Thursday,  April 17, 2014 • Vol. 16--No. 273 • 29 of 32

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After years of enforced separation, some Israeli visitors return to Palestinian towns

• RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) -- This bustling center of Palestinian life is just a 20-minute drive from Jerusalem, but for Israelis it might as well be on the other side of the world.
• Since a major round of Israeli-Palestinian fighting more than a decade ago, Israelis have been kept out of Palestinian cities by the Israeli military and their own fears. But after several years of relative calm, a few have begun trickling back in tours led by Palestinian guides and guarded by plainclothes Palestinian security agents.
• On Wednesday, about two dozen visitors, Israelis and a few foreigners, visited the mausoleum of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and a shrine to national poet Mahmoud Darwish -- though hopes of talking to local residents went unfulfilled.
• The trip fell in the week of the Jewish holiday of Passover, and those observing religious tradition unwrapped matza, or unleavened bread, during lunch at a local restaurant, as Arabic music played in the background.
• The tour also came as another U.S. attempt to broker an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal appeared doomed.
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Robot sub finishes 1st full search of seabed in hunt for Malaysian plane; data being analyzed

• PERTH, Australia (AP) -- A robotic submarine completed its first successful scan of the seabed Thursday in the hunt for the missing Malaysian plane, and investigators were analyzing the sub's data while also trying to identify the origins of a nearby oil slick.
• The Bluefin 21's first two missions were cut short by technical problems and deep water, but the unmanned sub finally managed to complete a full 16-hour scan of the silt-covered seabed far off Australia's west coast, the search coordination center said on Thursday. While data collected by the sub from its latest mission, which ended overnight, was still being analyzed, nothing of note had yet been discovered, the center said. The sub has now covered 90 square kilometers (35 square miles) of seafloor.
• Meanwhile, officials in the western city of Perth were analyzing an oil sample that

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