Thousands of Negev area residents spent the day protesting in Jerusalem\'s Rose Garden, opposite Israel\'s Knesset. They demonstrated against government plans to scrap the Negev Law in the 2002 budget. The Negev Law provides housing and income tax benefits for Israeli residents who reside in Be\'er Sheva and the south. Negev leaders declared a general strike for today, closing all schools, municipal offices and other services, to encourage all residents to participate in the day’s protest events.
Strike organizers for the disabled continued talks today with government representatives. After three weeks of protest, direct contacts between the sides began only yesterday. They are calling the latest government offer a \"joke.\" The disabled currently receive an average of 1,740 NIS per month (approx $400) but are demanding almost double. Finance officials have agreed to improve benefits for 20,000 disabled who are incapacitated.
Yesterday, over 300 social workers took part in demonstrations outside the Prime Minister’s Office protesting planned budgetary cuts for welfare services. One social worker expressed outrage that Members of Knesset are permitted a monthly cellular telephone bill of 1,500 shekels, the same amount as the monthly living stipend of many disabled persons.
Approximately 200 workers at the Kibbutz Kinneret quarry have begun a hunger strike to protest the closure of the quarry. The employees say that they will continue their strike until the Prime Minister orders the re-opening of the work site. Currently, the hunger strikers are staked out in front of the Jordan Valley Regional Council building.
An administrative decision to purchase police uniforms from China has led to protest as well. Employees of the Israeli factory that currently supplies the police with uniforms are camped outside the Jerusalem offices of the Ministry of Public Security. Several dozen of them, mostly women, blocked the entrance to the ministry today.
Strike organizers for the disabled continued talks today with government representatives. After three weeks of protest, direct contacts between the sides began only yesterday. They are calling the latest government offer a \"joke.\" The disabled currently receive an average of 1,740 NIS per month (approx $400) but are demanding almost double. Finance officials have agreed to improve benefits for 20,000 disabled who are incapacitated.
Yesterday, over 300 social workers took part in demonstrations outside the Prime Minister’s Office protesting planned budgetary cuts for welfare services. One social worker expressed outrage that Members of Knesset are permitted a monthly cellular telephone bill of 1,500 shekels, the same amount as the monthly living stipend of many disabled persons.
Approximately 200 workers at the Kibbutz Kinneret quarry have begun a hunger strike to protest the closure of the quarry. The employees say that they will continue their strike until the Prime Minister orders the re-opening of the work site. Currently, the hunger strikers are staked out in front of the Jordan Valley Regional Council building.
An administrative decision to purchase police uniforms from China has led to protest as well. Employees of the Israeli factory that currently supplies the police with uniforms are camped outside the Jerusalem offices of the Ministry of Public Security. Several dozen of them, mostly women, blocked the entrance to the ministry today.