JERUSALEM (AFP) — Washington called off a meeting between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the US Middle East envoy because of Israel’s refusal to halt settlement growth, an Israeli newspaper said.

Ehud Barak approved construction in West Bank. Scheme cuts farmers’ access to land, say critics.

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel on Tuesday freed the most senior of dozens of Hamas politicians in custody, prompting speculation it was a prelude to a deal for the release of an Israeli soldier held by Palestinians for three years.

Jerusalem – Israeli PublicSecurityMinister Yitzhak Aharonovitch visited the flashpoint Temple Mount/Haram al-Sharif compound in Jerusalem’s old city Tuesday, setting off a storm of protest among Muslims, who called the tour a ‘provocation.’

The British government has refused to heed a petition calling on the UK to impose an arms embargo on Israel and press other countries to stop supplying arms to the Jewish state.

But a future Palestine must be ‘demilitarized,’ and the Jewish settlements won’t be halted, Israel’s leader says.