Roundup

Arab League Delays
Peace-Talks Decision

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RAMALLAH ( JTA)

-- The Arab League
gave the Palestinian
Authority a month
to seek a path back
to direct talks with
Israel.
P.A. President
Benjamin
Mahmoud Abbas
Netanyahu
suspended talks
after Israeli Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu refused
to extend a partial settlement-build-
ing freeze beyond Sept. 26.
Direct talks had been under way
for just under a month. Netanyahu
imposed the West Bank building
freeze last December as incentive for
Palestinians to come to the talks.
Abbas consulted on Oct. 8 with
Arab League foreign ministers in
Libya and emerged with the one-
month compromise.
The Obama administration had
lobbied hard for more time to bridge
the impasse. "We appreciate the Arab
League's statement of support for our
efforts to create conditions that will
allow direct talks to move forward," a

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Israeli Loyalty Oath
JERUSALEM (JTA) -- Israel's Cabinet
approved a loyalty oath requiring non-
Jews wishing to become citizens to
pledge allegiance to Israel as a "Jewish
and democratic state
Following several hours of debate,
the vote was approved Sunday by 22
ministers and opposed by eight —
five from the Labor Party, including
party head Ehud Barak, and three
from the Likud Party.
"There is no other democracy
in the Middle East," Israeli Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said at
the beginning of the Cabinet meet-
ing before the debate and vote on the
amendment.
"There is no other Jewish state in
the world. The combination of these
two lofty values expresses the founda-
tion of our national life; and anyone
who would like to join us needs to
recognize this.
"To my regret, today there are those
who are trying to blur not only the
unique connection between the Jewish
people and its homeland, but also the
connection between the Jewish people
and its state. Democracy is the soul of
Israel and we cannot do without it. No
one can preach democracy or enlight-

U.S. State Department statement said
Saturday. "We will continue to work
with the parties, and all our interna-
tional partners, to advance negotia-
tions toward a two-state solution and
encourage the parties to take con-
structive actions toward that end:'
Netanyahu said he would reinstate
a West Bank construction freeze if
the Palestinians recognize Israel as a
Jewish state.
Netanyahu made the offer Monday
in a wide-ranging speech at the open-
ing of the Knesset's winter session.
"If the Palestinian leadership will
say unequivocally to its people that it
recognizes Israel as the homeland of
the Jewish people, I will be ready to
convene my government and request a
further suspension," Netanyahu said.
The Palestinian Authority issued a
statement rejecting Netanyahu's offer
immediately following the speech. The
Palestinians said they would return
to peace talks in exchange for a
freeze on building in the settlements.
"The issue of the Jewishness of
the state has nothing to do with the
matter," said Nabil Abu Rdainah,
a spokesman for P.A. President
Mahmoud Abbas.

enment to us.
"Zionism established an exemplary
national state, a state that balances
between the national needs of our peo-
ple and the individual rights or every
citizen in the country."
The amendment advances to the
Knesset's legislative committee and
then to the full Knesset.
The loyalty oath amendment fulfills
part of the government's coalition
agreement with Avidgor Lieberman's
Yisrael Beiteinu party.

Dylan's
Childhood Shul

HIBBING (JTA)
-- The synagogue
where Bob Dylan
celebrated his bar
mitzvah is for sale.
The building
Bob Dylan
that once housed
Agudath Achim
Synagogue in Hibbing, Minn., where
the former Bobby Zimmerman
became a man in 1963, has belonged
to Eric and Brenda Shafer-Pellinen
since 2001. Their hopes to turn the
building into a bed-and-breakfast
failed to materialize.
The building is listed on Craigslist