Israel, West Bank | featured news

President Obama will visit Israel, the West Bank and Jordan in the spring, the White House said Tuesday, marking his first visit since becoming president.

President Obama on Wednesday condemned Hamas for condoning the "senseless slaughter" of four Israelis in the West Bank and insisted that he would not allow such terrorist acts to derail the latest round of peace talks.

A dovish Israeli expert who predicted Israel's settlement campaign would perpetuate its control of the occupied West Bank said pursuing a two-state solution to Israeli-Palestinian conflict is a "waste of time."

Declaring "Jerusalem is not a settlement," Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu struck a defiant note on Monday after new U.S. criticism of Jewish home construction in disputed territory in and around the city.

Israel has no intention of backing down in its argument with the United States over Israeli plans to build 1,600 apartments on disputed land in largely Arab East Jerusalem, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday.

Israeli troops killed two Palestinians who tried to stab a soldier on Sunday, the Israeli army said, in West Bank violence that placed further strain on U.S.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday attended a tree-planting ceremony in the West Bank town of Kfar Etzion to mark Tu B'Shvat (Arbor day) and said, "Our message is clear: We are planting trees here and we are here to stay."

Israel triggered a fresh rift with Washington over settlement building on Tuesday by approving the building of 900 homes for Jews on West Bank land it occupied in a 1967 war and annexed to its Jerusalem municipality.