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December 22, 2000/Kislev 25, 5761, Vol. 53, No.13
Barak's social 'revolution' fades into sunset
AVI MACHLIS
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
JERUSALEM - When Tsahala Gelfand was brutally strangled to death by her husband last week, Israelis were reminded of a grim domestic issue that has been overshadowed by the crisis with the Palestinians.
But even though the third wife-killing in a week - and the 16th this year - sparked a debate over domestic violence in Israel, the murder did not distract Israel from the number-one issue on its agenda: the mini-war with the Palestinians.
Just 19 months ago, Ehud Barak came to power as prime minister after perhaps the first Israeli election campaign run on a platform that emphasized social, economic and religious issues as much as peacemaking.
But after the election, Barak made peacemaking his top priority. By his own admission, he did little to seriously address pressing issues associated with a society burdened with growing income gaps and a deep religious-secular chasm.
In recent years, the increasing attention Israelis have given to social and religious issues was seen as a natural consequence of the move toward peace with their Arab neighbors and the Palestinians.
Many of these issues had been ignored for years because the public agenda was preoccupied with a perpetual state of war. According to conventional wisdom, the onset of regional peace had freed up Israel to finally address social issues.
Now, as recent violence has again pushed Israel's security problems and political crisis to the top of the national agenda, the growing possibility of a long-term conflict has left some social activists worried.
Shas spokesman Itzik Sudri, and representatives of the liberal Jewish streams, do not believe that issues of religion and state have completely disappeared from the agenda.
In fact, they have even emerged as bargaining chips in recent political chaos.
Sudri points out that it was the outbreak of violence in late September that led Barak to shelve his plans for a "secular revolution" that had angered Israel's Orthodox parties.
Shas members, who hold 17 seats in the 120-member Knesset, said they would back Barak only if he abandoned his proposals to weaken the hold of the Orthodox establishment over such matters as Sabbath observance.
Rabbi Uri Regev, director of the Reform movement's Israel Religious Action Center, said, "The whole area of religion and state is still very much on people's minds," he says. "Every week, you see references to various issues - funding , the abandonment of the civil agenda, the draft of yeshiva students.
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