Mideast Report

JERUSALEM (JTA) -- An Israeli plan to extend the West Bank settlement of Ma'aleh Adumim four miles westward to Jerusalem is a "provocative act by an outgoing government," the U.S. State Department said last Friday.

The statement came one day after outgoing Defense Minister Moshe Arens announced the expansion. The Palestinian cabinet had said the plan was "destroying the peace process" and appealed for U.S. intervention.

In another development, a leading Palestinian official in Jerusalem urged the United States not to move its Israeli Embassy to Jerusalem. Faisal Husseini said Monday that such a move would be a "blow to the peace process" and to U.S. credibility as a mediator.

Deri appeals to Supreme Court to overturn his jail sentence

JERUSALEM (JTA) -- The leader of Israel's fervently religious Shas Party on Sunday filed an appeal with the Israeli Supreme Court to overturn his conviction and four-year jail sentence for accepting bribes while serving in the Interior Ministry.

Aryeh Deri argued that the judges who convicted him were biased and had based their verdict on circumstantial evidence.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister-elect Ehud Barak reiterated his desire to include Shas in his governing coalition, but Shas officials continue to resist his demand that the party disassociate itself from Deri.

Two Shabbat candles light path to victory in Technion contest

HAIFA (JTA) -- The Technion Israel Institute of Technology hosted a competition last month in which university students were asked to build a vehicle powered only by two Sabbath candles.

The winning entry, a 15-inch-long, four-wheeled buggy, traversed a 45-foot course in two minutes and 15 seconds. The winner of the annual Techno-Brain Competition, a second-year student of mechanical engineering, won a weeklong safari in Kenya for two.