Middle East News

AFP - Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon insisted on Saturday that he foresaw no crisis in Israel's relations with Europe over the use of foreign passports in the murder of a Hamas commander as it had nothing to do with it.

AP - A Hamas leader assassinated during a visit to Dubai last month exposed himself to attack when he breached security protocol by talking about his trip over the phone and making hotel reservations on the Internet, the militant Islamic group said Saturday.

AFP - Israeli forces wounded at least four Palestinians on Saturday in a firefight in the southern Gaza Strip and two more in the West Bank as they tried to cross into Israel, Palestinian medics said.

Reuters - Israeli troops shot and wounded two Palestinians, one of them seriously, in the occupied West Bank on Saturday, a Palestinian doctor and a local official said.

AFP - France's Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said he could envision the recognition of a Palestinian state even before its borders are drawn up, in an French newspaper interview to appear Saturday.

AP - Hundreds of Palestinians, Israelis and foreign activists — engulfed by clouds of tear gas fired by Israeli troops — demonstrated Friday to mark the fifth anniversary of weekly protests against Israel's West Bank separation barrier.

AFP - Israeli forces on Friday fired teargas at stone-throwing youths during a protest to mark five years of weekly demonstrations against the separation barrier in the West Bank village of Bilin.

AFP - Israel shrugged off on Friday calls for its top spy to be be arrested in the killing of a Hamas commander, as pressure mounted after Interpol issued arrest notices for 11 suspects in the Dubai hit.

AP - Israel's government has launched a campaign aiming to boost the country's image abroad even as it finds itself in the middle of an international uproar over the suspected role of Israeli spies in the assassination of a Hamas operative.

Reuters - Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is considering his options on resuming indirect peace talks with Israel after meeting U.S. and European diplomats this week, a senior aide said Friday.

AP - The death of a Hamas operative in Dubai at the hands of a squad of burly hit men conjures up images of the string of killings that followed the murder of Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics and a bungled attempt to poison a Hamas leader in Jordan 13 years ago.

AFP - Arab League chief Amr Mussa said on Thursday that Arab countries would stand by Lebanon if it were attacked by Israel, adding that the situation between the two countries is tense.

AFP - A retired member of Lebanon's Internal Security Forces was sentenced on Thursday to death for having spied for Israel and for his involvement in the murder of two Palestinian militant leaders.