President Moshe Katsav will make the first official visit to Vatican

JERUSALEM- Israeli President Moshe Katsav has accepted an invitation from Pope Benedict to make the first official visit to the Vatican by an Israeli head of state, officials said Sunday. Katsav will visit Italy for about a week in mid-November, said Katsav's spokeswoman, Hagit Cohen. The Foreign Ministry said the visit was "unprecedented." Israel and the Vatican established diplomatic relations in the 1990s, and Pope John Paul hosted Israeli prime ministers and other officials as part of his effort to build ties with the Jewish state. The presidency in Israel is a largely ceremonial office, but Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev said the visit was "of great symbolic value." "We have every reason to believe that the new Pope is building on the foundation that the previous pope already built, and we will see a further strengthening of our relationship," Regev said. Since becoming pope in April, Benedict has visited a synagogue in Germany, met Israeli chief rabbis and warned of a rise in anti-Semitism around the world. The synagogue visit was the second time a pope had entered a Jewish house of worship. The visit follows a diplomatic spat that erupted in July when the Pope did not include Israel in a list of countries that suffer from terrorism. Israel complained about the omission, and Prime Minister Ariel Sharon wrote a letter to the Vatican. Israel says the matter has been resolved.

Israel threatens renewed attacks on Gaza

JERUSALEM - Israel has suspended its offensive in the Gaza Strip following a lull in rocket attacks by Palestinian militants but is ready to continue the operation if the rocket fire resumes, officials said Sunday. The officials said the operation, which included a series of air strikes last week, achieved its goal of weakening militants' ability to attack Israel from Gaza. Militants have not fired rockets into Israel since Tuesday, the army said. With the break in fighting, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas spoke by telephone Sunday and agreed to meet soon, Israeli and Palestinian officials said. The leaders "agreed to tighten co-operation and to work together to advance the peace process," Sharon's office said in a statement. It did not give a date for the meeting, though Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said preparations would begin within days. Sharon and Abbas had been tentatively scheduled to meet Sunday, but the summit was cancelled after Israel launched its offensive last week. Responding to a barrage of rockets, Israel carried out a series of air strikes in Gaza, killing four militants in pinpoint attacks and destroying buildings it said were used to produce or store weapons. Israel also arrested more than 400 suspected militants in the West Bank. Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz told the cabinet the offensive dealt a tough blow to the Hamas militant group and was meant to send a stern message that violence from Gaza will not be tolerated now that Israel has withdrawn from the coastal territory. Mofaz told the ministers that Israeli forces remain on high alert. "The operation is not over," he said, according to meeting participants. However, Israeli security officials said the operation was informally halted over the weekend and will only continue if the rocket attacks resume. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity under security regulations. Israel has not carried out an air strike since Thursday, two days after the last rocket was fired. The militant groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad last week both declared a halt to the rocket attacks. The fighting broke out just weeks after Israel completed its withdrawal from Gaza - a move that raised hopes around the world that peace talks could soon resume. Erekat said a halt in the latest fighting "serves the interests" of Israelis and Palestinians. "As Palestinians we are fully committed to the cessation of violence against Israelis anywhere, and I hope the Israeli announcement today constitutes a full cessation by Israel of violence against Palestinians anywhere," he said. But Hamas rejected the halt in the offensive as a "political manoeuvre aimed at blackmailing our people and putting pressure on the Palestinian Authority to confront the resistance factions," spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said. Abbas is under heavy international pressure to disarm Hamas and other armed Palestinian groups. Abbas refuses to confront the militants, fearing civil war, and instead has tried to co-opt them by inviting them to participate in Palestinian legislative elections. In a prelude to January parliamentary elections, Hamas participated in a round of municipal polls last week. The group captured control of just 13 of 104 local councils, less than expected. Sharon reiterated his opposition to Hamas' participation in the parliamentary election, telling the cabinet that it violated the internationally backed "road map" peace plan, Israeli media reported. The peace plan calls on the Palestinians to dismantle militant groups. Also Sunday, Israel said Arab militants are planning attacks against Israelis in Egypt's Sinai resorts and urged its citizens not to travel to the popular vacation spot for the upcoming Jewish holidays. Danny Arditi, an adviser to Sharon who leads the government's Counterterrorism Bureau, told Israel Radio there was information that the militants planning attacks already were located in Sinai. By Joseph Fiederman.