Palestina News

RAMALLAH, West Bank – The top Palestinian security official said on Saturday his government was dismantling militant groups, including those connected to President Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah faction.

RAFAH, Gaza Strip – Hamas Islamists called on Egypt on Saturday to open its shuttered border crossing with the Gaza Strip to let more than 2,000 Palestinians return to their Gaza homes from the annual haj pilgrimage in Mecca.

GAZA – Hamas Islamists who control the Gaza Strip have barred supporters of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah faction from holding an anniversary rally for the movement next week, Hamas officials said on Saturday.

Israeli troops killed a member of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’s security force near the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah on Friday, Palestinian security sources and the army said.

Hamas will not release a captured Israeli soldier unless Israel meets its demand to free nearly 1,400 Palestinian prisoners, including 350 with life sentences, a leader of the Islamist group in Gaza said on Wednesday.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas will meet on Thursday to try to salvage peace talks bogged down by a row over Jewish settlements, Israeli officials said.

Israel is considering easing criteria for freeing Palestinian prisoners, a move one Israeli official said on Monday could pave the way for the release of Palestinian leader Marwan Barghouthi.

Israel’s plan to build houses on occupied land near Jerusalem will cloud renewed peace talks, the Palestinian Authority said on Sunday, the day before an international aid conference opens in Paris.

GAZA (Reuters) – A senior adviser to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’s government was abducted by unknown gunmen in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip on Friday, Abbas’s Fatah faction said.

PARIS (Reuters) – France hosts an international aid conference on Monday to raise funds for the Western-backed Palestinian Authority and strengthen President Mahmoud Abbas against Hamas Islamists as he negotiates peace with Israel.