Expectations are low for a Middle East peace agreement despite progress reported at a summit meeting between Israeli and Palestinian leaders on Tuesday. As Robert Berger reports from VOA's Jerusalem bureau, suspicions run deep on both sides.

Capturing Israeli soldiers is the only way to free jailed Palestinians, a Gaza-based leader of the Islamist group Hamas said Wednesday.

The European Commission has temporarily suspended the financing of fuel oil deliveries to the Gaza Strip over plans by Hamas to impose an electricity tax in the territory, a commission spokesman said Monday.

Israeli troops have shot and killed three Hamas militants in separate incidents along Israel's border with the Gaza Strip. In the first incident Wednesday, Israeli soldiers killed two Hamas militants near the Karni cargo crossing.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said Wednesday dialogue with Hamas is only possible if the radical Islamist group gives up control over the Gaza Strip.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas says Israel has promised quick solutions for many of the day-to-day concerns of Palestinians in the occupied areas.

Ehud Olmert on Monday will become the first Israeli prime minister to visit a Palestinian city since the outbreak of fighting seven years ago, meeting Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in the West Bank town of Jericho to discuss the creation of a Palestinian state.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert will meet in the West Bank town of Jericho Monday, a media adviser to the Palestinian leader said Saturday.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice says Israel is ready to discuss "fundamental issues" with Palestinians who are now governed by leaders accepted by the Jewish state and the West.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice met with Palestinian leaders Thursday on the final day of her Middle East tour aimed at gaining support for a U.S.-sponsored Middle East peace conference later this year.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice held talks with senior Israeli officials Wednesday to try to restore momentum to the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. She came to Jerusalem from Saudi Arabia, where she obtained a qualified Saudi endorsement of the Middle East meeting the United States plans to host this autumn.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will begin laying the ground for a Mideast peace conference in a visit to Israel on Wednesday, hoping to push Israelis and Palestinians closer to renewing talks.