At Fatah’s first convention in 20 years, Abbas asks delegates to give peace talks a chance

BETHLEHEM, West Bank — Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Tuesday urged members of his aging and rivalry-ridden Fatah movement — meeting for the first time in two decades — to give peace talks with Israel a chance, despite many setbacks and few achievements.

Abbas tells party congress that Palestinians must stick with peace talks

BETHLEHEM, West Bank — Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas launched his Fatah movement’s first conference in two decades Tuesday with a call for his people to limit their resistance to Israel to marches and protests and not to abandon peace talks despite years of setbacks.

Palestinians’ Fatah movement seeks renewal, battles chaos in first convention in 20 years

BETHLEHEM, West Bank — The Palestinians’ Fatah movement came together Tuesday for its first convention in 20 years, trying to rise from division and defeat with a pragmatic political program and new leaders in what its supporters hope will be the final push toward Palestinian statehood.

AP coverage of US Airways splashdown in Hudson River gets APME deadline reporting award

NEW YORK — AP’s fast, multidimensional coverage of the splashdown of a passenger jet into the Hudson River has been honored for Deadline Reporting by the Associated Press Managing Editors Association.

Tarnished but still critical to Mideast peace effort, Palestinian party seeks image makeover

RAMALLAH, West Bank — Fatah, the divided and demoralized movement of the late Yasser Arafat and the West’s best hope for delivering a Mideast peace deal, is trying to stage a comeback.

Gaza children set kite flying world record in a colorful display of joy in isolated territory

BEIT LAHIYA, Gaza Strip — Thousands of children in the Gaza Strip attempted to set a new world record Thursday by flying colorful homemade kites amid the ruins of Israel’s bruising offensive earlier this year — a rare display of joy in the isolated seaside territory ruled by Hamas militants.

Israeli government report defends actions during Gaza war, blames Hamas for forcing offensive

JERUSALEM — An Israeli government report released Thursday insisted that “incessant” Hamas rocket attacks forced Israel to hit Gaza hard earlier this year, countering charges of war crimes but acknowledging that more than a dozen criminal inquiries are underway.

Battered Israeli border town enjoying calm summer, but fears linger that rockets could return

SDEROT, Israel — Six months after Israel ended its bruising offensive against Gaza Strip militants, the people of this rocket-scarred border town are enjoying their calmest stretch in recent memory.

Gaza father suspected of bludgeoning daughter with iron chain in ‘honor killing’

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — A Gaza man is being held on suspicion he bludgeoned his daughter with an iron chain, cracking her skull in a particularly brutal family “honor killing,” two human rights groups said Wednesday, citing police and forensics reports.

Prosecutors, neighbors offer contrasting stories for chief North Carolina terror suspect

RALEIGH, N.C. — Daniel Boyd may have spent the past three years traveling to the Middle East, secretly buying guns and training for jihad with a group of aspiring terrorists as federal authorities claim, but people on his cul-de-sac said Tuesday he also made plenty of time to be a good neighbor.

Analysis: Netanyahu eases West Bank life in ‘economic peace’ plan, Palestinians refuse talks

JERUSALEM — In the four months since hawkish Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu came to power, West Bank Palestinians have enjoyed an economic recovery and Israel has experienced a period of relative calm.

UN agencies urge Israel to allow building supplies into Gaza to repair damaged schools

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — U.N. agencies and two dozen international aid groups urged Israel on Tuesday to lift its blockade of Gaza or at least allow in construction materials to repair war-damaged schools.

Cover heads, hide the mannequins; Hamas rulers launch campaign to make Gaza more Islamic

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Police order a lingerie shop to hide its scantily clad mannequins. A judge warns female lawyers to wear head scarves in court. Beach patrols break up groups of singles and make men wear shirts.

Hamas threatens to derail convention of rival Fatah movement unless its prisoners freed

RAMALLAH, West Bank — Palestinian rivals Hamas and Fatah on Monday were locked in a new dispute that threatens to derail next week’s Fatah convention, seen as key to rehabilitating the corruption-stained party that has led peace talks with Israel.

Egypt puts 26 suspected Hezbollah members on trial for spying and plotting terrorist attacks

CAIRO — Egypt’s prosecutor general on Sunday officially charged 26 suspects, including two Lebanese and five Palestinians, for spying for the militant group Hezbollah, as well as plotting terrorist attacks and aiding militants in the Gaza strip.

Gaza’s top Hamas judge orders female lawyers to wear Muslim headscarf in courts

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Gaza’s top judge said Sunday that he has ordered female lawyers to wear Muslim headscarves when they appear in court, the latest sign that the Islamic militant group is increasingly imposing its strict interpretation of Islamic law on residents of the coastal strip.

Gaza’s top judge orders female lawyers to wear Muslim headscarves in court

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Gaza’s top judge says he has ordered female lawyers to wear Muslim headscarves when they appear in court.

Turkish PM says he has been asked to mediate in Arab-Israeli conflict, presses Israel on Golan

DAMASCUS, Syria — Turkey’s prime minister said Wednesday his country is prepared to resume mediating in the Arab-Israeli conflict and pressed Israel to return the Golan Heights to Syria.

Netanyahu’s ‘economic peace’ yields first fruits for Palestinians, but still has a way to go

NABLUS, West Bank — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he wants to make “economic peace” with the Palestinians, and the first fruits are already being seen in eased Israeli restrictions that are stoking a retail and entertainment boom in the West Bank.

Israeli security chief says foreign jihadist fighters sneaked into the Gaza Strip

JERUSALEM — The head of Israel’s Shin Bet internal security service says foreign nationals linked to the global jihadist movement have infiltrated the Gaza Strip.

It’s Hamaswood! Militant Muslim group premiers feature film about slain militant in Gaza

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — The Gaza movie premiere drew an exclusive crowd with local celebrities posing for jostling photographers — and that’s pretty much where the similarities end between Hollywood and the fledgling film industry of Gaza’s Hamas rulers.

Anti-Zionist ultra-Orthodox Jews visit Hamas leaders in Gaza in show of solidarity

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Representatives of an anti-Zionist, ultra-Orthodox Jewish sect paid a brief visit to the Gaza Strip on Thursday on a solidarity mission with the area’s militantly anti-Israel Hamas leaders.

Quotes from human rights group’s interviews with Israeli army veterans of Gaza war

JERUSALEM — Quotes from interviews with Israeli soldiers published Wednesday by “Breaking the Silence,” a human rights group of former Israeli soldiers. The group said it withheld the names of the soldiers because many are still serving and could be punished.

Former Israeli soldiers say there were ‘no clear red lines’ in Gaza war, reckless force used

JERUSALEM — Israeli soldiers who fought in last winter’s Gaza War say the military used Palestinians as human shields, improperly fired incendiary white phosphorous shells over civilian areas and used overwhelming firepower that caused needless deaths and destruction, according to a report released Wednesday.

Palestinian government suspends Al-Jazeera, after channel hosts president’s rival

RAMALLAH, West Bank — The Palestinian government shut down the West Bank operations of the Arabic satellite channel Al-Jazeera on Wednesday, a day after a guest on the station accused the Palestinian president of involvement in Yasser Arafat’s death.

Former Israeli soldiers allege military used reckless force in Gaza war

JERUSALEM — More than two dozen Israeli soldiers who fought in the Gaza war say the military forced Palestinians to serve as human shields and used reckless firepower that caused needless deaths, according to a report released Wednesday.

Palestinian government suspends Al-Jazeera in West Bank, alleging incitement

RAMALLAH, West Bank — The Palestinian government said Wednesday it is suspending the West Bank operations of the Arab news station Al-Jazeera, alleging incitement and unbalanced reporting from the Palestinian territories.

Former Israeli soldiers claim military used reckless force in Gaza fighting

JERUSALEM — The Israeli military used reckless force during the fighting in Gaza earlier this year, resulting in needless deaths and damage, a group of former Israeli soldiers charged in a report Wednesday.

Ethnic violence in China draws muted response from many Muslim nations

CAIRO — The riots in China’s Xinjiang region and subsequent crackdown on the Muslim Uighur minority have drawn a muted response from many Muslim countries that may be wary of damaging lucrative trade ties with Beijing or attracting attention to their own attitudes toward political dissent.

Israeli official says Britain revokes 5 arms export licenses to Israel over Gaza war

JERUSALEM — Britain has revoked several licenses granted to British companies to sell weapons parts to Israel because of concerns over their use in Israel’s recent war in the Gaza Strip, British and Israeli officials said Monday.