Religious issues which have strained relations between Mapai and the National Religious party were discussed today at a two-hour meeting between Premier Levi Eshkol and Interior Minister and religious leader Moshe Shapiro.
The discussions covered the recent demonstrations by Orthodox youth zealots at three Christian mission schools, disturbances created by zealots in Jerusalem over Sabbath traffic, the projected second non-kosher kitchen on the luxury liner SS Shalom and the forthcoming Chief Rabbinate elections.
The meeting was described as having been held in “good spirit” and as having produced a “meeting of minds” on a number of points. However, the only publicized agreement was to air the problems within the Cabinet and at another Eshkol-Shapiro meeting next week.
Meanwhile Transport Minister Israel Baryehuda asked the Road Controller’s office to study the possibility of re-routing traffic via the Mandelbaum Gate between old and new Jerusalem to enable vehicles to bypass Orthodox sections of the Israeli capital. The Minister acted in accordance with his undertaking at the last Cabinet meeting to investigate the traffic question with a view to ending clashes between the zealots and police over Sabbath traffic.
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