Faced with a general strike of 25,000 Israel shopkeepers starting tomorrow in protest against the new rationing law on shoes and clothing, the Israel Cabinet held an extraordinary meeting here today to review the rationing ordinance. It was understood that the government’s position on the strike, which will be made known tomorrow in the debate on rationing in parliament, was also discussed. Premier David Ben Gurion is scheduled to participate in the Knesset debate.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Supply decided to open special canteens for the sale of such essential food products as bread and milk. The 750 retail shops throughout Israel affiliated with the Histadrut–the Israel Federation of Labor–announced they will remain open tomorrow and will serve not only Histadrut members but the general public as well. All cooperative retail stores will also remain open to the general public.
Earlier, an Israel Government spokesman declared that the rationing system will be enforced despite the demonstrations against it. The general strike tomorrow is expected to include shoe and clothing stores, tailor and shoe-repair shops, groceries, restaurants and cafes. The Merchants Association has called a mass protest meeting for tomorrow and has announced that several members of parliament will speak.
A Merchants Association spokesman said at a press conference that “we shall not abandon the fight until the government understands that it is ruining the country. The strike is not only a problem for the merchants but for the entire state, since the rationing of shoes and clothing may ruin a section of private trading and will lead to unemployment,” he added.
GENERAL ZIONIST PARTY CALLS FOR NEW KNESSET ELECTIONS
The General Zionist Party, at a meeting of its executive, adopted a series of resolutions opposing the ordinance on rationing of shoes and clothing and declaring that the new ruling is “cruel from the standpoint of the population’s essentials, which was enforced without prior exploration and serious examination with interested parties.” The General Zionists also called for new parliamentary elections to “give the nation the opportunity to decide on the country’s future.”
The General Zionists claimed that the government is “responsible for the severe shortage of foreign exchange, owing to the prevailing regime which contriuted to the eviction of Jewish capital investment badly needed for economic recovery, increased production, full employment and immigration and resettlement.”
The Israel Government was also blamed by the General Zionists for “unreasonable use of foreign currencies.” The “drastic cuts in raw materials importation,” the party said, “which will procure only relatively small savings in foreign currency, do not justify the production slowdown and trade and industrial idleness which will result in unemployment and deprivation of income sources for masses of manufacturers, merchants and businessmen.”
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
