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June 29th

June 28th

June 26th

  • Haaretz poll: 64% of Israelis back two-state solution.: Figures close politically to Netanyahu, and even Labor Party leaders, were worried that the PMs fear of Obama would overcome his terror of the settlers and force the words "settleme nt freeze" from his mouth. Here is what senior labor figure Social Affairs Minister Isaac Herzog said two weeks ago at a Knesset hearing on the illegal outposts: "There are components that certainly can be authorized or for which a solution can be found through negotiations,& quot; adding, "I absolutely believe in the need for natural growth." Herzog presented the ultra-Orthodox settlement of Modi'in Ilit as an example of a community that should be expanded to accommodate the high fertility rate of its residents. He did not mention that it is expanding at the expense of the land of the inhabitants of the adjacent Palestinian village of Bil'in. So, is he supposed to be the social affairs minister of the Palestinians?

June 21st

  • A settlement road trip after Netanyahu, Obama speeches - Haaretz - Israel News: A visit to the West Bank two days after PM Bar-Ilan speech leads one to conclude that the ideological about-face implicit in Netanyahu' ;s consent to a Palestinian state has not upset the people living where this state is supposed to arise. The settlers listened to Netanyahu, but were more interested in his promise to enable them to have "a normal life." They wondered if this would translate into Barak's signature on delayed building permits. They were also interested in Netanyahu' ;s decision to add MK Uri Ariel (National Union), a Beit El resident, to the committee for selecting judges. Perhaps herein lay a chance to gradually alter the approach of the Supreme Court, an institution much despised by the settlers? He and his friends miss the days when the state saw them as pioneers and trailblazers, and still dream of hundreds of thousands of Jews settling in the West Bank, which would resolve the dispute over the land once and for all.

June 18th

June 14th

  • Israel should remember Nakba day Trying to erase Palestinian history by banning Nakba day would not strengthen Israel but undermine it: Life for Palestinian citizens of Israel, always a testing experience, seems to be getting more precarious of late. This is a section of society that, since Israel's creation, spent 20-odd years under direct military rule and thereafter continued to be treated as second rate and a potential fifth column. Recently, Arab-Israelis, the identity-blurr ing label for this 20% sector of the population, have had to contend with threats that they must swear loyalty to a Jewish and Zionist state as a precondition of citizenship. Now, Israel's ministerial committee has approved a draft law that would ban the commemoration of Nakba day in Israel. The day marks the dispossession of some 700,000 to 800,000 Palestinians who fled or were forced out of their homes in 1948. Arab-Israelis remember Nakba day with demonstrations in Israel ? but if the proposed law goes through parliament, such action would result in a three-year prison sentence. Many voices within Israel have slammed the proposed bill

June 13th

  • Exclusive: Former U.S. president Jimmy Carter talks to Haaretz.: Haaretz: Benny Begin said that if the two-state solution is the only solution, there is no solution. I would remind him, and I?m sure you?d agree with me, that in the Camp David Agreement, you mention the ?legitimate rights? of the Palestinians. What does it mean? What did you have in mind when you used this phrase? President Carter: Let me just refer to what PM Begin signed and the Knesset approved. There were three elements: 1) the withdrawal of Israeli political and military forces from the West Bank and Gaza, what they refer to as Judea and Samaria. And the other thing was full autonomy for the Palestinians. I drafted all of this final agreement. I put in: ..?yield to the Palestinians autonomy.? Begin said: Put in full autonomy! So we put in ?full autonomy,? which means the complete right to run their own affairs.

June 11th

  • "Secular politicians must stop using the Chief Rabbinate as a political pawn in coalition agreements," warns Rabbi Rafael Feuerstein, cofounder and chairman of the Orthodox rabbinic organization Tzohar.: "It is the secular leadership who should have the highest interest in an apolitical rabbinate,&quo t; Feuerstein said blasting the makeup of the new Knesset-appoin ted Dayanim (rabbinical court judges) Selection Committee, which is majority-hared i. After handing rabbinical judge appointments to the haredi political parties, Feuerstein said, "the secular leadership should not come later and complain about the conversion problem or the problem of agunot [women whose husbands refuse to grant them a divorce]." ; Feuerstein spoke to The JPost following the announcement that his 800-strong rabbinic group had been awarded the 2009 Presidential Volunteer Medal, Israel's highest honor for volunteerism, by Peres The group will be given the award at a June 24 ceremony at Beit Hanassi. The leadership of Tzohar, which seeks to bridge the secular-religi ous gap in Israel, has long warned of the harm that the politicization of rabbinate appointments is causing to Israeli Judaism and t
  • ***The Right?s real enemies. Right-wing MKs harm settlement enterprise by toppling rightist governments: In 1999, when I served as a member of the National Religious Party?s Central committee, Knesset Member Hanan Porat asked for my endorsement. I told him that there is no way I will vote for him, because he is responsible for toppling Netanyahu. ?And what could we have done after Netanyahu signed the Wye Agreement?? he asked. I explained that the upcoming elections featured two terrible possibilities: Barak?s rise to power, making Netanyahu?s term a wet rightist dream, or a Netanyahu victory that would enable him to form a government without the rightists who undermined him. In both cases, the Right loses, I said. Knesset members from Tzomet, Moledet, and Tehiya quit the Shamir government in protest of the Madrid Conference, thereby toppling Israel?s most rightist PM ever. Their efforts were successful, and Rabin became PM. The Right paid the price in the form of the Oslo Accords and Instead, we got Barak, the second Intifada, and the shameful flight from Lebanon.
  • Justice Minister pushes bill to extend rabbinical courts' authority. Justice Minister Yaakov Neeman is moving forward with a government bill that would significantly expand the rabbinical courts' authority: Rabbinical courts would have sole authority to hear any suit stemming from divorce agreements signed in a rabbinical court, including both financial and custody disputes. Currently, suits stemming from a divorce agreement must be filed in civil court, so the bill would essentially transfer this power from the civil to the rabbinical courts. The Justice Ministry is also considering giving rabbinical courts sole authority to hear suits against husbands who refuse to grant their wives a divorce, thus depriving these women of their current right to file such suits in civil court. The bill stems from verbal promises that Netanyahu' ;s Likud Party made to Shas during the coalition negotiations. It is now in the final stages of being drafted, after which it will presumably be submitted to the Knesset. Rabbinical courts did decide disputes stemming from divorce agreements, until the High Court of Justice ruled a few years ago that they lacked legal authority to do so.

June 3rd

May 30th

  • Nagging 'Nakba' issues. The so-called "Nakba [Catastrophe] bill," proposed by Israel Beiteinu MK Alex Miller, which would make it illegal to mark Yom Ha'atzmaut as a day of mourning, is no cause for celebration.: I would say that this is a case of paving a highway to hell with good intentions. In a non-charitable mood, I suspect that the motives were less than honourable. In any mood, it seems to me that this is taking a "catastro phe" and turning it into a disaster. Attempts to criminalize the Nakba are not going to turn those who mark it into sudden Israeli patriots. If anything, it will make the silent Arab Israeli majority, who are happy with their citizenship and the benefits it brings feel marginalized and alienated. Even more so in the light of the other significant legislation being discussed: the loyalty oath. Another Israel Beiteinu effort, this law would make receipt of a national identity card conditional on signing a statement and taking a pledge of allegiance. It would also grant the interior minister considerable power to revoke the citizenship of any person who fails to fulfill their commitment to serve in the IDF or alternative national service

May 29th

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