Mayor Pini Kaballo said the city is still suffering from past debts, and that his attempts to right the situation by cutting staff and salaries has yet to improve things. Municipal workers did not receive their February salaries and suppliers have not been paid for more than a year. The Union of Local Authorities in Israel announced it was closing all the nation's local welfare offices on Thursday and referred clients to regional offices answering directly to the government. In Nazareth, some 12,000 pupils were kept out of school Friday by the local parents association as a follow-up to the strike by 750 municipality workers, which has worsened sanitary conditions at the schools. Municipal employees there have been on strike since the beginning of the month.
Local officials say the strike is threatening preparations for the pope's upcoming visit.
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