The Jerusalem District Court, ruling in a test case, struck the Sabbath observance clause from a state-owned land lease. The clause, which had been incorporated into state leases of the standard Jewish National Fund contract, prohibited “construction or any other work on property of the Lands Administration on Sabbath and on Jewish religious holidays.” The case was brought to the court by a leader of the League for Abolition of Religious Coercion, who owned the JNF lease. The court’s ruling was based on the uniform contracts law which empowers the courts to amend contracts with bodies having a monopoly or near monopoly of services. The JNF is in that category.
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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.