Nehemia Shtrasler

Israel stands to do the deal of the century at the weekend: It will open the Deganya sluice gates to prevent the flooding of the Tiberias beaches and, at the same time, it will begin importing water from Turkey. The wise men of the legendary town of fools, Chelm, could not have come up with a "better" plan.

Just over a week ago, the cabinet decided to transfer NIS 1.1b to the Interior Ministry for the local authorities - NIS 600m in 'budget balancing grants', plus NIS 500m for implementing recovery plans.

Amir Peretz, the head of the Histadrut labor federation, jumped on the publication of the new unemployment statistics as if he had just won the lottery: "Once again it seems that Netanyahu's celebrations of economic growth were premature."

At 10:30 P.M. last Saturday night, Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu received a surprising telephone call from PM Ariel Sharon, who informed him that a scheduled cabinet vote on cutting the budget was being deferred due to widespread opposition to the plan by Likud Party ministers.

Even Benjamin Netanyahu would like to forget the budget bluff of 2004. The reserve had already been spent to the last penny. Nine hundred million shekels were distributed to the Likud ministers of education, health, and industry. And NIS 450 million were allocated to meet demands by Shinui, the National Religious Party, and the National Union.

Television license. There is no argument over the fact that the TV license riles the public more than any other. Everyone hates paying it and feels it is redundant.

Yesterday, Industry Minister Ehud Olmert attended a session of the Knesset Finance Committee and joined in its debate on the price of bread. He took the opportunity to lash out at his critics over price labels on food items, in his usual vulgar manner.

No one is more sensitive to social problems than Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz. This week, he voiced harsh criticisms of the government: "The social problem is currently the most difficult and dangerous problem facing the State of Israel ... A sorry reality has been created for which the weaker sectors of society are paying the price."

The most important element in the Netanyahu plan is its timing: The finance minister had to bring his plan to the public yesterday so that he could make it clear to the cabinet on Sunday that there is nothing to discuss - the money is going to cut taxes, so they have to cut spending if they want more money for defense and the local authorities.

Ehud Olmert and his director-general, Ra'anan Dinur, thought they would have things easy. They would sit down with representatives of the manufacturers and the large chains, give in to all their demands (as the Industry Ministry usually does) and with a stroke of the pen would cancel the greatest achievement of Israel's consumer public - the marking of prices on every item.

Large food producers and marketing chains don't rest for an instant. If there's one thing that really drives them crazy, it's the requirement to mark the price on each and every one of their products, and they have been fighting this for years with all means at their disposal.

The bountiful rains that have fallen recently have clouded the faces of those in the water business - the Mekorot water utility officials, the farmers organizations and National Infrastructure Minister Yosef Paritzky - with concern.

There are three declared reasons for the most recent wave of local authority strikes: the cutting of NIS 1.8 billion from the allocations the government transfers to the local authorities; the non-renewal of grants and tax breaks given to 17 confrontation-line communities in the north; and the non-payment of salaries for several months to 20,000 local authority employees.

Last year's negative CPI is the Klein index - small and negative and not to Klein's credit. He failed to understand early in the year that Benjamin Netanyahu's arrival at the treasury, combined with U.S. loan guarantees and the end to the Iraq war all added up to a strategic sea change.

Foreign workers: There is no argument that the number one social and economic problem today is unemployment, now threatening to reach 11 percent. The government has taken a few steps to tackle the problem, like imposing a tax on employing foreign workers while deporting those illegally present.

The pension negotiations ended with a decision that workers would pay an additional 1.5 percent into their funds and so would employers. But while the workers will thus suffer a cut in their gross salaries, the employers will not.

The comic relief yesterday was provided by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon when he voted in the Knesset plenum against a bill to enact a long school day. Labor MKs booed and shouted cries of protest, reminding the prime minister that he had promised to support this very measure only days ago at the Likud convention.

A week ago we were living as if in a dream. The Income Tax Commissioner had published the table for stage two of the tax reforms, and enthusiastically, we sat down and calculated how much more money we would have in our pockets.

The prime minister provided the comic relief yesterday when he voted against the proposal for extending the school day. Labor's MKs broke into boos and shouts of protest since only two days ago, at the Likud convention, the prime minister promised a long school day. But if Sharon were to do what he promised, he wouldn't be Sharon.

Benjamin Netanyahu wanted to portray himself as the great, generous victor. 'I thank you for the many quality hours you have given me, I've learned to know the union leaders, who are serious people,' he managed to tell Peretz in front of the cameras, without cracking up with laughter.

The justices of the High Court no longer suffice with providing just remedy. It's not enough for them. Now, they also want to manage the state budget and determine Israel's social welfare policy.

On a tactical level, the winner of the 100-day labor dispute in the public sector was Histadrut labor federation chief Amir Peretz MK (One Nation).

When Benjamin Netanyahu took up his post of finance minister 10 months ago, economic pundits were alarmed. They remembered Netanyahu as prime minister - arrogant, unfulfilled promises, paying off favors, and paying back wrongs instead of following a principle, and all spin. But it quickly became clear that Netanyahu had learned his lesson.

The most important statistic for 2003 released yesterday was the number of new immigrants who settled in Israel last year: Some 23,000 immigrants arrived in 2003, as opposed to the record of 200,000 set in the 1990s.