Purim Israelis prepared to celebrate the Biblical festival of Purim this weekend, despite ongoing fears of rocket attacks from terrorist groups in the Gaza Strip and cold, wet weather which was forecast to clear up by Saturday morning. The week of rain throughout much of the country brought badly needed relief to what had been the driest winter on record, but authorities cautioned that the unseasonably wet month of March still did not bring Israel up to annual levels of precipitation, except in the south of the country which have met and in some case exceeded their annual averages.
