Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon took part in a commemorative march for Holocaust victims in Poland yesterday, a trip his aides say will symbolise steadfastness in the face of rising anti-Semitism. He will join Polish leaders and an estimated 20,000 people from around the world in the annual ?March of the Living? between the former Auschwitz and Birkenau death camps, honouring 6 million Jews killed by the Nazi genocide during World War Two. The ceremonial walk along the 3 km (1.9 mile) track through the German Nazi-built complex, expected to be the largest ever, coincides with the 60th anniversary of the camps? liberation.

A Tel Aviv University report released on Wednesday found anti-Semitic incidents had increased by 68 percent in Britain and almost 40 percent in France last year. Calling 2004 ?the most violent year in the last 15 years?, the researchers said there had been a 39 percent increase in attacks against Jews worldwide compared with 2003. Many Jews have already arrived in Poland, with 7,000 due to attend a concert on Wednesday evening in the recently revived Jewish quarter of Krakow, 70 km (43 miles) from the Auschwitz camp. Another 5,000 are expected to take part in a ceremony near the Warsaw Ghetto memorial on Wednesday as part of a tour taking in Polish-Jewish sights which will later travel to Israel. Sharon commemorated the Holocaust with Polish leaders on Israel?s official memorial day, highlighting a warming of relations the two countries have enjoyed since the fall of communism in Poland 15 years ago. Israel has agreed to iron out one area of tension with Poland over annual trips by thousands of Israeli students to former concentration camps and Holocaust memorials there.

<B>Megan GOLDIN</B>