Mideast Report

JERUSALEM (JTA) -- Twenty-nine Jews took a flight from war-torn Chechnya to Israel this week.

The refugees, whose flight was sponsored by the Jewish Agency for Israel, will join relatives already living in Israel. Almost 700 Jews were brought to Israel last year from neighboring Dagestan, which is also involved in the conflict between the Russian government and Islamic separatists.

Three Israelis hurt in drive-by shooting

JERUSALEM (JTA) -- Three Israelis were wounded, one of them seriously, when gunmen opened fire on their car near Hebron on Monday night.

Not long after the attack, a Palestinian woman was killed and her husband was seriously wounded when Israeli troops fired on their car. Israeli officials said the vehicle had tried to run a roadblock set up after the drive-by shooting.

Palestinian prisoners released as gesture

JERUSALEM (JTA) -- Israel released 15 Palestinian prisoners on Sunday and Monday.

Israel said the releases were a goodwill gesture for the Islamic holiday of Eid al-Adha, or the Feast of the Sacrifice.

Switzerland to try a Mossad agent

JERUSALEM (JTA) -- An Israeli agent caught in a bungled 1998 spying operation will go on trial in Switzerland in July, according to Swiss officials.

The agent, identified by the court as Isaac Bental, was one of five Mossad agents caught trying to install bugging equipment in an apartment building.

Red Army members deported to Japan

JERUSALEM (JTA) -- Japan has arrested four members of a terrorist group who took part in a 1972 attack at an Israeli airport that killed 24 people.

The four members of the Japanese Red Army were deported from Lebanon over the weekend.

1999 tourism breaks three-year slump

JERUSALEM (JTA) -- Tourism in Israel increased by 17 percent in 1999 over the previous year, to nearly 2.25 million tourists, according to data released by the Central Bureau of Statistics.

Israel's Tourism Ministry forecasts that millennium events, including Pope John Paul II's current visit, will boost tourist visits to as many as 3 million this year.