Hezbollah guerrillas conducted a raid from Lebanon into northern Israel on July 12 and captured two Israeli soldiers. Israeli retaliated with air strikes and artillery attacks on alleged Hezbollah targets in Lebanon.

Israeli troops also crossed the border into Lebanon.

The Jerusalem Center is about 90 miles from Lebanon and about 65 miles south of the deepest rocket strikes into northern Israel. The new rockets reached 25 miles into Israel on Friday, striking Upper Nazareth, next to the historical town of Nazareth, which was the boyhood home of Jesus Christ, according to the Bible.

Despite the apparent distance, the violence was a problem for the study-abroad program, which is designed to include travel around much of Israel and to surrounding countries.

The center has housed at least 18 refugees, during the fighting, members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who live lived in northern Israel, during the fighting. The LDS church owns and operates BYU.

BYU shut down the Jerusalem program in November 2000 because of clashes between Israelis and Palestinians in the streets of Jerusalem. BYU sequestered 174 students in the center for a month before sending them home.

BYU officials said they hope to resume the program in the future but declined to speculate when. A press release said no decision to return will be made until "students can safely travel to the area and within the Holy Land."

BYU's Smart said the university would return application materials and deposits to student who applied for the Jerusalem program.

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