Syria accepted Wednesday an Arab League plan to end nearly eight months of bloodshed in the revolt-hit country, as the Arab organization urged Damascus to “seriously” implement the approved roadmap.

The agreement announced at a meeting of Arab foreign ministers in Cairo came amid huge pressure on President Bashar al-Assad's regime, even from traditional allies such as China, to end weeks of prevarication and sign up to the deal drawn up by the pan-Arab bloc.

Egypt's ruling generals have announced the pardon of 334 civilians who were sentenced in military tribunals since the uprising that toppled president Hosni Mubarak in February.

In a statement posted on its Facebook page Wednesday, the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces said the move was to support "the continued communication with the great Egyptian people and the youth of the revolution."

Egypt's ruling military jailed a veteran dissident and blogger on Sunday on charges of inciting deadly clashes between soldiers and Christians this month, his sister and a fellow activist said.

Alaa Abdul Fatah, who was jailed for his activism under ousted president Hosni Mubarak's government in 2006, was remanded in custody for 15 days, said his sister Mona Seif, who is also a leading opponent of military trials.

The military prosecutor's office on Sunday remanded in custody a blogger accused of inciting violence during an October 9 demonstration by Coptic Christians in Egypt's capital, a rights group said.

Alaa Abdul Fattah was remanded in custody for 15 days, Gamal Eid, head of the Arab Network for Human Rights Information, told Agence France Presse.

The trial of ousted Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak which was due to resume on Sunday has been postponed following demands for the appointment of a new judge, state-run news agency MENA reported.

A new hearing has been set for December 28, MENA said.

Islamic Jihad on Sunday said it would observe an Egyptian-brokered truce in and around Gaza after a day of violence which killed nine Palestinian militants and an Israeli.

The ceasefire, which came into effect shortly after dawn on Sunday, appeared to be holding, with Israeli police and the military saying the rocket fire had tailed off shortly before 7:00 am (0500 GMT).

Several thousand protesters in Cairo called on the ruling military on Friday to promptly transfer power to a civilian government and exclude old regime figures from politics.

The protesters in Tahrir Square, the epicenter of Egypt's uprising that ousted president Hosni Mubarak in February, chanted "down with the military" and called on the ruling generals to "return to the barracks."

Five Arab Spring activists have won the European parliament's Sakharov prize awarded to campaigners for freedom, a parliamentary source said Thursday.

The laureates are Mohamed Bouazizi of Tunisia, awarded posthumously, Egyptian militant Asmaa Mahfouz, Libyan dissident Ahmed al-Zubair Ahmed al-Sanusi, Syrian lawyer Razan Zeitouneh and Syrian cartoonist Ali Farzat, the source added.

A U.S.-Israeli citizen accused of spying in Egypt arrived in Tel Aviv on Thursday, Israeli media said, freed under a prisoner exchange deal that saw Israel release 25 Egyptian detainees.

Israeli television and radio reported that Ilan Grapel had touched down at Israel's Ben Gurion airport at around 1630 GMT, arriving on a private plane from Cairo, accompanied by Israeli officials.

A new campaign has emerged in Egypt aiming to persuade Egyptians to elect military ruler Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi as the next president, despite almost weekly protests calling on the army to go back to barracks.

Tantawi heads the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) which took power when a popular uprising ousted President Hosni Mubarak in February, and has been criticized for stalling reform.