Israel retracts Arab-racist Bill

Backtracking on an emotional issue, the Israeli Cabinet on Sunday set aside a Bill it had endorsed just last week that would allow Arab citizens of Israel to be barred from buying homes or land in many Jewish communities.

The proposal sparked a firestorm of criticism after Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s government voted to back it during a closed session a week ago. Critics accused Sharon of railroading the measure through the Cabinet while most ministers from the Centre-left Labour Party were absent. Others blasted the Bill as state-sponsored racism that would legalise the existence of ‘‘Jews-only’’ towns.

The Cabinet revisited the issue Sunday, with the Labour party present and voted 22-2 to send the Bill to committee — an action analysts say kills its chances of becoming law.

The U-turn spares Sharon a bitter public confrontation with his Foreign Minister Shimon Peres, a senior Labour figure who threatened to quit the government if necessary to fight its ‘‘racist decision’’ to endorse the legislation. (LATWP)