Rights of Jews 'under study'
(Al-Mutamar) - Minister of Migrants and Displacement Bascal Ishu Werde said Iraq was to study the possibility of granting passports to Jews of Iraqi origin and to compensate those who lost their properties. She said they would grant passports to those residing inside Iraq first. Israeli sources said the passport issue was of "great importance" because it would enable Jews to travel freely within the Arab States and would allow them to participate in the Iraqi elections.
(Al-Mutamar is issued daily by the Iraqi National Congress.)

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Authorities end restriction on travel to Israel
(Asharq Al-Awsat) - The Manager of Passports Sabbar al-Atiya said the authorities have cancelled the prohibition to travel to Israel. He said new Iraqi passports would be issued without the famous note of "Bearer is allowed to travel to the entire world except Israel". He added that they started issuing the new passports, which would be valid for one year, on July 15 to replace the travel documents, which were no more valid, issued by the now-defunct Coalition Provisional Authority.
(London-based Asharq al-Awsat, a Saudi independent paper, is issued daily.)

No delay in elections says chief
(Al-Ittihad) - Head of the Supreme Preparatory Board for the National Congress Fuad Masoum has denied postponing the Iraqi National Congress. He said there was no defect in the process of elections in the provinces. The process was going ahead in a good way, and there was nothing to justify putting off the elections, he added.
(Al-Ittihad is published daily by the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan.)

Sadr boycotts Najaf vote
(Addustour) - Muqtada al-Sadr yesterday boycotted elections held in Najaf to choose members of the National Congress to be held in Baghdad by the end of July. He said Sadr disagreed concerning the mechanism of choosing participants. The spokesman for the Supreme Council of the Islamic Revolution in Iraq Hassan Abtan said the elections did not comply with the Iraqis' ambitions. Head of the preparatory committee of the congress Fuad Masoum said all Iraqi bodies were invited to take part in the elections, and that no one would be left out of them.
(Addustour is an independent daily published by former journalist Basim al-Sheikh.)

'Experts' among looters of national treasures
(Al-Nahdhah) - The Ministry of Culture would form a symposium next month attended by different media outlets to explain the motives behind the looting of the Iraqi museum after the fall of the former regime. Personnel who were suspected in giving aid to the looters would attend the symposium. Looting the country's museum and antiquities was premeditated before the war and before the fall of the regime. Experts and those interested in Iraqi antiquities took part because the most valuable objects were selected to be taken in the looting.
(Al-Nahdhah is a daily newspaper issued by Adnan al-Pachachi, GC member and head of Independent Democrats Movement.)

Provincial elections delayed
(Al-Bayan) - Member of the Supreme Preparatory Committee of the Iraqi National Congress Aziz al-Yaseri said the congress would be put off for a few days due to some violations in the provinces' elections. He said the mechanism of elections there were improper. Meanwhile other committees in the provinces continued elections to choose the representatives to take part in the national Congress. The supreme board, in collaboration with the committees, was undertaking the efforts to facilitate dialogue to explain the importance of the national Congress which should be formed from different communities of Iraqi society.
(Al-Bayan is issued four times weekly by the Islamic Dawa Party, chaired by Ibrahim al-Jafari, Governing Council member.)