— Only a handful of East Jerusalem Arabs turned out this morning to vote in the Histadrut elections, the only non-citizens of Israel to participate. By noon, no more than 1500, or 12 percent of the eligible voters in the Arab community, had cast ballots. But the small turnout was attributed to cold, windy weather and Histadrut leaders expressed hope that a much larger number of Arabs will have voted by the time the polls close at 11 p.m.
There are 120,000 Arabs in East Jerusalem and the vast majority of them opted against Israeli citizenship. Many work for large Jewish firms, including the Municipality which employs some 1500 Arab workers. There are about 3500 Arab women members of Histadrut in East Jerusalem but as of midday very few of them had bothered to vote. The Arab workers in general do not seem to have been delerred from voting by anti-Israel propaganda in the Arabic media.
Asked at the polls if they had any misgivings, inasmuch as Histadrut is closely identified with the Israeli establishment, the stock answer was, “When it comes to labor there is no difference between Jew and Arab.” But many experts believe Histadrut could have done more to establish roots in the Arab community during the 14 years of Israeli sovereignty in East Jerusalem.
They noted that Histadrut’s most important public service, the Kupat Holim (sick-fund), only recently opened a second clinic in the eastern part of the city. If the health insurance system were more developed, Histadrut would have many more members in East Jerusalem.
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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.
