A Witham couple who teach in schools in Israel are once again experiencing the tensions in the region.

Colin and Kathy South are teachers at two Quaker schools in the West Bank city of Ramallah, which has seen Israeli tanks thunder through it following the assassination of Tourism Minister Rehvam Zeevi.

This time last year the couple were smuggled out of the city by a Channel 4 television crew after outbreaks of violence following the murder of three Israeli policemen by a Palestinian lynch mob.

Mr and Mrs South went to work in Ramallah, 15 miles from Jerusalem, in August last year.

The couple were in Witham last week to visit their son Andrew, 27, who is a medical research scientist at St Thomas' Hospital, London, and his wife Clare, who gave birth to their son Harvey six weeks ago.

Daughter-in-law Clare South said: "Obviously we do worry and we watch the news with a lot more interest than perhaps we would but they do try to keep in touch regularly. As far as we know they are safe."

By Stuart Forsyth

Reporter's e-mail: stuart_forsyth@thisisessex.co.uk

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