It is good to see that John McCarthy, who survived five years of brutal captivity in Lebanon at the hands of Islamic terrorists, has not been deterred from returning to the Middle East to expand his knowledge and understanding of that troubled region.

An international treaty banning the use of cluster bombs, which was agreed in Dublin in May 2008, becomes international law today.

The two front-runners in the race to rule Israel urged voters to head to the polls today to tip the scales in a surprisingly tight general election.

Israel said it was approaching the “endgame” of its three-week offensive against Gaza’s Hamas rulers and scheduled a Security Cabinet vote today on a truce proposed by Egypt.

US President George W Bush, in his first public reaction to Israel’s ground invasion of Gaza, has said that the Jewish state was justified in protecting itself against Hamas militants.

Jordan’s King Abdullah II today pressed the need to resolve the decades-long Palestinian-Israeli conflict amid renewed calls for peace during a crucial two-day visit by US President George Bush that also was set to include talks with Iraq’s prime minister.

Jordan is speeding up procedures to bring to trial the man charged with shooting to death a British tourist and the wounding of six others at a popular Roman ruin in the capital, Amman, judicial officials said today.

IN his defence of the recent Israeli bombardment of Lebanon, Professor Michael Wald is keen to make a distinction between murder and what he refers to as “collateral damage”, something, he assures us, that “regrettably happens in any war” (Irish Examiner letters, August 29).

HENRY GUTERMAN (Irish Examiner letters, August 18) claims my recent letter on the Israeli mass murder of Lebanese civilians contained errors of fact (Irish Examiner, August 15).

HENRY GUTERMAN (Irish Examiner letters, August 24) objects to the use of the word ‘murder’ to describe Lebanese civilian casualties and goes on say that this was ‘war’.

Battles between Israeli forces and Hezbollah militia raged today across southern Lebanon as diplomats at the United Nations struggled to keep a peace plan from collapsing over Arab demands for an immediate Israeli withdrawal.

Israel will “expand and strengthen” its attack on Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon, the defence minister said today, diminishing hopes that a 48-hour halt in air strikes could be turned into a longer-term ceasefire.

Up to 600 civilians are believed to have been killed in the Israeli offensive in Lebanon, including as many as 200 still buried in the rubble of destroyed buildings, the health minister said tonight.

Two Lebanese children have been reunited with their father in Ireland after being evacuated from their homeland amid ongoing Israeli bombardment.

Speaking minutes after the announcement of exit polls in the Israeli election, the Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO) said it was ready to negotiate immediately with the next Israeli government on the implementation of the roadmap peace plan.

A senior Hamas leader today said the Islamic militant group will have a government in place within two weeks after the new Palestinian parliament convenes for the first time this weekend.

The UN Security Council told Hamas yesterday that a future Palestinian government must recognise Israel and commit itself to a negotiated settlement of the Mideast conflict culminating in two independent states living side-by-side in peace.

THE EU/US summit at Dromoland Castle agreed a joint declaration on ‘peace, progress, and reform in the broader Middle East and in the Mediterranean,’ which covered the Israeli/Palestinian conflict.

Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat fortified his West Bank headquarters with piles of old cars and barrels of concrete today, fearing an Israeli invasion was imminent, Palestinian officials said.

THE war against terrorism is a necessity. Unfortunately, those who think they are in charge of it are incompetent.

CON HAYES’ letter on the Israeli/Palestinian conflict (July 14) bore little relation to the facts.

Israel’s battered opposition Labour Party has chosen an old hand as its new leader, electing elder statesman Shimon Peres, the symbol of peacemaking with the Palestinians, as its chairman for one year.

At least 11 people have been killed over the last 24 hours in Mideast clashes that are escalating rapidly ahead of the Israeli general election in two weeks time.

Two Palestinian suicide bombers blew themselves up seconds apart in a crowded, old part of Tel Aviv where foreign workers live, killing 23 bystanders and wounding more than 100, ending a lull in such attacks just three weeks before Israeli elections.

At least one Palestinian has died this morning as Israel continued its military onslaught in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Israel is heading for its lowest election turnout since 1973.

Two Israelis and two Palestinians have been killed as a nominations deadline for the Israeli elections passed.

Prime Minister Ehud Barak is not ruling out a last-minute meeting with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat before Israeli elections, it was reported today.