Two Irish MEPs are travelling on a fact-finding mission to Israel and Palestine to discuss humanitarian concerns following the four-week Israeli offensive in Gaza.

THE European Free Trade Association (EFTA) was founded in the 1960s to achieve economic growth, full employment, an increase in productivity, financial stability and a constant improvement of living standards by abolishing trade restrictions among member states.

Palestinians and Israelis understand that helping the other to realise their aspirations is the key to realising their own, US President George Bush will say today.

Arab leaders and international envoys are preparing for a conference on peace in the Middle East today.

Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas told the United Nations today that the planned national unity government would recognise Israel.

Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas opened his visit to Moscow today by expressing his high regard for Russia’s role in the Mideast peace process.

Sinn Féin's Martin McGuinness ended a two-and-a-half-day visit to South Africa by paying tribute to the role of the African National Congress government in encouraging parties in Northern Ireland.

The Israeli bomb attack on an apartment block in Gaza, which left 15 people dead, nine of them children, is another example of Ariel Sharon's government's campaign of terror against the Palestinian people.