Palestina

JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said in an interview published on Sunday he will remain in office until 2010, a decision likely to stoke tensions with Islamist Hamas rivals who oppose his peace talks with Israel.

JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israel’s cabinet debated for the first time on Sunday a proposal to offer compensation to Jewish settlers who volunteer to leave parts of the West Bank that would be handed to the Palestinians in a future peace deal.

JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has vowed to pursue peace talks with Ehud Olmert until the scandal-hit Israeli prime minister’s last day in office, and with whoever succeeds him, an Israeli newspaper said on Friday.

TEL AVIV, Israel (Reuters) – The European Union’s foreign policy chief said on Friday he was “less and less optimistic” that Israel and the Palestinians would meet a U.S. goal of a peace deal this year but he urged both sides to keep up momentum in 2009.

Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas has said peace talks with Israel have failed to reach any breakthrough, despite nine months of negotiations.

JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israeli authorities and settlers have seized large tracts of land in the occupied West Bank for security zones around Jewish settlements beyond an Israeli-built barrier, a human rights group said on Thursday.

Israel has annexed thousands of hectares of West Bank land beside the barrier it is building, according to an Israeli rights group.

Two Israeli rights groups have accused their government of tearing Palestinian families apart by curtailing the right to live in the West Bank.

Cairo – Egyptian Intelligence Chief Omar Soleiman will meet in Cairo with a delegation from the Palestine Democratic Union on Wednesday to discuss ways to end the inter-Palestinian conflict.

European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana heads to the Middle East next Friday on a tour which will include Egypt, the Palestinian territories, and Jordan.