Former Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert has been convicted in a bribery trial, according to media reports.

Hundreds of Israelis lined up outside Israel’s parliament building yesterday to pay their last respects to Ariel Sharon, the former prime minister and general who died over the weekend.

Humanitarian charities, an Israeli prime minister and a European Union commissioner were among 1,000 targets on a surveillance list drawn up by British and American intelligence agencies, it has been reported.

Israel’s state prosecutor will appeal the acquittals and sentence in former prime minister Ehud Olmert’s recent corruption trial.

Former Israeli leader Ehud Olmert has received a fine and a suspended jail term in a corruption scandal, clearing a major hurdle in a possible return to politics.

Former Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert has received a fine and a suspended jail sentence in a corruption scandal, clearing a major hurdle in a possible return to politics.

An Israeli court has cleared former prime minister Ehud Olmert of the central charges in a multi-case corruption trial that forced him from power, but convicted him of a lesser charge of breach of trust.

Former Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert has been cleared of the major charges in a corruption trial which forced him from power.

Former Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert has been indicted on new corruption charges.

The leaking of hundreds of documents covering decades of Israeli-Palestinian negotiations was designed to be "extremely damaging" to the peace process in the region, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair said today.

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

Israel’s prime minister is ready to sit down with the Palestinian president for continuous one-on-one talks until they reach a peace deal.

Israel’s prime minister has demanded that any future Palestinian state be demilitarised and recognise Israel as the Jewish homeland, as he set out his starting position for new Middle East peace talks this week.

FORMER Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is suspected of taking bribes in a growing Jerusalem corruption case, police said yesterday.

Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is suspected of taking bribes in a growing Jerusalem corruption case, police said today.

David Grossman

Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert offered to swap territory near the Gaza Strip and West Bank in exchange for settlement blocs in the West Bank, the Haaretz newspaper claimed today.

The brother of former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has knocked an Israeli sports reporter unconscious.

ISRAELI Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gave no ground on peace with the Palestinians in a speech yesterday, reasserting they must recognise Israel as a Jewish state if they wanted a deal for a state of their own.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu today vowed never to allow Israeli leaders or soldiers to stand trial for war crimes over their actions during last winter’s military offensive in the Gaza Strip, furiously denouncing a recent UN report in a keynote address to parliament.

Former Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert appeared in court as the first trial of a current or past Israeli leader opened in Jerusalem.

Israel is poised to approve more West Bank settlement building today after key leaders defied US pressure and backed the controversial enclaves.

ISRAELI legal authorities have indicted former Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert on corruption charges.

RENEWED peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians must tackle core issues including Jerusalem, Middle East envoy Tony Blair has said.

FORMER Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert will undergo prostate cancer surgery in the US in the coming weeks.

A PRISONER swap deal with Hamas is all but impossible before Prime Minister Ehud Olmert leaves office this week and will have to wait for the new government to be sworn in, a top aide to the Israeli leader said yesterday.

Israeli authorities broke up a series of Palestinian cultural events as part of a crackdown in Jerusalem, disrupting a children’s march and bursting balloons at a school celebration.

THE father of an Israeli soldier held captive in Gaza for nearly three years blames outgoing Prime Minister Ehud Olmert for failing to free his son.

PRIME minister-designate Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud Party has initiated a coalition agreement with an ultra-nationalist faction that brings its leader significantly closer to becoming foreign minister, a Likud party spokeswoman said yesterday.

The leader of an ultra-nationalist splinter group took a step closer to becoming Israel’s foreign minister today.

Prime Minister-designate Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud Party signed a coalition agreement with the right-wing Yisrael Beitenu faction, naming its leader, Avigdor Lieberman, as the incoming foreign minister, Israeli media reported early today.

HUNDREDS of Israelis have gathered in Jerusalem to call for the government to step up efforts to free Sergeant Gilad Shalit, a soldier captured by militants in 2006.

Iran is now able to produce atomic weapons, Israel’s top military intelligence officer told his country’s Cabinet today, sounding the highest-level warning that Israel’s arch-enemy has achieved independent nuclear capability.

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.

IT may be a case of any port in a storm but in these spectacular times we’ll take any slip of good news where we can find it.

Israel’s attorney general tonight said that he is considering indicting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert in connection with allegations he unlawfully took cash-stuffed envelopes from a Jewish-American businessman.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert threatened painful retaliation against Gaza militants today for rockets still hitting Israel six weeks after its military halted an offensive that was supposed to have stopped them for good.

Israel’s hardline prime minister designate, Benjamin Netanyahu will meet the head of the dovish Labour Party today after failing to tempt centrist leader Tzipi Livni into a broad, moderate, coalition government.

Israel today ruled out any Gaza peace deal until Hamas Islamic militants release a soldier captured three years ago.

Israel’s Security Cabinet will meet today to consider a possible prisoner exchange with Hamas, freeing hundreds of Palestinian prisoners for a soldier captured in June 2007.

The deputy leader of Hamas said the Islamic militant group has agreed to a long-term truce with Israel for the Gaza Strip, according to Egypt’s official news agency.

ISRAEL’S national election is likely to be a cliffhanger, pollsters said yesterday, on the eve of a vote in which right-winger Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party had been forecast to emerge victorious.

Gaza militants launched two rockets into southern Israel early today, further straining a ceasefire that ended Israel's Gaza offensive two weeks ago.

IN his letter (January 23) Martin Stern accuses me of having incorrectly asserted that Hamas was not responsible for breaking the recent ceasefire that resulted in the bloody Israeli assault on Gaza.