Jerusalem, Israel - Israel's justice minister and a chief rabbi have agreed on a bill that would for the first time allow a form of civil marriage in the Jewish state, but the move has sparked furious criticism over its limited scope.
Under the deal, Israeli citizens who are considered Jewish in the eyes of the state but not by its religious authorities -- most of them immigrants from the former Soviet Union -- will be allowed to marry in a civil ceremony.
"This is an important step toward extending the right to marry," Justice Minister Daniel Friedman was quoted as saying. "Unfortunately in Israel this right does not always get the recognition it deserves."
The agreement was announced late Wednesday between Friedman and Chief Sephardi Rabbi Shlomo Amar and is reportedly approved by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.
The current discrepancy in the state and religious definition of who is Jewish has left many Israeli "Jewish" citizens -- approximately 270,000 -- unable to marry inside their country.
To be considered Jewish under Israel's Law of Return, and thus be eligible for Israeli citizenship, a person must have at least one grandparent who is Jewish.
But to be considered Jewish in the eyes of the state's religious authorities -- which control civil status issues like birth, marriage and death -- one must have either a Jewish mother or have converted to Judaism under strict ultra-Orthodox guidelines.
This has forced Israelis who wish to marry in civil ceremonies to go abroad.
The bill, however, will only apply to couples where neither person is considered Jewish in the eyes of religious authorities, or to couples where both partners do not belong to a recognised religion.
"I hope that with time this limited measure will be expanded," Friedman told public radio on Thursday, amid furious criticism over the limited scope of the proposed legislation.
But critics blasted the proposed bill for not going far enough.
"The formula proposed by Friedman and Amar is throwing dust in our eyes," said Rabbi Gilad Kriv, chief of the Jewish Centre for Reform and Pluralism.
"It is resolving a problem for a handful of couples and is leaving hundreds of thousands of others without a solution."
Yossi Beilin, chief of the secular leftist Meretz party, said that "instead of finding a solution which will enable them to integrate into the Israeli society, we are creating a ghetto in which they will be able to marry.
"The new initiative is a trick which does not mean civil marriage, but deepens the isolation and discrimination of immigrants from the former Soviet Union who are not defined as Jews."
Zamira Seguev, president of a forum for free marriage, said "Israel calls itself a democratic state and must allow that one marries freely, as it's a fundamental right."
Critics also blasted the government for the concessions that it gave to the chief rabbinate in return for it supporting the measure -- the authority to establish special rabbinical conversion courts and thereby cement their control over the conversion process.
"The worst thing is that for this worthless reform the prime minister has agreed to 'pay' the haredim by expanding the authorities of the chief rabbinate in terms of conversion," Beilin said.