This Week

WORLD BRIEFS

from page 33

nates by barring same-sex couples ±'
from its married-student housing.
The plaintiffs, backed by the
American Civil Liberties Union, sued
- the Bronx, N.Y., medical school in
1998.
Yeshiva University — except for
its Orthodox rabbinical school — is
legally nonsectarian and must com-
ply with anti-discrimination laws.
The case against Yeshiva U. was
dismissed last year, and earlier this
month the appellate division ruled
that the university's policy does not
have a disparate impact on homo-
sexuals.
The associate director of the
ACLU's Lesbian and Gay Rights
Project, which is arguing on behalf
of the students, called the recent
decision "ridiculous" and said the
students would appeal to the state's
highest court, the NeW York Court
of Appeals.
The university maintained that
since unmarried heterosexual cou-
ples are also not eligible for hous-
ing, the policy equally affects gay and
heterosexual students.

Leah Rabin
Fighting Cancer

Washington/JTA — Leah Rabin,
widow of assassinated Israeli Prime
Minister Yitzhak Rabin, is suffering
from lung cancer and is undergoing
tests in the United States.
The Washington Post reported that
the illness became known when Rabin
failed to appear at a Washington cere-
mony in her honor.

Swiss Increase
Shoah Reparations
zurichurA — Several Swiss insurers

agreed to pay $50 million to settle
Holocaust-era claims, Reuters news
agency reported, citing sources close
to the discussions.
The money will be added to a
$1.25 billion settlement that Swiss
banks agreed to pay in 1998, the
sources said.

Hungary Slights
Jewish Influence

Budapest/JTA . Jews are virtually
ignored in Hungarian textbooks,
according to a new study.
They appear first as the source of

—

World Briefs

An Israeli official confirmed that
Prime Minister Ehud Barak and
U.S. President Bill Clinton are
scheduled to discuss the aid next
week when Barak visits
Washington.

U.S., Israel
Talk Water

;.N.A

Relatives of Palestinian police officer Ahmed Jamal Abdel Fattah, killed in Ramallah
on May 15 during clashes with Israeli troops, seen in poster at left, mourn during his
funeral in the village of Deir al-Hatab, near the West Bank city of Nablus on May 16

Christianity, then "completely disap-
pear for 2,000 years" before they are
mentioned again in connection with
the Holocaust, according to David
Singer, director of research for the
American Jewish Committee, which
conducted the study.

Gore Told
Web Jokes

New York/JTA
Vice President Al
Gore used some Jewish jokes in a
speech to the Anti-Defamation League
without telling his audience where he
had gotten them, according to the
New York Times.
The jokes he told last week were
not crafted by Gore's speech writers,
but came from a humor Web site,
wwvv.topfive.com , the paper said.
A Gore spokeswoman shrugged off
the incident, telling the Times, "Like
all of us, the vice president, when he
hears a funny joke, tells it to others
and passes it on."

—

Israeli Murderer
Stays Imprisoned

Jerusalem/JTA
Israel's High Court
of Justice reversed a parole board's
decision to free a Jewish settler con-
victed of murdering a Palestinian
whose hands and feet were bound.
The seven justices ruled unani-
mously that Yoram Skolnick is still a
threat to the public.

—

Jewish Settler
Jailed For Murder

Tel Aviv/JTA
A Tel Aviv court sen-
tenced a Jewish settler to life in prison
for the murder of an elderly
Palestinian man in a West Bank olive
grove more than a year ago.
Gur Hamel was convicted of
smashing the 68-year-old Palestinian's
skull while he was praying. The court
rejected his insanity defense.

—

Israeli President
Won't Finish Term.

Tel Aviv/JTA
Israeli President Ezer
Weizman said during Independence
Day events on May 10 that he intends
to step down by the end of the year,
but did not give a specific date.
Weizman, 76, has cited his advancing
age as a reason for not serving his entire
second term, which ends in 2003.
He has been the center of a scandal
in recent months for allegedly accepting
cash payments while an Israeli official.

—

U.S. Millions
For Pullback

Jerusalem/JTA
The United States
plans to contribute $50 million of its
annual foreign aid package to Israel to
help fund the planned troop with-
drawal from Lebanon, according to a
report in the Israeli daily Globes.

—

Jerusalem/JTA — Israeli and
American experts are scheduled
to hold talks on Middle East
water issues on the sidelines of
Prime Minister Ehud Barak's
visit to Washington next week.
The Israeli daily Ha'aretz report-
ed that the Israeli delegation
believes that existing water
resources are unable to keep up
with population growth, requir-
ing the creation of new sources
through desalination.

Bank Plans
Israel Branch

Jerusalem/JTA
Bank of America is
planning to open a branch in Israel.
The office will serve Israel's growing
computer, telecommunications and
other high-tech businesses, the bank
said.

—

CNBC Discusses
Israeli Channel

Jerusalem/JTA
U.S. media company
CNBC is in preliminary talks with an
Israeli financial Web site to set up a
business television channel in the
Jewish state.
The talks were announced by an
official with the parent company of
the Israeli daily Ha'aretz, which is a
major shareholder in the Web site,
TheMarker.com.

—

New Birthright
Trip Launched

New York/JTA
More than 400 col-
lege students flew to Israel for a fully
subsidized, 10-day tour of the Jewish
state sponsored by Birthright Israel.
The latest trip, which began
Sunday, is primarily for students who
were unable to register for the previ-
ous winter-break tour.
Additional trips are scheduled for
later this month and for June.

—

5/19
2000

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