Middle East

Despite low-cost luxury hotels, Ramallah struggles to lure tourists

The PA’s seat of power is surprisingly well-liked by reviewers, yet few are taking advantage of what the city has to offer By Dov Lieber The Palestinian city of Ramallah, just north of Jerusalem, is opening its arms to tourists, marking itself as a hip, energetic destination with accommodations and attractions matching anything Israel can

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Middle East, Travel and Food

Reform leader: This is our ‘moment to be smart and strategic about all the money we give to Israel’

Rabbi Rick Jacobs welcomes conversion bill delay, hails ‘unprecedented’ US Jewish opposition to Israeli government decisions on conversion, Western Wall prayer By Amanda Borschel-Dan Reform leader Rabbi Rick Jacobs on Friday welcomed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s announcement that the controversial conversion bill at the heart of two-pronged flare-up in Israel-Diaspora tensions would be frozen for

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Jewish Religion, Middle East, USA

Syrian shell lands on Israeli Golan in 16th spillover incident in a week

No one hurt and no damage reported; latest instance follows multiple Israeli strikes on Assad forces in response to previous fire By Times of Israel staff A picture taken from the Israeli side of the border shows smoke rising near the Israeli-Syrian border in the Golan Heights during fights between the rebels and the Syrian

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Middle East

The day Israel gave its blessing to egalitarian prayer at Western Wall

US Navy Chaplain Rabbi Arnold Resnicoff led an unprecedented — and never repeated — ecumenical egalitarian worship service at the site in 1983 By Amanda Borschel-Dan Arnold Resnicoff’s first tour of duty was spent at a kibbutz in Israel for the Jewish Agency’s Sherut La’am (Service for the Nation) program. During that year — between

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Middle East, USA

Israel apologizes after Turkish journalists ‘humiliated’ by guards

Visiting reporters covering Tel Aviv’s annual Cyber Week say they were asked to strip, and their equipment broken by guards By Tamar Pileggi Turkish journalist Seyma Eraz meets with Communications Minister Ayoub Kara at his office in the Knesset, in Jerusalem on June 27, 2017. (Communications ministry) Israeli officials apologized to a trio of Turkish

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Middle East

Prison parole board grants early release to ex-prime minister Olmert

Panel shaves 16 months off 27-month sentence, decides probe into divulging of secret info in memoir not relevant; unclear if prosecution will appeal By Times of Israel staff Former prime minister Ehud Olmert is seen departing Maasiyahu Prison in Ramle on July 11, 2016, for his first leave from prison since he began his 19-month

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Middle East

Turkey jails more journalists than any other nation. Those in detention are all terrorists, Erdogan says.

Ten months in prison have provided Ahmet Altan with plenty of time to pore over the evidence meant to link him and his brother Mehmet to a plot aiming to overthrow the Turkish government. His work as a journalist aside, he eventually concluded, the state’s proof rested on a single assertion. “We are said to

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International, Middle East

When men and women prayed together at the Western Wall

A brief history of Jewish worship at Judaism’s holiest place of prayer, where, until it came under Israeli jurisdiction, a mixing of genders was the norm By Amanda Borschel-Dan From the mid-1800s, photographs of Jews praying together at the Western Wall became common on the walls of houses across the Western world. Today, a rich

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Jewish History, Jewish Religion, Middle East

US congressmen lament divisive Western Wall prayer plaza decision

Democrats Jerrold Nadler and Ted Deutch say they have been swamped with complaints from American Jews By Stuart Winer and Times of Israel staff Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-New York. (Courtesy) Two Jewish American congressman said they are being flooded with complaints about an Israeli government decision to back out of an agreement over a new

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Jewish Religion, Middle East, USA

Ultra-Orthodox threaten to bolt goverment if conversion bill endangered

Head of United Torah Judaism faction sneers that Reform Jews ‘wouldn’t get 1,000 votes in an Israeli election’ By Sue Surkes Health Minister Yaakov Litzman attends a conference in Jerusalem, February 16, 2017. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90) Health Minister Yaakov Litzman on Wednesday threatened to take his party out of the governing coalition if a bill cementing

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Jewish Religion, Middle East

Army nabs would-be stabber at Bethlehem checkpoint

Border Police arrest 36-year-old woman with knife, cops say she confessed to planning to carry out attack in Jerusalem By Times of Israel staff Illustrative image of Palestinians crossing the Bethlehem checkpoint, on June 23, 2017. (Wisam Hashlamoun/FLASH90) A Palestinian woman was detained Wednesday while trying to cross a West Bank checkpoint with a knife,

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Middle East

High Court to hold hearing on Western Wall agreement in July

Women of the Wall head says cabinet decision to freeze 2016 deal shows state has no legal arguments for delaying its implementation By Alexander Fulbright Conservative Jews at the section prepared for prayer for the Women of the Wall at Robinson’s Arch in Jerusalem’s Old City on July 30, 2014. (Robert Swift/Flash90) The High Court

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Jewish Religion, Middle East

Now a Knesset leader, former prisoner of Zion returns to his Moscow cell

Returning to Butyrka prison, where he awaited a show trial 33 years ago for teaching Hebrew, Yuli Edelstein recalls the ‘gates of hell’ where his phylacteries, but not his zeal for Israel, were crushed By Marissa Newman MOSCOW — To an outsider, the decrepit hallways of Moscow’s Butyrka Prison feel like a gateway into the

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International, Middle East