Israel sends school trips to flash point

As peace talks with the Palestinians are stalled over Jewish settlements the Israeli government plans to send schoolchildren on field trips to Hebron in the West Bank. The city, south of Jerusalem, is venerated as a holy site by both Islam and Jews and is one of the West Bank's most volatile flash points.

The Likud party's Education Minister Gideon Saar said the visits to the burial site of the biblical patriarch Abraham and home to some of Israel's most radical settlers, are part of a plan to acquaint young Israelis with their heritage.