Shorts: Mideast

Barak gives OK to more construction

Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak reportedly has authorized the construction of 300 homes in a West Bank community.

The recently approved construction flies in the face of United States demands that Israel freeze all construction in settlements.

Sixty of the homes already have been constructed in the Talmon settlement, located northwest of Ramallah. The other 240 still require a final go-ahead, according to reports. — jta

PA launches Hebrew news site

The Palestinian Authority’s official news agency has launched a Hebrew-language Web site.

According to the news agency, also known as WAFA, the site will provide readers of Hebrew with “accurate and first-hand information” from the PA.

PA President Mahmoud Abbas said in a letter posted on the site that the site would promote direct dialogue with Israelis as well as present the news objectively and accurately. — jta

Hamas official out of Israeli prison

Aziz Dweik, the Hamas speaker of the Palestinian parliament, was released from an Israeli prison June 23 after being jailed three years ago, charged with membership in a terrorist organization.

His arrest was part of Israel’s crackdown on Hamas following the group’s kidnapping of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit in a cross-border raid.

Dweik, the Palestinian Legislative Council Speaker, was released to the West Bank after a military court rejected prosecutors’ request to keep him in jail for another six months. — jta

TV star indicted for assault

Dudu Topaz, an Israeli talk show and game show host and star of variety and satire programs, was indicted last week for planning assaults on media figures.

He was charged in Tel Aviv District Court on several counts of conspiracy to commit a crime, aggravated assault and obstruction of justice for allegedly ordering attacks on top television executives, television figures and a newspaper editor.

Topaz also allegedly was planning an attack against his ex-wife and her husband. During an interrogation earlier this month, he reportedly confessed to planning the media attacks, and shortly after his arrest, he attempted to commit suicide in prison. — jta

Politician visits Temple Mount

Yitzhak Aharonovitch, Israel’s internal security minister, made an unannounced visit to the Temple Mount compound and entered the Al-Aksa Mosque during his two-hour tour to review police positions in the volatile area.

A spokesman for Aharonovitch, who is a member of the right-wing Yisrael Beiteinu Party, told Reuters that the visit was coordinated with the Muslim Waqf, which is charged with caring for the site. But the Waqf foundation told Ynetnews.com that the visit was a “provocative entry to the holy site, which may complicate the sensitive situation.”

Some claimed that a visit to the Temple Mount nine years ago by Ariel Sharon, when he was a candidate for prime minister, sparked the second Palestinian intifada. Aharonovitch insulted Arab members of the Knesset last week when he used a racial slur to describe a dirty undercover Israeli police officer. — jta

Jerusalem peace banner aiming for space

A peace banner from the Jerusalem International YMCA’s Peace Preschool is scheduled to take a trip to the international space station aboard a NASA space shuttle set to launch in November.

Peace Preschool’s 120 students are split about evenly between Jews and Muslims, and teachers there call the school a model for good interfaith relations in a city that’s known for religious conflict.

The 30- by 50-inch banner, shaped like a spaceship, reads “Christian, Muslim, and Jewish children shooting for the stars.” — ap

Windsurfer wins European gold

Israeli windsurfer Shahar Zubari won the gold medal in the European Championship June 20 after a week of racing in Tel Aviv. Zubari was a bronze medalist in the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.

“Nothing compares to winning the championships at home,” the Eilat native said. — jta