Mideast Report

JERUSALEM (JTA) -- An Israeli Jewish and an Israeli Arab family have exchanged kidneys. Ili Halun, a 45-year-old truck driver from Akko, received a kidney this week from Yigal Azeri, a 38-year-old resident of Kibbutz Naot Mordechai, in an operation at Haifa's Rambam Hospital.

Meanwhile, at the Schneider Children's Medical Center in Petach Tikvah, Azeri's 10-year-old son received a kidney donated by Halun's wife, Lina.

It was the third time a cross-transplant has occurred in Israel since the program was initiated in 1998.

Arab gets 12 years for aiding assassination

JERUSALEM (JTA) -- An eastern Jerusalem resident was sentenced to 12 years in prison for helping the Palestinian terrorists who assassinated Tourism Minister Rehavam Ze'evi.

Salakh Alawi was found guilty Wednesday of letting the gunmen stay in his home in October 2001 after the murder.

The Jerusalem district court said Alawi knew the Palestinians had murdered a senior Israeli official.

Arafat berates U.S. for hitting Iraq embassy

JERUSALEM (JPS) -- The Palestinian Authority issued a statement condemning the bombing of the Palestinian Embassy in Baghdad on Monday, declaring that the "U.S.'s aggression on the embassy was premeditated and singled out...the Palestinian embassy, which is located in the diplomatic neighborhood in the Iraqi capital."

The statement, issued by the Palestinian Media Center, quoted a Palestinian Authority official calling the incident "a flagrant violation of all diplomatic norms and laws, which endow foreign embassies' immunity, safety and consider them outside the theater of military operations."

According to the statement, the embassy was hit by air-to-ground missiles on Monday afternoon, severely damaging the roof and destroying its contents.