Israel

HANEEN ZOABI is that rarest of beings, an Arab-Israeli woman who is a member of the Knesset, the Israeli parliament.

In continuing their 12-day ride for Middle East Peace, the nearly 250 all-female members of the awareness organization Follow the Women (FTW) recently weathered stringent restrictions posed by Israeli checkpoints, barring Iranian, Palestinian, and other Arab members of their group from entering t

Israel should adopt a policy of affirmative action and create a ministry for women's affairs, according to the Israel Women's Network, which published its annual report earlier this week.

While Israel had its first female prime minister, Golda Meir, a decade before Britain had Margaret Thatcher, and nearly a quarter-century before Canada had Kim Campbell, there has never been another female political leader who has risen anywhere near the top.

Israeli foreign minister Tzippi Livni made a plea for Israelis and Palestinians to begin talking with each other after meeting with several leading Arab women at a conference May 31.

The number of Arab women seeking assistance in dealing with sexual assault has risen as a direct result of the intensive media coverage of former president Moshe Katsav's case, according to the Nazareth-based organization Women against Violence.

The second Global Gender Gap Report 2007 ranked Israel 36th out of 128 countries, based on assessments in four critical areas of inequality between men and women: economic participation and opportunity, educational attainment, political empowerment and health and survival.

The most powerful woman in Israeli politics and a former spy, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, is now a frontrunner for Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's job after he announced his forthcoming resignation today.

For the first time in 40 years, a woman is within reach of becoming the prime minister of Israel, a nation traditionally dominated by macho military types and a religious establishment decidedly lukewarm about equal rights for women.