Palestina News

GAZA (Reuters) – Thousands of Hamas members voted in a secret internal ballot in the Gaza Strip that re-elected the Islamist group’s most prominent leaders to its highest bodies and signaled no change in policy.

GAZA (Reuters) – Eleven Palestinians including a pro-al Qaeda militant and a child were killed on Tuesday in overnight gun battles in the Gaza Strip, Hamas police officials said.

Officials in the Gaza Strip say at least 11 people have been killed in a gun battle between Hamas security forces and a powerful local clan.

JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Ehud Olmert appealed on Monday for a partial peace deal with the Palestinians before he steps down as Israeli prime minister, but President Mahmoud Abbas rejected the idea on the eve of talks between the leaders.

GENEVA (Reuters) – Israel’s deadly shelling in the Gaza Strip in November 2006 may constitute a war crime, South Africa’s Archbishop Desmond Tutu said in a report to the United Nations released on Monday.

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.