Netanyahu: Israel seeks peace with Palestinians, world alliance against Iranian nuclear threat

UNITED NATIONS — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he wants to make peace with the Palestinians and hopes the world will rally against the Iranian nuclear threat.

UN agency helping Palestinian refugees marks 60th anniversary

UNITED NATIONS — In marking its 60th anniversary Thursday, the cash-strapped U.N. aid agency for Palestinian refugees asked the world for more generous funding and a renewed push to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Palestinian leaders say fundamental disagreements with Israel prevent return to negotiations

NEW YORK — The Palestinians cannot return to peace talks at this time because of “fundamental disagreements” with Israel on what should be on the agenda, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said in an interview published Thursday.

Spain expels Israelis from architecture contest because their university is in West Bank

MADRID — Spain said Thursday it has disqualified a group of Israeli academics from a solar power design competition because their university is in the West Bank, the latest in a series of low-level European sanctions against Israel over its settlement policy.

Analysis: Obama’s high-stakes attempt to relaunch peace talks risks stoking Mideast strife

JERUSALEM — Rather than getting Israelis and Palestinians back to negotiations, President Barack Obama’s high-stakes attempt to relaunch Mideast peace talks runs the risk of cementing Israeli intransigence and exacerbating Palestinian weakness.

Israel’s Netanyahu welcomes Obama call for Mideast talks without preconditions

JERUSALEM — Israel’s prime minister welcomed Thursday President Barack Obama’s call for the resumption of Mideast peace talks without preconditions despite Palestinian demands for a halt to new Jewish settlements in the West Bank before any new negotiations begin.

Israelis, Palestinians to meet with US officials, not each other

NEW YORK — Israelis and Palestinians said Wednesday that their envoys would meet with U.S. officials but not with each other, cementing the impression that a U.S.-sponsored meeting between their leaders had fallen flat.

UN chief challenges world leaders to change on nukes, climate, poverty

UNITED NATIONS — Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon challenged world leaders on Wednesday to cleanse the globe of nuclear weapons, tackle the threat of catastrohic climate change and combat growing poverty from the global financial crisis.

Israeli FM: Netanyahu talks with Obama, Palestinians a victory for firm stand on settlements

JERUSALEM — Israel’s foreign minister said Wednesday that the summit of Israeli, U.S. and Palestinian leaders proved Israel could successfully fend off international pressure to freeze West Bank settlement construction.

Israeli FM: Netanyahu talks with Obama, Palestinians was victory for firm stand on settlements

JERUSALEM — Israel’s foreign minister says a meeting between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Palestinian and American leaders was a victory for Israel because it took place even though Israel refused demands to freeze settlement in the West Bank.

World leaders turn from climate change to terrorism, nukes and poverty

UNITED NATIONS — Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is challenging the world’s nations to unite to free the world of nuclear weapons and tackle the growing poverty resulting from the global financial crisis.

Gaps loom large as Obama exhorts Israel, Palestinians to make peace

NEW YORK — Despite a blunt admonition from President Barack Obama to stop wasting time, Israeli and Palestinian leaders gave little indication they’re willing to narrow the gaps that have crippled Mideast peacemaking.

Palestinian PM: broad international support for plan to get state ready in 2 years

NEW YORK — Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad said in an interview Tuesday that he has won broad international support for his plan to ready the Palestinians for statehood within two years.

Stern-faced Obama tells Israeli, Palestinian leaders they must do more to revive peace talks

NEW YORK — Bristling with impatience, President Barack Obama sternly prodded Israeli and Palestinian leaders to relaunch Mideast peace negotiations Tuesday, grasping a newly personal role in their historic standoff. He won an awkward, stone-faced handshake but no other apparent progress beyond a promise to talk about more talks.

Obama: Israeli, Palestinian leaders must do more to make peace talks possible

NEW YORK — Pressing for elusive Mideast peace, President Barack Obama on Tuesday challenged Israeli and Palestinians leaders to do more, saying it was time to “find a way forward.” It was the president’s most direct engagement yet on a problem that has vexed leaders for years.

Obama: US understands gravity of warming planet and is ‘determined to act’

UNITED NATIONS — President Barack Obama on Tuesday declared that the United States is a serious partner in combating global warming, telling world peers “we are determined to act.”

Obama tells UN summit: Clean-planet polices can’t be sacrificed on alter of economic growth

UNITED NATIONS — President Barack Obama says the United States was slow to recognize the magnitude of climate change, but that Washington is moving swiftly to catch up.

Obama plays Diplomatically in Israeli Palestinian Meeting and China Talks

Not enough common ground between Abbas and Netanyahu to relaunch peace talks at summit

NEW YORK — The Israeli and Palestinian leaders shook hands at the start of their first face-to-face meeting Tuesday, hosted by President Barack Obama, but the small gesture was unlikely to translate into a quick resumption of peace talks.

Carter says Israel must stop building settlements in Palestine to achieve Middle East peace

HARRISONBURG, Virginia — Israel must stop building settlements in the Palestinian territories if peace is ever to be achieved in the Middle East, former President Jimmy Carter said Monday night as he received an award at a Virginia university for his humanitarian efforts.

Netanyahu aide says Israeli leader won’t bend on settlements at meeting with Obama, Abbas

JERUSALEM — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu won’t bend on his opposition to a settlement freeze when he meets the American and Palestinian leaders in New York, a top aide said Monday.

Muslims celebrate Eid al-Fitr feast to end holy fasting month of Ramadan

A look at how Muslims around the world began celebrating Eid al-Fitr, a three-day feast that marks the end of the holy fasting month of Ramadan.

Obama faces tough task in getting Israelis, Palestinians talking again

JERUSALEM — Barack Obama will try to get Mideast peacemaking back on track this week in a meeting with the Israeli and Palestinian leaders, hoping the weight of the U.S. presidency can resolve a showdown over Israeli settlement construction and get the sides talking again after months of deadlock.

Israeli troops shoot dead 2 Palestinian militants on Gaza-Israel border

JERUSALEM — A Palestinian Health Ministry official says Israeli forces have killed two Palestinian militants and wounded three in an incident along the Gaza border.

Obama to host meeting with Israeli and Palestinian leaders to lay groundwork for Mideast peace

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama will host a meeting Tuesday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in an effort to lay the groundwork for renewed negotiations on Mideast peace.

Obama to host meeting with Netanyahu and Abbas

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama will host a meeting Tuesday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in an effort to lay the groundwork for renewed negotiations on Mideast peace.

US denounces UN Gaza report as biased against Israel, urges world to focus on peace

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration on Friday sharply criticized a U.N. report alleging Israeli war crimes in its Gaza war earlier this year, ending nearly a week of muted reaction to findings already rejected by Israel.

Israelis welcome Jewish New Year while skeptical that peace with Palestinians is near

JERUSALEM — Israelis celebrated the Jewish New Year Friday evening, grateful for the recent calm spell in the region but skeptical that the coming year would see the achievement of ever-elusive peace.

Ending latest mission, US envoy fails to win agreement on restarting Israeli-Palestinian talks

RAMALLAH, West Bank — The United States’ top Mideast envoy failed to bridge wide gaps between Israelis and Palestinians as he ended his most intensive attempt yet on Friday, raising questions over President Barack Obama’s efforts to revive peacemaking.

Iran’s Ahmadinejad slams Israel, says Holocaust was a pretext to occupy Palestinian land

TEHRAN, Iran — Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Friday lashed out at Israel and the West, questioning whether the Holocaust happened and calling it a pretext for occupying Palestinian lands, reiterating anti-Israel rhetoric that has brought him international condemnation.