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NEWS
Public Transportation on Shabbos in Israel
By Elchanan Hammer
The original Status Quo agreement on religious issues is again being threatened. This agreement was signed by Ben Gurion and the chareidi parties at the inception of the state and froze the situation at the time in every religious area then and for future government decisions and policy. It included the area of public transportation which was absolutely prohibited on Shabbos. At the time there was no public transportation anywhere in Israel on Shabbos except for Haifa, which has thus been allowed buses on Shabbos, most probably because it had a large Arab population. This Status Quo is anchored in the original fundamental underpinnings of the government, although attempts to breach it are continuing, with the goal of permitting public transportation to operate on Shabbos unconditionally.
Several representatives of the Yesh Atid party presented this week a private bill which was rejected by the government's ministerial committee. This week it was publicized that nonetheless, public transportation will soon operate on Shabbos in five local councils throughout the country. These initiatives are designed to be in conformance with the letter of the law, so that they may legally circumvent amendments extant regarding services of this nature. The local councils of Emek Hefer, Arad, Beer Sheva, Kfar Sava and Herzliya will soon begin operating lines to entertainment centers and beaches on Shabbos, part of them approved by those councils and part of them through private bodies of citizens and organizations.
MKs Rabbis Litzman, Deri and Gani meet last week to discuss the public transportation issues in Israel.
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