FROM OUR ARCHIVES
65 YEARS AGO In addition to the restrictions on car transportation two days a week, designed to reduce fuel demands, the government decided to reintroduce the old zoning system, in an amended form. The proposed system would divide the country into four or five zones, with drivers generally permitted to travel only within their own zone, subject to appeal.
People who called Jerusalem’s Bikur Cholim Hospital during Shabbat were greeted by a man speaking broken Hebrew saying, “Call after the ma’ariv [evening] prayer on Saturday. Jews cannot speak on the telephone during the Sabbath.” It was later learned that the hospital management had forbidden employees to answer the telephone during Shabbat. Several physicians and a Magen David Adom spokesman declared that this step could cause serious harm to the injured and sick. They pointed out that only by telephone could they determine whether the hospital was able to accept emergency cases.
About 10,000 records of classical music were brought to Israel by the American Quakers. The records would be kept in a central music library in Tel Aviv. About 1,000 records were placed at the disposal of Kol Yisrael, and special arrangements were made for recorded programs in distant settlements, hospitals and schools.
50 YEARS AGO UN secretary-general U Thant called on Israel’s foreign minister Abba Eban to discuss the status of Jerusalem following the General Assembly decision that Israel’s absorption of the Old City was invalid. Israel had already rejected the assembly resolution as a measure outside the world body’s competence. Prior to the vote, Eban said that Israel’s unification of Jerusalem was “irrevocable”. Eban, who led the Israeli delegation, was also credited with the General Assembly’s refusal to demand Israel’s unconditional withdrawal.
Residents of the Gaza Strip would be permitted to travel all over the country within the week, according to defense minister Moshe Dayan. Since the area was subject to martial law, residents would have to apply for permits, which would be issued liberally. Gaza residents would also be permitted to travel abroad. The purpose of these moves was to free Gazans from the isolation camp atmosphere and restrictions imposed on them by the Egyptian government for almost two decades, Dayan said. He promised to consider reducing the night curfew, explaining that a partial curfew was still necessary in view of the massive quantities of arms and ex-fedayeen still in the area. However, he added that he was willing to take a calculated risk in order to help revive the city, which was at the time only “half alive.”
25 YEARS AGO The National Labor Court ruled that outgoing health minister Ehud Olmert’s directives making five state hospitals self-supporting was illegal. Olmert, who had spent the year trying to turn the hospitals into non-profit public corporations and denied state subsidies, said in a reaction to the ruling that he would hold off his appeal for a week if hospital workers kept their promise to sit down and negotiate seriously. However, five Kupat Holim Clalit hospitals would be on a reduced Shabbat schedule for 24 hours, as workers protested against the Histadrut health fund’s decentralization plan. Workers feared the move would decrease their salaries and increase their workloads.
– Daniel Kra