A Tel Aviv court on Sunday froze for 30 days the sale of the daily Maariv newspaper to its prospective buyer, Shlomo Ben-Zvi. The court ruled that a period of time should be taken in order to determine whether or not it was possible to rehabilitate the paper without having to sell it, and fire much of its staff.

Ben-Zvi, owner of the Makor Rishon newspaper, agreed to pay NIS 85 million for Maariv, the paper's board of directors told the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange last week. Workers for the paper are up in arms over the decision, because the sale would likely entail the dismissal of many of Maariv's 2,000 workers, and a cut in the pensions of nearly all workers. Workers announced last Thursday that they would begin a wildcat strike on Tuesday, Yom Kippur Eve.