JERUSALEM, Nov. 3 (Xinhua) -- The Israeli government plans to begin granting marriage licences for non-Jews and others officially defined as not belonging to a particular religious denomination.
Some 300,000 such couples, which have up to now had to travel overseas to marry in civil ceremonies, often to nearby Cyprus, will be able to officially wed without the Chief Rabbinate's approval, possibly by the weekend, Israel army radio reported Wednesday.
As the law currently stands, upon their return to Israel, such couples must go through a procedure of petitioning the Interior Ministry to recognize their status as married.
The Knesset parliament's Constitution, Law, and Justice Committee on Wednesday set a 165 U.S. dollar registration fee for a civil marriage certificate, a move tantamount to a full administrative adoption of the ruling.
The landmark ruling, which passed a 56-4 vote in March, was initiated by Israel Beiteinu Party Knesset member David Rotem. "By introducing the term 'civil marriage' to Israel's legal code, we' ve managed to crack a 62-year-old wall," Rotem said at the time, according to the Ynet news site.
Rabbi Attorney Shimon Ya'akobi, the rabbinic court system's legal adviser, told Ynet that the rule was only intended for non- Jews' use. He said the courts would strictly enforce its stipulations by cross-referencing applicants' names against census registration records to make sure neither were Jewish.
The "law will solve a problem faced by thousands of people," Rotem told The Jerusalem Post newspaper, adding that he plans to widen the law's strictures to allow all Israeli citizens to marry in a civil, and not religiously-defined ceremony.
Secular groups have lobbied officials for years to pass similar rulings.
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