Police Spokesman Micky Rosenfeld

Israeli police said they had dropped a criminal investigation of a real estate deal by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, days before he leaves office, citing insufficient evidence. Police investigated allegations that Olmert bought a home at a steep discount in exchange for granting favors to the builder. The alleged deal occurred while Olmert was Jerusalem mayor, years before he became prime minister in 2006. Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said the case was closed after an investigation showed no "concrete evidence of illegal acts in this case."

Israeli police stormed the grounds of Al Aqsa mosque Sunday, using clubs and stun grenades to subdue hundreds of stone-throwing Palestinians in the worst clashes in a month of unrest in and around Jerusalem's Old City. The rioting, which caused no fatalities and subsided after a few hours, did not appear to portend a large-scale Palestinian uprising. But it sprang from increasing tensions stoked by Jewish and Islamic extremists that could keep Jerusalem and its contested holy sites on edge for weeks to come.

An Israeli investigation into a Palestinian attack on a Jewish seminary in Jerusalem last month has found that the gunman acted alone and was not sent by a militant organization, a police spokesman said. Hamas had praised the March 6 attack, in which eight students were killed, but did not claim responsibility for it, and a claim by a previously unknown group was not substantiated. The investigation showed that the gunman, Ala Abu Dheim of East Jerusalem, "acted on his own, alone," police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said.

Israeli police said they had dropped a criminal investigation of a real estate deal by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, days before he leaves office, citing insufficient evidence. Police investigated allegations that Olmert bought a home at a steep discount in exchange for granting favors to the builder. The alleged deal occurred while Olmert was Jerusalem mayor, years before he became prime minister in 2006. Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said the case was closed after an investigation showed no "concrete evidence of illegal acts in this case."

An Iranian-born Israeli was charged with passing defense information to Tehran, police in Jerusalem said. The man, who lives abroad, was arrested by police and agents of the Shin Bet security agency on May 8 after arriving in Israel for a visit, police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said. The man told interrogators he repeatedly visited the Iranian Consulate in Istanbul, Turkey, and gave the Iranians names of acquaintances who he said served in the Israeli security forces, Rosenfeld said.

An Israeli police officer fatally shot himself in the head at an airport farewell ceremony for French President Nicolas Sarkozy, prompting bodyguards to whisk the visiting leader and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to safety, officials said. A military band was playing, and the dignitaries apparently didn't hear anything. But the guards quickly ushered Sarkozy and his wife, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, up the stairs of his plane at Ben-Gurion airport outside Tel Aviv. Other guards with guns drawn rushed Olmert and Israeli President Shimon Peres toward their cars.

Israeli police stormed the grounds of Al Aqsa mosque Sunday, using clubs and stun grenades to subdue hundreds of stone-throwing Palestinians in the worst clashes in a month of unrest in and around Jerusalem's Old City. The rioting, which caused no fatalities and subsided after a few hours, did not appear to portend a large-scale Palestinian uprising. But it sprang from increasing tensions stoked by Jewish and Islamic extremists that could keep Jerusalem and its contested holy sites on edge for weeks to come.

Israeli police have broken up an organ-transplant ring that persuaded dozens of Israelis to have a kidney removed in Ukraine in exchange for $30,000 each. Nine Israelis suspected of organ and human trafficking are in custody, police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said. The case was opened when an Israeli woman filed a police complaint charging that she was not paid after her kidney was removed in Ukraine, Rosenfeld said.

Police searched more than 20 government buildings and private offices for evidence in criminal investigations of Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. The sweep included the Industry and Trade Ministry, the Postal Authority and Jerusalem's City Hall, said police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld. Plainclothes police hauled cardboard boxes full of files out of the offices and loaded them into police vehicles.

Palestinians in the Gaza Strip fired a Katyusha rocket into Israel, raising concern that militants in the Hamas-ruled territory are developing longer-range weapons. The 122-millimeter rocket, based on a Russian-made Grad missile, landed outside the southern town of Netivot, about six miles from Gaza, Israeli police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said by phone. No one was injured. Most of the rockets launched from Gaza in the last two years have been unguided Kassam rockets with shorter range.

An Israeli police officer fatally shot himself in the head at an airport farewell ceremony for French President Nicolas Sarkozy, prompting bodyguards to whisk the visiting leader and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to safety, officials said. A military band was playing, and the dignitaries apparently didn't hear anything. But the guards quickly ushered Sarkozy and his wife, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, up the stairs of his plane at Ben-Gurion airport outside Tel Aviv. Other guards with guns drawn rushed Olmert and Israeli President Shimon Peres toward their cars.

An Iranian-born Israeli was charged with passing defense information to Tehran, police in Jerusalem said. The man, who lives abroad, was arrested by police and agents of the Shin Bet security agency on May 8 after arriving in Israel for a visit, police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said. The man told interrogators he repeatedly visited the Iranian Consulate in Istanbul, Turkey, and gave the Iranians names of acquaintances who he said served in the Israeli security forces, Rosenfeld said.

An Israeli investigation into a Palestinian attack on a Jewish seminary in Jerusalem last month has found that the gunman acted alone and was not sent by a militant organization, a police spokesman said. Hamas had praised the March 6 attack, in which eight students were killed, but did not claim responsibility for it, and a claim by a previously unknown group was not substantiated. The investigation showed that the gunman, Ala Abu Dheim of East Jerusalem, "acted on his own, alone," police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said.

A 5-day-old Israeli military raid ended here Thursday, officials said, after soldiers scoured the crowded Old City for militants and confined tens of thousands of residents to their homes with a curfew. Before the pullout, Israeli troops exchanged fire with armed men in a mosque and stormed an apartment building where gunmen were thought to be hiding.

Israeli President Moshe Katsav will face questioning in a sexual harassment investigation, police said Tuesday after seizing computers and documents at his official residence. At least two former female employees have accused Katsav of harassing them, police said. One of the women reportedly also alleged that Katsav received money for granting pardons. Police plan to question Katsav at his residence today, police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said.