Analysis: Livni asks moderates for help on peace process
By LESLIE SUSSER JTA
      JERUSALEM- Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni flew to the Qatari capital of Doha in the Persian Gulf last week with an ambitious goal: changing moderate Arab attitudes toward Israel.
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SCANDAL
Katsav reneges on plea bargain
      JERUSALEM- Moshe Katsav, the Israeli ex-president mired in a sex scandal, has rejected his plea agreement. Katsav appeared in Jerusalem District Court on Tuesday afternoon and pleaded not guilty to charges of sexual offenses. Now Attorney General Menachem Mazuz will have to decide whether to indict Katsav and on what charges.
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Mosque wears Israeli colors
      JERUSALEM- Residents of an Israeli-Arab village painted their mosque blue and white in honor of the Jewish state's 60th anniversary. Breaking with many Israeli Arabs who have declared they will boycott next month's celebrations, residents of A-Taibe in the Gilboa region have painted the dome of their mosque in the national colors.
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Israel told U.S. of Syria strike
      JERUSALEM- Israel has kept the United States informed about its mysterious airstrike in Syria last year, Ehud Olmert said. The Israeli prime minister, who like the rest of his government has refused to provide details of the Sept. 6 bombing run that is widely assumed to have targeted a Syrian nuclear facility, said that the Bush administration is privy.
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Israel shuns UN official
      JERUSALEM- Israel is blacklisting a UN official who compared its crackdown on the Gaza Strip to the Nazis. The Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem said it will refuse an entry permit to Richard Falk, who will become the new UN rapporteur on human rights in the West Bank and Gaza Strip in June, over a fierce critique of Israeli policies he made last year.
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REPORT…
Education is Israel's Achilles' heel
      JERUSALEM- Education woes are a long-term threat to Israel, according to The Economist. The latest edition of the prestigious British journal is dedicated to assessing Israel 60 years after its founding and its prospects for the future.
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Settlers hand in army guns
      JERUSALEM (JTA)- Israel has been quietly collecting army-issued firearms from some West Bank settlers. Over recent weeks, military officials have visited settlements in the Binyamin district to collect firearms issued to residents by the army, Israel Radio reported Tuesday.
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Kosher wine from Cyprus
      JERUSALEM (JTA)- The tiny Jewish community on Cyprus made its own kosher wine. The first 12,000 bottles of Yayin Kafrisin recently rolled out of the Lambouri Winery in Kato Platres, a 300- year-old boutique winery.
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