McFalafel off the menu in Israel

13 July 2011 Last updated at 14:39 GMT By Yolande Knell BBC News, Jerusalem Customers line up to buy kosher burgers at a Jerusalem McDonald's outlet The McDonald's international burger chain is withdrawing its version of the favourite Middle Eastern snack, falafel, from restaurants in Israel.

McFalafel is said to have attracted relatively few customers after it was introduced earlier this year.

The deep-fried chickpea patties are widely available at street food stalls.

"We realised that falafel doesn't belong in McDonald's," Omri Padan, chief executive of McDonald's Israel, told the news website, Ynet.

"We wanted a vegetarian dish... but it didn't succeed. The falafel dish is gradually being removed from menus," he is quoted as saying.

McDonald's declined to comment further to the BBC, but said it was bringing out new products.

Admissions of defeat are unusual for the company, which tries to tailor its menus to local markets around the world.

Burgers and fries Falafel is fast-food Middle Eastern style

Few customers at the McDonald's outlet in the Jerusalem Mall in Malha, west Jerusalem, seemed to mind that McFalafel was no longer available.

"I never even heard about it," said Sara. "Their specialty is burgers. We don't need McDonald's coming over from the [United] States to make falafel. We have Israeli places."

"I never tried it," added Kfir, waiting to order burgers and fries for his children. "But you can understand why people preferred to go to the falafel stall to get falafel."

At a neighbouring falafel stand, the vendor says it is harder than people think to make good falafel.

"Falafel has to be fresh. We make it fresh everyday, never frozen," he says. "This is what tastes best."

The snack is popular across much of the Middle East, where the balls of ground chickpeas are typically deep-fried and served with salads and pickles in a flat bread.

However, like houmous - a chickpea dip - the food does cause controversy. Both Israel and the Palestinians claim it as a national dish.

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Israel blocks 'flytilla' protest

8 July 2011 Last updated at 11:48 GMT Ben Gurion airport is on high alert for the arrival of the activists Dozens of pro-Palestinian activists trying to reach Israel have been blocked at airports in Europe or deported after arrival in Tel Aviv.

Israeli officials asked foreign airlines to stop black-listed travellers reaching the country.

Activists are planning to spend a week in the occupied West Bank.

Their so-called "flytilla" comes as the Greek authorities have blocked the sailing of an aid flotilla trying to break the Israeli blockade of Gaza.

Reports say two American women originally involved in the flotilla have already been deported from Ben Gurion Airport after flying in from Athens to try to join the latest demonstration.

The group, Welcome to Palestine, invited between 600 and 1,000 foreigners to visit locations such as Bethlehem and Ramallah starting on Saturday.

The activists planned to inform Israeli immigration of their intention to visit only Palestinian areas on arrival at the airport knowing that this could see their entry blocked.

Organisers said the purpose was to highlight Israel's control of Palestinian borders.

'Undesirable persons'

A number of activists were turned back at Paris's Roissy Charles de Gaulle airport as they tried to board a flight to Tel Aviv on the Hungarian airline Malev.

An airport spokesman told AFP news agency their reservations had been cancelled at the request of Israeli authorities who had issued a "list of undesirable persons".

In a statement on Friday Welcome to Palestine called moves to prevent activists from travelling to Israel as "provocative, blackmailing and illegal".

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered authorities to "act with determination, while trying to avoid unnecessary friction" with anyone taking part in a provocation, a statement from his office said.

Security remains high at Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv. Israeli police say they are determined to stop any disturbances.

Boat blocked The Dignite is part of a 10-ship Freedom Flotilla II

Meanwhile, the Greek coast guard on Thursday intercepted the lone remaining boat from a 10-ship aid convoy that has been trying to sail to Gaza since the end of June.

The French boat - Dignite al-Karama - was detained for "administrative reasons" on a refuelling stop in Crete, organisers said.

Israeli officials have dismissed as "ridiculous" claims by the organisers that Israel has sabotaged two ships - one Irish and one Swedish - and pressured the Greek authorities to block the sailings of the French yacht, as well as US and Canadian vessels.

The Quartet of Middle East peace mediators - the UN, US, EU and Russia - has urged activists to avoid a potential confrontation with Israel, pointing to last year's deadly clashes on the Freedom Flotilla that left nine activists dead.

Israel increased sanctions on Gaza in 2006 after militants captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit. It tightened them further still a year later when Hamas ousted rival Palestinian organisation Fatah from the territory.

Although the Islamist group won Palestinian legislative elections in January 2006, it refuses to recognise Israel or to renounce violence and is designated in the West as a terror organisation.

Israel eased the restrictions last year in response to international pressure following the activists' deaths.

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Israel gas explosion kills four

17 June 2011 Last updated at 10:37 GMT Many of the injured were eating in a restaurant in the building when the blast struck An explosion caused by a gas leak has killed four people in the Israeli coastal town of Netanya.

Police said the blast, which occurred late in Thursday night, was likely to have been caused by negligence.

More than 60 others were injured by the blast, which badly damaged a four-floor building. Rescue workers have been searching the debris for survivors.

Police arrested a man on suspicion of accidentally cutting a gas pipe that caused the leak that led to the blast.

Many of the injured were sitting in a restaurant on the ground floor of the building when the blast hit.

"The explosion was apparently caused by negligence," police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld told the AFP news agency.

He confirmed that the attack was not criminal or gang-related, or an act of terrorism.

He added that a scrap metal dealer had been arrested in connection with the incident, and an employee of the gas company which supplied gas canisters was being questioned.

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Israel lovers murdered young girl

19 May 2011 Last updated at 15:19 GMT Rose Pizem's disappearance in 2008 sparked a massive search The grandfather and mother of a four-year-old girl whose body was found in a river in Tel Aviv in 2008 have been convicted of her murder.

An Israeli court found Ronny Ron guilty of murdering French-born Rose Pizem, and Marie-Charlotte Renaud, also French, of soliciting the murder.

The couple, who were lovers, will be sentenced at a later date.

Rose's murder shocked Israel and triggered a nationwide debate on child welfare.

Her disappearance in May 2008 triggered a huge search and made headlines across the country.

'Fit of rage'

Police divers found her body in a suitcase pulled from the Yarkon river in September that year.

Rose's parents, Renaud and Benjamin Pizem, had moved to Israel from France in 2004 as he tried to reconcile with his estranged Israeli father, Ron.

But the couple divorced the following year after Mr Pizem discovered his wife was having an affair with his taxi-driver father.

Mr Pizem took Rose back to France but after a long custody battle Rose moved to live with her mother and grandfather in Israel in 2007.

Authorities say Ron killed the girl in a fit of rage, stuffed her body into a suitcase and threw it into the river.

The sentencing is scheduled for 30 May. Both face life terms.

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Lebanon cleric 'spied for Israel'

24 May 2011 Last updated at 15:48 GMT Suspect arrested at his home in Tyre A Shia cleric has been arrested in Lebanon on suspicion of spying for Israel, Lebanese security sources say.

News agencies have named Mohamed Ali al-Husseini as the suspect, but the authorities have not officially confirmed his identity.

Sheikh al-Husseini is known to be critical of Hezbollah, the Syrian-backed Shia militia and movement.

Several prominent Lebanese figures have been arrested over the last two years, accused of being spies for Israel.

The suspect was picked up at his home in the city of Tyre, in the south of the country, report said.

He leads an organisation called the Arab-Islamic Resistance, which is thought to number around 1,500 fighters.

Others detainees accused of spying include members of the army, politics and business.

President Michel Suleiman has called for severe punishment for the alleged spies. He has said that he would sign a death sentence if one is handed down by the courts.

Although several of the accused have received death sentences, none have been carried out.

Israel has not commented on any of the arrests individually, but security officials admit they have weakened its network of spies in Lebanon.

Hezbollah and Israel fought an inconclusive war in 2006. Since then the border has remained generally quiet, but it remains very tense.

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