Incoming prime minister Ehud Olmert laid out his vision for Israel’s future borders in a major policy speech to parliament today.

A SUICIDE bomber blew himself up in a crowded pedestrian mall near Tel Aviv's old central bus station yesterday, and at least 20 people were wounded, police said.

Ariel Sharon’s new centrist party is widening its lead and would crush political rivals in March elections, a poll indicated today.

Israel’s parliament today opens what is expected to be a stormy winter session with a warning from the speaker that passions over Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s planned Gaza pullout next year could boil over into fistfights, and the government itself could fall.

ISRAEL'S opposition Labour Party indicated yesterday it was willing to join Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's government boosting efforts to implement a Gaza pull-out plan after a corruption case against the premier was dropped.