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Jerusalem  – Israel called Monday on the next Lebanese government to stop the smuggling of arms to Hezbollah via Syria and the sea.

Tel Aviv  – A Tel Aviv court convicted Monday former Israeli finance minister Avraham Hirchson of embezzlement, for stealing millions of shekels from the National Federation of Workers (NFW) over a seven-year period, and of illicitly obtaining funds.

Tel Aviv  – Sirens were scheduled to wail throughout Israel Tuesday morning and the country’s more than 7 million citizens ordered to enter shelters and pre-prepared “safe places,” as part of a major civil defence exercise.

Berlin  – German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier has demanded that Israel put an end to all settlement building in the occupied territories, in a newspaper interview published Saturday.

Tel Aviv  – Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has postponed a planned trip to Europe next week, local media reported Wednesday.

Gaza  – Israeli warplanes struck several targets Tuesday night in the Gaza Strip, wounding five people and severely damaging several buildings, medics and witnesses said.

Tel Aviv – Israel is beginning construction of the first completely new Jewish settlement in the occupied West Bank in 26 years, Israel Army Radio reported Monday.

Nazareth, Israel – Pope Benedict XVI called Thursday on Christians and Muslims in Nazareth to live together peacefully, despite the tensions which in recent years have riven the two communities in the town of Jesus Christ’s boyhood.

Tel Aviv  – The trial of former Israeli President Moshe Katsav got underway in Tel Aviv Thursday, with the defence team rejecting all charges against their client.

Jerusalem – Pope Benedict XVI arrived late Tuesday afternoon in his Popemobil to the Garden of Gethsemane, outside the walled Old City of Jerusalem, to conduct an open-air mass attended by thousands of pilgrims and local Palestinian and Arab-Israeli Christians.