Israeli Cabinet

The Israeli Cabinet on Thursday began a marathon debate on the U.S.-brokered Middle East peace deal, amid signs that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was fighting to shore up support in his rebellious right wing and indications of a possible new conflict with the Palestinians.

Google's popular Street View map service has sparked privacy debates around the globe. But in Israel, government officials are worried that the service could endanger public figures by giving terrorists detailed information that could be used in carrying out attacks. Israel said Monday that it was weighing whether to allow Google to photograph Israeli cities to promote tourist sites despite risks to privacy and safety. Street View allows users to virtually tour locations in 27 countries.

A reorganization of the Israeli Cabinet was reported to be imminent early today, with the promise of averting the collapse of the nation's 19-month-old coalition government. The new lineup began to take shape less than 24 hours after the feuding coalition partners had appeared to rule out any compromise.

Israeli officials said Sunday they would reject U.N. pressure to establish an international commission to investigate last week's deadly raid of a Gaza-bound aid flotilla. Instead, leaders are leaning toward an Israeli-led inquiry that might include international observers or participation, officials said. Israel's ambassador to the U.S., Michael Oren, told "Fox News Sunday" that Israel was "rejecting an international commission," as proposed over the weekend by U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

A session of Israel's Cabinet held Sunday to discuss the deep divisions between the Bush Administration and the government of Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir quickly gave way to unrestrained ill will, with one minister branding Bush an anti-Semite. The outbursts highlighted the political passions aroused by Bush's vow to delay U.S. guarantees for $10 billion in loans to house and provide jobs for Soviet immigrants flooding into Israel.

The Israeli Cabinet put an end to a 3-year-old controversy this week when it approved the lease for a university branch operated in Jerusalem by the Mormon Church. The action came after church leaders guaranteed that students would not proselytize. In a motion approved by a large majority, the Cabinet voted to approve the lease for the campus of the Jerusalem Center for Near East Studies. The center on the Mount of Olives is affiliated with church-run Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Cabinet put off a decision Sunday on the extent of land Israel wants to retain in the West Bank, while a military-prepared proposal claimed about half the territory for security reasons. With Israel insisting on time to work out its ultimate demands, it seemed unlikely Netanyahu would be able to present Secretary of State Madeleine Albright with a detailed proposal for an interim troop pullback this week.

A recent Israeli Cabinet meeting degenerated into such a raucous exchange of insults that Prime Minister Shimon Peres went on national television to vow that it would never be allowed to happen again. "Liar! Liar!" the health minister had shouted at the finance minister, who replied that he was sick of his colleague's "fat, self-satisfied face." Their outburst could be explained in part by the fact that they are members of different political parties.

After nearly two weeks of postponements, the Israeli Cabinet on Wednesday approved the latest land-for-security agreement with the Palestinians but attached a litany of tough conditions that appeared all but certain to cause new disruptions and delays. The demands by the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu went well beyond the scope of the written accord signed at the White House on Oct. 23. And they were swiftly, and heatedly, rejected by the Palestinians.

Natan Sharansky, the onetime symbol of oppressed Soviet Jewry, quit his Cabinet post Monday to protest Israel's planned withdrawal from the Gaza Strip this summer. Sharansky, whose views on promoting democracy have won praise from President Bush, said Israel should relinquish Gaza only if the Palestinian government first carries out a wide range of reforms.

At least four more Palestinians and an Israeli woman were killed in fresh attacks by both sides, and a senior Israeli Cabinet minister said Hamas leaders involved in rocket fire could be targeted. The woman's death in the town of Sderot marked the first fatality in a Palestinian rocket attack since November. An Israeli airstrike killed at least four members of Islamic Jihad.

Israel's Cabinet on Sunday soundly defeated an attempt to delay the planned Gaza Strip withdrawal by three months. The 18-3 decision was the first of two planned votes this week on proposals to postpone the pullout, scheduled to start next month. The Knesset, the Israeli parliament, is expected Wednesday to defeat a separate measure seeking a delay.

Israel agreed Sunday to free the last 400 of 900 Palestinian prisoners whose release Prime Minister Ariel Sharon promised during a February summit in Egypt. The Cabinet approved the move, which had been delayed for weeks, in an 18-3 vote. Sharon told ministers that freeing the prisoners would help shore up Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, whose calls for an end to violence against Israel won praise from President Bush during the Palestinian leader's visit to Washington last week.

Natan Sharansky, the onetime symbol of oppressed Soviet Jewry, quit his Cabinet post Monday to protest Israel's planned withdrawal from the Gaza Strip this summer. Sharansky, whose views on promoting democracy have won praise from President Bush, said Israel should relinquish Gaza only if the Palestinian government first carries out a wide range of reforms.

Israel formally abandoned hope Sunday evening of finding any survivors of last week's massive bomb attack on a Red Sea resort in Taba, just across the border in Egypt, which left about three dozen people dead. After three days of searching the ruins of the seaside complex, Israeli soldiers and volunteer medics packed up their equipment and the scraper-type devices used to comb for human remains at the scenes of countless suicide bombings inside Israel.

Backtracking on an emotional issue, the Israeli Cabinet on Sunday set aside a bill it had endorsed just last week that would allow Arab citizens of Israel to be barred from buying homes or land in many Jewish communities. The proposal sparked a firestorm of criticism after Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's government voted to back it during a closed session a week ago.

Backtracking on an emotional issue, the Israeli Cabinet on Sunday set aside a bill it had endorsed just last week that would allow Arab citizens of Israel to be barred from buying homes or land in many Jewish communities. The proposal sparked a firestorm of criticism after Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's government voted to back it during a closed session a week ago.

Israel's Cabinet on Sunday soundly defeated an attempt to delay the planned Gaza Strip withdrawal by three months. The 18-3 decision was the first of two planned votes this week on proposals to postpone the pullout, scheduled to start next month. The Knesset, the Israeli parliament, is expected Wednesday to defeat a separate measure seeking a delay.

He has been in the Israeli Cabinet for less than three months, but Effi Eitam says his influence is easy to see: Just look to the tanks rolling back into West Bank towns and villages. What many regard as the final blow to the battered 1993 Oslo peace accords between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization is for Eitam moral vindication.