added that with his
death, the total number of Israeli soldiers
killed since the 1982 invasion had
reached 563.
a
with limited salaries are being hit partic-
ularly hard. The poor are becoming
poorer. According to the National Secur-
ity Institutional Report, there are now
about half a million Israeli citizens
(about 1/8) living in poverty. Of those,
135,000 are children, and 300,000 depend
on the social security program.
At this moment, there don’t appear to
be any miracles forthcoming to relieve
the Shamir government on the economic
front, quite the opposite. Since last year,
the government has been facing more
public criticism, more resistance from
the political opposition and most impor-
tantly, a wave of strikes. These began
with the workers in E] Al airlines, then
moved to other sectors. Already the go-
vernment has lost one finance minister,
when Aridor resigned in October, after
squabbles over how to resolve the eco-
nomic crisis. When the cabinet finally
managed to agree on the austerity mea-
sures proposed by his successor, Yigal
Cohen-Orgad on January 8th, protests
only intensified. Unrest and resentment
were widespread in the large Israeli pub-
lic sector, due to the erosion of wages
imposed by the government’s newly
adopted measures.
The staff at six government ministries
imposed sanctions to press for their wage
demands. Employees at the Foreign
Ministry joined colleagues at the Interior,
Welfare, Defence and other ministries in
protesting the 25% erosion of their wages
in the three previous months. A spokes-
man for the Histadrut said that in the past
three months the government had brok-
en the wage agreement with its austerity
measures. He added, “We cannot makea
deal with a government on cutting
wages.”
Labor pitching for a comeback
The Labor Alignment is trying to take
advantage of the opportunity presented
by this grave situation and the inability of
the Likud government to find solutions. - هو جزء من
- Democratic Palestine : 2
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