Israeli archaeologists today said they’ve stumbled upon the site of one of the great dramatic scenes of the Roman sacking of Jerusalem 2,000 years ago – the subterranean drainage channel Jews used to escape from the city’s Roman conquerors.

The Jerusalem municipality will submit new plans for a walkway leading to a disputed holy compound, a city spokesman said today.

Palestinian teenagers threw rocks at Israeli police and attacked a Canadian tourist bus today in a new wave of protests against ongoing Israeli construction near a flashpoint Jerusalem holy site.

Israeli security forces tripled their usual numbers around Jerusalem’s Old City this morning as the city braced for possible riots during Muslim prayers at the Holy Land’s most contentious religious site.

The supreme leader of Iran has called on Islamic nations to retaliate against Israel over excavations being carried out near a hotly disputed holy site in Jerusalem.

Hamas will not be edged out of power, accept a compromise or recognise Israel, Palestinian prime minister Ismail Haniyeh, a leader of the Islamic militant group, told tens of thousands of banner-waving supporters at a rally today.

The centrist Kadima Party dropped in opinion polls today, a day before Israel’s elections, a sign acting that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert might have difficulty forming a coalition that will back his plan to withdraw from parts of the West Bank and draw Israel’s final borders by 2010.

Israel began tightening security a day before its crucial election, as acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert explained his plan to withdraw unilaterally from large parts of the West Bank, and opponents attacked his idea and his party.

Tens of thousands of Muslims prayed at Jerusalem’s Al Aqsa Mosque compound on the last Friday of the fasting month of Ramadan, with Israeli troops restricting entry of worshippers from the West Bank to those over the age of 45.

Palestinians fired three Qassam rockets at southern Israel today, hitting one home, while Israeli soldiers traded fire with a Palestinian fugitive hiding in a house in the northern West Bank, the Israeli army said.

Police stormed a disputed Jerusalem holy site today, throwing stun grenades to disperse hundreds of Palestinian worshippers who threw stones at police and Jewish visitors.

The Jerusalem municipality will push ahead with plans to demolish 88 homes in an Arab neighbourhood in the disputed city to make room for a national park, the city engineer overseeing the project said today.

PROTESTERS besieged Laura Bush during her visit yesterday to two of Jerusalem's holiest sites, with Israeli police locking arms to restrain the crowd and Secret Service agents packed tightly around America's first lady.

Three Jewish extremists were interrogated by police on suspicion they planned to fire a missile into the Al Aqsa Mosque, Islam’s third holiest shrine, in hopes of disrupting the planned Gaza withdrawal, police said today.

Palestinian protesters threw stones at Israeli police guarding a disputed holy site today, slightly wounding seven officers, including Jerusalem’s police chief, authorities said.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan arrived in Israel today for a visit seeking to mend relations with the Jewish state and join in a new wave of Middle East peace efforts.

YASSER ARAFAT will be buried at his West Bank headquarters in a stone coffin, not a wooden one, to allow his re-interment at a later time in Jerusalem, top aides said yesterday.

Clinging on to life in a French hospital, Yasser Arafat was unaware tonight of the growing row over where he will be buried.

When Yasser Arafat dies, Israel must make sure the Palestinian leader’s body is not buried in Jerusalem and take harsh measures to prevent militant groups from taking control in the Palestinian territories, according to a new contingency plan.

HUNDREDS of Israeli police in riot gear stormed a disputed holy site yesterday, firing tear gas, stun grenades and plastic bullets to disperse Muslim worshippers throwing stones and shoes at them.

Israeli police today stormed a disputed Jerusalem holy site after Muslim prayers, firing plastic bullets, stun grenades and tear gas to disperse hundreds of Palestinian stone throwers.

AN Israeli raid on a Gaza refugee camp killed eight Palestinians yesterday in the worst violence in the Gaza Strip in two months — just hours after a high-level Egyptian peace mission to Israel.

An Israeli raid on a Gaza refugee camp killed five Palestinians today in a flare-up of violence that came just hours after a high-level Egyptian peace mission to Israel.

EGYPTIAN Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher was attacked by Muslim extremists as he prayed yesterday at one of Islam’s holiest sites, the Al Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem.

Egypt’s foreign minister, on a peace mission to Israel, was rushed to hospital after being attacked today by Muslims at the Al Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem.

Two years of talks between former Israeli and Palestinian negotiators have produced a 50-page peace deal that could be the basis for eventual official negotiations, even though it has no formal standing, participants said today.

As the Israeli and Palestinian prime minister prepared to meet to discuss their next peace moves, Israeli army trucks were removing equipment from a military base near Bethlehem today.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon met key advisers today as he geared up for crucial talks tomorrow evening with his Palestinian counterpart, the first meeting at that level between the two sides in 31 months.

Israel’s opposition Labour Party will offer the Palestinians parts of Jerusalem and joint administration of disputed holy sites if it wins next month’s general election.

AMERICANS present in Europe today will be struck by the ambiguity of many people towards their homeland, as September 11 is being commemorated.

Police sent reinforcements into Jerusalem today for the start of the holy month of Ramadan, while a hard-line Israeli Cabinet minister said Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s offer of a Palestinian state was not serious.

Israeli police have arrested a Palestinian woman who carried a bomb into Tel Aviv's central bus station today.

Palestinians were preparing a mass funeral procession through the West Bank today for Faisal Husseini, the top Palestinian official in Jerusalem, who died earlier of a heart attack during a visit to Kuwait.

A Palestinian has been killed by Israeli soldiers in clashes in the West Bank town of Ramallah.

Israeli police fired tear gas and rubber bullets at stone-throwing Palestinians in Jerusalem’s Al Aqsa Mosque compound today, and briefly sealed off the adjacent Western Wall, Judaism’s holiest shrine, to protect Jewish worshippers.

Israeli-Palestinian peace talks were due to resume today, despite the killing of a Jewish settler in the Gaza Strip that led Israel to reimpose tough restrictions on the movement of nearly a million Palestinians.