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NEWS
Special Discussion in Knesset on Versailles
Disaster
by Eliezer Rauchberger
"Every day, we pay a heavy, terrible and superfluous toll in
blood, which is the result of negligence, conceit, egotism.
and superficiality. In Israel there are people with unusual
talents in all areas of life, who, to my dismay, too
frequently become lost in the sea of amateurism."
These remarks were made this past Wednesday (8 Sivan) at a
special deliberation of in the Knesset over the Versailles
disaster in which 23 people were killed and more than 300
injured.
The Prime Minister stressed: "I know that it is forbidden to
make generalizations. However, we must admit that here in
Israel negligence in planning, implementation, following-up
and reporting prevails."
Sharon delivered a speech in which he sharply attacked the
"semoch -- rely on me" approach of Israelis. "It is
shocking to hear boasts and dares in the style of: `Laws
were made to be bypassed.' Laws and regulations are to be
kept, so that our communal lives will proceed smoothly. How
many times have we heard people who returned from trips
abroad, mocking European or American citizens for being
`square' and saying: They stand on line, and pay even when
no one is there to inspect them.
"We have to stop our craving to outsmart others, quite often
only in order to earn easy profits. We have to shorten long,
slow and complicated processes. There is no connection
between dragging out the time for receiving a permit, and
the effectiveness of the planning and the supervision. Quite
the opposite is true.
"Respect for others, a professional attitude, precision and
exactitude could have prevented many of the tragic incidents
in which people lost their lives. Those weren't accidents.
They were the outcomes of the gross trampling of the rules
the public fashioned in order to safeguard its welfare and
security. We must stamp out this behavior from the root, by
means of education, on the one hand, and strict and
deterring punishment on the other hand," the Prime Minister
said.
Sharon stressed that the national investigation committee
which was founded by the government, will not deal with the
investigation of the police. "Its purpose isn't to handle
the terrible disaster directly, but rather the behavior of
all of us in public places, both in respect to following
directions and keeping the law. I hope that this committee
will regard these issues in a broad manner, and will try to
bring about a change in our lives, with a special emphasis
on the schools and the educational system, from an
educational aspect, and from the physical aspect of the
conditions of the school buildings." The Prime Minister
concluded: "Let us begin to behave the way we should. Let us
do what is incumbent on us. Even if we have only been
aroused by the shocking and terrible incident, let's do
it."
The chairman of the opposition, Yossi Sarid read very
disconcerting statistics from a special report about
businesses in 256 local authorities throughout the country,
which are operating without business licenses. The report,
according to Sarid, is up-to-date from July 2000.
According to the statistics, 30 percent, or 28,558 of the
92,000 businesses which require licenses in the large cites,
are operating without licenses. In the local councils 50
percent, or 5193 of the 10,819 businesses which require
licenses are operating without them. In the regional
councils, again more than 50 percent, or 4,603 out of the
8,510 businesses are operating with out licenses. All in all
38,345 of the countries 111,000 businesses are
unlicensed.
The main reasons these establishments lack licenses is that
they lack permits from some or all of these bodies: the
Health Ministry, the Police, the Environment Quality
Department, and the Local Building and Planning
Committee.
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