FOR CLEAN VERSION SEE STORY NUMBER: 4037928

LEAD IN:

An Israeli from an Arab-Christian background is breaking down barriers by being crowned the winner of the country's first national competition for transgender people.

The event signals what the community hopes will be tolerance and acceptance by the traditionally conservative society for transgendered people.

STORY-LINE:

It's a sign of just how much the LGBT ( lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) community has progressed in Israel, that this pageant has been held.

Taking the crown is Talleen Abu Hanna, who is convinced her victory marks an historic moment in Israel.

Although she has great pride in what she's achieved, Abu Hanna is still coming to terms with her painful past as an outcast in her own family.

She says: "In school, I was treated as an outcast by my classmates. I was always different. I was always sitting by myself during recess. In every class, there was a boy who is always more dominant, above the rest, because he is strong. I was always. I was always in last place. It's true that I'm now in first place, but in school I was always the last. Sometimes I felt, It's difficult to say this word, they felt disgusted by me . I was feeling that I'm so... (breaks down in tears)"

After her victory Abu Hanna's two sisters and her mother made contact to tell how proud they are of her.

Her father has not made contact, which Abu Hanna hopes will change.

While members of the LGBT community are persecuted, or even killed in some places, Tel Aviv stands in sharp contrast to most other places in the Middle East.

Gay people openly serve in Israel's military, and there is at least one openly transgender soldier.

In 1998, transgender singer Dana International, won the popular Eurovision song contest.

According to Abu Hanna: "In many countries outside (Israel), we transgenders, are killed and oppressed and (transgenders) can't live the dream that I enjoy. They must be in very very, very, very closed places to release the womanhood that is confined inside of them. Here, my country gave me...(freedom). Today, I'm Miss Trans Israel, which is the dream of all transgenders in the world."

As well as going through to the MissTrans Star International pageant, to be held in Spain this September 2016, Abu Hanna has also won the top prize of a voucher worth $15,000 to use with a renowned plastic surgeon in Thailand.

Israela Stephanie Lev is the national organiser of "Miss Trans Israel".

Lev says: "When I started a few months ago I didn't believe that there are going to be so many candidates for "Miss Trans Israel 2016" and in the audition I was so surprised to see thirty plus girls from all over, all over the world, from all over Israel, and suddenly we have them on stage you know, (it's) incredible, incredible. I mean this is really independence day for me."

According to Mira Marcus of the Tel Aviv municipality the competition is an important breakthrough which sends the world a powerful message.

She says: "We find it to be a very important competition because in Tel Aviv every human is a human and should be treated like a human, so for us to know that there's a beauty pageant in our city that glorifies transgender women, makes them feel like they are exactly like all other women, beautiful and wonderful, we are proud to be with them."

The road to full acceptance may not always be as glamorous, or as pleasurable as this night is for Abu Hanna, but savouring every moment she tells the crowd: "Our country has allowed me, an Arab-Christian from Nazareth, to end the struggle between my soul and my body, so if it made peace within me, our country is only a country of peace."

FOR CLEAN VERSION SEE STORY NUMBER: 4037928

LEAD IN:

An Israeli from an Arab-Christian background is breaking down barriers by being crowned the winner of the country's first national competition for transgender people.

The event signals what the community hopes will be tolerance and acceptance by the traditionally conservative society for transgendered people.

STORY-LINE:

It's a sign of just how much the LGBT ( lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) community has progressed in Israel, that this pageant has been held.

Taking the crown is Talleen Abu Hanna, who is convinced her victory marks an historic moment in Israel.

Although she has great pride in what she's achieved, Abu Hanna is still coming to terms with her painful past as an outcast in her own family.

She says: "In school, I was treated as an outcast by my classmates. I was always different. I was always sitting by myself during recess. In every class, there was a boy who is always more dominant, above the rest, because he is strong. I was always. I was always in last place. It's true that I'm now in first place, but in school I was always the last. Sometimes I felt, It's difficult to say this word, they felt disgusted by me . I was feeling that I'm so... (breaks down in tears)"

After her victory Abu Hanna's two sisters and her mother made contact to tell how proud they are of her.

Her father has not made contact, which Abu Hanna hopes will change.

While members of the LGBT community are persecuted, or even killed in some places, Tel Aviv stands in sharp contrast to most other places in the Middle East.

Gay people openly serve in Israel's military, and there is at least one openly transgender soldier.

In 1998, transgender singer Dana International, won the popular Eurovision song contest.

According to Abu Hanna: "In many countries outside (Israel), we transgenders, are killed and oppressed and (transgenders) can't live the dream that I enjoy. They must be in very very, very, very closed places to release the womanhood that is confined inside of them. Here, my country gave me...(freedom). Today, I'm Miss Trans Israel, which is the dream of all transgenders in the world."

As well as going through to the MissTrans Star International pageant, to be held in Spain this September 2016, Abu Hanna has also won the top prize of a voucher worth $15,000 to use with a renowned plastic surgeon in Thailand.

Israela Stephanie Lev is the national organiser of "Miss Trans Israel".

Lev says: "When I started a few months ago I didn't believe that there are going to be so many candidates for "Miss Trans Israel 2016" and in the audition I was so surprised to see thirty plus girls from all over, all over the world, from all over Israel, and suddenly we have them on stage you know, (it's) incredible, incredible. I mean this is really independence day for me."

According to Mira Marcus of the Tel Aviv municipality the competition is an important breakthrough which sends the world a powerful message.

She says: "We find it to be a very important competition because in Tel Aviv every human is a human and should be treated like a human, so for us to know that there's a beauty pageant in our city that glorifies transgender women, makes them feel like they are exactly like all other women, beautiful and wonderful, we are proud to be with them."

The road to full acceptance may not always be as glamorous, or as pleasurable as this night is for Abu Hanna, but savouring every moment she tells the crowd: "Our country has allowed me, an Arab-Christian from Nazareth, to end the struggle between my soul and my body, so if it made peace within me, our country is only a country of peace."

Tel Aviv, Israel - 27 May 2016

1. UPSOUND: (Hebrew) voice of competition commentator announcing winner is Talleen Abu Hanna the winner

"Our beauty queen, Miss Trans 2016, Talleen, congratulations"

2. Various of friends hugging Abu Hanna

3. SOUNDBITE: (Hebrew) Talleen Abu Hanna, winner of "Miss Trans Israel" competition

"This is history, today's date is really the State of Israel history and I will take it to the top, the highest place there is,to take the trans community a step further, that we will be seen and accepted only as humans"

Tel Aviv, Israel - 29 May 2016

4. Wide of Talleen Abu Hanna walking out of a coffee shop

5. Close of Abu Hanna talking on the phone

6. SOUNDBITE: (Arabic) Talleen Abu Hanna, winner of "Miss Trans Israel" competition

"In school, I was treated as an outcast by my classmates. I was always different. I was always sitting by myself during recess. In every class, there was a boy who is always more dominant, above the rest, because he is strong. I was always, I was always in the last place. It's true that I'm now in the first place, but in school I was always the last. Sometimes I felt, it's difficult to say this word, they felt disgusted by me . I was feeling that I'm so... (breaks down in tears)"

7. Tilt up of Abu Hanna's face

8. Cutaway of hands

9. SOUNDBITE: (Arabic) Talleen Abu Hanna, winner of "Miss Trans Israel" competition

"In many countries outside (Israel), we transgenders, are killed and oppressed and (transgenders) can't live the dream that I enjoy. They must be in very very, very, very closed places to release the womanhood that is confined inside of them. Here, my country gave me...(freedom). Today, I'm Miss Trans Israel, which is the dream of all transgenders in the world."

Tel Aviv, Israel - 27 May 2016

10. Mid tilt down of Abu Hanna modelling a wedding gown on the Miss Trans stage

11. Close of stage screen with the words: "Miss Trans Israel 2016"

12. Various of "Miss Trans Israel" finalists modelling swimsuits on stage

13. Israela Stephanie Lev, "Miss Trans Israel" organiser talking to media in auditorium

14. SOUNDBITE: (English) Israela Stephanie Lev, "Miss Trans Israel" organiser:

"When I started a few months ago I didn't believe that there are going to be so many candidates for "Miss Trans Israel 2016" and in the audition I was so surprised to see thirty plus girls from all over, from all over the world, from all over Israel and suddenly we have them on stage you know, (it's) incredible, incredible. I mean this is really independence day for me."

15. Various of "Miss Trans Israel" finalists on stage modelling casual wear

16. SOUNDBITE: (English) Mira Marcus, international press director , Tel Aviv municipality :

"We find it to be a very important competition because in Tel Aviv every human is a human and should be treated like a human, so for us to know that there's a beauty pageant in our city that glorifies transgender women, makes them feel like they are exactly like all other women, beautiful and wonderful, we are proud to be with them."

17. Various of "Miss Trans Israel" finalists modelling wedding gowns on stage

18. SOUNDBITE: (Hebrew) Talleen Abu Hanna, winner, "Miss Trans Israel":

"I really hope to represent the best way possible, our country really deserves this, our country is a country of peace, not as seen on TV, our country has allowed me, an Arab-Christian from Nazareth, to end the struggle between my soul and my body. So if it made peace within myself, our country is only a country of peace."

19. Mid of Abu Hanna on stage blowing kisses at crowd

LENGTH: 5.05

SHOTLIST

1. Various of conference

2. Wide of Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman walking to stage

3. SOUNDBITE (Hebrew) Avigdor Lieberman, Israeli Foreign Minister:

"We are very far away (from peace deal with the Palestinians). It's not just that it is impossible; I think that in the current climate it is also not practical and simply forbidden. So what's my conclusion? My conclusion is that we definitely need to start preparing Plan B, a long term temporary arrangement. I can say this Plan B exists, it is on the shelf."

4. Wide of Lieberman speaking on stage

5. SOUNDBITE (Hebrew) Avigdor Lieberman, Israeli Foreign Minister:

"On the apology issue, this borders rudeness and is even beyond rudeness. If anyone has to apologise, it is the Turkish government to Israel for its cooperation with terror entities, supporting terror, supporting the IHH (Foundation for Human Rights and Freedoms and Humanitarian Relief, known by its Turkish acronym IHH), Hamas and Hezbollah. There will be no apology and if there is one, then it will be us waiting for an apology from the Turkish government and not the other way around."

6. Lieberman leaving

STORYLINE

Israel's foreign minister said on Sunday that a peace deal with the Palestinians was "impossible" under current conditions and that Israel shouldn't pursue one.

Avigdor Lieberman told Israeli diplomats that Israel should instead seek a long-term, interim agreement on security and economic matters.

Palestinians have consistently rejected that approach.

Lieberman said the West Bank Palestinian Authority was not legitimate because it has postponed elections.

Peace talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority broke down in September.

US mediators have not been able to restart them.

Lieberman is known for expressing hard-line views that don't always represent those of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Netanyahu's office had no immediate comment.

Lieberman also reacted to a statement by his Turkish counterpart, Ahmet Davutoglu, who said on Saturday that his country wanted improved ties with Israel but the Jewish state must apologise and offer compensation for its deadly raid on a Gaza Strip-bound aid flotilla.

Lieberman said the Turkish insistence on apology was "beyond rudeness" and stressed that Israel would not apologise, but that, on the contrary, it was Turkey who should apologise to Israel "for its cooperation with terror entities, supporting terror, supporting the IHH, Hamas and Hezbollah."

The IHH is the Turkish acronym for the Foundation for Human Rights and Freedoms and Humanitarian Relief, who organised the aid flotilla.

Israel and Turkey built strong military and economic ties over the past 15 years, and Turkey became Israel's closest ally in the Muslim world.

Relations between the two soured, however, with Turkey's Islamic-oriented government's increasingly vociferous criticism of Israel's treatment of Palestinians.

They hit an all-time low in May, when Israeli naval commandos killed nine activists from Turkey on board a Gaza-bound ship that tried to breach Israel's naval blockade.

Turkey withdrew its ambassador from Tel Aviv and Turkish leaders denounced Israel repeatedly over the raid.

Turkey has made an Israeli apology and compensation for the victims' families a condition for improved ties.

Israeli commandos claimed they opened fire in self-defence after meeting what they called unexpected resistance when they boarded the ferry carrying aid supplies to Gaza.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan also wants Israel to end its blockade on the Gaza Strip.

Israel and Egypt blockaded Gaza after the militant Islamic Hamas seized control there in 2007.

Israel wants Turkey to return its ambassador and remove the raid from the international agenda.

High-level Turkish and Israeli officials met in Geneva earlier this month to try to mend fences, after Turkey sent aircraft and firefighters to help Israel battle a wildfire.

But they failed to agree on terms.

SHOTLIST

Jerusalem - 21 May 2008

1. Exterior of Israeli parliament building

2. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert walking down stairs in Knesset, refusing to respond to journalists' questions on Israeli negotiations with Syria

3. Olmert talking to people

4. SOUNDBITE: (English) Yoel Hasson, Kadima member of Knesset

"As a Prime Minister, he should do what he can to try to achieve peace and to try to open a negotiation with Syria. He is doing what all the governments before this government did. So for me it's important and it's important for the country, and I think the question of the Golan Heights it should go, if it's going to be a final negotiation with agreement, this agreement should go to a referendum in israel."

5. Olmert greeting man, walks away

6. Likud Member of Knesset Yuval Steinitz talking to press

7. SOUNDBITE: (English) Yuval Steinitz, Likud Member of Knesset

"It's a very sad day for the state of Israel because evidently the prime minister is so corrupt that he is not only taking cash money in envelopes but he is ready to trade the Golan Heights and our most vital interests in an attempt to save himself from criminal investigation and indictment."

FILE: Golan Heights

8. Wide shot of border between Israel and Syria

9. Israeli flag on border, Syrian flag in the background on the other side of border

10. Wide shot hillside, border fence

11. Sign reading: "Frontier ahead", wind farm turbines

Jerusalem - 21 May 2008

12. Former Israeli Foreign Ministry director, Alon Liel, sitting, with framed photograph of him standing with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan in foreground

13. SOUNDBITE: (English) Alon Liel, Former director of Israeli Foreign Ministry/Chairman of the Israel-Syria Peace Society

"I think we have a wonderful development in front of us. It's a statement that was published simultaneously in Jerusalem and in Damascus. It is short but very, very meaningful. It says that the sides are starting negotiations, official negotiations, in fact in the open."

FILE: Golan Heights

14. Israeli radar station on top of hill, on border with Syria

15. Various of radar station

16. Various of border, barbed wire, wind turbines

STORYLINE:

Israel and Syria on Wednesday said they are holding indirect peace talks through Turkish mediators - the first official confirmation of contacts between the longtime enemies.

In statements issued minutes apart in Jerusalem and Damascus, the two governments said they had "declared their intent to conduct these talks in good faith and with an open mind," with the goal of reaching "a comprehensive peace."

Both nations thanked Turkey for its help, and Turkey issued its own confirmation. Muslim Turkey has good ties with both Israel and Syria.

There have been reports in recent months of new Israeli-Syrian contacts through Turkey, and Turkey's foreign

minister said earlier this month that his country was trying to bring the sides together.

But this was the first official confirmation that contacts have actually resumed.

An Israeli government official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Olmert's chief of staff and diplomatic adviser had been in Turkey since Monday, and their Syrian counterparts were also in the country.

Israel and Syria are bitter enemies whose attempts at reaching peace have repeatedly failed in the past, most recently in 2000.

The nations have fought three wars, and their forces have also clashed in Lebanon.

Peace with Syria would require Israel to withdraw from the Golan Heights, a strategic plateau which Israel captured in the 1967 Middle East war and has occupied ever since.

A Golan withdrawal would be extremely controversial among Israelis, and it could be difficult for a weakened leader like Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, whose already low popularity has been battered by a recent corruption investigation, to win public support for such a move.

Peace talks with Syria could also divert attention from newly relaunched Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, which aim to reach an agreement by the end of the year, but are unlikely to do so.

Israel, meanwhile, has demanded that Syria - which offers refuge to militant groups like Hamas and Islamic Jihad and supports the Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah - distance itself from what it terms terrorism as a condition for talks.

Last September, Israeli warplanes attacked an installation in Syria that the U.S. has claimed was an unfinished nuclear reactor built by North Korea.

U.S.-mediated talks between the two countries broke down in 2000 because of disagreements over the extent of an Israeli withdrawal from the Golan.

The main point of contention concerns a narrow strip of land along the Sea of Galilee, which Israel wants to keep to ensure its control of vital water supplies.

The latest round of contacts began in February 2007, when Olmert visited Turkey.

The announcement comes as Olmert finds himself mired in yet another corruption investigation - the fifth investigation into his conduct since he took office in 2006.

His dismal approval ratings have sparked widespread speculation about his ability to survive in office and to conclude an elusive peace deal with the Palestinians by the year-end target.

Reaction in the Israeli parliament, the Knesset, was mixed.

Kadima member Yoel Hasson approved of the reopening of talks with Syria, but said any agreement reached between the two sides should go to a referendum in Israel.

"As a Prime Minister, he should do what he can to try to achieve peace and to try to open a negotiation with Syria. He is doing what all the governments before this government did. So for me it's important and it's important for the country," he said.

But opposition Likud member Yuval Steinitz criticised the prime minister, saying it was a "very sad day for the state of Israel because evidently the prime minister is so corrupt that he is not only taking cash money in envelopes but he is ready to trade the Golan Heights and our most vital interests in an attempt to save himself from criminal investigation and indictment."

Alon Liel, former director of the Israeli Foreign Ministry and Chairman of the Israel-Syria Peace Society, was very supportive of the move.

Speaking in Jerusalem on Wednesday, he called it "a wonderful development."

"It's a statement that was published simultaneously in Jerusalem and in Damascus. It is short but very, very meaningful. It says that the sides are starting negotiations, official negotiations."

A court in Israel on Tuesday ruled that a woman wanted for up to 74 charges of sexual abuse of schoolgirls in Australia will not be held under house arrest.

Malka Liefer, a former Australian principal accused of child abuse, fled to Israel in 2008.

James McGarry, Deputy Head of Mission at the Australian embassy in Jerusalem, said on Tuesday the Australian government had a "strong interest" in extraditing Liefer to stand trial in Australia.

Israel said last week that Leifer will not be extradited to Australia, citing her mental health.

Shana Aaronson, social services coordinator at the Israel office of Jewish Community Watch, told The Associated Press the decision not to hold Liefer under house arrest is "very, very upsetting for her victims".

A court in Israel on Tuesday ruled that a woman wanted for up to 74 charges of sexual abuse of schoolgirls in Australia will not be held under house arrest.

Malka Liefer, a former Australian principal accused of child abuse, fled to Israel in 2008.

James McGarry, Deputy Head of Mission at the Australian embassy in Jerusalem, said on Tuesday the Australian government had a "strong interest" in extraditing Liefer to stand trial in Australia.

Israel said last week that Leifer will not be extradited to Australia, citing her mental health.

Shana Aaronson, social services coordinator at the Israel office of Jewish Community Watch, told The Associated Press the decision not to hold Liefer under house arrest is "very, very upsetting for her victims".

Jerusalem - 7 June 2016

1. The brother of Malka Leifer, a former Australian principal accused of child abuse who fled to Israel in 2008 (left on screen), and her lawyer Yehuda Fried (centre) sitting at table

2. Fried talking on mobile

3. Leifer's brother and Fried talking

4. Close of Leifer's brother

5. James McGarry, Deputy Head of Mission at the Australian Embassy, standing outside courtroom

6. SOUNDBITE (English) James McGarry, Deputy Head of Mission at the Australian Embassy:

"The Australian government retains a strong interest in the extradition of Miss (Malka) Liefer from Israel, she is facing 74 charges in Australia. Given that this matter is...we continue to work with the Israeli authorities to offer them any assistance they need to finalise the extradition matter, but given that this is something that's before the Israeli courts, it's not something that we can discuss any further."

7. Various of Fried and prosecutor inside courtroom

8. Shana Aaronson, social services coordinator at Jewish Community Watch, entering courtroom

9. SOUNDBITE (English) Shana Aaronson, social services coordinator at Jewish Community Watch, Israel office:

"We are understanding that the conclusion here regarding the house arrest is that it has been lifted. She is no longer going to be on house arrest, which is devastating. I mean it's very, very upsetting for her victims, there are some of them that I understand now live in Israel and for them to now have to live with, I mean, the fear of bumping into her is unbelievably upsetting. That they, on top of everything else, that now they have to deal with that is completely unfair."

10. Leifer's brother leaving courtroom talking, talking mobile

11. SOUNDBITE (English) Shana Aaronson, social services coordinator at Jewish Community Watch, Israel office:

"If she is not well enough to be extradited then one would think that she would be in some kind of psychiatric care that's more contained, more consistent, having her see a psychiatrist once every five weeks - it doesn't exactly point to a serious psychiatric issue where one would think that wouldn't allow her to be extradited, so that's really I think a major question that everybody has here - is why are we seeing on the one hand that she's not well enough to be extradited to a country that we have an extradition treaty with, but then on the other hand she is not required to be in some kind of really constant psychiatric care. And it's very, very upsetting."

12. Aaronson listening to journalist

13. Exterior of court

The European Union on Wednesday approved guidelines for its member states to specially label products made in West Bank settlements, a move that has already been criticised by Israel as "disguised anti-Semitism."

The EU move, which came after months of procrastinating, underscores the bloc's unhappiness over Israel's continued expansion of settlements on territory that Palestinians seek for their future state.

The EU is now seeking to differentiate between its relations with Israel and with the settlements, fearing that a continued status quo would never push the Israeli government into changing its settlement policies.

The EU's Ambassador to Israel told reporters in Jerusalem on Wednesday that the move did not in any way support a boycott or sanctions against Israel.

Lars Faaborg-Andersen stressed that EU member states mainly wanted clarification on where the goods originated from, and whether they were produced in Jewish settlements or by Palestinians in areas beyond the internationally recognised borders of Israel.

AP TELEVISION

Jerusalem - 11 November 2015

1. Wide of EU Ambassador to Israel Lars Faaborg-Andersen during news conference

2. SOUNDBITE (English) Lars Faaborg-Andersen, EU Ambassador to Israel:

"Now the upshot of the notice as it pertains to goods coming from beyond the Green Line (Israel's frontier before the capture of the West Bank in the 1967 Mideast war) in other words from the area... the Golan and the West Bank, which have been under Israeli administration since 1967, the relevance of the notice to that, which as I said before, is again a reflection of existing legislation and requirements is that products coming from beyond the Green line cannot be marketed in Europe as made in Israel. Because the EU does not recognise those areas beyond the Green line as part of Israel's internationally recognised borders. This is something that also happens to be the view of 99 percent of the international community. So the issue here is that those products are still very welcome on the European market, they just have to have the correct indication of origin on them. And the interpretative notice that was adopted by the (European) Commission proposes a number of different indications of origins that can be used, but it's basically up to the member states to decide which one would be the most appropriate. But drawing on some of the examples from countries, UK, Belgium, Denmark, that have already enacted this kind of procedure on a national basis, the notice suggests that one can, for example, use the phrase 'Produced in the West Bank - parentheses Israeli settlement' or it could be 'Produced in the West Bank - parentheses Palestinian product' for example. So it's important to understand that this is legislation that pertains both to products coming from Israeli settlements but also for products coming from the Palestinian areas of the West Bank, for example."

3. Wide of news conference

4. SOUNDBITE (English) Lars Faaborg-Andersen, EU Ambassador to Israel:

"The European Union is against sanctions, against boycotting, against isolation of Israel. And therefore the measures that we have taken and which are again all based on existing legislation have absolutely nothing to do with that. If we wanted to boycott, let's just hypothetically assume that we wanted to boycott those products, we would have done the same as we have done in the case of Crimea, which after the Russian occupation of that area we have put a ban on products coming from Crimea."

5. Wide of journalist asking question

The head of the body which administers Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa Mosque, on Tuesday objected to plans to install surveillance cameras at the shrine.

Abdel Azeem Salhab, the chairman of the Waqf Council which administers the walled Jerusalem shrine at the epicentre of Israel-Palestinian violence, said that Israel wants to install cameras there "for its own purposes and this will not happen".

Israeli and Jordanian officials said earlier that new surveillance cameras should be installed there within days, with the goal of streaming the footage live on the internet for maximum transparency.

The idea to install the cameras emerged during separate talks late last week between U.S. Secretary of State, John Kerry, and the three sides with a stake at the shrine: Israel, Jordan and the Palestinian self-rule government.

Kerry was looking for a way to lower tensions, but it's not clear if video cameras will achieve that.

The current round of violence began in mid-September, triggered in part by heated disputes over the Jerusalem shrine.

The compound is revered by both Muslims and Jews and a lightning rod for the clashing national narratives of Israelis and Palestinians.

Jordan, which controlled the site before Israel captured it in the 1967 Mideast war, serves as the custodian of the Muslim-administered site.

Under decades-old arrangements, Jews are allowed to visit, but not to pray at the shrine.

However, the number of Jewish visitors has doubled in the past five years, accompanied by statements from Jewish groups and several leading Israeli politicians demanding prayers at the site.

Such statements have fuelled Palestinian fears that Israel is trying to expand its presence at the shrine.

Israel adamantly denies such allegations, saying they amount to incitement to violence.

In mid-September, tensions started to soar, coinciding with an increase in the number of Jewish visitors during a period of Jewish holidays. Clashes erupted at the shrine between young Palestinian stone-throwers and Israeli security forces.

The confrontations quickly spread. In all, 11 Israelis have been killed, mostly in stabbings, while 52 Palestinians, including 30 said by Israel to be attackers, have been killed by Israeli fire.

Under the compromise brokered by Kerry, video cameras are to be installed inside the 37-acre (15-hectare) walled platform to help defuse tensions.

The details are to be worked out between officials from the site's administrator - the Islamic Trust, or Waqf - and Israeli authorities, said a senior Jordanian government official, who spoke on condition of anonymity in line with briefing regulations.

He said he expects the cameras to be installed in "days, not weeks."

He said both Muslim clerics and Israeli officials will for now monitor the images, but that "the ultimate goal is for the footage to be seen on the internet, by everyone."

Israeli officials confirmed the plan, and in a statement, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said it hopes to start the process "as soon as possible."

Israel has welcomed the plan, saying the cameras will prove it is doing nothing wrong and expose violent activities by Palestinian protesters.

The Palestinians have given the plan a cool reception, saying Israel will use the cameras to arrest people and complaining that deeper issues have been ignored.

The Palestinians say the violence is the result of years of Israeli military occupation and a lack of hope for gaining independence after years of failed peace efforts.

The head of the body which administers Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa Mosque, on Tuesday objected to plans to install surveillance cameras at the shrine.

Abdel Azeem Salhab, the chairman of the Waqf Council which administers the walled Jerusalem shrine at the epicentre of Israel-Palestinian violence, said that Israel wants to install cameras there "for its own purposes and this will not happen".

Israeli and Jordanian officials said earlier that new surveillance cameras should be installed there within days, with the goal of streaming the footage live on the internet for maximum transparency.

The idea to install the cameras emerged during separate talks late last week between U.S. Secretary of State, John Kerry, and the three sides with a stake at the shrine: Israel, Jordan and the Palestinian self-rule government.

Kerry was looking for a way to lower tensions, but it's not clear if video cameras will achieve that.

The current round of violence began in mid-September, triggered in part by heated disputes over the Jerusalem shrine.

The compound is revered by both Muslims and Jews and a lightning rod for the clashing national narratives of Israelis and Palestinians.

Jordan, which controlled the site before Israel captured it in the 1967 Mideast war, serves as the custodian of the Muslim-administered site.

Under decades-old arrangements, Jews are allowed to visit, but not to pray at the shrine.

However, the number of Jewish visitors has doubled in the past five years, accompanied by statements from Jewish groups and several leading Israeli politicians demanding prayers at the site.

Such statements have fuelled Palestinian fears that Israel is trying to expand its presence at the shrine.

Israel adamantly denies such allegations, saying they amount to incitement to violence.

In mid-September, tensions started to soar, coinciding with an increase in the number of Jewish visitors during a period of Jewish holidays. Clashes erupted at the shrine between young Palestinian stone-throwers and Israeli security forces.

The confrontations quickly spread. In all, 11 Israelis have been killed, mostly in stabbings, while 52 Palestinians, including 30 said by Israel to be attackers, have been killed by Israeli fire.

Under the compromise brokered by Kerry, video cameras are to be installed inside the 37-acre (15-hectare) walled platform to help defuse tensions.

The details are to be worked out between officials from the site's administrator - the Islamic Trust, or Waqf - and Israeli authorities, said a senior Jordanian government official, who spoke on condition of anonymity in line with briefing regulations.

He said he expects the cameras to be installed in "days, not weeks."

He said both Muslim clerics and Israeli officials will for now monitor the images, but that "the ultimate goal is for the footage to be seen on the internet, by everyone."

Israeli officials confirmed the plan, and in a statement, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said it hopes to start the process "as soon as possible."

Israel has welcomed the plan, saying the cameras will prove it is doing nothing wrong and expose violent activities by Palestinian protesters.

The Palestinians have given the plan a cool reception, saying Israel will use the cameras to arrest people and complaining that deeper issues have been ignored.

The Palestinians say the violence is the result of years of Israeli military occupation and a lack of hope for gaining independence after years of failed peace efforts.

AP TELEVISION

Jerusalem - 27 October 2015

1. News conference with Abdel Azeem Salhab, Chairman of the Waqf Council (Islamic trust which administers the Al-Aqsa mosque site), and other officials

2. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Abdel Azeem Salhab, Chairman of the Waqf Council:

"The actions of the occupation authorities show that they are continuing with their policies to judaise the Al-Aqsa mosque. And anything that will encroach on Al-Aqsa mosque and its sanctity and the freedom of the Muslims to pray in it, is absolutely unacceptable. Israel wants cameras for its own purposes and this will not happen."

3. End of news conference

4. Al-Aqsa compound

Thousands of evangelical Christians from more than 80 countries descended upon Jerusalem this week to show their support for the Jewish state, including pilgrims and politicians from countries with a history of hostility toward Israel.

The celebratory summit reflects evangelical Christianity's dramatic growth worldwide and gives a boost to Israel at a time when, some argue, the country is increasingly isolated internationally.

Attitudes in Israel toward evangelicals are evolving, from scepticism about Christian Zionist motives, to the realisation that Israel cannot survive on the support of diaspora Jewish communities alone and is in no position to turn down the potential political and tourism boost the Christians can provide.

Evangelical Christianity is one of the world's fastest growing religious movements. Of the world's estimated two billion Christians, some 700 million are evangelicals, according to the pro-Israel International Christian Embassy Jerusalem, which organized the Jerusalem summit.

Evangelical movements are expanding most prominently in Latin America, Africa and Asia - regions that "hold great potential for the nation of Israel in political, diplomatic and economic terms," according to a position paper the group presented last year to Israel's Foreign Ministry.

Evangelicals at the summit boasted of their success at lobbying on Israel's behalf in the halls of parliaments around the world.

There are currently 32 pro-Israeli caucuses in parliaments worldwide, according to the Israel Allies Foundation, a Jewish-Christian pro-Israel political group that brought two dozen lawmakers from 18 countries to Jerusalem this week to meet with Israeli lawmakers and officials.

The annual weeklong summit is billed as the Feast of Tabernacles, the Christian term for the weeklong Jewish holiday of Sukkot, which in biblical times was marked by a pilgrimage to the Temple in Jerusalem.

Thousands of evangelical Christians from more than 80 countries descended upon Jerusalem this week to show their support for the Jewish state, including pilgrims and politicians from countries with a history of hostility toward Israel.

The celebratory summit reflects evangelical Christianity's dramatic growth worldwide and gives a boost to Israel at a time when, some argue, the country is increasingly isolated internationally.

Attitudes in Israel toward evangelicals are evolving, from scepticism about Christian Zionist motives, to the realisation that Israel cannot survive on the support of diaspora Jewish communities alone and is in no position to turn down the potential political and tourism boost the Christians can provide.

Evangelical Christianity is one of the world's fastest growing religious movements. Of the world's estimated two billion Christians, some 700 million are evangelicals, according to the pro-Israel International Christian Embassy Jerusalem, which organized the Jerusalem summit.

Evangelical movements are expanding most prominently in Latin America, Africa and Asia - regions that "hold great potential for the nation of Israel in political, diplomatic and economic terms," according to a position paper the group presented last year to Israel's Foreign Ministry.

Evangelicals at the summit boasted of their success at lobbying on Israel's behalf in the halls of parliaments around the world.

There are currently 32 pro-Israeli caucuses in parliaments worldwide, according to the Israel Allies Foundation, a Jewish-Christian pro-Israel political group that brought two dozen lawmakers from 18 countries to Jerusalem this week to meet with Israeli lawmakers and officials.

The annual weeklong summit is billed as the Feast of Tabernacles, the Christian term for the weeklong Jewish holiday of Sukkot, which in biblical times was marked by a pilgrimage to the Temple in Jerusalem.

AP TELEVISION

Jerusalem - 1 October 2015

1. Man playing Jewish trumped called "shofar"

2. Banner reading (English): "Israel you are not alone"

3. Man holding South Korean flag cheering

4. Various evangelical Christians dressed up in colourful regional costumes banging drums and performing

AP TELEVISION

Jerusalem - 29 September 2015

5. Pan to the right of evangelical Christians gathered at stadium, many waving Israeli flags

6. Evangelical Christians cheering Israeli president Reuven Rivlin as he takes to the stage

7. SOUNDBITE (English) Reuven Rivlin, President of Israel:

"Thank you for standing with us, thank you for standing with us."

8. Couple sitting, the man wrapped in Israeli flag

9. Medium of man with Israeli and Finnish flags

10. Set up of Jerusalem's International Christian Embassy Director Jurgen Buhler talking to guests

11. SOUNDBITE (English): Jurgen Buhler, Director of the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem:

"Those millions of Christians, they have a passion and a love for the Jewish people. They also do see something very interesting: it's that the ancient prophecies of the Bible, which some of them are 2,500, 3,000-years-old which speak about the time that the Jewish people will be exiled around the world, but one day they will come back to their land. So they read the scriptures, they see what is taking place today in Israel. They say: 'Wow, this is amazing; we see biblical prophecy being fulfilled in front of our eyes. So they want to get involved. They support Israel, they stand (by) Israel, and what we've seen over recent decades (is) that they even became a significant force within even parliaments around the world."

12. Buhler talking to guest

13. SOUNDBITE (English): Jurgen Buhler, Director of the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem:

"To see today, we have around 40, I believe even 50 members of parliament from more than 25 nations which have come to the Feast of Tabernacles. They are meeting with lawmakers here in Israel; they are gathering together as a group, strategising what they can do. For example, some of the European parliamentarians, they are looking at what they can do to challenge the boycott law which is being prepared right now in the European Union, which some of them feel that this is a flashback to what was happening 70 years ago, when people were told not to buy Jewish goods anymore. So they are talking together (about) what they can do in order to challenge those laws. So this is a very practical step."

14. Wide of South African lawmaker Kenneth Meshoe with other guests

15. SOUNDBITE (English) Kenneth Meshoe, South African lawmaker and head of the African Christian Democratic Party:

"Whenever there was a clash between the Palestinians and Israel, everybody would condemn Israel and forget that Israel is never the aggressor. But Israel always responds and when Israel responds, many do not want to look at who caused the trouble, but they would just condemn Israel and they would say that the action is disproportional. But when aggression is started by the other group, they would be quiet. And that is very wrong."

16. Woman dancing in front of stage area as band is playing

Israel's Prime Minister says the country is not indifferent to the plight of migrants and refugees flooding Europe but that Israel is too vulnerable to absorb them.

Benjamin Netanyahu bemoaned the "human tragedy" created by Syria's civil war and said Israel has aided them in various ways.

But he added that Israel was too small a country, both geographically and demographically, to provide a haven for a large influx of migrants.

Israel runs a field hospital on its border with Syria and has taken in wounded Syrians, but has stopped short of opening the borders to its long time enemy.

Israel's Prime Minister says the country is not indifferent to the plight of migrants and refugees flooding Europe but that Israel is too vulnerable to absorb them.

Benjamin Netanyahu bemoaned the "human tragedy" created by Syria's civil war and said Israel has aided them in various ways.

But he added that Israel was too small a country, both geographically and demographically, to provide a haven for a large influx of migrants.

Israel runs a field hospital on its border with Syria and has taken in wounded Syrians, but has stopped short of opening the borders to its long time enemy.

Israel's Prime Minister says the country is not indifferent to the plight of migrants and refugees flooding Europe but that Israel is too vulnerable to absorb them.

Benjamin Netanyahu bemoaned the "human tragedy" created by Syria's civil war and said Israel has aided them in various ways.

But he added that Israel was too small a country, both geographically and demographically, to provide a haven for a large influx of migrants.

Israel runs a field hospital on its border with Syria and has taken in wounded Syrians, but has stopped short of opening the borders to its long time enemy.

AP TELEVISION

Jerusalem - 6 September 2015

1. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arriving at cabinet meeting

2. Various of Netanyahu and ministers at cabinet meeting

3. SOUNDBITE (Hebrew) Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli Prime Minister:

"Israel is not indifferent to the human tragedy of the refugees from Syria and Africa. We handled with care of some 1,000 wounded from the fights in Syria and helped them to rebuild their lives. We are talking with African heads of state, and recently with Italy's Prime Minister (Matteo Renzi), and also with other European leaders about agricultural, economic and security, multinational aid packages to take care of the problem in the making. However, Israel is too small a country, very small, both geographically and demographically, therefore we need to control our borders against illegal migrants and terror."

4. Cutaway of cabinet meeting

FOR CLEAN VERSION SEE STORY NUMBER: apus034669

Israel's prime minister says his country is not bound by the international nuclear agreement with Iran, and that Israel reserves the right to defend itself.

Benjamin Netanyahu says the world is now a "much more dangerous place" and criticized Tuesday's agreement as a "stunning historic mistake."

Speaking in English to reporters in Jerusalem, he said that by removing sanctions, the deal will give Iran billions of dollars to support what he calls a worldwide terrorism network.

FOR CLEAN VERSION SEE STORY NUMBER: apus034669

Israel's prime minister says his country is not bound by the international nuclear agreement with Iran, and that Israel reserves the right to defend itself.

Benjamin Netanyahu says the world is now a "much more dangerous place" and criticized Tuesday's agreement as a "stunning historic mistake."

Speaking in English to reporters in Jerusalem, he said that by removing sanctions, the deal will give Iran billions of dollars to support what he calls a worldwide terrorism network.

AP TELEVISION

Jerusalem - 14 July, 2015

1. SOUNDBITE: (English) Benjamin Netanyahu, Prime Minister - Israel:

"The world is a much more dangerous place today than it was yesterday. The leading international powers have bet our collective future on a deal with a foremost sponsor of international terrorism. They've gambled that in ten years time Iran's terrorist regime will change while removing any incentive for it to do so. In fact, the deal gives Iran every incentive not to change."

++SOUNDBITES SEPARATED BY WHITE FLASH++

2. SOUNDBITE: (English) Benjamin Netanyahu, Prime Minister - Israel:

"This bad deal does not require Iran to cease its aggressive behavior in any way. And just last Friday that aggression was on display for all to see. While the negotiators were closing the deal in Vienna, Iran's supposedly moderate president chose to go to a rally in Tehran. And, at this rally, a frenzied mob burned American and Israeli flags and chanted 'death of America, death to Israel.'

++SOUNDBITES SEPARATED BY WHITE FLASH++

3. SOUNDBITE: (English) Benjamin Netanyahu, Prime Minister - Israel:

"By not dismantling Iran's nuclear program, in a decade this deal will give an unreformed, unrepentant and far richer terrorist regime the capacity to produce many nuclear bombs. In fact, an entire nuclear arsenal with the means to deliver it. What a stunning, historic, mistake."

++SOUNDBITES SEPARATED BY WHITE FLASH++

4. SOUNDBITE: (English) Benjamin Netanyahu, Prime Minister - Israel:

"And Israel is not bound by this deal with Iran because Iran continues to seek our destruction. We will always defend ourselves. Thank you."

Israel's minister for intelligence and strategic affairs has warned the West to not heed the more moderate rhetoric of Iranian president Hasan Rouhani whilst Iran "continues its approach toward nuclear weapons."

"If nothing serious will be done Rouhani will continue to smile, will continue to appease, and he will smile all the way to the bomb," Yuval Steinitz said on Sunday.

On Monday Rouhani was en route to New York after urging the West to heed his appeals for greater dialogue and denouncing economic sanctions as a dead-end strategy.

He says he hopes to use this week's annual U.N. General Assembly gathering to win Western promises to restart stalled talks over Tehran's nuclear programme.

Rouhani is urging the U.S. and allies to ease sanctions to move ahead the negotiations.

Iran claims its nuclear programme is for peaceful purposes.

But critics in Israel and the West dismiss such explanations. They point to Iran's refusals to cooperate with U.N. nuclear inspectors, its covert enrichment activities and lack of progress in years of Western on-and-off negotiations with the Iranians.

"The most important thing that is going to influence our future, the future of Israel and the Middle East, the future of Europe, the future of America and the rest of the world, is the attempt of the ayatollahs, the attempt of Iran, to cheat the world," said Steinitz.

Israel has long claimed a nuclear-armed Iran would pose a grave threat to world peace and security.

Israel views a nuclear-armed Iran a threat to its very existence, noting calls by Iranian leaders for destruction of the Jewish state and Tehran's support of Israel's bitterest enemies such as Hezbollah in Lebanon and Palestinian groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad.

AP TELEVISION NEWS

1. Yuval Steinitz, Israel's minister for intelligence and strategic affairs in his office

2. SOUNDBITE (English) Yuval Steinitz, Israel's minister for intelligence and strategic affairs:

"Since the last election, the Iranians implemented several thousand new centrifuges, including more advanced second generation centrifuges. So on the one hand, Iran is trying to appease the world with Rouhani's moderate rhetoric. And on the other hand, Iran continues its approach toward nuclear weapons, and if nothing serious will be done Rouhani will continue to smile, will continue to appease, and he will smile all the way to the bomb."

3. Close of Steinitz hands

4. SOUNDBITE (English) Yuval Steinitz, Israel's minister for intelligence and strategic affairs:

"It was not Israel that changed its assessment. It was the Iranians that changed their behaviour following the depiction, the presentation of the red line by Benjamin Netanyahu. Instead of enriching more uranium to the 20 percent level, and crossing the red line, they did other things, they enriched more and more material to five percent, they implemented a new generation of new centrifuges, so actually they didn't cross the red line, but they bypassed the red line in a sense."

5. Close of Steinitz hands ++REPEAT OF SHOT 3++

6. SOUNDBITE (English) Yuval Steinitz, Israel's minister for intelligence and strategic affairs:

"The most important thing that is going to influence our future, the future of Israel and the Middle East, the future of Europe, the future of America and the rest of the world, is the attempt of the Ayatollahs, the attempt of Iran, to cheat the world, to smile to the world by Rouhani and meanwhile to develop a fissile material with centrifuges and to develop nuclear weapons."

7. Cutaway

SHOTLIST

1. Zoom out exterior of prime minister's office

2. Various of Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni arriving at meeting

3. SOUNDBITE (English) Shimon Peres, Israeli Deputy Prime Minister:

"Israel does not intend to intervene in Gaza. Let's the Gazans decide their own destiny, their own situation. Any attempt by Israel to intervene there will put Israel in an impossible situation. I do hope they'll find the proper solution, but only they can do it, nobody else can do it instead of them, or should do it instead of them."

4. Israeli Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert arriving at meeting

5. Wide of meeting

7. SOUNDBITE (Hebrew) Ehud Olmert, Israeli Prime Minister:

"Israel is following the events in Gaza Strip and hopes that the violence in the Gaza Strip between the Palestinians will end, and the violence and terror against the state of Israel will stop completely."

Mid of Israeli ministers sitting at meeting

8. Various of cabinet meeting

STORYLINE

Israel "does not intend to intervene" in the power struggle between Palestinian factions, the Israeli Deputy Prime Minister said on Sunday.

"Any attempt by Israel to intervene there will put Israel in an impossible situation," Shimon Peres said ahead of a weekly cabinet meeting.

"I do hope they'll find the proper solution, but only they can do it, nobody else can do it instead of them, or should do it instead of them," he added.

Peres' comments were echoed by Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who also warned the Palestinian internal dispute may reflect on Israel's security.

"Israel is following the events in Gaza Strip and hopes that the violence in the Gaza Strip between the Palestinians will end, and the violence and terror against the state of Israel will stop completely," Olmert said during the cabinet meeting.

The Israeli daily Haaretz on Sunday said the military and the Shin Bet intelligence agency were concerned that Hamas' accusations that Israel is backing Fatah could provoke new attempts to carry out suicide bombings or other attacks on Israel.

Hamas and Fatah gunmen fought sporadic battles in Gaza City's beach front neighbourhoods and around security compounds early on Sunday, ignoring renewed truce appeals and Arab mediation efforts.

One man was killed and 13 people wounded in the violence which continued as leaders from both sides prepared to head to Saudi Arabia for talks aimed at ending the bloody power struggle.

More than 100 Palestinians have been killed in internal violence since Hamas, which rejects Israel's right to exist, won parliamentary elections a year ago and wrested power from Fatah, which advocates peacemaking with the Jewish state.

Also on Sunday, Israel has declined to comment on reports of three Israelis suspected of spying for Israel in Egypt.

Egypt's state security prosecutor on Saturday charged a 26-year-old Egyptian and three Israelis with allegedly spying for Israel and harming national interests, a security official said.

The cabinet was also to approve the appointment of new Israeli chief of staff Gaby Ashkenazi.

Ashkenazy will replace Dan Halutz, who recently resigned his post after months of criticism on the war in Lebanon over the summer.

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that the reconciliation process between Israel and Turkey would continue in spite of the attempted military coup against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Israel and Turkey recently struck a broad reconciliation pact to restore diplomatic relations after six years of animosity between the once-close Mideast powers.

The rift followed a deadly Israeli naval raid to stop an activist flotilla aiming to breach the Gaza blockade.

Speaking at his weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem, Netanyahu also condemned what he called the "horrifying attack in Nice".

The prime minister added that like Israel, the Palestinian Authority has offered its condolences to France, but accused it of still encouraging attacks against Israelis.

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that the reconciliation process between Israel and Turkey would continue in spite of the attempted military coup against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Israel and Turkey recently struck a broad reconciliation pact to restore diplomatic relations after six years of animosity between the once-close Mideast powers.

The rift followed a deadly Israeli naval raid to stop an activist flotilla aiming to breach the Gaza blockade.

Speaking at his weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem, Netanyahu also condemned what he called the "horrifying attack in Nice".

The prime minister added that like Israel, the Palestinian Authority has offered its condolences to France, but accused it of still encouraging attacks against Israelis.

Jerusalem - 17 July 2016

1. Various of Israeli cabinet meeting

2. SOUNDBITE (Hebrew) Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli Prime Minister

"Israel and Turkey recently agreed on a reconciliation process. We believe that this process will continue, regardless of the dramatic events in Turkey this weekend."

3. Meeting

4. SOUNDBITE (Hebrew) Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli Prime Minister

"The horrifying attack in Nice emphasises again the need for a unified and strong approach against the murderous terrorism that's targeting the whole world. On behalf of the government and the people of Israel, I've sent our condolences and wishes to the wounded through France's President Francois Hollande. The Palestinian Authority has also sent their condemnation, their condolences but with one difference: here not only do they not condemn ramming attacks, they encourage, they glorify the murderous attackers, they fund them and their families in case the attacker dies. Terror is terror whether it is in France or in Israel."

5. Meeting

RESTRICTION SUMMARY: AP CLIENTS ONLY

SHOTLIST:

AP TELEVISION - AP CLIENTS ONLY

Jerusalem - 28 March 2016

1. Wide of conference

2. SOUNDBITE (Hebrew) Reuven Rivlin, Israeli President:

"The BDS (Boycott Divestment and Sanctions) is a movement who's foundation is based on the principle of not accepting the existence of the State of Israel. Of course it's not accepted by all the countries in the world, to see Israel as an awe-inspiring phenomenon."

3. Cutaway

4. SOUNDBITE (Hebrew) Reuven Rivlin, Israeli President:

"We need to differentiate between criticism and deligitimisation, criticism is not deligitimisation. Friends can criticise each other. Between friends we can agree to disagree. Our duty is to show that the foundation of the BDS is rooted in hatred against the State of Israel."

5. Cutaway

6. SOUNDBITE (English) Ron Lauder, President of the World Jewish Congress:

"No university would allow a professor to come into a classroom wearing a swastika. Why then should universities give cover to professors who follow jihadists talking points? Schools that condone hate speech should be exposed. Alumni and donors who care about Israel need to make their voices heard. They should pressure university boards of trustees to punish hate speech against Israel."

7. Cutaways

8. SOUNDBITE (English) Lars Faaborg-Andersen, EU Ambassador to Israel:

"Not even the Israeli government claims that the West Bank is part of Israel. So why would products coming from the West Bank be labelled as made in Israel? We have no problem with those products they just have to be correctly labelled. Saying for example, that they are made in the West Bank in the settlements. The West Bank is not part of Israel as we see it and therefore products coming from the West Bank cannot be marketed as made in Israel. It's as easy as that. It's about consumer legislation."

9. Cutaway

10. SOUNDBITE (English) Lars Faaborg-Andersen, EU Ambassador to Israel:

"(The) BDS phenomenon is a rather marginal one and one which at this point in time has a very little affect on Israel and a very little impact on Israel. That means that we have of course to stay vigilant in order to ensure that it does not get further boost and does not get further support. But I think it's important to keep a sense of proportion here and ensure that we are not talking up this phenomenon rather than talking it down thereby giving it a platform that it really doesn't have."

13. Wide of conference

STORYLINE:

The President of Israel Reuven Rivlin on Monday decried the international Boycott Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement in a conference organised by the daily Israeli newspaper Yediot Ahronoth.

The conference, which gathered prominent Jewish figures and politicians, focused on the BDS movement, an international movement which seeks to pressurise Israel into withdrawing from the West Bank and end its occupation.

Ron Lauder, President of the World Jewish Congress, called for an end to the boycott of Jewish professors in university campuses.

He also urged the Jewish community to pressure universities to punish hate speech against Israel.

Lauder was referring to a growing aspect of the BDS movement which targets the world of academia and tries to shut down Jewish professor and scientists from taking part.

The head of the European Union in Israel, Lars Faaborg-Andersen, also took part in the conference, and brushed aside any links to BDS and a recent decision by the EU that bans products made West Bank settlements as Israeli products.

===========================================================

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Some of Yemen's last remaining Jews have arrived in Israel after a clandestine operation retrieved them from the war-torn country, an Israeli nonprofit group said on Monday.

As part of the mission two people who arrived in recent days and a group of 17 Yemenite Jews landed in Israel late on Sunday, according to the Jewish Agency, which works closely with the Israeli government and acts as a link to Jews around the world.

Among the new arrivals was a rabbi who brought an ancient Torah scroll with him.

The Jewish Agency would not disclose details of the secret mission, which it said was a "complex covert operation."

The new arrivals leave behind a civil war raging in Yemen and a spate of anti-Semitic attacks in the country, which the Jewish Agency said was endangering the community.

Hundreds of Jews have arrived in Israel from Yemen in recent years, but the most recent arrivals could mark the end of this immigration.

The 50 remaining Jews - who mostly live in the capital Sanaa in a closed compound next to the US embassy and enjoy the protection of Yemeni authorities - want to stay in the country, the agency said.

Some 50,000 Jews have arrived to Israel from Yemen since 1949 and have become an integral part of Israeli society.

Some of Yemen's last remaining Jews have arrived in Israel after a clandestine operation retrieved them from the war-torn country, an Israeli nonprofit group said on Monday.

As part of the mission two people who arrived in recent days and a group of 17 Yemenite Jews landed in Israel late on Sunday, according to the Jewish Agency, which works closely with the Israeli government and acts as a link to Jews around the world.

Among the new arrivals was a rabbi who brought an ancient Torah scroll with him.

The Jewish Agency would not disclose details of the secret mission, which it said was a "complex covert operation."

The new arrivals leave behind a civil war raging in Yemen and a spate of anti-Semitic attacks in the country, which the Jewish Agency said was endangering the community.

Hundreds of Jews have arrived in Israel from Yemen in recent years, but the most recent arrivals could mark the end of this immigration.

The 50 remaining Jews - who mostly live in the capital Sanaa in a closed compound next to the US embassy and enjoy the protection of Yemeni authorities - want to stay in the country, the agency said.

Some 50,000 Jews have arrived to Israel from Yemen since 1949 and have become an integral part of Israeli society.

Beer Sheva, Southern Israel - 21 March 2016

1. Various of woman and child who arrived from Yemen in clandestine operation

2. Yaakov Dahan reading from scroll

3. SOUNDBITE (Hebrew) Yaakov Dahan, arrived to Israel from Yemen in clandestine operation:

"I came to Israel, the land of our fathers. In Yemen there was fear, we were afraid, there's war."

4. Dahan showing scroll

5. Dahan's family sitting outside at absorption centre

6. Close of Torah scrolls

7. SOUNDBITE (Hebrew) Yaakov Dahan, arrived to Israel from Yemen in clandestine operation:

"Book of Torah, scroll, this Book of Torah is very ancient. I think its 800 year old, I was told by my grandfather it's very ancient."

8. Dahan showing Torah

9. Men eating bread

10. SOUNDBITE (Hebrew) Ariell Di Porto, director at the Jewish Agency for Western countries and countries in turmoil:

"They were in great danger and we did everything to bring them (to Israel). And in recent months we took Jews out from there (Yemen). We brought the Rabbi's children and more Jews a few months ago until it was finalized last night with the arrival of the group of 17 finally arriving in Israel."

11. Children playing outside

12. Family at absorption centre

RESTRICTION SUMMARY: AP CLIENTS ONLY

SHOTLIST:

AP TELEVISION - AP CLIENTS ONLY

Jerusalem - 25 February 2016

1. Tilt down from Western Wall to Reform rabbis praying

2. Reform rabbis lifting up Torah scroll

3. Pan from female rabbi to Torah scroll

4. Pan of rabbis holding prayer service in area where new egalitarian prayer area will be erected

5. Various of prayer service

Jerusalem - 24 February 2016

6. SOUNDBITE: (English) Rabbi Steven Fox, chief executive, Central Conference of American Rabbis

"We are a significant population and we represent a significant population and that there is an ever-growing population in Israel that identifies as reform; that the numbers we hear are just booming; that the percentage of people say I am Reform or I identify Reform is increasing dramatically."

Jerusalem - 25 February 2016

7. Various of Reform Jews praying at Western Wall, where new prayer area will be built

8. Ultra-Orthodox men and women walking outside Western Wall

Jerusalem - 24 February 2016

9. SOUNDBITE: (English) Rabbi Steven Fox, chief executive, Central Conference of American Rabbis

"I'm an American so I can speak for the United States - how do you ask us to constantly say to our people 'advocate, go to your Senators, go to your Congress people, go to the President,' not just on the big issues like last summer, the Iran deal, but on day to day issues, on funding, on defenCe on security agreements and at the same time have these ministers who say to our people ' you're not really Jewish' or 'you don't have a place here in Israel'."

Jerusalem - 22 February 2016

10. Set up shot of Yariv Levin, Israeli Tourism Minister, in his office

10. SOUNDBITE: (English) Yariv Levin, Israeli Tourism Minister:

"I think it's very very important that we'll be aware to the problem of assimilation and do our best efforts in order to solve it, rather than creating other problems that aren't necessary."

Jerusalem - 25 February 2016

12. Various of male and female rabbis taking part in prayer service

13. Establishing shot of Anat Hoffman (first right), Israeli activist for religious pluralism

14. SOUNDBITE: (English) Anat Hoffman, Israeli activist for religious pluralism:

"When a revolution happens it's a little bit like an earthquake and there are aftershocks, so these are expected aftershocks that people are saying 'oh, there's just one way to be Jewish and if you shake that the whole Jewish structure will fall apart.' I have faith that Judaism can withstand the possibility that there's pluralism, equality, tolerance. I think it's part of Judaism."

15. Pan of Reform rabbis singing at Western Wall

16. Woman wearing prayer shawl and skullcap praying at Western Wall

STORYLINE:

A recent gathering of American Reform rabbis in Jerusalem was marred by comments by Israeli leaders denigrating the group, reflecting an awkward relationship that many fear is alienating the world's second-largest Jewish community from Israel.

The Reform Movement is the largest stream of Judaism in the US, claiming to represent 1.5 (m) million people, and its members provide a key source of financial support and political advocacy for Israel.

But the movement is marginal in Israel, where religious affairs are dominated by the Orthodox rabbinical establishment.

Israeli lawmakers, both secular and ultra-Orthodox, have repeatedly disparaged the group, questioning their Judaism and accusing them of promoting Jewish assimilation.

"How do you ask Jews around the world to support Israel politically, economically, socially," asked Rabbi Steven Fox, the chief executive of the Central Conference of American Rabbis; "and at the same time you have these ministers who say to our people 'you're not really Jewish' or 'you don't have a place here in Israel?' That incongruity is a real problem for us", he added.

Fox's group held its septennial convention in Israel last week and represents 2,000 rabbis.

In the US, Reform synagogues are commonplace, characterized by practices such as mixed-gender prayers, services led by female rabbis and members who drive to synagogue on the Sabbath.

Such customs violate Orthodox norms, and in Israel, Reform Judaism is often seen as a curiosity, threat or something that should not be taken seriously.

Over the years, Reform rabbis have made small gains in Israel, and last month, the movement was jubilant over perhaps its greatest victory, after Israel announced that it would create a special mixed-gender prayer area at the Western Wall.

The new area will also permit women to wear prayer shawls and skullcaps, a rite reserved for men under Orthodox custom.

The announcement came after three years of painstaking negotiations between Israeli officials and the liberal streams of Judaism and appeared to mark a historic turning point in relations between Israel and diaspora Jews.

But right after the plan was approved, Israel's secular Tourism Minister Yariv Levin said the Reform movement was a "waning world."

He accused the movement of tolerating intermarriage, encouraging assimilation and predicted the mixed-prayer area would become unnecessary within two or three generations.

Even after Reform rabbis criticized him, Levin expressed no remorse.

"It's very important that we'll be aware of the problem of assimilation and do our best efforts in order to solve it," he told The Associated Press.

For decades, American Jewry - the second largest Jewish community in the world after Israel - has served as a bedrock of support for Israel.

But there are signs of that support softening, particularly among younger and more liberal Jews.

Reform leaders say that the harsh reactions from ultra-Orthodox leaders are an unfortunate but expected response to the gains the movement has made.

Beyond the Western Wall compromise, the Reform rabbis say they do see signs of progress.

Israel's Supreme Court ruled this month that the country's ritual baths must accept all converts to Judaism, even those who have undergone non-Orthodox conversions outside the country.

They also point to the movement's small but growing base in Israel as a sign that the movement is finally gaining traction in the Jewish state.

===========================================================

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SHOTLIST:

AP TELEVISION NEWS - AP CLIENTS ONLY

Jerusalem - 14 February 2016

1. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arriving for Cabinet meeting

2. Netanyahu at meeting

3. SOUNDBTIE: (Hebrew) Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli Prime Minister:

"Israel and the European Union agreed to restore relations back to a normal track. In a conversation I held this weekend with EU foreign affairs chief Federica Mogherini, I heard from her the EU opposes any boycott and she (Mogherini) defines the labelling of goods as not binding and does not reflect their position on Israel's final borders that can be decided, so she said, by direct negotiations between the two sides."

4. Close of Netanyahu

5. Close of name plate for Netanyahu

6. SOUNDBTIE (Hebrew) Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli Prime Minister:

"(US) Vice President Joe Biden is considering visiting Israel in the coming days, (Biden) staffers are arriving in Israel today. No date is set for the visit but it is clear that Vice President Joe Biden is a welcomed guest in Israel at any time he decides to arrive. Thank you."

7. Pan from ministers to Netanyahu at meeting

STORYLINE:

Israel's prime minister on Sunday described relations with the European Union as "back to a normal track," after tensions arose last year over the bloc's decision to label West Bank exports.

Benjamin Netanyahu said he had received assurances from EU foreign affairs chief Federica Mogherini that the move was not a political step and "does not reflect their (the EU) position on Israel's final borders".

In November, Israel suspended contacts with EU officials on the political process with the Palestinians to protest the move, which it said is discriminatory.

Netanyahu also cited media reports that US Vice President Joe Biden was considering visiting Israel in the coming days.

He said members of Biden's staff were landing in Israel on Sunday, but dates for a visit had not been set.

Biden's last visit to Israel sparked a diplomatic spat with Washington in 2010, when Israel announced settlement construction plans during Biden's visit.

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The coastal city of Netanya calls itself the Israeli Riviera, and walking along its main pedestrian boulevard, one would be hard pressed to tell it apart from its twin city of Nice in France.

Barely a word of Hebrew is spoken, and property advertisements, restaurant menus and cafe conversations are all in French.

An increase in anti-Semitic attacks by Muslim extremists in France, home to the world's third largest Jewish population, has led to an unprecedented wave of immigration to Israel.

Netanya, with its seaside chic and established French-speaking community, has become their top destination.

Last year, for the first time, France was Israel's top source of immigrants, according to the Jewish Agency, a nonprofit group that works closely with the government and acts as a link for Jews around the world.

A record 7,200 French Jews arrived in 2014, double the number for the previous year.

Of those, about 2,000 came to the Mediterranean city of Netanya.

The surge, which marked the first time in Israeli history that more than one percent of a Western country's Jewish population immigrated in a single year, started even before the shooting rampage that killed four Jews in a Paris kosher supermarket in January and devastated the community's already shaky sense of security.

For Fanny Rhoum, a 33-year-old mother of two, whose children used to go to school across from the Hyper Cacher, the supermarket where the attack happened, that was the tipping point.

Three days after the attack, she came to Israel to start planning her move.

She arrived this week on a special flight from Paris with another 200 immigrants.

Jeanette Malka, 63, said she had waited for her retirement to move to Israel and now hopes her children and grandchildren will join her.

Jews have been targeted in Belgium, Denmark and other European countries, but France has seen the worst of it.

Jews have increasingly reported assaults and intimidation, mostly from Muslim extremists.

While some attacks have been linked to anger at Israeli policies toward the Palestinians, most have been of an anti-Semitic nature.

France's Jewish community of 500,000 is the largest in Europe.

Though Jews make up less than one percent of the population, French officials say more than 50 percent of all reported racist attacks in 2014 were directed against them.

The Jewish Agency for Israel says many immigrants also come to Israel out of Zionist fervour or for economic reasons.

Unemployment has hovered around 10 percent in France since 2009, compared to less than five percent in Israel.

But while annual migration numbers have historically hovered between 1,000 to 2,000, the agency says the exodus really kicked off after the 2012 shooting attack against a Jewish school in Toulouse that killed three children and a rabbi.

Following the January killings at the kosher supermarket, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rushed to Paris and openly urged the country's Jews to move to Israel.

The Jewish Agency reports that 2015 has already seen a 10 percent jump from last year's record numbers.

European Jews are divided on the question of immigration to Israel. While maintaining close ties to Israel, their community leaders have urged people to stay in their countries.

The trend has also been deeply troubling for the French government, with top officials pleading with Jews to stay and warning that a mass migration of the community would be seen as a failure of the republic.

France takes pride in its inclusiveness and the Jews' 2,000-year history in the country.

Arriving in Israel, the French immigrants have brought with them that history - as well as a French sense of style, culture and food, and nowhere is that more on display than in Netanya.

Entire neighbourhoods have become French-speaking and the busy central promenade bustles with cafes with customers smoking, drinking coffee and eating croissants.

Most of the newcomers speak nothing but French, and the city has adjusted accordingly, launching a French language website and ensuring there are French speakers in schools and workplaces to help ease the transition.

Netanya, central Israel - 29 July 2015

1. Fountain on Independence Square

2. Children playing around fountain

3. People walking in street

4. Pull out from French menu outside cafe to people sitting

5. People sitting in cafe

6. New immigrant from France receiving her Israeli identity card from government official

7. Pan of Israeli identity cards on table

8. French immigrant Fanny Rhoum and her husband receiving their Israeli identity card

9. SOUNDBITE (French) Fanny Rhoum, 33, French immigrant to Israel:

"The attack (on the Hyper Cacher in Paris) was the tipping point. When there was the Charlie Hebdo attack, I thought it was horrible. It's horrible what I'm going to say, but I said to myself, it's not only us who are concerned any more, it's everyone. But when the attack on the Hyper Cacher occurred I said to myself that there will always be something hanging over our heads, so it made it (our departure) closer. Three days after the attack I was here, I came here, I was too afraid. I wanted to come here and see what would happen and we started looking (for a flat) and all the rest, every event made our departure closer."

10. Cutaway of girl holding Israeli flag

11. SOUNDBITE (French) Fanny Rhoum, 33, French immigrant to Israel:

"We had become paranoid. We had become paranoid about everything and nothing. So it was stressful every day. It was stressful and we feel... Here we get the feeling that we can protect ourselves, but there, we had the impression that we were on our own and if, God forbid, something happened, we would have to manage."

12. Zoom in on French immigrant Jeanette Malka, and her husband Chaim, receiving their Israeli identification cards

13. SOUNDBITE (French) Jeanette Malka, 66, French immigrant to Israel:

"When we have children, and our grandchildren are in Jewish schools, yes, yes it really scares us. And when you see the soldiers and your grandchildren are asking you, 'Grandma, why are the soldiers here?' What can you tell them? That's the problem. So yes, it pushed us to leave."

14. Netanya street

15. Estate agent's window with signs in French

16. Poster in shop window reading (French): "SIM cards and phones sold here"

17. Freddo Pachter, head of Netanya's French absorption project, outside cafe

18. SOUNDBITE (French) Freddo Pachter, head of Netanya's French absorption project:

"It is important for an 'Oleh Hadash' (Hebrew - meaning new immigrant to Israel), for a new immigrant, to arrive in a city where there is an integration programme, it is better to land softly than to do it the hard way, and for this purpose, the Ministry (of absorption) and the municipalities are putting lots of resources in place."

19. Sea with flags in foreground

20. People walking on steps down to beach

21. Pull out from boats to wide of beach

SHOTLIST:

1. Various of US Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel and Israeli Defence Minister Moshe Yaalon listening to national anthem

2. Hagel and Yaalon walking to podium at news briefing

3. SOUNDBITE: (English) Chuck Hagel, US Defence Secretary:

"Today we took another significant step in the United States-Israel defence relationship. Minister Yaalon and I agree that the United States will make available to Israel a set of advanced new military capabilities which he has noted, including: anti-radiation missiles and advanced radars for its fleet of fighter jets, KC-135 re-fuelling aircraft, and most significantly the V22 Osprey, which the US has not released to any other nation. The new radar and anti-radiation missiles, along with Israel's participation in the joint-strike fighter programme, ensures that Israel will maintain air superiority for the next generation. The introduction of the V22 into the Israeli air force will give the Israeli air force long-range, high-speed and maritime search and rescue capabilities to deal with a number of threats and contingencies. These decisions underscore that the military-to-military cooperation between the US and Israel is stronger than ever, and that defence cooperation will only continue to deepen in the future."

4. Mid of briefing

5. SOUNDBITE: (English) Chuck Hagel, US Defence Secretary:

"Regarding your point about whether Israel should strike Iran, as I said on that trip over here, Israel is a sovereign nation. Every sovereign nation has a right to defend itself. That calculation has to be made by the sovereign nation."

6. Hagel and Yaalon leaving news briefing

STORYLINE:

US Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel assured Israel on Monday that the Obama administration is committed to preserving and improving the Jewish state's military edge in the Middle East.

Hagel made the pledge at a news conference on Monday at Israel's ministry of defence in Tel Aviv.

"Today we took another significant step in the United States-Israel defence relationship," Hagel said.

He said the US would permit Israel to buy various new weapons, including US missiles and advanced radars for its strike aircraft.

Such weaponry had not been released to any other nation, he said, and would ensure that Israel was equipped to deal with a "number of threats and contingencies".

"The new radar and anti-radiation missiles, along with Israel's participation in the joint-strike fighter programme, ensures that Israel will maintain air superiority for the next generation," Hagel said.

He also reiterated that the US would leave it to Israel to decide whether it needed to attack Iran in order to prevent it from building a nuclear bomb.

"Israel is a sovereign nation. Every sovereign nation has a right to defend itself. That calculation has to be made by the sovereign nation," Hagel said.

SHOTLIST:

1. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arriving at news conference

2. SOUNDBITE (English) Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli Prime Minister:

"In recent days and weeks, Hamas and the other terrorist organisations in Gaza ave made normal life impossible for over one million Israelis. No government would tolerate this situation, where nearly a fifth of its people live under a constant barrage of rockets and missile fire, and Israel will not tolerate this situation. This is why my government has instructed the Israeli defence forces to conduct surgical strikes against the terrorist infrastructure in Gaza, and this is why Israel will continue to take whatever action is necessary to defend our people. I want to remind you that seven years ago, Israel withdrew from every square inch of Gaza. Now, Hamas, it took over the areas we vacated. What did it do? Rather than build a better future for the residents of Gaza, the Hamas leadership, backed by Iran, turned Gaza into a terrorist stronghold. They fired thousands of rockets at our cities, at our towns, at our civilians, at our children. They've smuggled thousands of rockets and missiles into Gaza and they deliberately placed these rockets and missiles in civilian areas, in homes, in schools, near hospitals. This year alone, they've fired over one thousand rockets and missiles at Israel, including close to 200 rockets in the last 24 hours."

3. Israeli flags

4. SOUNDBITE (English) Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli Prime Minister:

"In the past 24 hours, Israel has made it clear that it will not tolerate rocket and missile attacks on its civilians. I hope that Hamas and the other terror organisations in Gaza got the message. If not, Israel is prepared to take whatever action is necessary to defend our people."

5. Netanyahu leaving

STORYLINE

Israel's prime minister said on Thursday the army is prepared for a significant widening of its operation in the Gaza Strip.

Benjamin Netanyahu told reporters on Thursday that Israel had "made it clear" it won't tolerate continued rocket fire on its civilians.

"I hope that Hamas and the other terror organisations in Gaza got the message. If not, Israel is prepared to take whatever action is necessary to defend our people," he said.

Militants in the Gaza Strip pounded southern Israel with rocket fire on Thursday, killing three people as the Israeli military pressed forward with a second day of intense air raids and naval attacks on militant targets.

Israel launched the operation on Wednesday, killing Hamas' military chief and attacking dozens of rocket-launching sites.

The deaths in the southern Israeli town of Kiryat Malachi were the first in Israel since it launched its operation and raised the prospects of even fiercer Israeli retaliation.

Officials have said Israel is prepared to broaden the offensive with a ground invasion of Gaza if necessary.

A total of 15 Palestinians, including seven civilians, have been killed and more than 100 people wounded in the Israeli operation, according to Palestinian medical officials. Among the dead were three children.

Netanyahu claimed Israel is taking every measure to avoid civilian casualties and accused Hamas and other militant organisations in Gaza of "deliberately" placing their "rockets and missiles in civilian areas, in homes, in schools, near hospitals."

SHOTLIST:

1. Interior Israeli cabinet office, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu coming up stairs to go to cabinet meeting

2. Interior pan cabinet meeting

3. SOUNDBITE (Hebrew) Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli Prime Minister:

"This week we are holding a national home front exercise. This is the fourth year we have conducted this exercise, and it will include using sirens throughout the country, in workplaces and residential areas, schools and day care centres, in hospitals, local authorities, government offices and more. This is a routine exercise that was scheduled long ago. I want to emphasise that this is not a result of any abnormal security development; on the contrary, Israel wants quiet, stability and peace, but it is no secret that we live in a region that is under threat of missiles and rockets. Our best defence against such a threat is first and foremost to nurture the deterrence of the Israel Defence Forces and their ability to overpower (such threats)."

4. Pan across table at cabinet meeting, pull out to wide

5. SOUNDBITE (English) Isaac Herzog, Israeli Cabinet Minister:

"The sail which has commenced in Turkey and is probably continuing towards the region, towards Gaza, is a clear provocation. I can say outright, the only way that such a sail, which will incite and not bring any peaceful recognition in the region, can succeed is only if those who arranged the sail will agree to bring out with them the abducted Israeli soldier who has been denied any human rights, any civil rights in the past three years, Gilad Schalit."

6. Cutaway of Herzog speaking to media

STORYLINE:

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tried to allay fears on Sunday that Israel was preparing for a new offensive, as the country began a major defence drill to test the response of soldiers, emergency crews and civilians to simulated missile barrages, terrorist attacks and chemical strikes.

Speaking at an Israeli cabinet meeting Sunday, Netanyahu said the defence drill, was "a routine exercise that was scheduled long ago," in an apparent attempt to calm fears of Arab neighbours.

"I want to emphasise that this is not a result of any abnormal security development; on the contrary, Israel wants quiet, stability and peace," Netanyahu added.

Israel embarked on its fourth annual home front drill at a time when Iranian-backed militants are rearming to Israel's north and south, and Iran

itself is suspected of developing nuclear arms, despite its denials and the lack of concrete evidence.

The five-day civil defence drill is the biggest in Israel's history and has raised allegations by the country's enemies that it is preparing for war - a concern Israel has sought to allay.

Israel began carrying out the annual exercise, codenamed Turning Point, after its 2006 war with Hezbollah militants in Lebanon showed that its bomb shelters, air raid sirens and civil defence authorities were found to be unprepared.

Israeli media reported that Hezbollah had heightened its alert status ahead of what it branded as Israel's "war game," and they quoted Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri as saying the Israeli exercise defied peacemaking efforts.

Israel has tried to allay regional concerns with assurances through diplomatic channels that the drill is not a cover for a military strike, defence officials said.

Meanwhile, several boats intended to break Israel's blockade on the Gaza Strip set sail from Turkey on Sunday.

Gaza has been under an Egyptian and Israeli blockade since 2007 when the militant Hamas organisation took over the territory, and there have been several attempts to break the blockade from the sea.

Israeli Cabinet Minister Isaac Herzog condemned the current attempt calling it "a provocation."

He called for the release of captured Israeli soldier Gilad Schalit who has been held captive by militants since 2006.