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Mar. 8, 2021
Two years of political chaos will end after Election Day, March 23, with the formation of a stable government that has a clear vision and priorities. Or not.
The results of the next election and the composition of the next government look increasingly unclear. All options are open.
But the inescapable fact is that whatever government is formed will have to decide on what socioeconomic model Israel is going to have in the post-coronavirus era. Ostensibly, the model was decided back in 1977, when the government of Menachem Begin vowed to create a capitalist economy and free markets. That really began to take shape in 1985 with the Economic Stabilization Program that sharply reduced government intervention in the capital market, opened the domestic market to imports, curbed subsidies and introduced privatization and a host of structural reforms.
Biden wants to promote human rights in the Middle East Is he willing to pay the price?
haaretz.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from haaretz.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
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Over the past three days, U.S. officials have held feverish discussions about this issue, both among themselves and with their European partners in the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran. U.S. President Joe Biden’s stated position is that sanctions won’t be removed until Iran ceases its violations of the deal and resumes full compliance. Iran, in contrast, insists that sanctions must be lifted before the sides can even start talking.
How much room for negotiations remains between these two adamant positions that mark the path of “careful diplomacy,” as Biden termed his planned return to the nuclear deal? The working assumption is that both sides want to revive the deal from which America withdrew in 2018.
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It was signed by the head of the Sharia Supreme Judicial Council in the Strip, Hassan al-Jojo, who is also the president of the Sharia Supreme Court in the coastal enclave. The first section of the circular is considered relatively positive and is meant to prevent children from being forcibly removed from the care of their mothers. It prohibits the father from traveling with his children without their mother’s permission (when the children are of an age at which their mother is their guardian).
The second section permits a divorced father to travel with his children if his ex-wife has remarried and is no longer their guardian. In both these cases, the permission is granted by a Sharia court. In all cases, the mother, whether divorced or not, needs the permission of the children’s father to travel with her children. The most problematic sections, in the view of Palestinian human rights organizations and feminist activist
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The Defense Ministry s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) announced the policy change on Thursday, allowing workers to come into Israel daily.
Israel has refused to vaccinate any of the Palestinian workers. A Health Ministry statement from February 10 says that Palestinians working in Israel legally or not will not be vaccinated against COVID.
Most of these workers are employed in the construction industry. On Thursday the head of the construction union, Raoul Sarugo was scheduled to meet with officials at the ministry to resolve the issue. He said the union has proposed a plan to vaccinate laborers at eight checkpoints, and that it would finance the logistics of the operation. The plan is pending Health Ministry approval.
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