Middle East, Palestine | featured news

In a carefully crafted address in Israel on Thursday that was stopped by continuous applause, President Obama made his case for a future Israel at peace with the Palestinians.

Israeli officials said they would press on with plans this week to build 6,000 homes for settlers on land claimed by Palestinians, defying criticism from Western powers who fear the move will damage already faint hopes for a peace accord.

Israel said on Sunday it was withholding this month's transfer of tax revenues to the Palestinian Authority, after the United Nations' de facto recognition of a Palestinian state.

The White House said on Friday a new Israeli settlement expansion plan was "counterproductive" and could make it harder to bring Israel and the Palestinians back to the negotiating table.

The United Nations voted overwhelmingly Thursday to recognize a Palestinian state, a victory decades in the making for the Palestinians after years of occupation and war. It was a sharp rebuke for Israel and the United States....

Israel also toned down threats of countermeasures after Thursday’s vote in the General Assembly, which is virtually certain to pass, aware that a harsh reaction would only isolate it further.

The French foreign minister says France plans to vote in favor of recognition of a Palestinian state at the U.N. General Assembly this week.

The body of the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat will be exhumed on Tuesday, eight years after his death, in an investigation to establish if he was murdered, a Palestinian official said on Saturday.

A week of bombardment by Israel has pulverized government buildings and militant weapons stores, and left 161 Palestinians dead. But the Gaza Strip’s Hamas leadership has emerged stronger than ever, Palestinians in Gaza said Thursday.

Israel agrees to end hostilities on land, sea and air and to halt targeted assassinations of militant leaders. Palestinians agree to stop rocket and border attacks... An Egyptian-brokered cease-fire agreement to end eight days of clashes between Israel and the Islamist group Hamas in the Gaza Strip relies heavily on the goodwill of two of the Middle East's bitterest enemies, but gave each enough to claim success.