Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas has given his permission to exhume the remains of his predecessor Yasser Arafat, a top aide said.

A TOP Palestinian official said last night that President Mahmoud Abbas had no plans to agree to a delayed vote on his bid for membership of the UN, rejecting mounting pressure from the United States and France.

President Barack Obama is to meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a day after challenging the Israeli leader to give up more territory than he wants to in pursuit of peace with the Palestinians.

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

The US has offered Israel an incentive package to reinstate a ban on West Bank settlement building, in an effort to revive stalled peace talks with the Palestinians, diplomatic sources said today.

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.

Israel said today it will press forward with construction of new housing for Jews in east Jerusalem, drawing Palestinian accusations that the plans could undermine newly relaunched peace talks.

Israel’s new plan to build 1,600 apartments for Jews in Palestinian-claimed east Jerusalem overshadowed US Vice President Joe Biden’s visit to the West Bank today.

A SCEPTICAL Palestinian leadership agreed yesterday to hold US-mediated peace talks with Israel for four months, effectively ending a 14-month breakdown in communications between the two sides.

PALESTINIAN officials said yesterday they were preparing to ask the United Nations to endorse an independent state without Israel’s consent, because they are losing hope they can achieve their aspirations through peace talks.

Palestinian officials said today they were preparing to ask the United Nations to endorse an independent state without Israel’s consent.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has called for an immediate resumption of peace talks with Palestinians and pledged more steps to improve economic conditions in Palestinian areas.

PALESTINIAN officials sought US and European help to salvage foundering peacemaking yesterday after tough terms laid out by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, but stopped short of refusing to resume negotiations.

Britain's Foreign Secretary David Miliband today renewed Britain’s call for a ceasefire in Gaza, warning of an “unacceptable” loss of innocent lives as Israeli air strikes on the Palestinian enclave entered their third day.

The world must prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama said today.

The Israeli and Palestinian leaders today tackled the core issues that have tormented would-be Mideast peacemakers for decades – Palestinian refugees, final borders and the fate of Jerusalem.

Ehud Olmert will today become the first Israeli prime minister to visit a Palestinian city since the outbreak of fighting seven years ago.

US President George Bush, taking on a more active role in the Mideast conflict, is offering new financial support to embattled Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ government.

Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad today welcomed the appointment of Tony Blair as Mideast envoy.

Beleaguered Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas is considering calling presidential and legislative elections to strengthen his position, a top aide said today.

Palestinian forces could take military action to release kidnapped British journalist Alan Johnston, a close adviser to President Mahmoud Abbas has said.

Israeli and US leaders have agreed ahead of a three-way meeting with the Palestinians not to deal with a new Palestinian government that does not denounce violence, recognise Israel and accept peace agreements, an Israeli official said today.

Israel will not free Palestinian prisoners ahead of a major Muslim holiday, as it traditionally does, demanding that Palestinian militants first agree to release a captured Israel soldier.

Gunmen attacked the convoy of the Palestinian foreign minister and raided a training base for an elite unit of the security forces today, stepping up factional violence over a decision by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to end nine months of Hamas rule and call early elections.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas signalled he is giving up on forming a moderate government to replace the one headed by the militant Islamic Hamas, a decision that could spark violence or new elections – or both.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas declared today that months of coalition talks with the ruling Hamas have hit a “dead end” and his aides said he’s finished negotiating with the Islamic militants.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert today said he hoped to revive long-stalled peace efforts with the Palestinians, saying that they would be able to achieve an independent state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip through talks with Israel.

Israeli troops shot and killed a Hamas-linked militant in a West Bank raid this morning, casting a cloud over a day-old truce that ended more than five months of fighting in the Gaza Strip.

Israel wants to reopen a serious dialogue with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and work with him to establish a Palestinian state, Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said today.

The US proposes deploying international observers at the main cargo crossing between Israel and Gaza to prevent repeated security closures of Gaza’s economic lifeline, Palestinian and Israeli officials said today.

Prime minister Ehud Olmert today said he had ordered the army to prepare a “broad” military operation against militants in the Gaza Strip following the kidnapping of an Israeli soldier.

Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert told a joint meeting of US Congress that Israel would be a “willing partner in peace” with the Palestinians, but would draw its own borders in the West Bank should it conclude it had no negotiating partner.

Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas has told the Hamas-led government it must immediately remove its new security forces from the streets of Gaza, a top Abbas aide said today.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas yesterday toured the devastated Jericho prison where Israel spirited away six prisoners, denouncing the raid as an ”unforgivable crime".

ACTING prime minister Ehud Olmert expects to draw Israel’s permanent borders by 2010 and, as part of that effort, will build a controversial settlement outside Jerusalem.

ISRAEL’S defence minister advised the incoming Palestinian prime minister yesterday to fear for his life if Hamas militants start attacking Israel again.

The Islamic militant Hamas won a landslide victory in Palestinian parliament elections, winning 76 seats in the 132-member parliament, election officials announced today.

Mahmoud Abbas will ask Hamas to form a new cabinet, and the Palestinian leader’s Fatah Party will be in the opposition, a senior Fatah official said today.

Saeb Erekat, one of the best-known world faces of the Palestinian Authority, won re-election to parliament in his home town of Jericho, beating back a challenge from a Hamas candidate.

The Islamic Jihad militant group has rejected a call from Mahmoud Abbas to halt rocket attacks on Israeli towns – dealing a new blow to the Palestinian leader and prompting a new round of Israeli air strikes in the Gaza Strip.

An Israeli airstrike today killed two Palestinian militants in the northern Gaza Strip and a Palestinian man fatally stabbed an Israeli soldier in the West Bank, intensifying a new round of violence in the wake of a suicide bombing at an Israeli shopping centre this week.

Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon today spoke confidently of winning a third term, and said he planned to use his next tenure “to make every effort to advance the peace process”.

The European Union today agreed to monitor a Gaza-Egypt border crossing that serves as the main gate to the world for Palestinians in the coastal strip as an EU delegation toured the area.