Israel's supreme court has overturned a ban on Israeli Arab members of parliament Mr Ahmad Tibi and Mr Azmi Bishara running in the January 28th elections.
The two MPs and Mr Bishara's Balad party had been disqualified last week by the central electoral commission on the grounds they supported "Palestinian terror".
The Supreme Court's 11 judges also allowed former extremist anti-Arab activist Mr Baruch Marzel to run on the ultra-nationalist Herut party list, rejecting the Labour party's appeal against the commission's decision to validate his candidacy.
But the court confirmed a ban on Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz representing Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's Likud party on the grounds he had not been out of the army for the required six months.
Mr Bishara was sanctioned by the election commission for organising illegal trips for Arab Israelis to Syria, with which Israel is still officially at war, and for remarks he allegedly made in Syria backing "armed struggle" against Israel.
Mr Tibi, head of the Arab Movement For Change, which had two deputies in the outgoing Knesset, was accused by the commission of "supporting terrorist organisations which commit anti-Israeli attacks".
Israel's Arab community comprises 1.2 million people and represents about 17 per cent of the voting population. The outgoing parliament includes 10 Arab-Israeli lawmakers out of 120 deputies.
AFP