Five people held for questioning over synagogue fire

PARIS - Five people have been detained for questioning in connection with the burning of a synagogue just outside Paris, police said Tuesday.

The five, between 18 and 20 years old, were detained early Tuesday not far from the synagogue in Trappes, which was all but destroyed by a fire last week.

The fire was one among scores of attacks this month that have targeted synagogues, Jewish schools and other Jewish establishments in France. The attacks may have been triggered by the recent violence between Israelis and Palestinians in the Middle East.

Also Tuesday, police said they found a cache of incendiary devices in a shed at a construction site next to a Jewish school in Paris. The school was closed for a Jewish holiday.

Prime Minister Lionel Jospin met Monday with leaders of France's Jewish, Muslim, Protestant and Catholic communities and appealed for calm.

''We must not transfer to France, on our land, the passions and the violence that unfortunately are taking place between Israelis and Palestinians in the Middle East,'' he said.

French Interior Minister Daniel Vaillant has blamed the attacks on delinquents and said security around potential targets has been quadrupled. The Sunday paper Le Journal du Dimanche said Vaillant had received a report from French intelligence services saying the attacks are largely the work of youths, mostly Muslim, who were using the situation in the Middle East as an excuse to commit delinquent acts.