The Israeli Justice Ministry was today considering whether to indict Prime Minister Ariel Sharon for allegedly accepting bribes, forcing him to step down, after charges were brought against a close associate.

ARIEL SHARON’S future as Israeli leader was in grave doubt last night as he faced possible charges following the indictment of a property developer on charges of bribing the prime minister.

ISRAELI Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, riding high on a sweeping victory by his right-wing Likud party, yesterday grappled with how to forge a lasting coalition after an election that redrew Israel’s political map.

Winning Israel’s general election was the easy part. Now premier Ariel Sharon faces an uphill battle to form a national unity government against “the murderous hatred” of Palestinian militants.

A top Hamas bombmaker survived an Israeli air strike that was supposed to kill him, an Israeli Cabinet minister admitted today.

ISRAELI soldiers strapped a bulletproof vest on a Palestinian teenager and ordered him to approach a house where a wheelchair-bound Hamas militant was hiding, with instructions to bring out the man and anyone else inside.

Palestinians today dismissed Israel’s announcement of a unilateral truce as a public relations ploy, and said calm cannot be restored until Israel halts construction in Jewish settlements and lifts its sweeping travel restrictions.

Israelis and Palestinians were today waiting to see if eight months of violence would wind down after prime minister Ariel Sharon called for a ceasefire - but rejected a plea to halt building work on West Bank Jewish settlements.

The home of a West Bank security chief was attacked by an Israeli tank today after Prime Minister Ariel Sharon defended his decision to use war planes against Palestinian targets.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon says he employed warplanes against the Palestinians because he would do "what it takes" to protect Israelis.

Palestinians fired mortars at a Jewish settlement in the Gaza Strip and a farming village in Israel overnight, drawing Israeli return fire that seriously wounded a supporter of the Islamic militant group Hamas.

Mortar shells rained down on Israeli villages inside and outside the Gaza Strip overnight, despite two short Israeli incursions into Palestinian-controlled areas.

Israeli and Palestinian teams have failed to make a breakthrough in their tangled peace talks but say negotiations look "promising".

Israel and the Palestinians have made good progress in drawing the borders of a future Palestinian state, say negotiators.