March 15, 2010

Israel\’s prime minister told his party that Israel will continue to build in Jerusalem.\n\n\”Construction in Jerusalem – and anywhere else – will continue in the same way that has been customary during the past 42 years,\” Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday during a Likud party meeting, according to reports.\n\n\”The cabinet\’s decision to end the construction freeze after 10 months remains standing,\” he also said, in response to a question.

Israel\’s Cabinet approved a national plan to reverse Israel\’s scientific brain drain.\n\nThe $350 million plan approved Sunday will create 30 centers for academic excellence to attract scientists who have left Israel to conduct research abroad.\n\n\”The government views the bringing in from overseas of outstanding Israeli and Jewish scientists and technicians as an important policy tool in raising the level of excellence at institutions of higher learning and in strengthening the supply of skilled workers in the economy,\” said a statement issued Sunday by the Prime Minister\’s Office.\n\nOne-third of the funding will come from government coffers and the rest from academic institutions involved and private donations, Haaretz reported. Five centers will open for the upcoming academic year\n

Israel\’s army has declared two West Bank villages that are the site of weekly protests against the West Bank security fence closed military zones.\n\nSoldiers posted signs in the Palestinian villages of Bil\’in and Ni\’lin announcing the order, which will be in effect every Friday for six months, according to Ynet.\n\nRegular Friday demonstrations have been held in the villages for the last five years. Some of the demonstrations have turned violent; two demonstrators have been killed.\n\nThe order covers the land between the security barrier and built-up areas of Bil\’in, as well as all of Ni\’lin, according to Haaretz.

Palestinians held a ceremony near Ramallah honoring a terrorist involved in killing 37 Israelis.\n\nThe Palestinian Authority had canceled official ceremonies to name a town square in el-Bireh after Dalal Mughrabi, who was killed in a 1978 bus hijacking on Israel\’s coastal road. But several senior Fatah officials participated in what was termed a \”popular rally\” at the square on March 11, the day that U.S. Vice President Joe Biden left the region and the 32nd anniversary of the deadly attack.\n