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September 22, 2000/22 Elul 5760, Vol. 52, No.55
Can Barak follow through on 'secular revolution?'
Compromise, flexibility in retreat as sides harden positions
DAVID LANDAU
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
JERUSALEM - The battle lines between Orthodox and secular Israelis were drawn sharper than ever this week.
The nation's two chief rabbis reversed themselves and joined Orthodox politicians in the fight against Prime Minister Ehud Barak's recently announced "civic agenda." Barak announced the program earlier this month in an effort to usher in an era of secular reforms.
The first step, ordered this week by acting Interior Minister Haim Ramon, calls for the removal of the nationality clause from the identity card that every Israeli must carry. The move could help solve a long-running dispute over conversions performed in Israel, since the state no longer would be responsible for defining who is a Jew.
But these and other components of the secular revolution have been attacked by some in the Orthodox community as an attempt by the premier to wreak revenge on the religious parties that dropped out of his coalition on the eve of July's Camp David summit.
Only Rabbi Michael Melchior, a member of the Barak government from the small, Orthodox Meimad Party, is trying to hold the middle ground. On Sept. 17, he announced his own reform plan, which he said sought to balance the conflicting demands of both sides of the religious-secular debate.
Barak said he would seriously consider the plan proposed by Melchior, who as minister for Israeli society and world Jewish communities has tackled religious-secular issues for the Barak government.
Israel's chief rabbis were less inclined toward compromise when it came to Barak's planned reforms - especially his proposal to abolish the Religious Affairs Ministry. At a stormy meeting Sept. 18 with legislators from the religious parties, the two chief rabbis confirmed that they had supported the idea in the past, feeling that the ministry and the religious councils across the nation that it governs are hotbeds of mismanagement.
The rabbis said they originally thought Barak's plan was designed to improve the provision of religious services to local communities. But in light of Barak's other secular reforms, they added, they now decided that the plan to abolish the ministry was politically motivated.
They called on Barak, Justice Minster Yossi Beilin and "on all the national leadership to preserve the Jewish character of the state and to cease and desist from any process that contravenes the integral relationship between religion, state and peoplehood," the rabbis announced, throwing down the gauntlet to Barak.
Meanwhile, the plan to erase the nationality clause from identity cards crossed a final hurdle this week, when the Shin Bet domestic security service announced that it would not oppose the move. In the past, security reasons have always been cited by those opposed to this measure.
The identity card currently defines the bearer as "Jew" by nationality, or else as Arab, Russian, American or some other non-Jewish designation.
In the superheated political climate, compromise and flexibility are in retreat as both sides harden their positions. For the Orthodox parties, removal of the clause is the opening shot in a battle now threatening, as they see it, to sweep across Israeli society.
"Barak and Beilin state openly that they are proceeding to implement an entire secular agenda," Shaul Yahalom of the National Religious Party thundered at the Sept. 17 meeting of the Orthodox lobby. He cited the premier's pledge that El Al would be flying on Saturdays within a month, that public transportation would likewise operate on Saturdays and religious holidays and that civil marriages would be instituted.
Opinion polls are meanwhile providing a consistent picture: Two-thirds of Israelis favor Barak's secular revolution, while the remaining one-third of respondents oppose it.
Significantly, though, the same polls indicate a great degree of skepticism regarding how much of Barak's program will, in fact, be implemented.
The public's skepticism also reflects a widespread assessment that, if the peace talks fail, the government's days are numbered and new elections will take place late in 2000 or early in the new year.
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