France's top rabbi takes leave amid scandal

PARIS (AP) — France's top rabbi announced Thursday he is taking leave from his post, hoping to end a scandal that has unsettled the Jewish community after he acknowledged "borrowing" other people's work and lying about his educational pedigree.

The Central Consistory of France accepted Rabbi Gilles Bernheim's request for time away at an urgent meeting to discuss fallout from the case. Bernheim, 60, later issued a statement apologizing to France's Jewish community, his family and friends, and saying he could no longer do his job with the necessary "serenity."

"He hopes that the serious events he is blamed for and which mark him, don't obscure all the actions carried out in the name of his various rabbinical functions over the years in the service of the divine," the statement said. "He prays to be heard in his request for forgiveness..."

Richard Prasquier, the head of France's largest umbrella group of Jewish organizations, CRIF, said by phone that two other rabbis would temporarily fill the post of Grand Rabbi of France, while Bernheim is away for at least six months. Talks about whether he might return at all will take place in the coming months, he said.

Bernheim faced accusations by a French academic who tracks suspected plagiarism that parts of his 2011 book "Forty Jewish Meditations," and part of a text he wrote breaking down arguments in favor of gay marriage, same-sex parenting and adoption, were lifted from others. That text, written last fall, was cited in the Christmas address of Pope Benedict XVI last year.

Asked about the allegations Tuesday on Radio Shalom as the scandal swelled, Bernheim said he had carried out "borrowings ... what others might call plagiarism" from others. "Not only do I deeply regret it, but I recognize it as a moral flaw," he said of one instance.

Last month, Bernheim noted that pages from Meditation No. 26 were "nearly identical" to an excerpt from a 1991 interview with late French philosopher Jean-Francois Lyotard, compiled in a later book entitled "Questions on Judaism."

Later, Bernheim wrote that he'd relied on an unspecified student to help research and write the book — "a terrible error ... but for all that, I am responsible." And in the radio interview, he insisted his mistakes were not related to his job as top rabbi, and said he would not resign.

Bernheim had also come under scrutiny for claiming to have received an "aggregation" — or high-level certification — in philosophy. On Radio Shalom, he acknowledged he did not actually have one, but had made the claim 37 years ago during an unspecified "tragic event."

Bernheim in the radio interview also alluded to a phrase that he attributed to Hasidim founder Israel Baal Shem Tov: "Man is the stuttering of God, and that one must know how to accept sometimes to only be able to stutter without speaking perfectly or brilliantly."

France is home to the largest Jewish community in Western Europe, at some 500,000 people. The Consistory brings together nearly 500 synagogues and oratories in France and its overseas territories. Bernheim has been in the post since 2009. It normally has a seven-year term.

Bernheim helped guide the Jewish community through one of its most wrenching episodes in recent years — the shooting deaths of Jewish schoolchildren and a rabbi in the southwestern city of Toulouse by a radical Islamist in March last year.

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Since fierce clash, Egypt's crisis takes new turn

CAIRO (AP) — It has come to be known as the "Battle of the Mountain": a ferocious fight between members of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood and their opponents near the group's Cairo headquarters. In a country that has already seen crisis after crisis, it could mark a dangerous turning point in the political turmoil.

The aftermath of the fighting is raising worries that the confrontation between Islamists,, who dominate power in the country, and their opponents is moving out of anyone's control.

The riot on March 22 revealed a new readiness of some in the anti-Brotherhood opposition to turn to violence, insisting they have no choice but to fight back against a group they accuse of using violence against them for months. The fight featured an unusual vengefulness. Young protesters were seen at one point pelting a Brotherhood member with firebombs and setting him aflame. Others chased anyone with a conservative Muslim beard, while Islamists set up checkpoints searching for protesters. Each side dragged opponents into mosques and beat them.

Since the fight, Islamists enraged by what they saw as aggression against their headquarters have for the past week hiked up calls for wider action against opponents — and the media in particular — accusing them of trying to overthrow Islamist President Mohammed Morsi.

Those calls may explain moves by the country's top prosecutor the past week: the questioning of a popular television comedian, Bassem Youssef, whose Jon Stewart-style satires of Morsi drive Islamists into knots of anger, the summoning of several other media personalities and the issuing of arrest warrants against five opposition activists on accusations of fomenting violence.

Opposition activists warn the moves are the opening of a campaign of intimidation to silence Morsi's critics. The presidency says the prosecutor is just enforcing the law and that Morsi's office has nothing to do with the moves. Morsi's supporters say they are showing restraint against extreme provocation.

But rhetoric within the Brotherhood has increased in fervor. This week, Brotherhood head Mohammed Badie accused "some politicians" of "trying to generate something like a civil war in the community," in an apparent reference to opposition leaders.

"After all that blood and all the criminality in the street, there must be decisiveness," Gamal Heshmat, a lawmaker with the Brotherhood's political party, said of the recent arrest warrants. "This is a public demand. Now people must prove their innocence."

For opponents of Morsi, the battle was a sign that anger at the Brotherhood is spreading beyond its circles to the broader public, nine months into the administration of Brotherhood veteran Morsi.

Ziad el-Oleimi, a former lawmaker and revolutionary activist who lives in the neighborhood where the clashes took place, said local residents were behind the worst beatings of Brotherhood members, rather than the protesters who led the day's march on the group's headquarters.

Previous Brotherhood aggression "is starting to provoke people," said el-Oleimi, who was a leading figure in the 2011 protests that toppled Morsi's predecessor, Hosni Mubarak. "This time was a game changer. They had anticipated they would beat up the protesters, the opposition, and teach them a lesson. This is not what happened." Locals had already filed appeals to local authorities demanding that the Brotherhood office be removed from their neighborhood.

The fury growing for months was on display in the March 22 clashes in Moqattam, a district located on a rocky plateau overlooking Cairo, where the Brotherhood's headquarters is located.

Both sides came ready for a fight. Opponents had called for a march on the Brotherhood headquarters to "restore dignity" after an incident a week earlier, when Brotherhood members beat up activists who were spray-painting graffiti outside the building, as well as journalists filming the incident, slapping one woman to the ground.

The Brotherhood brought in several thousand supporters, vowing to defend the building, referring to it as "our home."

The mayhem erupted the minute the two sides faced off, and each accuses the other of throwing the first stone. The heaviest fighting was in a square several kilometers (miles) away from the Brotherhood headquarters, which was guarded by lines of police. Rains of stones and gunshots were exchanged, while "popular committees" formed by residents to protect their neighborhood joined in, swinging poles and machetes.

All day and into the night, the two sides battered each other with everything from knives and iron bars to homemade pistols, leaving 200 injured.

Bearded Brotherhood members dragged dozens of activists into the Bilal bin Ramah Mosque, where they beat them and flogged them with whips, several of those who were held told The Associated Press.

Christian activist Amir Ayad recalled how, while he was being beaten, he'd hear Brotherhood supporters coming into the mosque greeted by their comrades who told them, "Go warm up on that Christian dog inside." Ayad — who was left with a fractured skull and broken ribs — said Brotherhood members forced him to pose for photograph, wielding a knife they pushed into his hands to use as evidence that he was thug.

Opponents, meanwhile, snatched a number of Brotherhood members and took them into the Al-Hamad Mosque. A reporter for the Brotherhood's party newspaper, Mustafa el-Khatib, told the AP he was seized and carried by his arms and legs into the mosque and beaten.

"You sheep, we'll show you," his tormentors shouted, using a term many protesters use against Islamists they see as blindly following their leaders, el-Khatib told the AP. He had deep cuts in his head and bruises all over his body.

Many in the anti-Morsi camp said they were bringing their protests to the real power in the country — the Brotherhood. The 85-year-old fundamentalist group forms the backbone of Morsi's leadership, though the presidency and the group both deny the Brotherhood has any role in his decisions.

"We came to say that Morsi is not a president. It is Badie and (Khairat) el-Shater," said Fatma Khalifa, a 30-year-old protester, referring to the Brotherhood's top two figures. "Morsi is just an envoy."

They were also fired with anger over previous Islamist violence against them. In December, Morsi backers attacked a sit-in protest outside the presidential palace in Cairo, leading to hours of clashes between the two sides that left 10 dead. During that fighting, Islamists set up an impromptu detention center, seizing and beating protesters.

Morsi supporters have attacked other, smaller protests, including one in October when they stormed a stage set up by protesters in Tahrir Square downtown, smashing loudspeakers, because of slogans they saw as insulting the president. The result again was clashes that left 100 injured. January and February saw heavy fighting between police and protesters around the country that killed dozens, and opponents blame Morsi, saying he pushed police to put down the protests.

Brotherhood members, in turn, point to arson attacks on several of their party offices around the country over the past months and say waves of protests have undermined their governing of the nation. They have progressively become more direct in blaming opposition politicians — moving from urging them to denounce the violence to accusing some of using unrest to topple the elected president.

In a finger-wagging speech after the Moqattam battle, Morsi warned opponents he would take measures to "protect this nation." He also accused the media of inciting violence, and the Brotherhood echoed that with a statement accusing "hostile" media of "fabricating lies against" the group.

Mourad Ali, a media adviser for the Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party, acknowledged the rising anger among Morsi's supporters. "I know young Islamists are charged up, and anger at the crimes in Moqattam has reached the top," he wrote on his Facebook page. He called for the "revenge (to) be legal and creative," urging members to collect evidence against those behind the violence.

Among Morsi opponents, there is a fear of a campaign against them, but also a sense that they showed they can fight back.

Wael Abdel-Fattah, a cultural columnist at Al-Tahrir newspaper and a sharp critic of the Islamists, said Moqattam shattered the myth of an "invincible" Brotherhood and showed no one has a monopoly on force.

"The violence started when the means for political protesting were shut," he said. He spoke of "a new kind of balance in violence," adding, "This balance can either create a new political awareness or push toward more violence, where everyone knows they will pay the price."

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Syrian opposition takes seat at Arab summit

DOHA, Qatar (AP) — Syrian opposition representatives have taken Syria's seat at an Arab League summit held in Qatar in a significant diplomatic boost for the forces fighting President Bashar Assad's regime.

A four-man delegation led by Mouaz al-Khatib, former president of the Syrian National Coalition, took the seats assigned for Syria on Tuesday at the invitation of the Emir of Qatar, Sheik Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani.

The decision for the opposition to take Syria's seat was made at the recommendation of Arab foreign ministers earlier this week in the Qatari capital, Doha.

Syria's membership in the Arab League was suspended in 2011 in punishment for its crackdown on the opposition.

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In snub to Assad, opposition takes Syria's Arab summit seat

By Sami Aboudi and Yara Bayoumy

DOHA (Reuters) - An opposition coalition is expected to take Syria's seat at an Arab Summit for the first time on Tuesday, giving a badly-needed boost to an armed uprising to topple President Bashar al-Assad following an outbreak of factionalism in rebel ranks.

Leading opposition figure Moaz Alkhatib, one of the most popular figures in the revolt against Assad, plans to speak to the gathering of Arab heads of state in Qatar, for whom Syria's increasingly sectarian war is the main concern.

Alkhatib jolted the opposition coalition and its Arab backers on Sunday by announcing his resignation as head of the National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces, blaming the world's failure to back the armed revolt.

Nevertheless he, or a colleague, is also expected to take Syria's chair, vacant since the Arab League suspended Syria in November 2011 in protest at Damascus's use of violence against civilians to quell dissent.

"Arab foreign ministers have requested that the Syrian seat be given to the opposition. This will be discussed at the summit," an Arab League official told reporters.

"I can't say (what will be the outcome) but we hope that they go by the recommendation."

Alkhatib's decision to quit, which also appeared to many commentators to be motivated by internal disputes in the alliance, undermined the alliance's claim to provide a coherent alternative to Assad.

Liberals interpreted his decision as a protest against what they see as an the increasing influence of hardline Islamists inside the coalition backed by Qatar.

The coalition was formed in Doha in November as an alternative to Assad, superseding the Syrian National Council, another umbrella opposition organization largely influenced by the powerful Muslim Brotherhood which now, along with its allies, is a dominant bloc in the coalition.

But the coalition has not shaken an image as consisting mostly of foreign-backed exiles immersed in political wheeling and dealing.

Alkhatib said in remarks broadcast by al-Jazeera that his views on the need to restructure and broaden the coalition had played a small part in his decision to step down.

"The bigger reason is a protest against the position of world states which are only trying to push through their wishes, aspirations or ways to solve the (Syrian) crisis without feeling the pain that people suffer every day," he said without elaborating.

Alkhatib, a former imam at Damascus's Umayyad Mosque - one of the oldest and most famous mosques in the world, flew to Qatar on Monday evening to deliver a speech at the summit.

It was not immediately clear if Alkhatib's decision to attend the conference signaled he was going back on his resignation or not.

The Arab League official said without elaborating that Alkhatib's resignation "wasn't accepted".

Moderate civilian and military factions in his hometown of Damascus on Monday urged him to reconsider his decision to quit.

On al-Jazeera, Alkhatib acknowledged there had been differences of view inside the coalition about the wisdom of setting up a provisional government.

He was referring to last week's decision at an opposition meeting in Istanbul to appoint Islamist-leaning technocrat Ghassan Hitto as a provisional prime minister to form a government to fill a power vacuum in Syria arising from the revolt, which has killed more than 70,000 people.

Apart from Syria, the summit will also discuss the stalled Israeli-Palestinian peace efforts and long-standing plans to restructure the Arab League.

(Additional reporting by Mirna Sleiman, writing by William Maclean, editing by Sami Aboudi and Jon Boyle)

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Syrian opposition takes Syria's Arab summit seat

DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — Syria's opposition took over the country's seat for the first time at an Arab summit Tuesday in a diplomatic triumph marred by severe divisions in the ranks of the Western-backed opposition alliance.

The opposition's ascension to representing the country at the summit in Qatar, a key backer of the those fighting to topple President Bashar Assad, demonstrated the extent of the regime's isolation two years into a ferocious civil war that the U.N. says has killed an estimated 70,000 people.

In Damascus, the government on Tuesday blasted the Arab League's decision, portraying it as a selling-out of Arab identity to please Israel and the United States.

"The shameful decisions it (Arab League) has taken against the Syrian people since the beginning of the crisis and until now have sustained our conviction that it has exchanged its Arab identity with a Zionist-American one," said an editorial in the Al-Thawra newspaper, a government mouthpiece.

The Qatari ruler, who chaired the summit, said the Syrian opposition deserves "this representation because of the popular legitimacy they have won at home and the broad support they won abroad and the historic role they have assumed in leading the revolution and preparing for building the new Syria."

In a further show of solidarity with anti-Assad forces, the Arab League endorsed the "right of each state" to provide the Syrian people and the Free Syrian Army with "all necessary means to ... defend themselves, including military means."

It was unclear whether the statement would open new weapons channels to fighters. But it would mark a symbolic slap of the U.S. and European allies that have resisted full-scale military aid to the rebels.

Fighting, meanwhile, raged on in Syria. Rebels barraged Damascus with mortar shells that killed at least three people and wounded dozens in one of the most intensive attacks on the seat of President Bashar Assad's power.

The state news agency also reported that a car bomb exploded near the predominantly Kurdish neighborhood of Rukneddine, killing three people.

The opposition delegation led by Mouaz al-Khatib, the former president of the main opposition alliance — the Western-backed Syrian National Coalition — took the seats assigned for Syria at the invitation of Qatar's emir, Sheik Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, while other delegates applauded.

Al-Khatib used the forum to call for a greater U.S. role in aiding the rebels and said he had appealed to Secretary of State John Kerry to consider using NATO Patriot anti-missile batteries in Turkey to help defend northern Syria against strikes by Assad's forces.

Asked about al-Khatib's request for Patriots, State Department spokesman Patrick Ventrell said the deployment of the anti-missile batteries to Turkey was a NATO decision with a clear mandate to protect Turkey.

"We've heard some of this before in private," Ventrell told reporters in Washington. "He's now publicly saying this. But again, that's what the NATO mission is."

The diplomatic triumph, however, could not conceal the disarray within the top ranks of the opposition and underlined the splits that continue to plague the opposition, complicating U.S. and Western efforts to try to shape the course of the fight to oust Assad.

Besides al-Khatib, the Syrian delegation included Ghassan Hitto, recently elected prime minister of a planned interim government to administer rebel-held areas in Syria, and two prominent opposition figures, George Sabra and Suheir Atassi.

Al-Khatib announced his resignation on Sunday because of what he described as restrictions on his work and frustration with the level of international aid for the opposition. The coalition rejected the resignation and al-Khatib said he would discuss the issue later and represent the opposition at the Qatar summit "in the name of the Syrian people."

Also, Hitto's election as the head of the interim government was rejected by the opposition's military office, which said he was not a consensus figure. Some members have accused Qatar and the Muslim Brotherhood of imposing their will on the Coalition.

Atassi briefly suspended her membership in the coalition after Hitto was elected.

Addressing the gathering, al-Khatib thanked the Arab League for granting the seat to the opposition and lamented the inaction of several foreign governments, which he did not name, toward the Syrian crisis despite the suffering of civilians in his country.

"I convey to you the greetings of the orphans, widows, the wounded, the detained and the homeless," al-Khatib told the gathering in an opulent hall in Doha.

Most of the mortar strikes hit the capital's east side, falling near a school in the Baramkeh neighborhood, the Damascus Hospital, the Law Faculty of Damascus University and the state news agency's own offices.

SANA said one girl and two other civilians were killed.

A government official in Damascus told The Associated Press that four people were killed and 42 wounded. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to brief the media, and the discrepancy could not immediately be resolved.

Mortar rounds also fell in a number of areas on the city's west side, including the Christian neighborhood of Bab Touma, SANA said.

The agency published photos of a hole in a wall of what appeared to be a school, medics treating blood-stained patients and firemen extinguishing burning cars.

It was not immediately known who fired the mortar shells. Such attacks in the capital have grown more common in recent weeks as rebels have clashed with government troops on the city's east and south sides. While the shelling rarely causes many casualties, it has shattered the aura of normalcy the regime has tried to cultivate in Damascus.

"They think that that through this tactic they can pressure residents to rise up against authorities," said Fayez Sayegh, a member of parliament and a member of the ruling Baath Party. "But on the contrary, this indiscriminate shelling makes people realize that this opposition is nothing but gangs of criminal terrorists."

Meanwhile, anti-regime activists said Syrian troops seized control of a neighborhood in the central city of Homs that is considered a symbol of opposition to Assad's regime.

The Syrian military's recapture of Baba Amr, in Homs, while not strategically important in the civil war, is a symbolic blow to the rebels. The poor, predominantly Sunni neighborhood emerged early in the uprising as a symbol of the rebel movement, first for its protests and later for the armed groups who held it against the regime onslaught.

The seesaw fight for the Homs neighborhood reflects the back-and-forth nature of Syria's civil war. While rebels appear to be gaining ground, their progress is slow and their fighters remain vulnerable to Assad's military superiority.

In other violence Tuesday, the Observatory said that at least 13 charred bodies, including four children and five women, were found on the outskirts of the village of Abil, southwest of Homs city. It said local activists blamed the killings on pro-government gunmen.

The Syrian government does not respond to requests for comment and did not mention the killing in official media.

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Mroue reported from Beirut. Associated Press writers Brian Murphy in Doha, Ben Hubbard in Beirut, Bradley Klapper in Washington and Hamza Hendawi in Cairo contributed to this report.

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