Palestina

GAZA – Israel killed at least 18 Palestinians, nearly all Hamas militants, in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, in violence the Palestinian Authority said was a “slap in the face” to President George W. Bush’s peace efforts.

RAMALLAH, West Bank – Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said the most serious peace talks in seven years would begin on Monday and must tackle all of the most sensitive issues including Jerusalem without delay.

GAZA – Palestinian gunmen stormed the American International School in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip on Saturday, smashing windows, seizing computers and torching buses but causing no injuries, security sources said.

JERUSALEM – Israeli and Palestinian negotiators struggled on Monday to get U.S.-sponsored peace talks, stalled by disputes over Jewish settlements, on course before a visit by President George W. Bush.

GAZA – Palestinian Islamist group Hamas on Saturday dismissed U.S. President George W. Bush’s upcoming visit to the Middle East as a “photo opportunity” and said he was not welcome in the region.

DAMASCUS – Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal called on Friday for unconditional talks with the rival Fatah faction to halt violence between Palestinians but vowed to keep up the Islamist group’s armed struggle against Israel.

RAMALLAH, West Bank – Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad criticized Israel on Friday for a major military operation in the West Bank, saying such intervention was ruining a Western-backed internal Palestinian security plan.

GAZA – Israeli troops killed two Palestinian Hamas gunmen and wounded three others in the Gaza Strip on Friday, the Islamist faction and hospital officials said.

RAMALLAH – Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas urged Hamas Islamists on Monday to agree to early elections and to open a “new page” by ceding control of the Gaza Strip and holding reconciliation talks with his Fatah faction.

GAZA – Hamas and Fatah fighters waged gun battles in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday that raised to seven the number of people killed in the deadliest clashes between the rival Palestinian factions in months.