Mideast Report

JERUSALEM (JTA) -- Hosni Mubarak's bodyguards shot dead a man who attacked the Egyptian president with a sharp weapon on Monday.

The attacker rushed toward Mubarak's limousine on the streets of Port Said and injured him on the hand before being killed on the spot, according to the government.

Israel and Syria not ready to talk

JERUSALEM (JTA) -- Israel and Syria are not yet ready to resume negotiations that would lead to a peace accord, according to U.S. officials.

Summing up Secretary of State Madeleine Albright's talks in Jerusalem and Damascus over the weekend, the American officials concluded that while both sides are interested in reaching an accord, sharp differences still exist over the basis for renewing negotiations.

Pollard petitions Israeli high court

JERUSALEM (JTA) -- Convicted spy Jonathan Pollard is petitioning Israel's Supreme Court, demanding that Prime Minister Ehud Barak take steps to secure his freedom.

Pollard, a former U.S. naval intelligence analyst who is serving a life sentence for spying for Israel, maintains that Barak has done nothing to seek his release.

Planned Epcot show leads to Arab angst

JERUSALEM (JTA) -- Officials at Walt Disney Co. are trying to quell a growing row in the Arab world over whether Jerusalem will be depicted as Israel's capital at a millennial exhibit in Florida.

"Each exhibit has to comply with an apolitical context to honor culture and history," a Disney spokeswoman in Paris said Wednesday. "Every step is being taken to ensure that none of the exhibits will offend another culture."

The comment came as the United Arab Emirates called for an Arab boycott of all Disney products if the Israeli exhibit at the Epcot New Millennium Village portrays Jerusalem as Israel's capital.

Palestinian town woos Israeli shoppers

KALKIYA, West Bank (JTA) -- A Palestinian-ruled town in the West Bank is offering to pay any parking or traffic fines Israelis may incur in the hopes of attracting Israeli shoppers.

The Israeli daily Ha'aretz reported last month that Israelis ticketed for a traffic or parking violation in Kalkiya could receive money to pay the tickets from the town's municipal offices.

1,000-plus emigres arrive for Holy Days

JERUSALEM (JTA) -- The largest number of immigrants to come to Israel in a single day in the past five years arrived Aug. 18.

A spokesman for the Jewish Agency for Israel said the arrival of the more than 1,000 immigrants from the former Soviet Union was expedited so they could spend the High Holy Days in the Jewish state. Some 35,095 immigrants from the former Soviet Union have arrived so far this year, compared with 25,350 during the same period in 1998.

Israelis exit shelters after night's stay

JERUSALEM (JTA) -- Life returned to normal Thursday of last week for residents of northern Israel.

They had spent a night in bomb shelters out of concern that Katyusha attacks could land there after two Lebanese civilians were killed Wednesday of last week.

The IDF said two rockets or shells fired toward Israel fell short and landed in Lebanon.

Israel holds telethon for Turkish victims

JERUSALEM (JTA) -- Israel Television's Channel 1 conducted a six-hour telethon Thursday of last week to raise funds for victims of last month's earthquake in Turkey.

The broadcast featured appearances by Israeli performers as well as interviews with Israeli survivors of the earthquake and members of the Israeli rescue and relief efforts.

Computer hacker pleads not guilty

JERUSALEM (JTA) -- An Israeli computer hacker and three other friends pleaded not guilty to charges of illegally entering the computers of the Pentagon, NASA and American universities.

But one of the five defendants in the case involving Ehud Tanenbaum, known as "The Analyzer," pleaded guilty to the charges and was expected to serve as a witness for the prosecution, Israel Radio said.

Daylight time over; 9-hour difference

JERUSALEM (JPS) -- Israel's daylight-saving time ended Thursday of last week, when clocks were moved back one hour.

Israel is now nine hours ahead of Pacific Daylight Time and will again be 10 hours ahead when U.S. daylight-saving time ends Oct. 31.