Haim Ramon

Defeated by labor-union bureaucrats on reform of Israel's health insurance system, Haim Ramon quit as health minister, challenged the old guard in union elections and this week won a victory likely to shape Israeli politics for the next decade.

Defeated by labor-union bureaucrats on reform of Israel's health insurance system, Haim Ramon quit as health minister, challenged the old guard in union elections and this week won a victory likely to shape Israeli politics for the next decade.

Israel should cut off outlying Arab neighborhoods from Jerusalem, Israel's vice premier proposed, a day after a Palestinian construction worker from one of the districts went on a deadly rampage in the city's center. Vice Premier Haim Ramon wants the route of Israel's separation barrier to exclude Arab districts, saying it would improve security. The wall already rings much of the city. Hussam Duwayaat, 30, driving a massive construction vehicle, rammed buses, crushed cars and targeted pedestrians.

Israel on Wednesday set early elections for March 28, clearing the way for Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to try to stay in power as the head of a new centrist party. Sharon bolted from his hard-line Likud and formed the National Responsibility party, which picked up momentum with an announcement by Haim Ramon, a Labor Party politician, that he is joining the group. Sharon's aides said Wednesday that he would campaign on the U.S.

Israeli President Moshe Katsav will face questioning in a sexual harassment investigation, police said Tuesday after seizing computers and documents at his official residence. At least two former female employees have accused Katsav of harassing them, police said. One of the women reportedly also alleged that Katsav received money for granting pardons. Police plan to question Katsav at his residence today, police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said.

Israel's ruling Labor Party expelled three of its members of Parliament on Thursday in an internal power struggle that Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin warned could lead to his government's downfall and Labor's defeat at the subsequent election. Bitterly attacking former Health Minister Haim Ramon for challenging his leadership, Rabin said the insurgents were not only undermining the coalition government but also its efforts to achieve peace with Israel's Arab neighbors.

Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin's Cabinet on Sunday named two Israeli Arabs to high-ranking jobs, the first such government appointments in 19 years. "Members of Parliament Nawaf Massalha and Walid Zadik were approved by the Cabinet as deputy ministers," Health Minister Haim Ramon said. A government official said the Cabinet also accepted a U.S. invitation to resume peace talks in Washington on Aug. 24, the first session since Rabin's Labor Party won a June election.

The pope is still 40 miles away, but here in Jerusalem the jockeying has commenced. Sovereignty over Jerusalem is the single most intractable disagreement dividing Israelis and Palestinians, and who better to resolve it than the pope? Maybe that's what the Palestinians were thinking Monday when they hoisted a 10-foot-high brightly colored hot-air balloon high above Orient House, their de facto headquarters in East Jerusalem.

Israel on Tuesday carried out more airstrikes against Palestinian rocket squads based in the Gaza Strip, killing at least six more militants a day after slaying Islamic Jihad's military chief. Israeli air operations have killed at least 11 militants since Monday evening. Most belonged to Islamic Jihad, which has claimed responsibility for dozens of cross-border rocket attacks into southern Israel in recent months.

Fearful that a terrorist attack inside Israel might hand upcoming elections to the opposition, the Labor-led government stepped up security measures Monday in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Israel's army banned the 2 million Palestinian residents of the territories from entering Israel "for an indefinite period." A military spokesman said the order was issued for security reasons.

A stalemate is brewing in Israel's efforts to find a new prime minister and, three weeks into the government crisis, talk of new national elections is becoming commonplace. In the same breath, politicians and commentators are wondering whether a new vote would solve anything.