The ban on two Arab parties from running in the Israeli election that was discussed earlier in this thread has been overturned by Israel's Supreme Court.

Here is the JTA story received today

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Supreme Court: Arab parties can run
January 21, 2009

JERUSALEM (JTA) -- Israel's Supreme Court ruled that two Arab parties should not be disqualified from national elections.

On Wednesday, the court overturned the decision of Israel's Central Elections Committee to ban the Balad and United Arab List-Ta'al parties from the Feb. 10 elections.

The nine justices on the court's panel decided unanimously in the case of the United Arab List-Ta'al party and by a majority for Balad, according to Ynet.

The elections panel had disqualified the parties based on petitions claiming that the parties do not recognize Israel as the Jewish homeland and call for armed conflict against Israel. A 500-page appeal was filed Monday.