Political leaders are fanning throughout the country to welcome students back to school on the first day of the season. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Minister of Sport Raleb Majadle are visiting schools in Nazareth, in the Galilee, and the Prime Minister also is to visit the Tel Aviv Eretz Yisrael Museum for a ceremony launching the K'Sela Eitan school.
President Shimon Peres is touring two schools in Jerusalem at this hour, including an Arab school in eastern Jerusalem several hours after Arabs burned an Israeli flag.
Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, campaigning to replace Prime Minister Olmert as leader of the Kadima party and the government, will tour schools in Tel Aviv and Jaffa.