Israel's ruling Likud party lurches to the right

JERUSALEM // Hardliners in the Likud party of the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, were elected into key positions in the party's governing institutions early Monday, a move that could create difficulties in making concessions to the Palestinians.

The deputy defence minister, Danny Danon, an outspoken opponent of the two-state solution, won the vote for the position of chairman of the party's Central Committee, a Likud spokeswoman said.

Another hardliner, the deputy foreign minister, Zeev Elkin, took over the Likud bureau, which outlines party ideology.

About 78 per cent of the 3,600 members of the Likud Central Committee took part in the vote, the spokeswoman said. Likud's chairman, Mr Netanyahu, distanced himself from the process and voted from a ballot brought to his residence in Jerusalem.

Ballots were cast on Sunday, as the United States secretary of state, John Kerry, wrapped up four days of intensive shuttle diplomacy in a bid to bring Israel and the Palestinians back to the negotiating table.

Mr Kerry held 13 hours of talks with Mr Netanyahu and about six hours with Palestinian president, Mahmud Abbas. The American efforts ended without a breakthrough, a senior Palestinian official said, although the US secretary hailed "real progress".

After Monday's party election, Mr Netanyahu remains leader of Likud, but his power diminished when Mr Danon and Mr Elkin, seen as rebels, secured their new positions.

"Netanyahu lost the Likud", read a headline in the top-selling Yediot Aharonot daily, citing a senior party official who said that the premier failed to find a candidate who would run for any of the party's key posts.

Gender pay parity on track in the UAE

The UAE has a good record on gender pay parity, according to Mercer's Total Remuneration Study.

"In some of the lower levels of jobs women tend to be paid more than men, primarily because men are employed in blue collar jobs and women tend to be employed in white collar jobs which pay better," said Ted Raffoul, career products leader, Mena at Mercer. "I am yet to see a company in the UAE – particularly when you are looking at a blue chip multinationals or some of the bigger local companies – that actively discriminates when it comes to gender on pay."

Mr Raffoul said most gender issues are actually due to the cultural class, as the population is dominated by Asian and Arab cultures where men are generally expected to work and earn whereas women are meant to start a family.

"For that reason, we see a different gender gap. There are less women in senior roles because women tend to focus less on this but that’s not due to any companies having a policy penalising women for any reasons – it’s a cultural thing," he said.

As a result, Mr Raffoul said many companies in the UAE are coming up with benefit package programmes to help working mothers and the career development of women in general.

COMPANY PROFILE

Name: Almnssa

Started: August 2020

Founder: Areej Selmi

Based: Gaza

Sectors: Internet, e-commerce

Investments: Grants/private funding

City's slump

L - Juventus, 2-0
D - C Palace, 2-2
W - N Forest, 3-0
L - Liverpool, 2-0
D - Feyenoord, 3-3
L - Tottenham, 4-0
L - Brighton, 2-1
L - Sporting, 4-1
L - Bournemouth, 2-1
L - Tottenham, 2-1