Palestina Press

JERUSALEM – The number of people killed in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict dropped sharply in 2007, but human rights abuses in the Gaza Strip and occupied West Bank increased, an Israeli human rights watchdog said on Monday.

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.

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.

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) – An explosion near a funeral procession in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip on Friday injured least 20 mourners, medical officials said.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President George W. Bush on Thursday condemned the assassination of a Lebanese general and warned Syria against interfering in Lebanon. Brig. Gen. Francois al-Hajj, who was poised to become Lebanon’s army chief, was killed by a car bomb on Wednesday. He was a leading contender to replace …

GENEVA (Reuters) – Israeli restrictions have caused a humanitarian crisis in Gaza and the West Bank that is growing worse, leaving hospitals unable to treat the sick and keeping farmers off their land, the International Committee of the Red Cross said.

JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Plans to rein in Palestinian government spending and boost foreign aid will not be enough to revive the Palestinian economy if Israeli restrictions stay in place, the World Bank said on Thursday.

RIYADH (Reuters) – Saudi Arabia on Tuesday condemned Israel for restarting settlement activity after a promise to stop building on occupied land helped persuade Riyadh to attend U.S.-brokered peace talks in Annapolis last month.