A five-day extension of a Gaza truce appears to be holding despite a rocky start, fanning cautious optimism of progress being made in peace talks.

Israel’s Security Cabinet has unanimously rejected a US proposal for a temporary pause in Israel-Hamas fighting.

Four Palestinians have been shot and killed during West Bank protests against Israel's military operation in Gaza, Palestinian hospital officials said.

The Israeli army has intensified its offensive on the Gaza Strip, striking Hamas sites and killing at least 14 people on the second day of a military operation.

Tanaiste Eamon Gilmore has deemed goods from Israeli settlements in the West Bank should be treated as illegal.

Changes in South Africa and the North show that what can seem fanciful is in fact possible, says Ann Cahill

Palestinian Prime Minister Salaam Fayyad has resigned, according to officials.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has signed a coalition deal with rival parties to form the next government in an agreement that was stalled for weeks due to tough negotiations.

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

An Israeli soldier has been injured in an explosion along the Gaza security fence, ahead of a scheduled visit by the ruler of Qatar to the Palestinian territory, Israel’s military said today.

The West Bank Palestinian leadership formally decided to press ahead with efforts in September to win United Nations recognition of a state in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem.

I WAS astonished to read the letter of January 17 by Daniel Teegan concerning Israel and the Palestinians. Unfortunately, it reproduced many tired clichés, characteristic of those who seek to demonise the State of Israel.

Israel has been sharply criticised after its refusal to halt settlement construction forced Washington to drop efforts to relaunch Mideast peace talks.

OPENING Mideast peace talks under the shadow of fresh violence, US President Barack Obama vowed yesterday not to allow “extremists and rejectionists” to undercut long-stalled negotiations on creating a sovereign Palestinian state beside a secure Israel.

Israel has sealed off the West Bank for 48 hours, preventing Palestinians from entering Israel because of fears of unrest.

WITH Israeli troops now in control of many of the open areas used by militants to launch rockets, gunman have continued shooting from inside populated neighbourhoods.

Israel gave a guarded welcome to a ceasefire proposal for Gaza today raising hopes its bloody 12-day offensive could be winding down.

Israel demanded an international monitoring force as part of any Gaza ceasefire deal today, as its planes and ships continued to bombard the territory for a sixth day.

The militant Hamas group said today it remained committed to a ceasefire with Israel but would not be Israel’s “police force” in dealing with splinter groups continuing the offensive.

ISRAEL should remove 10 major West Bank checkpoints to give a badly needed boost to the Palestinian economy, a group of Israeli ex-generals and Palestinian officials said in a joint report yesterday.

US President George Bush said today he has made no decision on withdrawing more US troops from Iraq, and if his top commander did not want to go beyond the reduction of forces already planned, “that’s fine with me”.

Hamas marked the 20th anniversary of its founding with a huge rally today, sending a message of strength and defiance even as it is struggling to keep Gaza afloat.

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

Hundreds of Palestinian business people and professionals, led by a billionaire, have launched a new political movement, reflecting growing disillusionment with President Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah party.

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.

Israel killed a top Islamic Jihad militant in an airstrike just hours after Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said he hoped to reach a full peace deal with Israel in less than a year.

The key international Middle East mediators known as the Quartet will confer with Tony Blair for the first time next week in his new role as their representative in efforts to promote peace between Israel and the Palestinians, the UN said today.

PALESTINIAN president Mahmud Abbas yesterday called for an international force in the Gaza Strip, which is now controlled by the rival Hamas movement.

ON HAMAS’S first day of full rule in Gaza, crowds looted strongholds of the rival Fatah yesterday — stripping the home of one of the party’s strongmen down to the flower pots — and militants sent a man plunging to his death from a rooftop.

Israeli tanks and infantry pulled out of the southern Gaza Strip early today, halting the largest ground operation in the area in months.

A Palestinian teenager carrying a mortar shell and explosives was caught at an Israeli military checkpoint in the West Bank today, the Israeli army said.

Israelis and Palestinians tonight threatened to scrap a truce that has largely ended five months of Gaza violence, with Palestinian militants insisting it must also apply to the West Bank and Israeli leaders complaining that Gaza rocket squads are still active.

The messy Lebanon war has cost Israel’s Prime Minister Ehud Olmert much of his political capital – and with approval ratings plummeting, he has been forced to shelve his ambitious West Bank pullout plan and is instead struggling to ride out a growing public storm over the government’s wartime bungles.

Amid tight security and a sea of green and yellow flags, Palestinians cast ballots today in their first parliamentary election in a decade – a cliffhanger vote on whether to pursue peace or confrontation with Israel.

The Hamas militant group won local elections in the West Bank’s largest cities, according to preliminary results released today, dealing a harsh blow to the ruling Fatah party just six weeks ahead of a parliamentary poll.

LOUTISH behaviour is under attack as part of a new campaign launched in Dublin’s Temple Bar yesterday.

Not all settlements Israel currently maintains in the West Bank will remain in place in a final peace accord with the Palestinians, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said today.

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.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has turned up the pressure on Israel to stop expanding West Bank settlements, it was revealed today.

AMNESTY International yesterday called on Israel to take action against West Bank settlers who it says have been poisoning Palestinians’ livestock.

Amnesty International today called on Israel to take action against West Bank settlers who it says have been poisoning Palestinians’ livestock.

The Jordanian Cabinet resigned today and King Abdullah will name a prime minister to form a new government amid claims of royal disapproval over the performance of some of his ministers.

Israel intends to hand over the West Bank town of Tulkarem to Palestinian control this week, officials on both sides said, marking the resumption of confidence-building measures halted after a suicide bombing killed five Israelis in Tel Aviv.

There can be no Arab-Israeli peace unless the Palestinians gain a state that satisfies their aspirations for independence, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said before meeting with a top adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.