Israeli Foreign Minister Tsipi Livni today said the European Union is sticking to its position that the incoming Palestinian government meet international calls to renounce violence and recognise Israel’s right to exist, but left open the prospect the Europeans could soften their stance in the future.

Palestinians and Israeli hard-liners rejected statements by US President George W Bush supporting some Israeli settlements in the West Bank and ruling out the right of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes in Israel.

Palestinians and Israeli hardliners tonight rejected statements by US President George Bush supporting some Israeli settlements in the West Bank and ruling out the right of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes in Israel.

ISRAEL’S cabinet narrowly approved a US-backed Middle East peace plan yesterday, accepting for the first time a timetable for the creation of an independent Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip but objecting to significant portions of the plan.