FBIS Coverage of the Middle East Peace Talks- 1978 September

PPROVED FOR RELEASE CIA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS DIVISION AR 70-14 13NOV201
v. 5 Sep 78 N 4 ISRAEL
Ild like now, quite rationally, to prove to you why we are unable to do more than thatEven should you, God forbid, strike for weeks or months on end, we would be unable tohelp. Don't we want to better you state? Certainly, yes. But I had better show you thefigures.
If the country gives the teachers--60,000 of them--an increment of 15 percent, it willexpend from its treasury 1.2 billion Israeli pounds. If it is forced, or would be forcedto give an increment of 35 percent, the expenditure would amount to 2,8 billion pounds.This is not yet the end of it. If the government surrenders and gives you 35 percent,all the other workers will demand exactly the same increment, certainly no less. They
would be justified in this demand. If the civil servants get 35 percent, we shall expend3,142,000,000 pounds. Ii'there is a 35 percent increment thoughout the public servicesector, the expenditure will amount to 12,681,000,000 pounds. If all the wage earners--and rightly--demand the same increment, according to the model cutomary in Israel, thetotal expenditure will be 34,702,000,000 pounds.
Where shall the state get these fabulous sums of money? The one answer: It will printmoney. If one could by printing money solve economic and social problems, then all nati
would be engaged in only two activities: printing machines and paper mills.
But, dear friends, teachers, I belong to a generation which saw a galloping inflationafter World War I, and I am going to tell you something on the history of inflation.The provider was likely to bring home sacks full of banknotes, but every such sack wasworth less than a sack of potatoes. A box of matches cost a million. Cigarettes costmillions. Now then, do we desire such inflation? It would destroy the economy. Itwould destroy us. This would be a kind of self-destruction.
We are a country of immigrants. Unfortunately, immigration is not considerable; it isnot as it should be. We hope for the immigration of tens and of hundreds of thousandsto Eretz Yisra'el, as this is our life, our hope and this the purpose of our existenceas a Jewish state. We need investment to build a living, self-supporting economy, andwho will come and invest in the event of such inflation?
Now, I presented you with the facts and figures. Do consider your steps well, please.Do not prevent little children from learning, and do not take away the joy from parentswho see their children going to school every morning. Please, do prevent the closing ofclasses, and I hope that you will lend your ear to this, my appeal to you, teachers, anappeal issuing from the bottom of an Israeli citizen's heart.
No I am going to take up a very grave social problem. What I have in mind is dwellers insubmarginal housing. They number 47 ,0 0 0 families--300,000 souls; almost 10 percent of theJewish population in Israel--and all these families are still living in housing conditionsthat are unfit for civilized people. On seeing this, my eyes saw red. This is an inheri-tance we received from the former regime, and it is very painful to us and we have nointention to take this in stride. We shall do everything possible to solve this problemwithin a number of years.
We have already begun. The Construction and Housing Ministry last year provided solutionsfor 16,579 needy families. This figure breaks down into improvement of housing conditionsfor 9,431 families and for 2,231 needy young couples and loans to 5,017 needy families.