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Friday February 2, 2007

Shorts: Mideast

Jerusalem registers its first gay couple

Jerusalem officially registered its first homosexual couple as married Monday, Jan. 29, three months after a ruling by the High Court of Justice paved the way for same-sex couples to be listed in the Interior Ministry’s Population Registry.

Binyamin and Avi Rose married on June 28 in Toronto, but immediately returned to Jerusalem to start building their life together.

“We did the civil ceremony in the hopes that we would eventually be able to make legal what we felt inside,” said Avi, an informal Jewish educator for the Young Judaea youth movement. “We are both committed Zionists and are hopeful that our union will bring more progress on this issue.”

Binyamin, a social worker and therapist who is currently studying at a Conservative yeshiva in Jerusalem, said the registration process at the Interior Ministry had been fairly straightforward. “Once we had all the right documentation, the process was pretty positive,” said Binyamin. The clerks at the office “were a little confused by our application but they made the necessary changes to the forms and they came through beautifully for us.” — jps

Israel bombs Palestinian tunnel

The Israeli Air Force bombed a suspected terrorist tunnel in the Gaza Strip.

The air strike Tuesday, Jan. 30 near the Karni border crossing targeted an underground passage that Palestinian terrorists were planning to use for infiltrating into Israel, military officials said.

The officials said there were secondary explosions at the site, presumably as a result of Palestinian ordnance catching fire. There were no immediate reports of casualties. — jta

Israeli Cabinet approves first Arab minister

Israel’s Cabinet approved its first Arab minister by an overwhelming majority. The only minister to vote against Raleb Majadele of the Labor Party was by Avigdor Lieberman, minister of strategic threats, who had spoken out against having an Arab in the government.

The Knesset is expected to approve the appointment in a vote scheduled for Monday, Feb. 5.

Majadele was nominated by party leader and Defense Minster Amir Peretz, to replace Science, Culture and Sport Minister Ophir Pines-Paz, who resigned over Lieberman’s entry into Olmert’s coalition. — jta

New group pushing Israeli-Syrian peace

A new Israeli forum is being launched to pressure the government to launch peace talks with Syria.

The organization, initiated by author Sami Michael and David Sasson, a London-based Israeli, will include major figures in Israeli security. Among that group are former chief of general staff and minister Lt. Gen. Amnon Lipkin-Shahak, former Shin Bet head Ya’acov Perry and former Foreign Ministry Director-General Alon Liel.

Liel reportedly held secret talks with Syrian officials with the approval of the Israeli government and drew up a nonbinding framework that could become the foundations of a future Syrian-Israeli peace accord. — jta

Yeshiva draft exemptions reach 50,000

The number of yeshiva students exempting themselves from Israeli military service reached more than 50,000 at the end of 2006.

Ha’aretz reported that the number has risen dramatically from some 30,000 at the end of 2000 and 46,000 at the end of 2005, according to an Israel Defense Forces spokesman.

The Tal Law allows fervently Orthodox men to exempt themselves from military service, as long as they study Torah full-time. — jta

Bus segregation challenged

Orthodox novelist Naomi Ragen is leading efforts by Israeli women to end sexual segregation on some bus lines in Israel.

Ragen and five other women this week petitioned Israel’s High Court of Justice to order the national bus lines not to go along with demands from fervently religious communities that female commuters sit in the back and dress modestly. The biggest bus company, Egged, says that 30 of its lines are segregated by gender at the passengers’ request.

Ragen told Israel Radio that her campaign was prompted by the experience of being ordered to the back of a bus by a male passenger. “The driver didn’t even open his mouth in my defense,” she said. “I got off the bus with the dreadful, dreadful feeling that in my country I have to take a public bus home that is under Taliban rule.” — jta

Lawmakers seek Katsav ouster

Israeli lawmakers began impeachment proceedings against President Moshe Katsav. Forty lawmakers filed a complaint Wednesday, Jan. 31, in the Knesset House Committee against Katsav, who suspended himself from office earlier this month after authorities recommended an indictment against him for rape and other sexual offenses.

Once the complaint is passed to Katsav, who has denied wrongdoing in the scandal, he will be obligated to appear before the committee within two weeks to argue his case. The committee can give him another two-week extension, but it can also decide that lawmakers must vote on whether to impeach the president — a move that would clear the way for his trial.

While suspended, Katsav retains his presidential immunity from prosecution, but he has vowed to step down if an indictment is formally filed against him. — jta

Rare maps of Israel go online

Maps of the Land of Israel from the Jewish National and University Library’s collection, dating from the 15th century until today, have been posted on the Internet.

Images of some 1,100 original and rare maps can be found at www.jnul.huji.ac.il/dl/maps/pal/html in English and Hebrew.

The earliest map in the collection is from 1462, while others include a series commissioned by the British Palestine Exploration Fund in the 19th century and various Hebrew maps drawn in the modern age. — jta

Russia opposes Hamas embargo

Russia called for the Western aid embargo against the Hamas-led Palestinian Authority to be lifted.

Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Saltanov, whose country is among the quartet of foreign mediators in the Israeli-Palestinian crisis, said the issue would be raised during a Friday, Feb. 2 meeting of the forum.

The embargo was imposed after Hamas swept Palestinian Authority legislative elections last year in a bid to press the radical Islamist group into recognizing Israel, accepting past peace deals and renouncing terrorism. — jta

Israel weighs DNA for kashrut

Israel’s Chief Rabbinate is weighing a proposal to genetically eliminate the sale of non-kosher meat as kosher.

The Hatzofeh newspaper reported that Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi Yona Metzger could order the establishment of a data bank containing DNA samples from all animals slaughtered in kosher houses. Under the proposal, meat that is sold under what is believed to be a false kashrut label could be tested to determine its origins.

“The moment a DNA sample is taken from the animal, there will be no way of covering up the traces,” project director Aviv Kahane said. — jta

Yad Vashem launches Web site in Farsi

Israel’s Holocaust memorial has launched a version of its Web site in Farsi to educate the country’s most bitter enemy — Iran — about the Nazi genocide of 6 million Jews.

Iran has faced widespread condemnation for hosting a conference last month that questioned whether the Holocaust took place. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has called the Holocaust a “myth” and said Israel should be “wiped off the map.”

Yad Vashem also has English, Hebrew and Russian versions of its Web site. A Yad Vashem spokeswoman said an Arabic-language site was also being planned. — ap