Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas told the Egyptian media Tuesday he would remain committed to international resolutions at a Middle East conference initiated by the U.S. and due later this year.

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has criticised Tel Aviv's response which includes cutting fuel and power supply to the Gaza Strip.

Israeli officials have begun reducing fuel supplies to the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip. VOA's Jim Teeple reports Israel has also closed a key crossing point as part of a package of sanctions Israel says is in response to Palestinian militants firing rockets into southern Israel.

Israeli Premier Ehud Olmert will hold talks with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Friday, to prepare for an upcoming U.S.-sponsored Mideast peace conference.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said officials from the Islamist group Hamas were holding meetings with Israel to end the blockade of Gaza and ease access for goods and people.

A petition against giving up any part of Jerusalem to Palestine was sighed by a majority of Israel’s lawmakers.

Four Palestinians have been killed and more than 30 injured in clashes between the Hamas-controlled security forces and members of a Fatah-affiliated clan in the Gaza Strip, local media said Thursday.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice won tempered Egyptian support in her quest to nudge Israelis and Palestinians closer together ahead of a Mideast peace conference to be held in November or December.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has raised questions about Israel's control of Arab neighborhoods in east Jerusalem. His remarks Monday came in a speech remembering a prominent right-wing parliamentarian who was killed by Palestinian militants. Mr. Olmert asked if it was necessary for Israel to control Arab neighborhoods in Jerusalem.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice played down expectations for breakthroughs as she opened a critical round of Mideast shuttle diplomacy on Sunday and warned Israel against moves that might erode confidence in the process.

A senior Palestinian official says there is serious progress in new peace talks with Israel. But as Robert Berger reports from VOA's Jerusalem bureau, the Islamic militant group Hamas could sabotage the process.

Jerusalem is emerging as a major stumbling block in new peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians. As Robert Berger reports from VOA's Jerusalem bureau, both Jews and Muslims are claiming the city's holy sites as their own.