The Palestinian unity government being formed by Hamas and Fatah must clearly state that it recognises Israel, the EU's foreign policy chief Javier Solana said today.

The Palestinians' Hamas-dominated parliament today backed off a threat to derail President Mahmoud Abbas' plan to hold a national referendum on a proposal that implicitly recognises Israel, putting off a crucial vote until next week.

THE European Union's executive office yesterday cut off direct aid payments to the Hamas-led Palestinian government because of its refusal to renounce violence and recognise Israel, EU officials said yesterday.

THE Palestinians took control of a border for the first time with the festive opening yesterday of the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt - a milestone on their rocky path to independence and a rare moment of joy for fenced-in Gazans.

AMNESTY International yesterday accused Israeli soldiers operating in the Palestinian territories of committing war crimes, including unlawful killings, torture, destruction of property, obstruction of medical assistance and targeting of medical personnel.

RUSSIAN President Vladimir Putin yesterday promised to give equipment and training to Palestinian security forces.

ISRAEL'S parliament yesterday swept aside another potential obstacle to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's plan to withdraw from the Gaza Strip, overwhelmingly rejecting a proposal for holding a national referendum on the pull-out.

YASSER ARAFAT, the guerrilla icon turned Nobel Peace Prize winner who ended up isolated and locked in renewed conflict with Israel, died yesterday, his dream of a Palestinian state unfulfilled. He was 75.

BACKING down in the face of violent protests, Yasser Arafat asked the ousted Palestinian chief of security to return to his job yesterday, placing him in command of his cousin, Palestinian officials said.

THE World Court said yesterday that Israel's barrier in the West Bank is illegal and should be torn down.

EVERY time Nisreen Hurub needs kidney dialysis, she has to take a long and painful detour to hospital around Israel's West Bank barrier.

US President George W Bush yesterday stressed his commitment to a separate Palestinian state.

PALESTINIAN President Yasser Arafat declared a commitment to reaching a total cease-fire with Israel in a letter given to envoys of the peacemaking “Quartet,” Palestinian officials said yesterday.

Amnesty International says Israeli military checkpoints, curfews and a new fence sealing off large parts of the West Bank are violating Palestinians' human rights.

A Palestinian blew himself up outside a packed cafe in northern Israel today, wounding 30 bystanders in what the Islamic Jihad group called “Palestine’s gift to the heroic people of Iraq”.

A DEADLY shooting spree yesterday by a pair of Palestinian gunmen at a polling station in northern Israel, and twin attacks on Israeli tourists in faraway Kenya, marred a Likud Party leadership primary in which Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was expected to defeat foreign Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Palestinian leader humiliated

A military court today approved the expulsion of three Palestinian relatives of suspected terrorists from the West Bank to Gaza, Israel TV reported.

A 15-year-old Israeli girl has died of her injuries in a Palestinian suicide bomb attack at a restaurant in a coastal resort.

The Israeli embassy has issued a statement ahead of the arrival in Dublin of two Palestinians, involved in the siege of Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity.

A militant Islamic Jihad group has claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing on a rush-hour bus in Israel.

Israeli vengeance for the massacre of at least 15 people in a Jerusalem pizzeria by a suicide bomber was controlled and deliberate.

The fate of a ceasefire proposal drawn up by CIA director George Tenet lies in the hands of the Palestinians, says a leading Israeli.

Israel has said it will resume peace talks with the Palestinians.

Palestinian negotiators have harshly attacked the US over its role in peace talks.

Lebanese president Emile Lahoud has warned of a "never-ending conflict" in the Middle East.

Arab foreign ministers have ended their review of the US peace proposal by declaring the Palestinians' right of return "sacred".