The figure responsible for Israel’s latest religious row is a bespectacled British teenager who is gifted with magical powers, world famous and entirely fictional.

Israel's new government was to take office today, bringing incoming prime minister Ehud Olmert a step closer to implementing his plan of withdrawing from parts of the West Bank and drawing Israel's borders by 2010.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s largest coalition partner threatened to quit today, raising the possibility of early elections that could endanger his plan to withdraw from the Gaza Strip next year.