News Brief

(IsraelNN.com) Jerusalem's Local Committee for Planning and construction approved the building of 980 additional housing units at Har Homa (Homat Shmuel Gimel). This is deemed an initial step towards providing alternative solutions for Jerusalem's growth after the 'Safdie Plan' was nixed. Named for its originator, architect Moshe Safdie, it called for a westward expansion of Jerusalem's neighborhoods but met stiff opposition from environmental groups, which argued it would destroy forests and springs around Jerusalem. 

--Eighty-four percent of the Israeli public does not believe in the party leaders' moral integrity and 52% do not believe a single party exists whose leaders are not corrupt, according to a poll conducted for the Knesset television channel.

--Defense Minister Amir Peretz appointed Knesset Member Raleb Majadele as the Labor party's seventh minister, Minister of Science, Technology, Culture, and Sports. Majadele is the first Arab to be appointed a cabinet minister in the State of Israel since its inception in 1948. The defense minister said that his appointment was historic and would no doubt bring about an improvement in the relationships between the different sectors in Israel.