JERUSALEM - The question of whether Pope Benedict XVI would dare enter the minefield of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was answered within minutes of him touching down in Tel Aviv.

Pope Benedict XVI walks in Jerusalem with the Western Wall's chief Rabbi at Judaism's holiest prayer site.

He indeed dared, calling for a Palestinian homeland. Not using the political phrase "two-state solution" - he's a pilgrim not a politician - but saying "a homeland of their own, within secure and internationally recognised borders." Welcome news to Palestinian Christians, but they're a tiny minority. Many Palestinians wonder what difference a spiritual leader can make if leaders of the United States and much of the international community haven't managed to accomplish much yet.

A sobering visit to the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial site, a must for visiting dignitaries to honor the victims of the Holocaust. Some disappointment from the chairman of Yad Vashem that the pontiff did not condemn the Nazis more strongly. Pope Benedict comes to the Holy Land with historical baggage having been in the Hitler Youth movement as was obligatory at the time of him growing up in Nazi Germany. But his first speech included strong unequivocal condemnation of anti-Semitism in any form or any place.

The tone of his first day in Israel has been one of working together for peace. He reminded religious leaders that they all worship the same God and they should focus on what unites and not what divides them.

But on Monday evening he was briskly reminded of the political minefield he is currently visiting. At the interfaith meeting in Jerusalem, Sheikh Tayssir al-Tamimi, chief justice of the Palestinian Islamic court, delivered a spontaneous six-minute speech calling on Muslims and Christians to unite against what he called "the murderous Israelis."

Here was proof Pope Benedict really is following in his predecessor's footsteps: Pope John Paul II listened to a similar speech by the same sheikh during his visit to the holy land nine years ago.

JERUSALEM – It's been more than three weeks since Israel's operation in Gaza. Images of death and destruction are fresh in Israeli minds ... as are the victory signs from soldiers leaving Gaza.Despite international condemnation at the high number of Palestinian civilain casualties, it was a popular war in Israel. Domestic support was strong throughout, especially among residents within Palestinian militant rocket range and it was perceived in Israel as a success.

Tuesday's Israeli election will determine who should take the credit.

Foreign minister Tzipi Livni has given herself a tough war image, her television advert focuses on the military assault on Gaza and statements about not allowing Hamas to decide Israel's fate.

The biggest winner from the war appears to have been defense minister Ehud Barak. Before the operation he was tipped to win just 8 of the 120 seats in parliament - that briefly doubled in some polls.

But still in the lead, albeit only just, Benjamin Netanyahu and his right-wing Likud Party. He was not in a position of power during the war but has invested in a healthy dose of "I told you so," telling voters he warned Israel in 2005 that pulling Israeli settlers and soldiers out of Gaza would result in Palestinian militant rockets hitting major cities. At the time he was ridiculed by his political rivals: his supporters say he has been proven right.

If the polls are to be believed, Israeli voters are moving to the right in their choice of government. More bellicose statements following a major military operation. A small number of rockets are still falling in southern Israel and that is playing into the hands of Netanyahu and a party even further right-wing than his, Avigdor Lieberman's Yisrael Beitenu.

But nothing is set in stone in these elections: centrist Kadima looks to be a very close second to right-wing Likud, and pollsters estimate up to a fifth of the voting population hasn't even made up their minds yet.

JERUSALEM - Among the devastation in Gaza and horrific pictures of dead bodies being pulled from destroyed buildings, the argument of "who won the war" has already begun.

An Israeli soldier holds up an Israeli flag after leaving Gaza on Sunday.

Israel's Prime Minister Ehud Olmert insists his country's military objective was achieved and more. Israeli soldiers are filmed leaving the Gaza strip smiling and giving the victory sign. The Israeli casualty figure was lower than feared and public support was strong throughout.

No Palestinian civilian in Gaza won anything of course. Even if they survived, their loved ones survived and their house is intact, they have been through 22 days of absolute hell.

But Hamas claimed victory on behalf of the Palestinian people. Former Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh says: "This is not a victory for one faction, party or region. It is a victory for all the nation. The whole nation contributed."

Hamas' military wing went one step further, claiming fewer than 50 of its fighters were killed - hundreds fewer than Israel claims. And militants fired around 20 rockets into Israel after the Jewish state's cease-fire came into effect Sunday morning, just to prove they still could.

Israel has claimed a victory in securing an agreement with the United States and a memorandum of understanding to prevent future smuggling of arms to Hamas. Israel's military also believes it has destroyed the majority of smuggling tunnels between Egypt and Gaza.

But the bar of success was low for Israel this time around following a perceived failed war against Hezbollah in Lebanon two and a half years ago. The official view, shared by many on the streets of Israel, is the power of deterrence has been restored.

Haaretz newspaper journalist Ari Shavit believes there is another winner. "In the war between Israel and Hamas the winner is Egypt, the real winners in this war are the Arab moderates," he wrote.

"The Middle East is no longer about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as such ... there is a greater conflict now between the moderates and the extremists."

Only a part of wars today are fought on the battlefield, or in this case in the crowded streets of Gaza, the rest is won or lost on television screens and through public perception. The vast majority of Israelis see this as a military success, but approval of Israel's operation around the world - even among its strongest allies - could be undermined by a disturbingly high Palestinian civilian death toll and misery inflicted on a far wider target than Hamas.

ON THE ISRAEL-GAZA BORDER – Every ground-shaking explosion grips your heart. Standing on the Israeli-Gaza border, I can only watch the black plumes of smoke rising from Gaza city, hoping that no Palestinian civilian was killed in that particular attack.

A missile launched from northern Gaza heads toward an Israeli town on Tuesday.

Or hoping as a Qassam rocket whistles over my head from the opposite direction that Israeli civilians heard the siren and took cover.

Conflict is ugly. Innocent people get killed, and children on their way home from school never make it home. This is by no means the first time this has happened in Israel, in Gaza or in the West Bank.

As a rocket lands too close for comfort, we automatically duck. A local Israeli resident standing near me reacts slower, having experienced this for seven years. When I ask him how one deals with the constant threat of rockets, he tells me, you never get used to it, you just learn to live with it.

I'm still on the Israeli side of the Gaza border. The Israeli government refuses to open the border to allow journalists into Gaza to document the devastation. We are constantly moved from different locations along the border, the Israeli military saying they are trying to protect us from Qassam rockets or needing a closed military zone. They moved us 400 meters back, still about 10 miles within rocket range.

Getting close enough to the border to be able to at least film Israeli airstrikes on the horizon is difficult, getting across the border to film the missiles landing impossible.

The world's international media are relying heavily on local cameramen who live in Gaza and who are risking their lives on a daily basis so the world can see what is happening.

While many Palestinian civilians stay in their homes and militant leaders go underground, they have to jump in the car once they hear another explosion and hope they don't get themselves into the wrong place at the wrong time.

Whether you agree or not with what each side is doing or who broke the truce, the one constant in this region is of a conflict that's easy to inflame, far harder to calm.

Click here for my report on watching attacks from both directions.

Sandra Samuel and Moshe Holtzberg were the only ones to survive a siege on Mumbai's Chabad House last week.

It is hard to believe this little boy lost his mother and father in the attack on Mumbai's Chabad House Jewish Center last week - his parents, the center's directors Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg and his wife, Rivka, were among six people who perished - but the hope is that he is too young to remember too much.

We keep out of sight. Strangers, understandably, upset him.

Only our Israeli cameraman Avi is allowed up close. He has a baby almost the same age as Moshe, and after handing him back his errant balloon he becomes accepted in the circle of trust.

His nanny Sandra Samuel is only told of our interview 10 minutes before we arrive. Those protecting her didn't want her worrying about it on top of the incredibly traumatic experience she has already been through. Watch more on Moshe's escape

As she walks into the room, I am struck by how petite and how poised she is.

Within minutes you feel this woman's inner strength and her utter devotion to the two-year-old whose life she saved.

During the height of the attacks that killed 179 people across Mumbai, Samuel spent 12 hours locked in a storeroom after being shot at by one of the gunmen. As the siege continued, she left this relative safe place, not knowing where the gunmen were, the second she heard the baby calling her name.

She denies she is brave, saying simply this baby is very precious to her and no one thinks of dying with a small precious baby in your arms.

She even feels guilt that she didn't also save the rabbi and his wife, both shot by the gunmen. When I ask her how she is coping, she laughs at the thought of worrying about herself or even talking about herself saying simply: "Baby's there, Sandra's there, that's it."

One thing that clearly disturbs her is that she knows Moshe was asleep on the fifth floor of the Jewish Center when the gunmen entered. She found him on the second floor and with a perfect handprint mark on his back. The thought of a gunman carrying him down the stairs and hitting him is too much for her.

We keep the interview fairly short - Moshe becomes inconsolable if he's parted from Sandra for too long. She is the one constant in his young life at the moment that he can cling to, and he is not letting go.

The second he is back in her arms, he smiles.

Moshe is surrounded by a lot of people who adore him, he will never want for help, financial or emotional. But the worry is he will never know his parents. Those close to him are torn between hoping he remembers nothing of the attack but hoping he will remember something of his parents who adored him.

For the first few days, he constantly cried for his mother and was inconsolable. He cries less now he has the distraction of a garden filled with toys, but Sandra knows the difficult and heart-breaking questions are still to come.

A family is destroyed; a little boy orphaned. The utter waste is heart-breaking.

Watch my interview with Sandra Samuel

It's the first time I've seen a lap of honor before the game has even started - and the crowd loved it.

As the Palestinian football team kissed the ground of their new stadium before their match against Jordan, I looked around and saw grown men with tears in their eyes. Only a Palestinian can understand what it means to have their team play their first ever match on home soil. This was national pride at its purest.

As for the football itself, it started a little late (what doesn't in the Middle East?), and my football expert producer tells me it was a great start for Palestine and a goal from the captain, but petered off towards the 1-1 draw.
 
But the most important part is the fact the 6,000-seat stadium was jam-packed. Every rooftop around the stadium was full for those without tickets, and I sat in-between a passionate football fan with his 2-year-old daughter desperately trying to sleep on his shoulder, and a raucous band with a drum player who didn't stop for 90 minutes.  The atmosphere was incredible.

It's rare to be able to report on something so joyful in the Palestinian territories.  Sport succeeded tonight where politics has often failed.

It starts with a phone call at 8:30 p.m. as we are sitting down to dinner in Gaza City.

The Popular Resistance Committees tells us to be at a certain place in half an hour; they are training. No further details. After a phone call to our Jerusalem bureau chief to weigh up the risks, we all decide it is rare enough an opportunity not to be missed.We grab our equipment and jump into the armored car.

Members of the Popular Resistance Committees perform at a graduation in Gaza City.

Revered as freedom fighters by many here, reviled as terrorists in the West, the PRC, just one of the many Gaza based militant groups, has been involved in countless rocket attacks on Israel and the kidnapping of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit two years ago.

Now, in a rare public relations display intended to be viewed by Israel and the rest of the world, the PRC will show off its training techniques and a rocket factory to journalists.

The "training ground" is basic: A dead-end road for marching drills, a wall with tires stacked up against it for target practice. Burning tires surround the area, giving off putrid thick black smoke so nightly training is invisible to Israeli eyes in the sky.

The gunmen say they are training for what they see as an imminent Israeli incursion into Gaza.

As a Western female journalist working in Gaza, I rarely have to wear a head scarf, but here I am told to cover my head. The militants cover their faces.

One masked man brings me a chair and a heavily sugared tea so I can watch target and hostage-taking practice in comfort. It is horribly surreal.

One fighter tells me he will never let his son fire a gun. He says he fights only to make a better future for his family. But he's wearing a balaclava, with a rocket-propelled grenade over his shoulder and vowing to destroy any Israeli who enters Gaza. I struggle to marry the two.

The next morning, another phone call.

The same group wants to show us and other news organizations a rocket factory. Precautions this time are more stringent. We drive just outside Gaza City and are transferred into the back of an unmarked van; we are blindfolded, and our phones are taken away.

You know this is standard procedure to protect the location of the factory, but allowing yourself to be blindfolded by a masked gunman in Gaza feels incredibly unnatural. It's hard to stop the worst-case scenario playing out in your head.

My arrival at the location caused some surprise, a woman in a rocket factory is hardly the norm. I am closely watched and discussed. I have covered my head and dressed conservatively, but it's not enough. I am given a jilbab, a long loose-fitting coat, to cover my whole body before I am allowed to enter the "factory." Once the novelty wears off, I am completely ignored.

The "factory" is anything but; it's a tiny room with rockets lining the walls and masked men trying to light a fire from a gas canister to heat the explosives.

First, the lighter doesn't work, then there's a gas leak and the room becomes filled with suffocating gas.

You hear of unexplained explosions in Gaza from time to time, euphemistically called "workplace accidents." That thought is enough to make us squeeze out of the room and wonder whether we've gotten just a little too close to the story.

In a more ventilated area, the preparations begin. I'm struck by the relaxed manner with which these men handle deadly ingredients and warheads. One slip, and the story would be very different, and we probably wouldn't be around to tell it.

As I watch the rockets being made by men who have clearly done this many times before, I glance at the row of rockets made earlier lining the walls. I wonder which will be fired first and whether there will be civilian casualties.

Hamas, which controls Gaza and the militant factions there, including the PRC, are two months into a truce with Israel - not that you'd know it here. They even unveil a longer-range rocket, which could reach some of Israel's larger cities. We're told it is a drop in the ocean of Palestinian surprises should Israel return to Gaza.

There's no doubt the PRC wants Israel to see these pictures. Rocket makers are positioned to give the camera the best angle; the production of deadly weapons is highly choreographed. It's a militant's PR event, an event the Israeli prime minister's spokesman tells us could force an Israeli response if the truce is just a front for militants to rearm and regroup.