FOREIGN Affairs Minister Micheál Martin is expected to attempt to enter the Gaza Strip tomorrow.

Foreign Affairs Minister Micheál Martin will travel tomorrow evening to Cairo on a visit which will include meetings with his Egyptian counterpart Ahmed Aboul Gheit, it was announced this evening.

A group of several hundred international activists from an aid convoy to the blockaded Gaza Strip were allowed to leave Egypt today, despite earlier threats to have some arrested because they scuffled with police, an airport official said.

A TOTAL of $4.481 billion (€3.5bn) was pledged by international donors yesterday to help the Palestinian economy and rebuild Gaza after Israel’s three-week offensive.

Egypt’s foreign minister says 11 European tourists taken hostage in a remote part of Egypt have been released unharmed.

MINISTER for Foreign Affairs, Micheál Martin, said there is an urgent need for a settlement in the Middle East and the establishment of an independent, democratic, Palestinian state, which is one of Ireland’s strong foreign policy objectives.

FOREIGN Affairs Minister Micheál Martin begins a four-day trip to the Middle East today as violence in Gaza threatens a ceasefire between Israeli forces and Palestinian group Hamas.

EGYPT was trying to persuade Hamas yesterday to accept a truce that would halt rocket attacks on Israel in an effort to put an end to Gaza violence and salvage Middle East peace talks.

Militant Palestinian group Hamas was today being urged to agree a ceasefire in its rocket attacks on Israel to help salvage Middle East peace talks.

Negotiators moved to lower expectations ahead of the opening of the Darfur peace talks today, with almost none of the key rebel leaders present to negotiate an agreement with the Sudanese government.

Palestinians hope US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice’s visit to Jesus’ traditional birthplace today will not just be a religious experience, but will also bring their daily difficulties of life under Israeli occupation into sharper focus.

Arab League envoys paying a historic visit to Israel today said they were extending “a hand of peace” on behalf of the Arab world.

The kidnapped BBC journalist Alan Johnston could be freed as early as today after the Islamic militant group Hamas made contact with his captors to try to secure his release.

ARAB countries fear the fighting in Gaza could spread to the West Bank and further destabilise the region.

Amnesty International today called for multilateral sanctions against Sudan and the immediate deployment of a UN peacekeeping force to end the bloodshed in the country’s war-torn Darfur region.

Egypt’s foreign minister said Iran’s decision to release 15 British Navy personnel may herald a “new spirit” between the Islamic republic and the West, a Kuwaiti newspaper reported today.

Arab leaders were deeply sceptical today of the US plan for Iraq, a day after US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice tried to sell it to them.

The Israeli soldier captured by Palestinian militants last June is still alive, the visiting Egyptian foreign minister, Ahmed Aboul Gheit, said today.

George Clooney has been in talks with Egypt's foreign minister over the humanitarian crisis in Darfur, Sudan.

Arab foreign ministers will hold an emergency meeting this weekend to forge a response to the Israeli offensive in the Gaza Strip, which has killed more than 50 people in the past few days, the head of the Arab League said today.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice today said the United States is “very concerned” about the plight of the Palestinians and pledged to improve living conditions in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice called on Islamic militants to cooperate with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, saying the Hamas government cannot govern in the region.

Lebanon’s most senior Shiite Muslim cleric denounced the Pope’s recent remarks about Muslim holy war as Egypt warned that the Pope’s comments could incite violence between Muslims and Christians.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel defended remarks on Islam and jihad made by Pope Benedict XVI during his trip to Germany, saying they have “misunderstood” the pontiff’s message.

European nations formally submitted a new draft to the International Atomic Energy Agency’s 35-nation board today on referring Iran to the UN Security Council, setting up a decision later in the day.

Egypt said today that a detained chemist wanted by Britain for questioning over the London bombings had no links to the attacks nor to al-Qaida.

AN Egyptian envoy expected to become Iraq’s first Arab ambassador since its new government took office was kidnapped in Baghdad, weeks after arriving in the country, diplomats said yesterday.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice articulates Bush Administration aspirations for the promotion of democracy in the lead-up to Egyptian elections, writes Anne Gearan in Cairo.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice today said the world would be watching elections planned for Egypt this autumn and her Egyptian counterpart promised the voting will be free and fair.

Arab leaders today launched into a flurry of diplomatic activity, including a trip by Syrian President Bashar Assad to Saudi Arabia, as they sought to control a political storm over Syria’s role in neighbouring Lebanon.

Egypt’s foreign minister and Israel’s prime minister today discussed the terms of a planned Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip in 2005.

The Palestinian elections provide an opportunity to revive the Mideast peace process, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said today, adding that Israel is ready for such a step.

World leaders meeting in Egypt focused on Israel, the Palestinians and what is seen as a chance to jump start the stalled peace process today, with plans to shift the focus to another Mideast hotspot – Iraq – later in the day.

Palestinians lobbed several mortar shells at an Israeli settlement in the northern Gaza Strip today hours after Israeli troops ended a raid of the area which was meant to stop such attacks.

Israel today told UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan that it would welcome a fact-finding mission to look into Israeli military action in Jenin and other Palestinian cities, a UN spokesman said.

The UN General Assembly has called an emergency meeting on "illegal Israeli actions" in Palestinian territories.