Late Tuesday morning, Prime Minister's Office Director-General Raanan Dinur came into the office with a file in his hand. We have found a solution to the dispute between us and the Histadrut Labor Union Federation, he announced. Okay, said Ehud Olmert, if that's solved, what's left? To sign with the chairman of the Histadrut, replied Dinur. The two were convinced there would be no public sector strike.
And indeed, there was no strike. Although Histradrut Chairman Ofer Eini announced the strike Wednesday, it apparently was an announcement with a twist. The majority of public services expected to join the strike didn't, and rightfully so: Chairman Eini, a serious and responsible man, understood that there was no real cause to strike over, because creative solutions had been found for all his demands.
To the credit of the Olmert Administration it should be noted that it met the assignment it took upon itself and solved one of the biggest scandals in Israel's public administration. Agreements were signed with more than 100 deficit-ridden local authorities, accountants were appointed, funds were released and salaries were transferred. These procedures took time, too much time, but there are no shortcuts here. Israel is a law-abiding country and the government must abide by the law.
Many are angry at the government for not firing en masse local authority heads who withheld their employees' salaries. This anger is understandable; however, the accusers tend to forget that the heads of the local authorities were not appointed by the cabinet: They were elected through democratic elections by local residents.
Administrative dismissal of an elected public figure who was not put on trial is deemed a non-democratic act and not the type of image we want to portray or the country we want to live in. Although the law does permit firing a mayor or a council head by an order from the minister of interior, this tool should be used sparingly. Otherwise, what would be the point of elections?
Moreover, there is a political quandary in dismissing the majority of Arab local council heads. Such act, even if it is aimed at punishing them for withholding salaries and taking council management away from them for the sake of the residents, would quickly be perceived as the Jewish State's takeover of self-governing Arab institutions, and any argument to the contrary would be of no avail.
If half the Arab authorities are "nationalized" a wave of global criticism over Israel's harassment of "authentic representatives" of the Arab minority will quickly be forthcoming.
Therefore, what has ended has not actually ended. The local Arab councils will not be able to extricate themselves from the chronic crises, and they will not have the funds to pay salaries until they begin collecting more municipal taxes. But these authorities have no residents able to afford paying taxes. The rate of tax collection in the Arab sector will remain low as long as it harbors a sense of frustration and discrimination by Israel , which neglects and singles them out.
Here lies the root of the problem, in the relations between Jews and Arabs – and not in the hardened hearts of Treasury officials.
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