International

Hundreds of thousands of Israeli Arabs from the Galilee in northern Israel will join their Jewish neighbors in enjoying a new fast train link to Tel Aviv, where jobs are in greater in supply, after a campaign by a civic equality group sought to ensure equal access for all. The 90-minute Karmiel-Tel Aviv line will

Israel’s justice ministry said Sunday the government would advance legislation giving gay couples equal rights in adopting children following controversy over the issue. Gay couples can currently adopt in Israel but they face legal and bureaucratic hurdles resulting in part from the wording of the law. The Association of Israeli Gay Fathers had petitioned the

King Hamad bin Isa al Khalifa of Bahrain condemned the Arab boycott of Israel in Los Angeles, California last week. King Hamad made the remarks during an event denouncing religious hatred and violence at the Simon Wiesenthal Center in LA. Bahrain, a kingdom of some 1.5 million people in the Persian Gulf, currently does not

On September 16, Saeb Erekat, Secretary-General of the PLO’s Executive Committee, issued a statement marking the anniversary of the Sabra and Shatila massacre in Lebanon, in which he stressed that “there is no statute of limitations annulling the rights of the Palestinian people’s victims.” Erekat added that the “State of Palestine” would pursue “the Israeli

Several hundred ultra-Orthodox Jews scuffled with police in Jerusalem on Sunday in protest against a court ruling that could require them to serve in the army like secular Israelis. The demonstration in an ultra-Orthodox neighbourhood of the city was organised by a particularly hardline group known as the Eda Haredit. Rabbis gave speeches in Yiddish

An Iraqi vice president warned Sunday that Baghdad would not tolerate the creation of “a second Israel” after the Jewish state became the only country to support a planned Kurdish independence referendum in northern Iraq. The leaders of autonomous Iraqi Kurdistan must “call off the (September 25) referendum that is contrary to the constitution and

The Israeli Embassy in Ankara was evacuated on Friday as supporters of an ultra-nationalist party demonstrated outside against what they called plans to create a “second Israel” in Iraqi Kurdistan. Utku Reyhan, secretary-general of the Homeland Party, said in a press statement that a unilateral independence referendum called for September 25 by the Kurdistan Regional