Israel braces for unrest over judicial overhaul

Israel braced for fresh strikes and protests on Tuesday following a divisive parliamentary vote on a  judicial overhaul which has split the nation and drawn criticism from allies abroad.

The decision by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's hard-right government to push through a key plank of its reforms on Monday has already sparked legal challenges and clashes on the streets.

Opponents were set to keep up months of protests on Tuesday, with doctors walking out.

"The hand, extended for dialogue, was left hanging in the air, as victory celebrations took place symbolising above all a war that only has losers," the head of the Israel Medical Association, Zion Hagay, said in a statement announcing the walkout.

But a Tel Aviv labour court later ordered an immediate return to work.

"We did not find urgency in holding the strike today," the court said, adding that hundreds of patients could be harmed by a strike of such magnitude.

"The fears of the Medical Association at this stage are theoretical, while the severe damage to the patients is real," according to the court.

The association's move came after the Histadrut trade union confederation threatened a repeat of the general strike it called in March over the reforms.

Amid the instability, the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange continued to fall Tuesday after slumping 2.21 percent the previous day.

The Israel Bar Association was among numerous groups to file petitions to the Supreme Court aiming to strike down the new legislation, which curbs judicial review of some government decisions.

"A black day for Israeli democracy," read the blackened front pages of three of the country's top newspapers, which carried an advert by opponents of the judicial overhaul.

Protesters remained on the streets late into the night following the vote, with student Josh Hakim saying he was "really, really sad about what's happening to this country".

"You see what is happening on the streets, everyone is so angry," he told AFP at a rally near parliament in Jerusalem.

Some 58 people were arrested at demonstrations, the police said, among them protesters in Tel Aviv, which has become the focal point of one of the country's largest ever protest movements.

Police said one person was remanded in custody Tuesday for allegedly harming demonstrators, with protest organisers saying he drove a car into people blocking a highway.

Officers used water cannon to disperse protesters on a major road through Tel Aviv, where the crowd waved Israeli flags.

Opposition slams 'puppet' PM

Protest organisers said demonstrations were planned for Tuesday in several cities including Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, and Haifa.

Netanyahu failed to appease opponents with a televised address late Monday, in which he pledged to hold talks during the upcoming parliamentary recess.

"Reach a comprehensive agreement on everything and we will add more time should it be needed," he said of the controversial reform package his government unveiled in January.

The embattled premier showed signs of fatigue in the chamber, as he sat between his defence and justice ministers just a day after unscheduled surgery to fit a pacemaker.

Netanyahu defended the new law - the first major piece of his government's judicial overhaul to become law - as a "necessary democratic step".

It limits the powers of the Supreme Court in striking down government decisions on ground of their "reasonableness".

Deep divisions within his own coalition and mass protests prompted the premier to temporarily halt the legislative process in March, but within weeks politicians were blaming each other for the breakdown in negotiations.

On Monday, the opposition walked out of the chamber to boycott the vote, which passed with the support of 64 of its 120 lawmakers.

Opposition chief Yair Lapid slammed Netanyahu's "unprecedented performance of weakness".

"There is no prime minister in Israel. Netanyahu has become a puppet of messianic extremists," he said in reference to the premier's extreme-right and ultra-Orthodox Jewish allies.

The political instability has raised alarm among Israel's allies abroad.

The White House described the vote as "unfortunate". A German foreign ministry source said: "We look with great concern at the deepening tensions in Israeli society."