ISRAEL CATCHES SYRIAN INFILTRATER

Israel catches infiltrator from Syria Tue Apr 14, 8:43 am ET

JERUSALEM – Israel's military says it has apprehended a man who crossed into the country on foot from neighboring Syria.The military says the unarmed man entered the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights early Tuesday and was quickly detained by Israeli troops and taken for questioning. The army says the man did not appear to have hostile intentions and would likely be returned quickly.Despite tensions, the Israel-Syria border has been very quiet since the two countries reached a truce after a 1973 war.Syrian residents occasionally try to infiltrate Israel and are usually promptly sent back.Israel captured the Golan from Syria in the 1967 Middle East war and subsequently annexed the area. Syria demands it back as part of any peace agreement.

Police: Explosives stashed in West Bank mosque Tue Apr 14, 8:30 am ET

RAMALLAH, West Bank – Palestinian police say they have uncovered an explosives lab in a West Bank mosque.Police spokesman Adnan Damiri says eight suspects have been arrested since the discovery several days ago.West Bank police loyal to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas have been going after the Islamic militant Hamas group for two years. Hamas seized control of Gaza in 2007, and Abbas fears a repeat in the West Bank.Damiri said Tuesday that the lab had two bombs and was hidden under a mosque in the town of Qalqiliya. He wouldn't say which militant group ran the lab, but claimed it was part of attempts to topple Abbas' government. He provided no evidence.In Gaza, a Hamas spokesman denounced what he called political arrests in the West Bank.

Israel army on high alert on Egypt border Tue Apr 14, 3:20 am ET

JERUSALEM (AFP) – The Israeli army has gone on high alert along the border with the Sinai peninsula as Egyptian forces hunt for suspected members of the Lebanese Hezbollah militia, a senior official said.Israeli and Egyptian authorities are holding regular security updates after officials in Cairo said a 13-member Hezbollah cell being hunted down in the Sinai was plotting attacks on Israelis, the security official told AFP.The army was ordered to go into a high state of alert along the border with Egypt following the developments in Egypt and Sinai, he said.Israeli security authorities fear the Shiite militia was also planning attacks inside Israel or along the 200-kilometre (125-mile) border, he said.Israeli authorities have urged its nationals to leave the Sinai, a popular destination for Israeli tourists during the Jewish Passover holiday.

Papal visit bittersweet for Gaza Catholics by Djallal Malti – Mon Apr 13, 10:13 pm ET

GAZA CITY (AFP) – Pope Benedict XVI's upcoming trip to the Holy Land will be bittersweet for Gaza's tiny Catholic community, angry the pontiff is not also visiting their violence-wracked impoverished coastal strip.We will ask him why he came, what he intends on saying to the Christians, the Jews, the Muslims and why he isn't coming to Gaza, said Father Manuel Mussalem, of Gaza's sole Catholic Church that counts a mere 200 or so members.We'll tell him that this is not the right moment to come and visit the holy places, while Jerusalem is occupied,he added.Along with the rest of Gaza's Palestinians, the territory's Christians have faced increasing hardship over the past several years as the tiny coastal strip has been swept by violence and an ever-tightening Israeli blockade.An estimated 2,500 members of all Christian denominations live amid 1.5 million Muslims in a territory that has been controlled by the Islamist Hamas movement for nearly two years, and they face special dilemmas.After dozens of Christians have left Gaza to seek better opportunities abroad in recent years, residents say the territory should have been included on the itinerary of a pope who, Vatican officials say, has set encouraging Christians to remain in the Holy Land as a goal of his trip.We would have liked it if he came here,said Rania Mikhail, 32, a student of English at the Holy Family school.We are happy that he is coming to Palestine, but what can he do for us?

We want him to do something for Gaza, not only for the Christians, but also for the Muslims who are living in this prison. We would have liked him to come to Gaza since no one pays attention to what happens to us.When Benedict announced in early March that he would visit the Holy Land in May to pray for the precious gift of unity and peace for the Middle East and for all of humanity, many Gaza Christians were not pleased.They urged the pontiff to shun Israel in protest at its December-January onslaught on impoverished Gaza that killed more than 1,400 Palestinians.Many people, including among the clergy, were not pleased with the visit coming at this time, said Elias Odeh, a parish priest just outside the Israeli city of Nazareth.Bassam Shahtoot, a member of the Nazareth Roman Catholic parish council, said: We had mixed feelings at first about the visit.We want the pope to come, but the timing is problematic because of the Gaza war where many Palestinians were killed, he said. Some people are using this visit politically" to polish Israel's image.

Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Vatican custodian of the holy sites, defended the decision to hold the second official papal visit to the region since the creation of Israel in 1948.You can also say that just because of that it's important to come,he said. In spite of all the problems, it's important to come and to encourage Christians in the Holy Land to stay.This visit is aimed first and foremost at encouraging them to remain in this country,Pizzaballa said.Christians in Gaza say that despite their reservations, they hope the visit will help the lot of all Palestinians there, no matter what their faith.It is an important visit and we hope that it will help to improve the situation of the Palestinians, both Christians and Muslims, in Gaza and in the West Bank living under Israeli occupation, said Naji al-Tarazi, a 40-year-old government worker. Gaza's Christians enjoy good relations with Hamas, but in the months after the Islamists' violent takeover of the coastal strip in June 2007 many lived in fear of attacks by shadowy extremist groups. Such attacks included the murder of the manager of Gaza's only Christian bookshop, a bomb that destroyed a library in the Gaza City premises of the Young Men's Christian Association, and a bombing at a Christian school. As Hamas tightened its grip on the enclave such incidents subsided, but the hardships of living in a virtually sealed-off strip of land that Israel considers a hostile entity have only increased. The situation is very difficult for us, said Iyyad Sayegh, a 39-year-old Gaza pharmacist. We had hoped that after the end of the war, solutions would be found, but there is nothing for the moment.The papal visit will be an occasion for nearly all of Gaza's Catholics to leave the territory they call an open-air prison, as the Israeli authorities have promised Vatican officials that they will issue exit permits. If his sermons end up changing things for us, we will be very happy, said student Mikhail. But if not, then this visit will have been in vain.

Explosive-laden boat blows up off Gaza: Israel Mon Apr 13, 6:54 am ET

JERUSALEM (AFP) – A Palestinian fishing boat laden with explosives blew up on Monday off the coast of the Islamist Hamas-run Gaza Strip, but no casualties were reported, the Israeli army said.A suspicious Palestinian fishing boat that was off the coast of Gaza City and laden with explosives blew up, a military spokesman said.Earlier the army said that it had blown up the suspect vessel, but the spokesman said that version of events was incorrect, and there was no fire against the boat.An Israeli navy vessel was a good distance from the fishing boat when the explosion occurred, he said.Israeli chief of staff Gabi Ashkenazi was later quoted as saying that the incident was a failed attack and that the fishing boat had several hundred of kilogrammes of explosives on board.Palestinian witnesses confirmed that an explosion had taken place on a boat off the coast of the impoverished Palestinian territory, but that there were no casualties.

Israel's Netanyahu vows to talk peace with Abbas by Ron Bousso – Sun Apr 12, 2:03 pm ET

JERUSALEM (AFP) – Israel's hawkish Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed on Sunday to hold talks with the Palestinians, in his first remarks on the troubled Middle East peace process since taking office.In a phone call with Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas, Netanyahu spoke of the cooperation and the discussions that they have had in the past and added that he intends to do so again in the future in order to advance peace between us and the Palestinians,a statement from his office said.Abbas had called Netanyahu for the Jewish holiday of Passover and the two had a friendly and warm conversation, it said.The statement did not mention the creation of a Palestinian state -- an idea that Israel had committed itself to under a 2003 international roadmap peace plan but that Netanyahu currently opposes.Abbas insists that Israel's new government must commit to a two-state solution before the resumption of peace talks, and Israel's staunch ally Washington has also repeatedly reaffirmed its support for a Palestinian state.A senior official from Abbas's office would only say that the president had called Netanyahu to congratulate him on Passover.Later on Sunday Abbas met Saudi King Abdullah to brief him on the peace process and also on reconciliation talks between rival factions Fatah and Hamas, Palestinian spokesman Mahir Karaki said in Riyadh.Netanyahu's statement was his first on the Middle East peace process since he took office on April 1 at the helm of a largely right-wing government that has sparked concern over the fate of the stalled negotiations.

Until now, the only comments on the topic were made by Netanyahu's firebrand Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, who had said the new cabinet was not bound by a 2007 agreement reached at at a peace conference in the US city of Annapolis to revive negotiations on core issues.Netanyahu's opposition to the idea of a Palestinian state -- he wants the economy in the occupied West Bank to improve first -- and Lieberman's rhetoric risk putting Israel on a collision course with the United States.

President Barack Obama has vowed to vigorously pursue peacemaking and following Lieberman's remarks on Annapolis reaffirmed his support of the peace agreement.Let me be clear: the United States strongly supports the goal of two states, Israel and Palestine, living side by side in peace and security, Obama said in an address to the Turkish parliament last week during a European tour.That is a goal shared by Palestinians, Israelis, and people of goodwill around the world, he said.That is a goal that the parties agreed to in the roadmap and at Annapolis. And that is a goal that I will actively pursue as president.Obama and Jordan's King Abdullah II will discuss Middle East peace efforts at a White House meeting on April 21, the Jordanian palace said on Sunday.The summit will focus on efforts to reach a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and realise comprehensive Middle East peace, it said in a statement issued in Amman.The king will convey the united Arab position (on the peace process),the palace added.While in the United States, King Abdullah will also meet with US officials as well as leaders of the Arab, Muslim and Jewish communities to discuss Middle East peace efforts, it said.

Pope urges hope on Easter for end to war, poverty By NICOLE WINFIELD, Associated Press Writer – Sun Apr 12, 5:46 pm ET

VATICAN CITY – Pope Benedict XVI sought to give a message of hope on Easter Sunday to victims of wars, poverty and financial turmoil, saying it was urgently needed to overcome the miseries that are plaguing Africa, the Middle East and other parts of the globe.Benedict delivered his Urbi et Orbi message — Latin for to the city and the world — after celebrating Easter Mass before tens of thousands of people who packed St. Peter's Square and the boulevard leading up to it.The piazza, decorated with yellow tulips, azaleas, apple blossoms and other spring flowers, overflowed with the faithful celebrating the most joyous and important day in the Christian church calendar, Christ's resurrection.In his speech, Benedict said hope was urgently needed around the globe, despite mounting reasons for despair.At a time of world food shortage, of financial turmoil, of old and new forms of poverty, of disturbing climate change, of violence and depravation which force many to leave their homelands in search of a less precarious form of existence, of the ever-present threat of terrorism, of growing fears over the future, it is urgent to rediscover grounds for hope,he said.In Jerusalem, the faithful celebrated Mass at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, traditionally believed to mark the site where Jesus was crucified, buried and then resurrected. Brown-robed friars marched into the church to the sound of bagpipes, followed by clergymen in purple capes and others bearing crosses.And in the earthquake-ravaged central Italian city of L'Aquila, survivors gathered in makeshift chapels set up in tent cities that are housing some of the 55,000 people driven from their homes by Monday's 6.3-magnitude temblor.

We are all a little bit angry with God because we never expected a tragedy this big, L'Aquila Archbishop Giuseppe Molinari told the faithful gathered in a tent. But even anger toward God is a sign of faith.Benedict, who is expected to visit the quake zone soon, issued special Easter wishes to the quake survivors praying that they have the courage necessary to go forward together to build a future open to hope.Benedict delivered his Easter message from the loggia of St. Peter's Basilica, tripping slightly as he climbed up to his gilded chair. As aides lunged to steady him, he recovered and delivered his speech to the crowds below.He noted that he plans to travel to the Holy Land in just a few weeks and said he would bring a message of hope and love to the region.Reconciliation — difficult but indispensable — is a precondition for a future of overall security and peaceful coexistence, and it can only be achieved through renewed, persevering and sincere efforts to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict,he said.And he recalled his recent trip to Africa in urging the faithful to keep up hope to combat poverty and wars.Africa suffers disproportionately from the cruel and unending conflicts, often forgotten, that are causing so much bloodshed and destruction in several of her nations, and from the growing numbers of her sons and daughters who fall prey to hunger, poverty and disease,Benedict said.The crowd shouted Benedetto — Italian for Benedict — as they waited for him to appear at the loggia. They cheered as they awaited his Easter blessing, this year delivered in 63 languages.Benedict celebrated Easter Mass after presiding over the solemn, three-plus-hour Easter Vigil ceremony Saturday night. At the end of that service, Benedict sounded hoarse and looked tired.But the pope — who turns 82 on Thursday — appeared well-rested by Sunday morning and held up well throughout the Mass.He is expected to travel Sunday afternoon to the papal summer retreat in Castel Gandolfo, in the hills south of Rome, for a few days of rest after the busy Holy Week services. The pope's May 8-15 Middle East tour, his first to the region as pope, will include Jordan, Israel and the Palestinian territories, with stops in cities including Amman, Jerusalem, Bethlehem and Nazareth.

Christians celebrate Easter in Jerusalem by Majeda El Batsh – Sun Apr 12, 9:33 am ET

JERUSALEM (AFP) – Christian pilgrims from across the globe filled every nook of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem on Sunday to celebrate Easter on the spot many believe Jesus was crucified and resurrected.The cavernous interior of the church, considered by most Christians as their holiest site, was filled with the glow of thousands of candles for Easter Sunday as worshippers crowded into its labyrinth of chapels and crypts.I am the happiest person in the world right now, said Freida, a 63-year-old history teacher from Germany.I have dreamt about this for 40 years.Haifa Hannaniya, a 56-year-old worshipper from Nazareth, said she was attending Easter services in the church for the first time.It is so peaceful and nice. It is hard to express our feelings about being here.The smell of incense and the hum of prayers filled the air as the pilgrims glimpsed Christianity's most revered sites -- the spot where Jesus was crucified by the Romans, the slab of stone where his body was laid afterward and embraced by his mother, the tomb where he was buried and resurrected.

Hallelujah! intoned the crowd periodically as the white-robed Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, the top Roman Catholic leader in the Holy Land, conducted mass.It was the first Easter service led by the new patriarch Fuad Twal, who took over the post last year.Christianity's holiest site is shared uneasily by six denominations of Jesus Christ's followers -- Greek Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Armenian Orthodox, Egyptian Copts, Syrian Orthodox and Ethiopian Orthodox.Last year, during Orthodox Palm Sunday, Israeli police rushed into the church to break up fist fights between dozens of Greek and Armenian worshippers, to be promptly pummelled with palm fronds by feuding worshippers.As Western Christians marked Easter Sunday, Orthodox churches were celebrating Palm Sunday, a week ahead of their own Easter ceremonies.The day began with the two Muslim families who have held the keys to the Holy Sepulchre for centuries opening the doors to the throng of pilgrims, who quickly filled the interior, lighting it with candles and the constant flash of cameras.Many stopped just after the entrance, kneeling down to kiss the stone slab on which Jesus is believed to have been laid out and washed for his burial after his crucifixion on Good Friday.A procession circled the grotto on the site where Jesus is believed to have been buried, before marching into a limestone plaza bathed in bright sunshine and filing through the narrow streets of Jerusalem's walled Old City, holy to all three of the world's largest monotheistic faiths.

The Easter procession in Jerusalem is normally a multinational affair and includes colourful characters like the Brothers of Krakow, the heirs to a medieval order of knights from Poland, who marched wearing burgundy knee-length robes and fur hats with plumes of feathers.Just a short distance away thousands of Jewish faithful, wrapped in white prayer shaws, gathered at the Western Wall for Birkat Hacohanim, a blessing said during the Passover feast.The Muslim faithful meanwhile joined midday prayers at the Al-Aqsa mosque compound, Islam's third-holiest site, and other mosques dotted throughout the Old City.Jerusalem draws thousands of pilgrims for Easter each year. On Friday psalms and incense filled the air as the faithful wept and prayed along the Via Dolorosa, or Way of Suffering, the traditional route Jesus took to his crucifixion.

Hamas bomb factory found in West Bank mosque Sun Apr 12, 8:33 am ET

RAMALLAH (AFP) – Palestinian security officials said on Sunday that they had found a Hamas bomb-making factory underneath a mosque in the occupied West Bank.Security forces found a bomb-making factory inside a mosque in Qalqiliya, an interior ministry statement said. Many of the bombs were ready to use and many of them were of industrial grade.A senior security official told AFP that Fatah-led Palestinian security forces had detained many people for questioning after the discovery, saying: This factory belongs to Hamas.The revelation was likely to increase tensions between the two main factions whose long-running feud exploded in June 2007 when the Islamist Hamas group booted out Fatah loyalists from Gaza after a week of deadly street battles.The move left Fatah's power base confined to the West Bank and since then the rivals have accused each other of persecuting their members.Egypt has sought for months to mediate reconciliation talks with the aim of creating a unity government, but earlier this month it said was putting those efforts temporarily on hold.

Palestinians call on Canada to cancel scroll exhibition Sat Apr 11, 1:48 pm ET

OTTAWA (AFP) – The Palestinian Authority demanded this week the cancellation of an exhibition of Dead Sea Scrolls, which it said were stolen by Israel from Palestinian territories, Canadian media reported.Top Palestinian officials called on Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper to step in to cancel the exhibition, which is set to open in June at Toronto's Royal Ontario Museum (ROM), according to the Toronto Star newspaper.The exhibition would entail exhibiting or displaying artifacts removed from the Palestinian territories, said Hamdan Taha, director-general of the archaeological department in the Palestinian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities, reported the Star on Thursday.I think it is important that Canadian institutions would be responsible and act in accordance with Canada's obligations, Taha wrote in the letter to Harper.

The museum plans a six-month showcase of 16 of the 900 manuscripts from the Dead Sea.

The scrolls, some of which are as old as the third century BC, have shed light on the earliest origins of Judaism and Christianity and are considered to be one of the greatest archaeological finds of all time.The first fragments were discovered in arid caves along the shores of the Dead Sea by a Bedouin shepherd in 1947.In the letter, signed by senior Palestinian government officials, the objectors argue the texts were acquired illegally after Israel annexed East Jerusalem in 1967.I'm just hearing about this issue,said ROM head William Thorsell on Thursday, according to the Star. I do understand the Palestinians are making an issue of the ownership. But I'm quite certain the scrolls fall within the parameters of the law.Pnina Shor, head of the artifacts treatment and conservation department at the Israel Antiquities Authority, maintains that the Jewish state is the rightful custodian of the Dead Sea Scrolls.As such, we have a right to exhibit them and to conserve them,he insisted, the Star said.

Egypt police kill Bedouin arms smuggler Sat Apr 11, 8:19 am ET

EL-ARISH, Egypt (AFP) – Egyptian police shot and killed a Bedouin in north Sinai on Saturday and seized munitions concealed in his truck believed to be destined for Gaza, a security official said.A Bedouin was shot and killed during an exchange of fire between police and armed men in north Sinai, the official told AFP.Police in El-Arish ordered a truck to stop to be searched, but the driver tried to speed away only to crash into a police van.Four Bedouin jumped out in attempt to get away on foot and one of them died in the shootout that ensued, the official said.Police found a quantity of munitions in the truck and have managed to capture the other three Bedouin,the official said.In a separate incident, a security official said a Bedouin man from North Sinai and a driver were arrested in Cairo with two million dollars (1.5million euros) they said was to be delivered to Hamas through a tunnel to Gaza.

Israel has frequently accused Egypt of not doing enough to halt smuggling through its border with Gaza.The Jewish State has blockaded Gaza since June 2007 when the Islamist Hamas movement seized control of the territory from forces loyal to Western-backed Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas.