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.

Gaza militants have fired rockets at Israel today, defying the Israeli military’s warning that it will not tolerate renewed attacks on the country’s south.

The Fatah party of Western-backed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has staged a massive rally in the Gaza Strip, the first such gathering in the territory since the Islamist Hamas group took control there in 2007.

Israel has advanced the process of building 942 more settler homes in east Jerusalem under a new fast-track plan to tighten its grip on the territory, which the Palestinians claim as the capital of a future state.

PLANTS have always lent themselves to interpretation and never more so than at Christmas.

Palestinian negotiators denied offering a compromise over two of the toughest issues, Jerusalem and refugees, during peace talks with Israel in 2008.

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

Israel’s army received approval today to broaden its ground operations against Gaza Strip militants who have been barraging Israeli border towns with deadly rocket fire, but no large-scale incursion is in the works, military officials said.

PALESTINIAN President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh yesterday agreed that Fatah and Hamas would form a coalition government — a move that the Palestinians hope could lead to the easing of crippling international sanctions.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh today agreed that their moderate Fatah and militant Hamas parties would form a coalition government – a move the Palestinians hope would ease crippling international sanctions.

Israel demanded tougher action against militants and Palestinians blamed the Jewish state for an escalation in violence after a Palestinian suicide bomber targeted a bus station in Beersheba.

Mohammed Daraghmeh, Ramallah

Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas has promised to hold a national referendum on any final status agreement with Israel, and criticised Israeli pressure on him to confront militants, the Palestinian government news agency, WAFA, has reported.

Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas threatened to use force against anyone who violates a ceasefire with Israel, his toughest warning against Palestinian militants since taking office in January.

Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas has ordered the disparate Palestinian security services to come under the authority of three main institutions – a step toward meeting a key Israeli and US demand for reform.

HOPES that reformist Palestinian prime minister-designate Mahmud Abbas will declare a cabinet were fading yesterday after he said he would no longer discuss the formation of a new government with Yasser Arafat.

Explosions rocked Yasser Arafat’s besieged headquarters today, including one blast that showered the Palestinian leader with debris, as Israeli troops flattened every main building around him with explosives, tanks and bulldozers.

A bomb exploded in a drainage ditch in front of a United Nations’ guest house in Kabul today, injuring at least one Afghan civilian.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon convened top Cabinet ministers today to discuss options after six Israelis, including three teenagers and a toddler, were killed in Palestinian attacks in two days.

Security officials say four Palestinians have been killed during an Israeli raid on a West Bank village.

A senior Taliban representative has denied the group's top leader Mullah Mohammed Omar was injured or killed in US air strikes on Tuesday.

Hackers yesterday knocked out the Internet website of the official Palestinian news agency, Wafa.