A Daily Analysis
By Marc Schulman

July 23 , 2007 General Strike Expected

Wednesday morning, following Tisha B'Av, there is going to be a general strike in Israel. The airports are going to close, the government ministries are not going to do any work, and railroads will stop. The Histadrut is asking for a 10% wage increase over the next three years. The government first offered a .2 percent increase and then increased that offer to 1%. The histadrut claims that there has not been an increase in public wages since 2001. One of the sides is going to have to blink. The gulf between the sides is very large and Israel can ill afford a general strike.


Hassan Nasrallah gave an interview on Arab television where he once again threatened Israel. Nasrallah claimed Hezbollah now has the ability to attack any part of Israel. Israeli military sources confirmed much of what he said, although commentators stated that there was nothing new in what Nasrallah had to say.


Today, Chief of Staff Ashkenazi visited the "Bakum", where all new Israeli recruits go in the first day or two of their army service. This is the smallest induction in 5 years. While itŐs far from a crisis, it is a worrisome trend for the army.


In this week's New Republic, in an article entitled: "Provocations", historian Benny Morris wrote a review of two books on which I am in the process of reviewing as well. The first book, Foxbats over Dimona, I already reviewed in this blog. Morris came to similar conclusion as I did... Namely, Isabella Ginor presents a very interesting theory- that the Soviets deliberately provoked the Six Day War. However, proof given by Ginor, is not yet great enough to overturn conventional history. Regarding the second book, Tom Segev's 1967, Morris was highly critical. Morris believes1967 is a book that "misstates history". His criticism is blistering. My review will not be ready for at least another week... Stay tuned.