Palestinians shut down refugee youth orchestra that played for Holocaust survivors

Palestinians shut down refugee youth orchestra that played for Holocaust survivors

By DIAA HADID

Associated Press Writer

JENIN, West Bank (AP) _ Authorities in an impoverished Palestinian refugee camp have shut down a youth orchestra, boarded up its rehearsal studio and banned its conductor from the camp after she took 13 young musicians to perform for Holocaust survivors in Israel, an official said Sunday.

Conductor Wafa Younes took the children from her Strings of Freedom orchestra to sing songs of peace last week as part of an annual Good Deeds Day organized by Israel's richest woman. But once parents and leaders back in West Bank's Jenin refugee camp realized where the group had been, they shut down the program, saying Younes had dragged the children into a political issue.

The discord highlights both the distrust many Palestinians have of any engagement with Israel, as well as their reluctance to acknowledge Jewish historical suffering because of concerns that it weakens their own claim to this disputed land.

Some 6 million Jews were killed in the Nazi campaign to wipe out European Jewry, and the urgent need to find a sanctuary for hundreds of thousands of survivors catalyzed the creation of Israel after World War II.

A community leader in the Jenin camp, Adnan Hindi, said the musicians' parents had not known where Younes was taking their children and were angry when they learned of the performance from media reports.

"She exploited the children for a big political issue," said Hindi, head of a camp committee responsible for municipal duties.

Hindi did not deny there was a Holocaust, but said Palestinians had suffered at the hands of Israel.

"The Holocaust happened, but we are facing a similar massacre by the Jews themselves," he said. "We lost our land, and we were forced to flee and we've lived in refugee camps for the past 50 years."

More than 700,000 Palestinians either fled or were expelled from their homes in the war that followed Israel's creation, an event Arabs call the Naqba, or catastrophe. Many of their descendants still live in refugee camps like Jenin.

"If I had known this was a political excursion, I would not have let my son go," said Ibrahim Samour, father of 18-year-old Qusay, who plays the kamanja, a traditional Arab stringed instrument similar to a violin.

When asked why he objected to his son performing for the group of about 30 elderly Holocaust survivors, near Tel Aviv, Samour, 61, said his family fled to Jenin in 1948 from land that is now part of Israel.

"I'm not denying bad things happened to them, but there has to be mutual recognition," he said.

Avner Shalev, chairman of Israel's Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial, called the orchestra's closure "very unfortunate."

Ignorance and even denial of the Holocaust is widespread in Palestinian society.

To increase awareness, Yad Vashem created an Arabic-language Web site last year with survivor testimonies that has so far received about a half million visits, Shalev said.

Khaled Mahameed, an Arab Israeli who runs a small institute in the biblical town of Nazareth to teach Palestinians about the Holocaust, said many Palestinians feel Israel uses the Holocaust to justify its actions against Palestinians.

"They think that if you talk about the Holocaust, then you feel sympathy for the Jewish people, and the conclusion is that you have to support Israel," he said.

Younes, an Arab from the northern Israeli village of Ara, had been training the modest orchestra of 11- to 13-year-olds for about three years and had taken them on previous trips, camp residents said.

Younes said camp officials closed the ensemble so they could take over its funds.

"They want to destroy this group," she said. "It's a shame, it's a tragedy. What did these poor, elderly people do wrong? What did these children do wrong?"

The project was bankrolled by billionaire businesswoman Shari Arison.

At Wednesday's concert in Holon neither the orchestra nor the audience initially knew where the other was from. Audience members gasped when the performers were introduced as West Bank Palestinians, a rare sight in Israel.

And the performers had no idea the audience were survivors of the Nazi genocide _ or even what the Holocaust was.

Israeli historian Tom Segev said lack of knowledge about each other's history hinders prospects for Israeli-Palestinian peace.

"You can't understand Israel unless you understand the role of the Holocaust in Israeli identity," he said. "And if you don't understand your enemy, you can't make peace."

Palestinian children from Jenin refugee camp sing for Holocaust survivors in Israel

Palestinian children from Jenin refugee camp sing for Holocaust survivors in Israel

By DIAA HADID

Associated Press Writer

HOLON, Israel (AP) _ The Palestinian youths from the tough West Bank refugee camp stood facing the elderly Holocaust survivors Wednesday, appearing somewhat defiant in a teenage sort of way. Then they began to sing.

The choir burst into songs for peace, bringing surprised smiles from the audience. But the event had another twist: Most of the Holocaust survivors did not know the youths were Palestinians from the West Bank, a rare sight in Israel these days. And the youths had no idea they were performing for people who lived through Nazi genocide _ or even what the Holocaust was.

"I feel sympathy for them," Ali Zeid, an 18-year-old keyboard player who said he was shocked by what he learned about the Holocaust, in which the Nazis killed 6 million Jews in their campaign to wipe out European Jewry.

"Only people who have been through suffering understand each other," said Zeid, who said his grandparents were Palestinian refugees forced to flee the northern city of Haifa during the war that followed Israel's creation in 1948.

The 13 musicians, aged 11 to 18, belong to "Strings of Freedom," a modest orchestra from the hardscrabble Jenin refugee camp in the northern West Bank, the scene of a deadly 2002 battle between Palestinian militants and Israeli soldiers.

The exercise in coexistence had an added layer of significance. The urgent need to find a sanctuary for hundreds of thousands of Holocaust survivors catalyzed the creation of the Jewish state after World War II. The Palestinians see Israel's creation as their naqba, or catastrophe.

The event, held at the Holocaust Survivors Center in this tree-lined central Israeli town, was part of "Good Deeds Day," an annual event run by an organization connected to billionaire Shari Arison, Israel's richest woman.

The two-hour meeting starkly highlighted how distant Palestinians and Israelis have become after more than eight years of bloody Palestinian militant attacks and deadly Israeli military reprisals.

Most of the Palestinian youths had not seen an Israeli civilian before _ only gun-toting soldiers in military uniforms manning checkpoints, conducting arrest raids of wanted Palestinians or during army operations.

"They don't look like us," said Ahed Salameh, 12, who wore a black head scarf woven with silver.

Most of the elderly Israelis wore pants and T-shirts, with women sporting a smear of lipstick.

"Old people look different where we come from," Salameh said.

She said she was shocked to hear about the Nazi genocide against Jews. Ignorance and even denial of the Holocaust is widespread in Palestinian society.

Amnon Beeri of the Abraham Fund, which supports coexistence between Jews and Arabs, said most of the region's residents have "no real idea about the other."

The youths said their feisty conductor, Wafa Younis, 50, tried to explain to them who the elderly people were, but chaos on the bus prevented them from listening.

The elderly audience said they assumed Arab children were from a nearby village _ not from the refugee camp where 23 Israeli soldiers were killed, alongside 53 Palestinian militants and civilians, in several days of battle in April 2002.

Some 30 elderly survivors gathered in the center's hall as teenage boys and girls filed in 30 minutes late _ delayed at an Israeli military checkpoint outside their town, they later explained.

Some of the young women wore Muslim head scarves _ but also sunglasses and school ties.

As a host announced in Hebrew that the youths were from the Jenin refugee camp, there were gasps and muttering from the crowd. "Jenin?" one woman asked in jaw-dropped surprise.

Younis, from the Arab village of Ara in Israel, then explained in fluent Hebrew that the youths would sing for peace, prompting the audience to burst into applause.

"Inshallah," said Sarah Glickman, 68, using the Arabic term for "God willing."

The encounter began with an Arabic song, "We sing for peace," and was followed by two musical pieces with violins and Arabic drums, as well as an impromptu song in Hebrew by two in the audience.

Glickman, whose family moved to the newly created Jewish state in 1949 after fleeing to Siberia to escape the Nazis, said she had no illusions the encounter would make the children understand the Holocaust. But she said it might make a "small difference."

"They think we are strangers, because we came from abroad," Glickman said. "I agree: It's their land, also. But there was no other option for us after the Holocaust."

Later, she tapped her feet in tune as the teenagers played a catchy Mideast drum beat. After the event, some of the elderly Israelis chatted with students and took pictures together.

The encounter was not absent of politics. Younis dedicated a song to an Israeli soldier held captive by Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip _ and also criticized Israel's occupation of the West Bank.

But she said the main mission of the orchestra, formed seven years ago to help Palestinian children overcome war trauma, was to bring people together.

"I'm here to raise spirits," Younis said. "These are poor, old people."

US parents asks Israel to take responsibility for son severely wounded by Israeli troops

US parents asks Israel to take responsibility for son severely wounded by Israeli troops

By DIAA HADID

Associated Press Writer

JERUSALEM (AP) _ The parents of an American man severely wounded by Israeli troops during a West Bank protest have asked Israeli police to launch an investigation, their lawyer said Monday.

Tristan Anderson, 38, from Oakland, Calif., was struck in the head by a tear gas canister fired by members of Israel's paramilitary border police in the Palestinian village of Naalin on March 13.

Anderson had joined a protest against Israel's separation barrier, which cuts off Naalin from 300 acres of olive groves. In the past year, four Palestinians were killed in Naalin by Israeli troops quelling weekly stone-throwing protests against the barrier, according to Israeli human rights group B'tselem.

The couple's lawyer, Michael Sfard, said he asked Israel's police to launch an investigation.

The Andersons, of Grass Valley, Calif., held back tears Monday as they described their son's critical condition. "We don't know if he'll recover, and if he does, we don't know what abilities he will ever regain," his mother, Nancy, told reporters.

His father, Mike, said Israel must "take full responsibility for the shooting of our son."

Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor said Anderson's injury was "an extremely regrettable result of rioting."

The incident is under investigation, the Israeli military has said, though it is not clear if police will investigate separately.

The Israeli military has said there was heavy stone-throwing and troops fired tear gas during the demonstration, though protesters said the stone-throwing was sporadic. Anderson did not throw any stones and was struck after he had returned to the village, witnesses said.

Rights activists say Israeli troops often use excessive force in dispersing West Bank protests, and fire tear gas canisters directly at protesters _ using them as a weapon, rather than a means to disperse crowds.

The Israeli military says stone-throwing poses a threat to troops, and several officers have been injured by rocks. The military said troops used permitted means of riot dispersal, such as tear gas, rubber-coated steel pellets and stun grenades.

About 450 people have been injured, 12 of them seriously, in a year of Naalin protests, organizers say.

Israel says the barrier prevents Palestinian attackers infiltrating into Israel. Palestinians say it's a land grab because it juts into the West Bank.

Druse jailer in Israel becomes lawyer for militants he once locked up after ideological flip

Druse jailer in Israel becomes lawyer for militants he once locked up after ideological flip

By DIAA HADID

Associated Press Writer

BEIT JAN, Israel (AP) _ Yamin Zeidan once proudly worked as an Israeli jailer, locking up the country's most notorious Arab prisoners _ until he performed an ideological somersault and became their lawyer.

Zeidan's two brothers were Israeli army soldiers killed in the line of duty, including one shot dead by Hezbollah, the Lebanese guerrilla group which last year handed over two dead Israeli soldiers in exchange for Zeidan's highest profile client: Samir Kantar.

Zeidan is an Israeli Druse _ an Arabic-speaking sect that serves in Israel's army and has traditionally been fiercely loyal to the Jewish state but increasingly finds itself marginalized and identifying with the mainstream Arab minority.

The criticism remains muted, and the vast majority of Druse, including Zeidan, say they want equality with Jewish citizens, not a break from Israel. But the loss of confidence raises a troubling question: If the Jewish state cannot win the hearts of its most loyal minority, will any of Israel's non-Jews ever feel they belong?

Zeidan, like his two older brothers and almost all other Druse males of his age, planned to join the Israeli army when he turned 18. But three months before he was to be drafted in 1996, a Hezbollah sniper killed his 22-year-old brother Saleh. His only other brother, Fuad, was killed by a Palestinian militant in the West Bank years earlier.

Zeidan was exempted from service as his family's sole surviving son, but felt unfulfilled. "I wanted to be a military man, like my brothers," said Zeidan, who is now 30. He joined Israel's prison administration and also began studying law.

He became a jailer at the maximum-security section of the Hadarim prison, where Israel keeps its most notorious militants. Among them was Kantar, a Lebanese militant who was serving a life sentence for one of the grisliest attacks in Israeli history: killing an Israeli man and his 4-year-old daughter by smashing her skull.

"In the Israeli mind-set _ which was my mind-set _ they were terrorists and killers," Zeidan said.

But pride in his new job turned to doubt.

Prisoners spoke articulate Arabic, prompting Zeidan to improve his Hebrew-inflected slangy Arabic. He developed a sense of shared culture with the militants he locked up and began to ask questions when one prisoner called the Druse "traitors" during a heated debate.

"I realized the cause that made these men go to prison was also my cause," Zeidan said. "We are part of the Palestinian tragedy."

After a year of locking up Arab prisoners, he quit the service, finished his law degree and became a defense attorney. Months later, Zeidan returned to the same prison to visit Kantar. The Lebanese militant, also a Druse, asked Zeidan to represent him.

"That was a historic meeting for me. One day I was Samir Kantar's jailer. The next, I was his lawyer," Zeidan said.

Zeidan passed on Kantar's fiery letters in support of Hezbollah to the militant's brother in Lebanon, even though the group being praised was the same one that killed Zeidan's brother. "My place will be at the battlefront," Kantar wrote in one. After 29 years behind bars, Kantar was released in July in a swap with Hezbollah.

Despite his newfound beliefs, Zeidan said he struggled with passing on messages lauding his brother's killers. "They are still my brothers," he said.

Illustrating his family's jumbled identities, a stone memorial for his brothers on a Galillee mountain ridge is etched in Hebrew, but their names are written in Arabic.

Zeidan's flip is part of a quiet shift among the some 110,000 Israeli Druse, where criticism of Israel is palpable. Druse frequently complain on local Arabic radio of discrimination and unequal budgets for their councils, and a Druse village has filed a landmark lawsuit against the national government, claiming discrimination and demanding more funding.

Rekad Kheredin, the mayor of the Druse village of Horfesh, said a generation ago, Druse leaders would never have gone public with such a dispute so as not to embarrass the government. Public discontent was heightened after police quelled a violent riot by Druse in 2007 with live fire. Although most of the injured were police, angry Druse said the forces were heavy-handed.

Their criticisms reflect those of the wider Arab minority, who form around a fifth of Israel's 7 million citizens. They have equal rights under the law but face discrimination in government budgets and employment, and have poverty rates higher than those of the country's Jews.

The issue of Israel's uneasy relationship with its non-Jewish minorities took on new urgency with last month's parliamentary election. An ultranationalist movement called Yisrael Beitenu (Israel Our Home) emerged as the country's third-largest party, and it based its campaign on demanding that Arabs pledge allegiance to the Jewish state or lose their citizenship.

For now, army service, a bellweather of Druse loyalty to Israel appears to be unaffected. Israel's military says 82 percent of Druse men called to conscription served in 2007. By contrast, most non-Druse Arabs in Israel are hostile to the idea of any form of national service.

In the Feb. 10 elections, Druse were on parliamentary lists for most parties seeking election, including radical Arab parties and even Yisrael Beitenu.

Rajih Kaddour, the Druse head of Israel's radio news service in Arabic, says his people are eager to perform their duties as citizens, but want equality in return.

"Are Druse ready to be Israelis? I think the answer is yes," he said. "But is Israel ready to give equal rights to Druse? I don't think Israel, as a collective, has absorbed the Druse."

Israel police ban Arab culture day in Jerusalem

By DIAA HADID

Associated Press Writer

¶ JERUSALEM (AP) _ Israeli authorities broke up a series of Palestinian cultural events in Jerusalem on Saturday, disrupting a children's march and bursting balloons at a schoolyard celebration in a crackdown that underscored the emotional battle over control of the disputed holy city.

¶ Elsewhere in Jerusalem, hundreds of Israelis gathered outside the residence of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to mark the 1,000th day in captivity of an Israeli soldier held by Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip. The demonstration took place at a protest tent set up by the soldier's family, and many in the crowd quietly waved yellow glow sticks in a show of solidarity.

¶ Palestinian activists called for Saturday's celebrations to mark the Arab League's designation of Jerusalem as the capital of Arab culture for 2009. The 23-nation group chooses a different city for the honor each year.

¶ But Israel said the events violated a ban on Palestinian political activity in Jerusalem. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas criticized the crackdown.

¶ Announcing the ban on Saturday's events, Israel's internal security minister, Avi Dichter, accused Abbas' Palestinian Authority of being behind the activities. Israel does not allow the Palestinian government to operate in Jerusalem.

¶ At one event, teenage girls at an east Jerusalem Catholic school released a few dozen balloons in the red, white, green and black colors of the Palestinian flag over the walled Old City. Israeli military police and soldiers quickly moved into the schoolyard and popped the remaining balloons, students said.

¶ Zein, an 18-year-old student, said the police popped them with their hands and told them they weren't allowed to release them into the air. She asked not to use her last name, fearing further problems with the police.

¶ An Israeli intelligence official at the school who refused to give his name said the balloons were burst "because they are Palestinian."

¶ Police spokesman Shmuel Ben Ruby said 12 people were detained. Police also broke up attempts by Palestinian school children to march into the Old City.

¶ The dispute over Jerusalem lies at the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and has been the most sensitive issue in peace talks.

¶ Israel says the entire city of Jerusalem is its undivided capital. Palestinians want east Jerusalem _ captured by Israel in the 1967 Mideast war and site of key Jewish, Muslim and Christian holy sites _ as the capital of a future state.

¶ Israel annexed the eastern part of the city after the 1967 war, and today, some 180,000 Jewish Israelis live in east Jerusalem neighborhoods. The annexation is not internationally recognized.

¶ Speaking in the West Bank town of Bethlehem, Abbas said Israel's policies in Jerusalem were undermining the chances for peace.

¶ "The policy of discrimination, suppression, stealing the land, destruction of neighborhoods, and homes, the policy of falsifying the past, destroying the present and stealing the future should all stop if peace is to have a real opportunity in this land," he said.

¶ He urged the incoming Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, to resume stalled peace negotiations on all issues of dispute, including Jerusalem. Netanyahu rejects any division of the holy city.

¶ Olmert had hoped to arrange a prisoner swap with Hamas that would bring home the captured soldier, Sgt. Gilad Schalit, before he leaves office.

¶ But earlier this week, Olmert said Hamas' demands were excessive, strongly signaling he would turn over the matter to Netanyahu. Hamas is seeking the release of some 450 imprisoned militants, including dozens convicted of killing Israelis.

¶ Netanyahu is putting together a coalition government following elections last month and has two more weeks to complete the task.

¶ Schalit's father, Noam, urged Olmert to continue his efforts as long as he remains prime minister. "We want Gilad Schalit back home immediately _ immediately, not in another 1,000 days, not even in another 100 days," he told the crowd Saturday night.

¶ Schalit's family set up the protest tent two weeks ago to push for a last-minute deal. In a country where military service is mandatory, the case has gripped the nation's attention, and thousands of people have stopped by the tent to support the family.

¶ The family planned to return home to northern Israel later Saturday, but his father said their struggle would go on. "This hasn't ended, dear Gilad," he said.

¶ Also Saturday, Israeli police said they had foiled an attempt by Arab militants to carry out a bombing at a crowded shopping mall in northern Israel.

¶ Spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said a large bomb was discovered in a car parked outside the mall in the northern city of Haifa. He said the area was evacuated, and a bomb squad was defusing the device. There were no injuries.

¶ _____

¶ Associated Press writer Dalia Nammari contributed to this report from Bethlehem, West Bank.

Israeli army enlists PIs to track women who dodge draft by claiming religious exemption

Israeli army enlists PIs to track women who dodge draft by claiming religious exemption

By DIAA HADID

Associated Press Writer

JERUSALEM (AP) _ Israeli, female, and looking to dodge the draft? Don't get caught kissing.

With more 18-year-old females claiming religious modesty as grounds for exemption from male-dominated military life, Israel's army is hiring investigators to spy on suspected draft evaders, catching them doing decidedly unreligious things.

"We need those girls," Lt. Col. Gil Ben Shaoul, deputy commander of Israel's military recruitment center, told The Associated Press.

The army says the surveillance program began last year and has caught 520 young women, many who admitted they did not deserve the religious exemption and signed up for military service.

Claiming religious devotion has long been an easy route out of conscription, but now the army sees two trends thinning its ranks: draft-dodging in general among both sexes, and an upsurge among women, nearly 40 percent of whom now take the quick and easy religious option.

The army's fightback became public this month when grainy footage was leaked to Israeli media showing a young woman in a tight shirt appearing to kiss a young man _ something no religious, unmarried female would do in public.

Ben Shaoul said the couple later entered an elevator _ all of this on a Saturday, the Jewish Sabbath, when devout Jews are supposed to avoid using machinery and electricity.

Filmed from behind, the woman could not be identified from the footage. But investigators said the woman had claimed a religious exemption, and undertook army duty after she was presented with evidence of her misdeeds.

Catching the draft-dodgers is fairly straightforward: "It takes one weekend," said Ben Shaoul. The young women are usually caught driving on Saturday, drinking or smoking.

"We find them in bars," he said. "We know some of them are models and singers and they use this way to get out of the army."

Maya Buskila, a pop star known for her skin-baring outfits and provocative dancing, claimed she was religious when called to service 12 years ago. After the draft-dodging spotlight was belatedly focused on her last year, she undertook a symbolic spell of army duty, reportedly to educate women on the importance of serving. Now sequestered in a luxury villa as a participant in Israel's version of the "Big Brother" TV show, she could not be reached for comment.

Ben Shaoul said the military contracted seven private surveillance firms after officers reported warning signs _ too many women claiming to be religious yet vague on Jewish prayers and holidays.

Although some Israeli media described the use of private investigators as having "big-brother" overtones, it has raised few eyebrows in Israel. Here the army is seen as the country's one unifying force, all males are expected to serve three years and women two, and secular resentment over exemptions on religious grounds runs high.

Yet draft evasion is spreading as the middle class expands and the military is increasingly seen as a career-disrupter.

In 1991, 21 percent of women avoided service on religious grounds, according to army figures; last year the figure was 36 percent, even though overall only around 20 percent of Israelis classify themselves as religious.

Numbers for men are running high too _ from around one-fifth in 1995 to almost one-third in 2007, largely because the Orthodox are Israel's fastest-growing Jewish population group.

The army has worked hard to make the military more attractive to women. Women now fly helicopters, instruct artillery squads and serve as paramilitary police.

Still, most do clerical jobs that many say are pointless.

"I served for two years doing nothing. All the girls do nothing," said Shiran Cohen, 24, a university student. She said she was assigned to check on ammunition stockpiles during her service, but was frequently sidelined by men in her unit. "Now my sister is in the army, and she does nothing," Cohen said.

Other women say they had a fulfilling experience. Yael Shahar served as a sniper and as a reservist in a hostage rescue unit.

"I'm pretty gung-ho about it," Shahar said of women soldiers. "The army is an integrator, it allows people to meet from entirely different backgrounds. Without the army, I think Israeli society would be even more divided."

Sociologist Yagil Levy, of the Open University in Israel, says sliding recruitment is indicative of larger changes _ the rapid growth of the exempted Orthodox population, more focus on career than on public service, and an army which has lost some of its luster after decades as an occupying force in Gaza and the West Bank.

The declining numbers have prompted the military to cancel plans it publicly floated earlier this decade to shorten army service for men by four months.

"I think we should worried," said the army's Ben-Shaoul. "I don't think it's a crisis but we can't ignore those numbers."

Sociologist Levy said the crackdown on fake-religious women is legitimate, but "Will it help over the long term? The answer is no _ because we see a growing number of women who think army is not a place for them."

Pope Benedict XVI to visit Dome of Rock, Western Wall during his 1st papal trip to Mideast

Pope Benedict XVI to visit Dome of Rock, Western Wall during his 1st papal trip to Mideast

By DIAA HADID

Associated Press Writer

JERUSALEM (AP) _ Pope Benedict XVI will show solidarity with Jews and Muslims during his first papal trip to the Holy Land with visits to Jerusalem's Western Wall and the Dome of the Rock, the papal envoy in Jerusalem said Tuesday.

Benedict announced this week that he would visit in May. His presence could help ease the sometimes rocky relations between the Vatican and Israel, and between the Vatican and Muslims.

It will be his first official visit to the region since he became pope in 2005.

Archbishop Antonio Franco, the papal nuncio in Jerusalem, said visits to key Jewish and Muslim holy sites would be on the pope's agenda. The Dome of the Rock is one of Islam's most sacred shrines, and the nearby Western Wall is the holiest site where Jews are allowed to pray.

"The intent of the Holy Father's visit is to express his solidarity and closeness to the people of Israel and Palestine, and through them all the people of this region," Franco said.

Benedict will also visit Israel's Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial, meet with top Palestinian and Israeli leaders and make a stop in the West Bank town of Bethlehem, the traditional birthplace of Jesus. The pope will end his visit by celebrating Mass in Galilee _ the area in northern Israel where Jesus lived and preached.

Franco said the Vatican has asked Israeli authorities to ease movement restrictions on Palestinian Christians from the blockaded Gaza Strip to allow them to attend parts of the pope's visit.

The papal envoy said Benedict's tour will be a religious pilgrimage, not a political mission. Still, the visit could help mend strained relations between Israel and the Roman Catholic Church.

Ties were rattled recently when Benedict tried to reinstate an excommunicated bishop who denied the Holocaust. Benedict condemned the bishop's remarks, spoke out against anti-Semitism and called off the reinstatement until the bishop satisfies his demands.

The controversy came shortly after a senior Vatican Cardinal, Renato Martino, described the Gaza Strip as a "big concentration camp" during Israel's fierce military assault on the blockaded territory in January. The offensive was meant to halt rocket fire into Israel.

The two sides also disagree over the legacy of the wartime pontiff Pius XII, who some historians say did not do everything in his power to prevent the Holocaust or limit its scope.

"We are trying to clarify the issues," Franco said.

Benedict will also meet the top Muslim official in the Holy Land, Grand Mufti Mohammed Hussein, who will accompany the pope into the Dome of the Rock shrine.

Vatican-Muslim ties were strained by a 2006 speech in which Benedict linked Islam to violence. Amid angry reactions from the Muslim world, he expressed regret for any offense caused by his remarks.

Franco said they asked Israeli authorities allow two busloads of Palestinian Christians from Gaza to attend the pope's Mass in Bethlehem.

Local Christian officials said they expected at least 40,000 people to attend the Galilee Mass, which will take place on a hilltop outside the northern Israeli city of Nazareth.

Palestinian Christians are a tiny, diminishing minority in the Holy Land, their community whittled away by low birthrates and emigration.

UK Embassy cancels move in Israel, concerned about owner's ties to West Bank settlements

By DIAA HADID

Associated Press Writer

¶ JERUSALEM (AP) _ The British Embassy in Israel has canceled plans to relocate to new offices because one of the owners is believed to be involved in building Jewish settlements in the West Bank, an official said on Wednesday.

¶ Spokeswoman Karen Kaufman said the embassy had planned to move to the high-rise Kirya Tower in Tel Aviv, partly owned by real estate company Africa-Israel Investments Ltd., but the ambassador, Tom Phillips, decided not to move last month.

¶ "No leases were signed, and part of the reason was we looked into the issue of Africa-Israel and settlements and settlement holdings and we asked for clarification on those issues," Kaufman said. She said the company's response was unsatisfactory, though she declined to elaborate.

¶ The decision reflects growing U.K. pressure on Israel to abide by its international pledges to freeze settlement building in the West Bank and dismantle unauthorized outposts. The Palestinians seek the West Bank as part of a future independent Palestinian state.

¶ "The U.K. government has always regarded settlements as illegal, but what has happened in recent months is that we are looking for ways to make a difference on this issue," Kaufman said. "We see them as an obstacle to peace."

¶ Israel has defended its settlements by maintaining that the West Bank's ownership is disputed and can be resolved only through negotiations. Israel captured the West Bank in the 1967 Mideast war.

¶ A subsidiary of Africa-Israel, Danya Cebus, has built homes in at least one West Bank settlement, Maale Adumim, but the scope of the company's activities is not clear.

¶ Africa-Israel, which is owned by Israeli billionaire Lev Leviev, said the British embassy's perception of Danya Cebus' operations in the West Bank is "fundamentally wrong," but did not give more details.

¶ The company's statement said pro-Palestinian organizations in Britain have long tried to promote a "biased, one-sided political agenda" against Israeli businesses.

¶ "It is lamentable that this pressure ends up being vented against Israeli business entities that have no impact whatsoever on the setting of Israel's policy," the statement said.

¶ It directed all other questions to Israel's Foreign Ministry, which did not comment.

¶ The United Kingdom does not have dealings with companies based in Jewish settlements and does not offer assistance to British companies seeking to invest in such areas.

¶ The British government has also spoken out strongly over produce from Jewish settlements marked as being made in Israel _ which allows them to enjoy tariff benefits under an Israel-European Union treaty.

UK Embassy cancels move in Israel, concerned about owner's ties to West Bank settlements

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UK Embassy cancels move in Israel, concerned about owner's ties to West Bank settlements

By DIAA HADID

Associated Press Writer

JERUSALEM (AP) _ The British Embassy in Israel has canceled plans to relocate to new offices because one of the owners is believed to be involved in building Jewish settlements in the West Bank, an official said on Wednesday.

Spokeswoman Karen Kaufman said the embassy had planned to move to the high-rise Kirya Tower in Tel Aviv, partly owned by real estate company Africa-Israel Investments Ltd., but the ambassador, Tom Phillips, decided not to move last month.

"No leases were signed, and part of the reason was we looked into the issue of Africa-Israel and settlements and settlement holdings and we asked for clarification on those issues," Kaufman said. She said the company's response was unsatisfactory, though she declined to elaborate.

The decision reflects growing U.K. pressure on Israel to abide by its international pledges to freeze settlement building in the West Bank and dismantle unauthorized outposts. The Palestinians seek the West Bank as part of a future independent Palestinian state.

"The U.K. government has always regarded settlements as illegal, but what has happened in recent months is that we are looking for ways to make a difference on this issue," Kaufman said. "We see them as an obstacle to peace."

Israel has defended its settlements by maintaining that the West Bank's ownership is disputed and can be resolved only through negotiations. Israel captured the West Bank in the 1967 Mideast war.

A subsidiary of Africa-Israel, Danya Cebus, has built homes in at least one West Bank settlement, Maale Adumim, but the scope of the company's activities is not clear.

Africa-Israel, which is owned by Israeli billionaire Lev Leviev, said the British embassy's perception of Danya Cebus' operations in the West Bank is "fundamentally wrong," but did not give more details.

The company's statement said pro-Palestinian organizations in Britain have long tried to promote a "biased, one-sided political agenda" against Israeli businesses.

"It is lamentable that this pressure ends up being vented against Israeli business entities that have no impact whatsoever on the setting of Israel's policy," the statement said.

It directed all other questions to Israel's Foreign Ministry, which did not comment.

The United Kingdom does not have dealings with companies based in Jewish settlements and does not offer assistance to British companies seeking to invest in such areas.

The British government has also spoken out strongly over produce from Jewish settlements marked as being made in Israel _ which allows them to enjoy tariff benefits under an Israel-European Union treaty.

In a first, 2 Palestinian women become judges in Islamic courts

In a first, 2 Palestinian women become judges in Islamic courts
By NASSER SHIYOUKHI and DIAA HADID

Associated Press Writers

RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) _ The Islamic courts were among the last male-only bastions in Palestinian society, where women have been presidential candidates, police officers and even suicide bombers.

Now two stern-looking women in Muslim head scarves and long black robes have smashed through the thick glass ceiling.

Khuloud Faqih, 34, and Asmahan Wuheidi, 31, made history in February when they became the first female Islamic judges in the Palestinian territories.

Across the Arab world, only Sudan has had women judges in Islamic courts, West Bank-based academic experts on Islamic affairs said. Lebanon, Syria and Jordan, all relatively progressive states in the region on women's rights, do not.

"I compare us to other Arab Muslim women, and I think we've done well," said Faqih, wearing a sash in the colors of the Palestinian flag across her robe. "I think I've opened a door for myself and other women."

She spoke between meetings with petitioners in her modest courtroom _ an office with a few couches, a desk and a coffee table with plastic flowers.

Muslim courts in the Palestinian Authority rule over family affairs like marriage, divorce, inheritance and custody, relying on Islamic jurisprudence rather than secular rules.

The petitioners did not seem shocked to see a woman in the judge's seat _ in this case, an office chair. But they appeared to argue often and loudly with Faqih, in stark contrast to the quiet in a neighboring room where a male judge heard cases from respectful petitioners.

Palestinian feminists have praised the female judges but say the move will not make a dramatic change, because the judges still rely on Islamic laws that ultimately favor men.

"As long as the law is the law, which is difficult to women, I don't think it will change much," said Dima Nashashibi of the Palestinian Women's Center for Legal Aid and Counseling.

For example, women need a judge to grant a divorce, while men don't need that approval.

But the female judges say they can help their sisters obtain their rights under Islamic law. They say a sense of shame surrounds women speaking to men, especially about intimate family relations.

Wuheidi gave the example of a woman seeking divorce because her husband was impotent but who was too shy to divulge details of her sex life to the male judge. In Islam, a woman can ask a judge for a divorce if she is not sexually satisfied.

"When a woman speaks to another woman, it's easier for her to speak," Wuheidi said.

In one case, Faqih doubled the alimony that a woman's ex-husband had to pay for each of their five children to $96 a month _ a fair sum among Palestinians.

"Where I can make decisions that help women obtain better rights, I will," Faqih said.

But some petitioners doubted women could be equal to men.

"I'd like to see her, but I think that men do this job better, they are less emotional," said Eziyeh Yousef, who was finalizing her divorce papers.

In many Arab societies, traditions have long held that only men can be Islamic judges because women are too weak and sensitive.

But Yousef's friend, Najah Mahmoud, quickly interrupted. "Are you kidding? Women can do everything like men. She doesn't know what she's talking about."

The two new judges are trained civil lawyers, not Islamic scholars. But they excelled in the Islamic law exams, beating dozens of other, mostly male, applicants.

The top judge responsible for the appointment, Sheik Taysir Tamimi, said Faqih approached him in August asking if she could apply for a position.

"I said, 'I beg you to apply,'" Tamimi said, hoping it would help women obtain better rulings.

Tamimi debated the issue with his reluctant colleagues, then issued a letter confirming that women could become Muslim judges.

The decision only affects the West Bank, ruled by the Western-backed Palestinian Authority. In the Gaza Strip, the ruling militant group Hamas has not made similar appointments, although Hamas women have become legislators and are slowly emerging in senior positions.

Tamimi said he hoped more women would apply, but said the openness to change among critics depends on how the two new judges perform.

"Any new experience will have supporters and detractors. But if you want to please everybody, we'll never move forward as a society," he said.