FEATURED JOBS
Comments (0)Israeli lawmakers debated a conversion reform bill sponsored by the Yisrael Beiteinu party, averting a coalition crisis for now.
In an emergency session of the Knesset Law Committee on Monday morning, members discussed the bill, which would allow municipal rabbis to handle conversions and permit only the president of the High Rabbinic Court to annul a conversion, but did not vote on advancing it.
Prior to the meeting, the Shas Party reportedly had agreed in discussions with Yisrael Beiteinu to support the bill. But the United Torah Judaism party announced Sunday that it would oppose the bill and stressed that as part of the coalition agreement, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has agreed to bring matters of religion and state to them as well as Shas, the Jerusalem Post reported. Shas reportedly withdrew its support after UTJ announced its opposition.
At an emergency late-night meeting on Sunday, the parties agreed to discuss the bill at Monday’s committee meeting, but not vote on it. With the Shas approval, the bill had been expected to advance quickly in the Knesset this week, according to the Post.
The committee also agreed that the civil marriage bill will be discussed Tuesday by the Knesset.
Israel Approves West Bank Construction
Israel’s Ministry of Defense authorized the construction of new apartments in a West Bank settlement despite a construction freeze.
The authorization of 112 new apartments in the ultra-Orthodox settlement of Beitar Illit, announced Monday, came a day after the Palestinian Liberation Organization agreed to enter into U.S.-brokered indirect peace negotiations with Israel. The Palestinians had insisted they would not re-enter peace negotiations without a cessation of building in the West Bank and eastern Jerusalem.
The exception to the 10-month freeze, which began in November, was made for “safety” reasons, the Ministry of Defense said, according to Haaretz. A Defense Ministry statement said the building would close a dangerous 40-yard gap between two existing buildings, according to the BBC.
The permits had been issued under the previous government of Ehud Olmert, before the settlement freeze was announced.
The announcement of the housing construction came hours before U.S. Vice President Joe Biden was scheduled to land in Israel in part to advance the peace process.
Mitchell Announces Israeli-Palestinian Talks
U.S. special Middle East envoy George Mitchell announced the start of proximity talks between Israel and the Palestinians.
Mitchell will broker the indirect talks, which over the next few weeks will have him shuttling between the Palestinian territories and Israel.
“We’ve begun to discuss the structure and scope of these talks, and I will return to the region next week to continue our discussions,” Mitchell, who has been in the area since Saturday, said in a statement released Monday afternoon. “As we’ve said many times, we hope that these will lead to direct negotiations as soon as possible.”
The Palestinians have refused to engage in direct talks until Israel places a freeze on all settlement construction, including eastern Jerusalem. Israel has only partially frozen settlement expansion. On Monday it announced approval for the construction of 112 new apartments in a West Bank settlement, a move that angered Palestinians who had just agreed to the new round of indirect talks.
Mitchell addressed the concerns in his statement.
“We also again encourage the parties, and all concerned, to refrain from any statements or actions which may inflame tensions or prejudice the outcome of these talks,” he said.
Mitchell met for five hours on Monday with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. Following the meeting, chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said that “the Palestinians made it clear to Mitchell that if the Israelis increase the settlements, raids of cities and assassinations during each of his visits to the region, this casts a serious doubt over the American peace efforts.”
U.S. Vice President Joe Biden arrived Monday afternoon in Israel.