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Israel are immigrants who have arrived under the skeptical about Rabbi Michael Law of Return. Melchior's proposal, which includes However, potential converts removing nationality clauses from would be directed to joint conver- identity cards, and attempting to con- sion institutes, where Orthodox, vince non-Orthodox groups to will- Conservative and Reform teachers ingly drop their demand for the right prepare conversion candidates. The to perform conversions in Israel. conversions would be performed by The proposal also advocates mass con- Orthodox rabbis. version of non-Jewish immigrants and a This element of the solution is the tightening of the Law of Return, which core of the recommendations formu- grants automatic citizenship to children, lated by the committee headed by spouses and grandchildren of Jews. Ya'acov Ne'eman, Israel's former Israeli Reform leaders were not finance minister, which tried to solve immediately available for comment. the conversion problem under the The proposals have been presented previous government. Although the to Prime Minister Ehud Barak, who non-Orthodox movements accepted has given Melchior, the minister for the concept in principle, they said it Israeli society and world Jewish corn- did not solve the problem because the munities, the green light to carry out a Orthodox rabbinate never agreed to round of talks with all sides in the convert graduates of the institute. coming weeks. Rabbi Ehud Bandel, president of Melchior's office hopes to present a the Masorti, or Conservative, move- formal proposal to the government ment in Israel, rejected linking the before April, when the Supreme Court liberal streams' right to perform con- is due to resume hearings on the con- versions to the issue of non-Jewish version issue and possibly issue a final immigration. ruling on a conflict that has strained "Of course, we welcome talks Israel-diaspora relations for many years. about the technical solution which we Barak is expected to be too tied up have advocated for years," he said, with his ambitious peace agenda to be referring to the proposed removal of personally involved in hammering out nationality from identity cards. "But a compromise. But his support reflects there is no point to eliminating the the government's desire to enlist the nationality clause without letting us help of U.S. Jewry ahead of intense continue to perform our conversions. lobbying that will be needed in "There are many positive elements to Washington to secure funding for pos- Melchior's proposal," he said, pointing sible future peace deals with. Syria, out the technical solution and the pro- Lebanon and the Palestinians. posal to increase the number of stu- A source at Melchior's office, speak- dents at the joint conversion institutes. ing on condition of anonymity, said the "But we insist that it is our right to per- proposals aimed to bring about a de form conversions in Israel and we can- facto situation where Orthodox conver- not agree to suspend our conversions." sions continue to prevail. Rabbi Avraham Ravitz, from the "The final goal is to have one con- fervently Orthodox United Torah version, an Orthodox conversion, but Judaism bloc, said he had not yet out of agreement," said the official. fully studied the proposals, but said We want to reach a situation where he supports any package that would the Conservative and Reform move- get the non-Orthodox movements to ments willingly forgo performing con- stop performing conversions in Israel. versions in Israel." AVI MACHLIS 1999 Landcruiser Carrier 1999 . • ,1•7,., 7. -1, F.-,