Jerusalem roads blocked, trash piles up as strike continues

Uncollected garbage disrupts train service; officials from city and Finance Ministry blame one another for budget shortfall

A Jerusalem municipality strike over unpaid wages on Monday morning saw hundreds of protesters block major roads in the capital’s downtown area, as the budgetary standoff between the city and the Finance Ministry continued to deepen.

Police estimated some 300 people gathered near the Prime Minister’s Residence to demand an end to the public spat between the municipality and the national treasury over city funding.

Jerusalem’s King George, KKL, Aza and Agron streets were temporarily closed to vehicular traffic, a police said.

Elsewhere in the city, large buildups of garbage disrupted the light rail service. Outside the Mahane Yehuda market on Jaffa Road, uncollected trash spilled out onto the train tracks, limiting Monday service in downtown Jerusalem.

The municipality announced a general strike on Sunday because its 2017 budget has not yet been transferred to the city by the Finance Ministry.

Jerusalem high schools and middle schools started at 10 a.m. and kindergarten afternoon programs were canceled altogether.

People walk past piles of garbage caused by a strike of the Jerusalem municipality, at the Mahane Yehuda Market in Jerusalem, on January 29, 2017. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
People walk past piles of garbage caused by a strike of the Jerusalem municipality, at the Mahane Yehuda Market in Jerusalem, on January 29, 2017. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Other municipal services, including garbage collection, social services, welfare and social services, city administrators and the the municipality hotline have been non-operational since Sunday.

The ongoing dispute has featured biting public arguments between city and Finance Ministry officials.

The municipality says that if the Finance Ministry does not transfer the funds, it will be forced to lay off staff and the quality of services in the city will drop.

Paz Cohen, head of the Jerusalem teachers’ organization, on Sunday said that auxiliary teachers had not been paid a salary since the beginning of the school year in September.

Mayor Nir Barkat called on Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon to personally intervene to ensure the money is transferred immediately, “to prevent more suffering for the city’s residents.”

However, the Finance Ministry claims the lack of funds is a result of mismanagement, and asked Interior Minister Aryeh Deri to appoint a city accountant to stop the municipality from holding Jerusalem residents “hostage to foreign interests.”

In response, the municipality bitterly denied the accusations of mismanagement under Barkat and accused the treasury of waging a dishonest media campaign.

“We are sorry that the Finance Ministry uses lying media spin instead of strengthening the city. The challenges of the capital are the challenges of the country,” the municipality statement said.

“In contradiction to the lies of the Finance Ministry, throughout the entire Barkat era the municipality has never been in deficit and it even earned prizes from the Interior Ministry for the proper use of its finances and its transparent conduct.”

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