U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice wrapped up a three-day trip to the Middle East saying peace talks between Israelis and Palestinians are moving forward, but Israel needs to stop its settlement activities.

United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is in the Middle East to try and push forward Israeli Palestinian peace talks.

Israel says it will allow up to 600 foreign-trained Palestinian police to be deployed in the West Bank town of Jenin, site of frequent clashes between Israeli soldiers and Palestinian militants.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has accused Israel of implementing policies that he describes as "ethnic cleansing" in predominantly Palestinian east Jerusalem.

The leader of the Islamic militant group Hamas has laid out conditions for a cease-fire with Israel.

Israel says it will hold Hamas directly responsible for any rockets fired into the Jewish state from the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, regardless of which militant group launches the strikes.

Palestinian militants have stepped up rocket attacks against Israel after a tightening of Israeli sanctions on the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip. Robert Berger reports from the VOA bureau in Jerusalem.

Israeli troops have killed at least six Palestinian militants and a schoolteacher in the northern Gaza Strip. VOA's Jim Teeple has details from our Jerusalem bureau.

A human tide of Palestinians has swarmed out of Gaza into Egypt for the second day after militants blew open the border in a bid to break a punishing Israeli blockade.

Israel's right-wing party leader Avigdor Lieberman quit the ruling coalition government today, saying he does not support negotiations with Palestinians that will result in Israeli giving up land it captured in the 1967 Arab-Israeli War. Jim Teeple reports from Jerusalem, Israeli air strikes continued to target Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip, in a bid to stop militants from firing rockets at southern Israel.

US President George W Bush who is on a visit to Israel to revive the stalled Mid-East peace mission urged the Jewish country to end its occupation of the West Bank.

Following talks this week with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said he believes there is a real possibility of achieving peace with Israel.