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Betty Purcell’s heartfelt advocacy on behalf of the Arab population in the West Bank is clearly genuine, she describes how “as a teenager, I planned to go and work on a kibbutz, believing that Israel was building an equal and fair society.

David Morrison’s complaint that Palestinian Arabs could not vote in Israel’s general election obscures a crucial fact.

Stephen Gallacher is the only player who controls his Ryder Cup destiny, but it was Francesco Molinari who did most to boost his chances of making the European team in the Italian Open.

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.

Russia said yesterday that former Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat died of natural causes, not radiation poisoning, but the Palestinian ambassador to Moscow said an investigation would continue, Russian news agencies reported.

The chief of Russia’s medical and biological agency has said its probe into the death of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat has found no indication of radioactive poisoning.

The Palestinians said yesterday that Israel is the only suspect in the “assassination” of Yasser Arafat, a day after Swiss experts said tests suggested their veteran leader was killed by polonium poisoning.

Yasser Arafat’s mysterious 2004 death has turned into a whodunnit after Swiss scientists who examined his remains said the former Palestinian leader was probably poisoned with radioactive polonium.

Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat was poisoned to death in 2004 with radioactive polonium, his widow Suha said yesterday after receiving the results of Swiss forensic tests on her husband’s corpse.

I see that the World Bank is again blaming Israel for hampering the development of the Palestinian West Bank economy by holding on to 61% of mostly empty West Bank territory.

Israel has released 26 Palestinian inmates, including many convicted over killings, ahead of long-stalled Middle East peace talks.

President Hugo Chavez, the fiery populist who declared a socialist revolution in Venezuela and crusaded against US influence, died on Tuesday at the age of 58 after a nearly two-year bout with cancer.

Newly released files show tensions flared between the Irish government and Israel over the safety of Irish troops serving in Lebanon on peacekeeping duty.

The remains of the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat were exhumed from his grave today so international forensic experts could search for additional clues to his death, Palestinian officials said.

The remains of former Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat will be exhumed on Tuesday, to enable foreign experts to take samples as part of a probe into his death, a Palestinian official said today.

The Palestinian president has said Russian experts will join a team of Swiss and French investigators in exhuming the remains of late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat later this month.

Lifting a nearly 25-year veil of secrecy, Israel acknowledged today that it killed the deputy of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat in a 1988 seaborne raid in Tunisia.

A former Israeli official has denied suspicions that the country poisoned Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat as France began an investigation into his possible murder.

French prosecutors have opened a murder investigation into the death of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.

French prosecutors have opened a murder inquiry into the death of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat near Paris eight years ago, according to AFP News Agency.

The widow of former Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat has formally asked for an investigation into his death, claiming he was assassinated amid new suspicions he was poisoned before he died in a French military hospital.

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

The body of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat could be exhumed after it emerged that he may have been poisoned.

The body of former Palestinian president Yasser Arafat may be exhumed after the discovery of traces of a radioactive agent on clothing he reportedly wore in his final days reignited a cauldron of conspiracy theories.

The body of former Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat may be exhumed after new evidence emerged that he might have been killed with radioactive poison.

Osama bin Laden will be studied by future generations for his ability as an ace administrator, a top flight military expert said today.

PRESIDENT Mahmoud Abbas got a hero’s welcome from thousands of Palestinians who denounced the Qatari regime and its Al Jazeera television channel for accusing their leader of selling out to Israel.

A GUY walks into a bar and shouts: “Drinks all around: my wife’s next in line for the Nobel Peace Prize!”

MIDEAST peace prospects have been plunged into unknown territory as no prospective leaders emerged publicly yesterday in the aftermath of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’s announcement that he doesn’t want another term.

Four judges have spoken out to defend awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to US president Barack Obama.

THE official reaction in Ireland to the Israeli offensive in Gaza was “insensitive and unhelpful”, according to Israel’s Foreign Ministry.

Arab doctors will meet in Jordan to probe rumours that former Palestinian president Yasser Arafat was poisoned, nearly five years after he died of what French medics called a massive brain haemorrhage.

Nearly five years after Palestinian President Yasser Arafat died by what French doctors called a massive brain haemorrhage, Arab doctors will meet in Jordan to probe rumours Arafat was poisoned – a suspicion that has lingered years after his death.

IF NICENESS had anything to do with it, George Mitchell will pull off Middle Eastern peace by Easter.

HAVING read Steven King’s column (January 7), I can only conclude he has never been to the occupied Palestinian territories and conducted his research by visiting Israeli websites.

THE article by Palestinian Delegate-General Dr Hikmat Ajjuri (Irish Examiner, November 12) regarding the origin of Israel and the current state of Israeli-Palestinian relations was not only bitterly partisan and inflammatory, it was riddled with untruths and historical inaccuracies.

AS the U2 front man and the Taoiseach joined forces to rally the world on Africa an awesome geopolitical force was born — Boniffo.

Mahmoud Darwish, the world’s most recognised Palestinian poet, whose prose gave voice to the Palestinian experience of exile and infighting, died today in Houston, Texas. He was 67.

BERTIE Ahern edged back into the international limelight as he took up a global peacemaking role.