One poll, in Haaretz, a daily, showed Mr Sharon almost 14 percentage points ahead of Mr Netanyahu, having been six points behind him three weeks earlier.

ECONOMIST: Disasters avoided, for now | The

The bloc -- which was forecast to lose some ground but still win -- earned only 31 in this election, according to exit polling from the daily newspaper Haaretz, a sharp drop.

CNN: STORY HIGHLIGHTS

"Martin Hartmann and other members of the SS Death's Head Guard Battalion were indispensable accomplices in the brutal crimes committed in the Nazi concentration camp system, " Eli Rosenbaum, head of the OSI, was quoted by Israeli daily newspaper Haaretz as saying.

BBC: NEWS | Americas | Holocaust survivor next to Nazi

Also Thursday, the Israeli daily newspaper Haaretz reported that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has promised to withdraw from 10 percent of the West Bank, a much larger area than expected, if Arafat's self-rule government quietly accepted construction of the Jewish housing development.

CNN: Arafat: Housing plan violates peace process

According to Aluf Benn, a columnist in the Israeli daily, Haaretz, Mr Olmert struggled in a recent meeting to persuade a sceptical American president that the Golan Heights may be a worthwhile price to pay for a full-blown change in the region's strategic alignment.

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Police questioned Talansky on Monday, according to the Israeli daily newspaper, Haaretz.

CNN: Police raid Israeli ministerial building in Olmert inquiry