He commands the second-highest political position in the country and is leading fragile negotiations for Ireland which could affect and dictate the lives of generations to come.

Donald Trump's Middle East envoy has said Hamas must renounce violence and commit to negotiations with Israel if it wants to play a role in any Palestinian government.

In advance of his visit to Ireland, Palestinian writer Raja Shehadeh tells Ellie O’Byrne why he still has hope for his homeland

An open-ended ceasefire between Israel and Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip is holding.

Israeli troops arrested some 80 Palestinians, including dozens of members of Hamas, in an overnight raid in the West Bank as the prime minister accused the Islamic militant group of kidnapping three teenagers who went missing last week.

Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas has sworn in a unity government, taking a major step toward ending a territorial and political split with the rival Hamas militant group but also setting the stage for new friction with Israel.

Israel has broken off Middle East peace talks and brought the US-brokered process to the brink of collapse.

A senior Israeli official has accused Google of setting back Middle East peace hopes by putting “Palestine” under the banner of its search page for the Palestinian territories.

Israel’s response to the Palestinians’ new UN status is to deprive and humiliate which may maintain the status quo but will sabotage chances of long-term peace, writes Ian Buruma

Israel’s deputy foreign minister Danny Ayalon has said that Israel is not happy about the international response to the plan for settlements in east Jerusalem, but “it’s not the end of the world”.

The prospect of a Hamas-Israel ceasefire drew closer tonight after encouraging hints that both sides were near to a deal.

Israel expanded its fierce air assault on rocket operations in the Gaza Strip today, striking Hamas government and security compounds, smuggling tunnels and electricity sources after an unprecedented rocket attack aimed at the holy city of Jerusalem raised the stakes in its violent confrontation with Palestinian militants.

Israel has handed over the remains of 91 Palestinian militants, including suicide bombers, to the West Bank government in an effort to persuade President Mahmoud Abbas to renew peace talks.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu won the leadership race of his Likud Party over his ultra-nationalist rival, hours after his government approved new incentives to entice people to move to West Bank settlements.

FORCEFULLY stepping into an explosive Middle East debate, US President Barack Obama endorsed a key Palestinian demand for the borders of its future state and prodded Israel to accept that it can never have a truly peaceful nation based on “permanent occupation”.

Rival Palestinian factions Fatah and Hamas have sealed a landmark pact aimed at ending their bitter four-year rift.

Rival Palestinian factions Fatah and Hamas have sealed a landmark pact aimed at ending their bitter four-year rift.

ISRAEL will not negotiate with a new Palestinian unity government that includes the Hamas militant group, according to Israel’s foreign minister.

Israel’s foreign minister said today his country would not negotiate with a new Palestinian government that included the Hamas militant group.

The Palestinian president, in a rare interview to the Israeli media, has condemned the deadly attack on a Jewish settler family over the weekend as “despicable, immoral and inhuman”.

The Palestinian prime minister has dissolved his Cabinet – in a new gesture which appears to be inspired by unrest rocking the Arab world.

MORE than a billion Muslims around the world began observing the holy month of Ramadan yesterday, with the dawn-to-dusk fast posing a particular challenge for the devout in the sweltering Middle East.

Israel today dropped its long-standing restrictions on allowing consumer goods into the Gaza Strip but retained tight limits on desperately needed construction materials.

THE Palestinians yesterday accused US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton of undermining progress toward Middle East peace talks after she praised Israel for offering to curb some Jewish settlement construction.

Israeli authorities broke up a series of Palestinian cultural events as part of a crackdown in Jerusalem, disrupting a children’s march and bursting balloons at a school celebration.

Prime Minister-designate Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud Party signed a coalition agreement with the right-wing Yisrael Beitenu faction, naming its leader, Avigdor Lieberman, as the incoming foreign minister, Israeli media reported early today.

President Obama's new Middle East envoy today called for the Western-backed Palestinian government to take an active role in cementing the shaky Gaza truce.

Israel said today that it is releasing 227 Palestinian prisoners in a gesture aimed at bolstering the moderate Palestinian government.

A PALESTINIAN militant shot and killed two Israeli security guards early yesterday at a factory along the divide between Israel and the West Bank, the military said.

The militant Islamic Hamas group will accept Israel's right to exist, providing the Palestinian people agree, former US president Jimmy Carter said today.

International donors have pledged $7.4bn (€3.2bn) over the next three years to help the Palestinian economy as new peace talks begin with Israel.

The Government has today pledged an extra €40m for reconstruction and development in the Palestinian territories.

Donors began committing funds from around the world today for the troubled Palestinian economy amid a renewed international push for a Palestinian state.

An Israeli airstrike killed four Palestinian militants in the southern Gaza Strip early today, Palestinian witnesses and officials said.

Israel should turn over Arab neighbourhoods in Jerusalem to the Palestinians as part of a peace deal with the moderate government of President Mahmoud Abbas, Israel’s deputy prime minister said today in some of the frankest remarks to date about what Israel might be willing to relinquish.

A Palestinian rocket exploded in an Israeli army base early today, wounding 50 soldiers and drawing Israeli calls for a major military operation against rocket squads in the Gaza Strip.

a meeting with the Palestinian leader today, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert proposed releasing some prisoners, lifting some West Bank roadblocks and establishing a team to work on a broad agreement in advance of a US-sponsored peace conference in November.

The Hamas militant group today banned public prayers in the Gaza Strip, moving to halt growing dissent by supporters of the rival Fatah movement.

Israel allowed 75 Palestinians out of Gaza to resume lives abroad cut short by Hamas’ violent seizure of the coastal strip two months ago.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has cut his government’s last ties with Islamic Hamas militants who seized control of the Gaza Strip.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice says Israel is ready to discuss “fundamental issues” with Palestinians who are now governed by leaders accepted by the Jewish state and the West.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will begin laying the ground for a Mideast peace conference in a visit to Israel today, hoping to push Israelis and Palestinians closer to renewing talks.

Palestinian government employees loyal to President Mahmoud Abbas stood in long lines outside banks in Hamas-ruled Gaza today to collect their first full salaries in 15 months.

Israel and the Palestinian government of President Mahmoud Abbas have resumed security talks after a long break, both sides said today, a new sign of cooperation between Israel and Palestinian moderates after the Islamic militant Hamas took over Gaza.

Israel will begin releasing some of the hundreds of millions of dollars in Palestinian tax money it has frozen for more than a year, in a gesture to the new Palestinian government, Israeli officials said today.

THE Israeli cabinet yesterday approved the release of frozen tax funds to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, in a step to bolster the moderate leader in his standoff against the Islamic militant group Hamas.

The Israeli Cabinet today approved the release of frozen tax funds to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, officials said, in a step to bolster the moderate Palestinian leader in his stand off against the Islamic militant group Hamas.

The US decision to end an economic and political embargo on the Palestinian Authority increased pressure for a reciprocal move from Israel as the Bush administration hoped to improve the chances for peace.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas today told US President George Bush that now was the time to resume Mideast peace talks.

The US Government is poised to lift its economic and diplomatic embargo against a new Palestinian government in the West Bank since it no longer includes the Islamic militant group Hamas.