JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israel’s firefighting services require a major overhaul after years of neglect, an official report said on Wednesday, days after the country was forced to ask for international help to douse its worst-ever forest blaze.

State Comptroller Micha Lindenstrauss’s findings, compiled over several years and published two days after the fire in northern Israel that killed 42 people was extinguished, called for major changes and upgrades to the service.

JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israel on Wednesday revealed plans to build new homes on West Bank land it has annexed as part of its Jerusalem boundaries, a move likely to further hamper any resumption of peace talks with the Palestinians.

The plan to build 625 homes in the urban area of Pisgat Zeev adjacent to Arab East Jerusalem was approved by an Israeli Interior Ministry committee last week, some two years after it was originally proposed, Israel Radio said.

JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israel approved a plan on Sunday to hold and deport thousands of illegal migrant workers whom Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described as a “threat to the character of the country.”

In remarks to the cabinet, Netanyahu said thousands of migrants who have entered Israel mainly through Egypt in past years would be housed at a special holding facility, due to built in Israel’s southern Negev desert.

JERUSALEM (Reuters) – A senior Israeli law enforcement officer has been accused of sexual harassment on the eve of the naming of a new national chief of police — a post for which he was one of the leading candidates.

Social worker Orly Ines has accused Uri Bar Lev, the Israeli police representative in the United States, of using force in an attempt to have an intimate encounter, according to local media.

TEL AVIV (Reuters) – Benfica’s hopes of qualifying for the last 16 were ended by Hapoel Tel Aviv who secured their first ever Champions League win with a 3-0 victory over the Portuguese side on Wednesday.

Schalke 04′s 3-0 win over Olympique Lyon in the other Group B tie means Benfica cannot reach the knockout stage.

TEL AVIV, Nov 24 (Reuters) – Benfica’s hopes of qualifying
for the last 16 were ended by Hapoel Tel Aviv who secured their
first ever Champions League win with a 3-0 victory over the
Portuguese side on Wednesday.

Schalke’s 3-0 win over Olympique Lyon in the other Group B
tie means Benfica cannot reach the knockout stage.

JERUSALEM (Reuters) – An influential Israeli opposition lawmaker lost his seat in parliament after an eight-year trial on Tuesday but he said he was determined to pursue efforts to revive peace talks with the Palestinians.

Tzachi Hanegbi, a senior member of the centrist Kadima party but also a confidant of Likud prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, was convicted of perjury in July.

JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israeli Shin Bet undercover agents have abused Palestinians during questioning at a detention center, some detainees have alleged in a report published on Tuesday by Israeli human rights group B’Tselem.

The report was based on the testimonies of 121 Palestinians held in 2009 at the Petah Tikva holding facility near Tel Aviv, with 9 percent of those interviewed accusing interrogators of using physical violence against them.

By Ori Lewis and Naama Shilony

TEL AVIV (Reuters Life!) – An Israeli orchestra will strike an emotional chord in Germany next year when it plays a work by Richard Wagner, Hitler’s favorite composer, further challenging a long-standing taboo in Israel on his music.

Israeli ensembles hardly ever play Wagner, citing the feelings of Holocaust survivors.

JERUSALEM (Reuters) – A planned Israeli-Palestinian summit due to be held in Paris by the end of the month has been rescheduled, the Israeli prime minister’s office said on Saturday, a sign of increased strain over stalled peace talks.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy invited Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to meet before the end of October, although an exact date for the summit had not been set.