Shorts: Mideast

Olympian gets gold medal back

jerusalem (jta) | An Israeli Olympic champion retrieved his stolen gold medal.

Gal Fridman, a windsurfer who triumphed at the 2004 Athens Games, had his medal stolen from his parents' home last week.

He was told by police this week that the medal had been found in a forest in central Israel. He told Israeli media that the culprit probably decided to abandon the medal after realizing it could not be sold, given the public outcry over its theft. There was no sign of the rest of the booty from the burglary, including jewelry belonging to Fridman's mother and a handgun belonging to his father.




Sharon comes close to new elections

jerusalem (jta) | The Knesset gave Prime Minister Ariel Sharon a no-confidence vote over corruption allegations.

The motion, protesting misconduct attributed to the ruling Likud Party's Central Committee, was passed this week by a vote of 43-30, short of the absolute majority of 61 needed to force new elections.

Sharon accused the opposition of resorting to "lies, knavery and malice" in a bid to smear him. The Sharon government also lost three other no-confidence motions filed over the crime rate and a crisis in funding for education, prompting Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin to predict that new elections could be imminent.




Israel may use 'Scream' weapon at disengagement

jerusalem (jta) | Israeli officials said they are considering using a weapon that emits high-pitched bursts of sound against Jewish settlers in the Gaza Strip.

"The Scream," which was used recently against demonstrators protesting Israel's West Bank security fence, targets the inner ear, causing dizziness and nausea.




Israel changes plan after friction over China arms deal

jerusalem (jta) | Israel reshuffled its top defense officials following U.S. complaints about Israeli arms-export practices.

Israeli officials said this week that Defense Ministry Director General Amos Yaron and the ministry's security chief, Yehiel Horev, no longer would handle talks on arms exports with Washington, as Pentagon counterparts had accused them of being unreliable.

The Defense Ministry had been under heavy U.S. pressure in recent months over exports to China and other Asian nations.




Palestinians flout calls to disarm

jerusalem (jta) | A Palestinian Authority minister said terrorists in the West Bank and Gaza will not be disarmed before Israel withdraws.

"The disarming of armed factions is not on the table because weapons are legal as long as the occupation exists," Nasser al-Kidwa said in a Palestinian television interview, according to a transcript released last week. "Possession of weapons is a strategic issue as long as there is occupation."

Israel condemned the declaration as flouting a demand in the U.S.-led peace road map for terrorist groups to be disarmed and dismantled as a prerequisite for talks on Palestinian statehood.




A tree grows 2,000 years later

jerusalem (jta) | Using a seed found in the Masada fortress, Israeli scientists have sprouted an ancient date palm tree.

The date palm, which is praised in Jewish and Islamic writing, once grew throughout Israel but disappeared over the centuries. The date palms in modern Israeli agriculture are descendants of a different line of trees from other parts of the Middle East.