Three leftwing components of the Histadrut — Mapam, Sheli and the Communist Party — have strongly protested at a Histadrut decision yesterday to allow the labor federation’s construction companies to continue to operate within the West Bank.
The labor federation’s holding company Hevrat Ovdim decided yesterday, after a lengthy debate, that the Histadrut had on this issue to be governed by economic considerations, and not by political philosophy.
It said the Histadrut construction companies would have to dismiss workers it did not win tenders for occupied area housing. If the Histadrut’s Solel Boneh and other companies did not build there, other private companies would do so.
The Hevrat Ovdim said that the decision to build should be taken on sensible economic grounds, and not to make a quick profit. Opponents of continued Judaea and Samaria building said that by accepting housing in the occupied territories, the Histadrut and its majority Labor Party component were compromising their ideals.
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.
