Supreme Court rules toddler will remain with adoptive parents The Supreme Court ruled Thursday that the two-year-old boy claimed by both his adoptive and biological parents will remain with his adoptive parents. This overturns the Tel Aviv District Court decision in December that the child, who had remained in the custody of the adoptive parents, should be returned to his biological parents. One of the reasons for the lower court’s decision was the adoptive father suffers from a serious kidney disease. The adoptive parents appealed to the Supreme Court in January and the court — sitting in an expanded seven-justice bench — issued its ruling in a majority six to one decision. Chief Justice Barak said afterwards, the debate had been difficult and the ruling had not come easily. Ido Divon, a specialist in family law, said this case shows a trend in family law reaching up to the Supreme Court where the onus is on what is for the good of the child rather than on traditional values and expectations. The baby has been living with the adoptive parents from the age of ten days. 21.04.2005 13:07 to top ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. High level Israeli, PA officials meeting to coordinate pullout A number of high level meetings between Israeli and Palestinian officials are taking place Thursday, and Israeli sources say they are attempts to coordinate Israel’s disengagement plan with the Palestinians. Associate Premier Shimon Peres is to meet with Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qurei (Abu Alla); Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s adviser, Dov Weisglass is to meet with chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat, and Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz will hold talks with PA Civil Affairs Minister Muhammed Dahlan. Prime Minister Sharon is scheduled to meet Thursday afternoon with United States envoys to the Middle East, Elliot Abrams and David Welch. They are set to discuss Palestinian Authority head Mahmoud Abbas’ (Abu Mazen) ability to move the peace process forward. The American envoys held talks on Wednesday with Palestinian officials, and discussed a convenient date for Abu Mazen to visit the U.S. 21.04.2005 10:02 to top ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. Security officials to report their position on pullout delay to PM Security officials will present Prime Minister Ariel Sharon on Thursday with their position on the proposal to delay the withdrawal from the Gaza Strip by three weeks. The request by Disengagement Authority (Sela) director Yonatan Bassi is to postpone the start of the disengagement from July 25th until after Tisha B’Av in mid-August. Tisha B’Av (9th of Av) is a Jewish day of mourning the destruction of the First and Second Temples and falls this year on August 14th. 21.04.2005 08:40 to top ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. Putin: arms sale only to stop Israel from buzzing Assad’s home Russian President Vladimir Putin said Moscow’s agreement to sell anti-aircraft missiles to Syria has been signed and there is no possibility of cancelling it. In an interview with Channel One television Wednesday, ahead of his visit to Israel, Putin said the agreement would prevent Israeli planes from buzzing over Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s residence. He added the deal will not upset the balance of power in the Middle East and Israel has nothing to be concerned about. In response, an Israeli official said Russia is fighting terror on the one hand, and helping a state that supports terror on the other. He said the issue will be addressed when Putin visits Israel next week. 21.04.2005 09:09 to top ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 5,000 local council workers haven’t been paid full salaries The Histadrut Labor Federation said Wednesday that 5,000 workers in 26 local councils have not received all their salaries ahead of the Passover holiday. In 12 councils, workers did not receive salaries for March, and in ten councils, the workers still have not received February’s salary. 21.04.2005 09:35 to top ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. AIPAC fires two senior officials accused of spying for Israel The American-Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), the pro-Israel lobby, has fired two of its senior officials involved in a federal investigation over spying for Israel in the United States. This, according to a report in Thursday’s New York Times. AIPAC dismissed its policy director, Steve Rosen, and its senior Iran analyst, Keith Weissman, both of whom were suspended during the investigation. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) began working on the case a year ago, after Pentagon analyst Larry Franklin was suspected of transferring classified information about U.S. policy on Iran to AIPAC. Last December, FBI agents raided the AIPAC offices and issued subpoenas to four top executives who were later questioned. 21.04.2005 13:21 to top ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. A-G asked to halt accords allowing Egyptian troops at Philadelphi Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin asked Attorney General Menachem (Meni) Mazuz to prevent Prime Minister Ariel Sharon from signing any agreement with Egypt to allow the deployment of Egyptian troops in the Philadelphi corridor between Gaza and Egypt. This, after the legal adviser of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee ruled that doing so would mean making a substantive change to the Israeli-Egyptian peace treaty. 21.04.2005 09:30 to top ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. PA struggles over who will fill three security posts A struggle continues Thursday in the Palestinian Authority over the choice of commanders for three new security posts. The Fatah leadership met in Ramallah on Wednesday to show its objection to the resignation of Mussa Arafat, head of national security, and Iman El-Hindi, head of intelligence. Arafat and El Hindi ware regarded as part of the Old Guard and PA leader Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) is ready to appoint new and younger officials to replace the two other men. 21.04.2005 13:35 to top ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. Rescue boats, helicopters help save Egyptian, Syrian sailors The Israeli navy and air force took part in the rescue of Syrian and Egyptian sailors on a merchant vessel Wednesday. Together with United States and French naval units off northern Israel, Israeli rescue boats and helicopters helped in the search for the ship after receiving a distress signal that it was sinking some 56 kilmeters off the coast. Three survivors were picked up from the stricken ship by another cargo vessel. Another four crew members were reported missing. The ship had been sailing from Egypt to Syria, reportedly under a North Korean flag. 21.04.2005 08:54 to top ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. Amnesty condemns extending Vanunu travel ban Amensty International, the human rights group, condemned the year’s extension of a travel ban imposed by Israeli on nuclear whistle-blower Mordechai Vanunu. An Amnesty statement said Interior Minister Ophir Pines-Paz’s ruling to extend restrictions on Vanunu, was a breach of international law and his fundamental human rights. Pines-Paz said that Vanunu could threaten Israel’s security with classified information that he still has not released. Thus, he is not allowed to leave Israel until at least, April 19, 2006. 21.04.2005 09:48 to top ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. French police probe $4 million PA transfer to Suha Arafat The Wall Street Journal reports that French police are probing a transfer of $4 million from the Palestinian Authority’s bank account in Tunisia to Suha Arafat, the widow of Yasser Arafat. The report said the funds were transferred by a senior Palestinian official who headed a company that held reserves of funds for the PA for crisis situations. The official reportedly died last week. 21.04.2005 09:54 to top ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. MK urges leaving symbolic empty chair at Seder table for Pollard Knesset member Gila Finkelstein of the National Religious Party is appealing to the nation to leave a chair empty at the Passover Seder table for Jonathan Pollard, the jailed American Jew, serving a life sentence for spying for Israel in the 1980s. Pollard has been in prison for 20 years and Finkelstein said it is important that on the day Jews celebrate freedom from Egypt, Israelis remember that Pollard is still incarcerated. 21.04.2005 13:47 to top ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. Passover Seder will be held Saturday night The festival of Passover falls on the 13th day of the Hebrew month of Nissan which, this year, is also the Sabbath. Therefore, the Seder meal, at which the story of the Israelites’ freedom from Egypt is read, will be celebrated Saturday evening after sundown. The Seder night falling on the Sabbath has happened 11 times in the 20th centuty and in the 21st century occurred in 2001, and will happen again in 2008. 21.04.2005 09:41 to top ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. Free guided tours will leave from Jaffa Gate Free guided tours of Jerusalem’s Old City and western areas are being offered by the Tourism Ministry over the intermediary days of Passover week. They will leave three times a day at 10, 11, and one o’clock from the Jaffa Gate tourism office. Some of the tours will be specially geared for the physically handicapped. The free tours part of the ongoing projects run by the ministry to encourage tourism to the capital.
