Shorts: Mideast

Beetles eat books, spare Einstein letters

jerusalem (ap) | Beetles chewed holes in hundreds of books at Israel's national library, but spared the precious examples — including the letters of Albert Einstein.

The insect, the Anobium Punctatum, was discovered three months ago in the pages of 19th-century Judaica books, officials said June 17.

The beetle is not indigenous and apparently arrived in a book shipment from the United States or Europe several years ago, said Orit Sulitzeanu of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, where the library is housed.




Teen suicides triple over decade

jerusalem (jta) | The incidence of suicide among Israeli teenagers has almost tripled over the past decade, researchers found.

According to data presented Monday, June 21, to the Knesset Committee for Child Welfare, 14 out of every 100,000 Israeli adolescents commit suicide, up from five in 1995.

The Bar-Ilan University researchers further found that for every teenager who commits suicide in Israel, between 40 and 200 others consider or try to kill themselves.




Hebron photos prompt probe

jerusalem (jta) | Israeli military police questioned four former soldiers who put on a photo exhibition about army service in Hebron.

The army said Wednesday, June 23, it is investigating allegations raised by the Tel Aviv exhibition, titled "Breaking the Silence: Soldiers Tell About Hebron," with a view to prosecuting any soldiers found to have carried out violence or vandalism against Palestinians.

The exhibition is made up of photographs taken in the flashpoint West Bank city, including some of Palestinians being detained by Israeli troops and of settlers attacking Arab property.