Mideast Conflict

ISRAEL-GAZA BORDER (Reuters) - A security threat forced Middle East envoy Tony Blair to cancel a trip to the Gaza Strip on Tuesday that would have marked the highest-level diplomatic visit since Hamas took control, a spokesman said.

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - A spokeswoman for Mideast envoy Tony Blair says threats against the former British prime minister have caused him to cancel a planned trip to the Gaza Strip.

NABLUS, West Bank (AFP) - Israeli troops arrested 12 Hamas members in a dawn raid in the occupied West Bank on Tuesday, a Palestinian security official said, as part of a widening crackdown on the movement.

NEW YORK - A group of Americans, Canadians and Israelis who claim Hezbollah rocket attacks injured them and killed relatives have accused two banks of helping finance the terrorist attacks and have sued them for $650 million.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The US State Department gave cautious support Monday to a Mediterranean summit in Paris aimed at spurring on Palestinian-Israeli peace negotiations.

ABEY, Lebanon - The last time Samir Kantar's mother saw her son, he said goodbye and told her he would be back in two days.

President Bashar al-Assad's Visit to the French capital is another victory for Syria, a reward for indirect talks with Israel. But is peace in sight?

PARIS - The leaders of Syria and Israel, countries with a bitter enmity, as well as the Palestinian and Lebanese presidents together marked France's Bastille Day on Monday in a diplomatic coup for French President Nicolas Sarkozy.

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Of the hundreds of tragic tales of children killed during decades of Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Ahmed Khatib's must rank among the most remarkable.

RAMALLAH, West Bank (AFP) - US Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama will meet Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas next week, officials said on Monday.

PARIS (Reuters) - Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said on Monday a military attack on Iran over its nuclear program would have grave consequences for the United States, Israel and the world.

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama will visit Israel and the occupied West Bank next week, Israeli and Palestinian officials said on Monday.

JERUSALEM (AFP) - Israel has approved the construction of 25 factories in a Jewish settlement in the heart of the occupied West Bank, a spokesman for the settlement said on Monday.

JAKARTA (AFP) - Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono opened an Asia-Africa conference on "capacity building for Palestine" alongside Palestinian prime minister Salam Fayyad here Monday.

PARIS (AFP) - Israel and the Palestinians disagreed over the final declaration at a Mediterranean summit and the wording will have to be changed, Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said Monday.

JERUSALEM - Israeli security officials say they fear the Lebanese militia Hezbollah will attack Israel after the sides complete a prisoner swap this week.

PARIS - Syria's president sat out the Israeli prime minister's speech to a Paris summit Sunday in an apparent rebuff just hours after Ehud Olmert urged Damascus to open direct peace talks, Israeli officials said.

SANAA (AFP) - Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh on Sunday called for rival Palestinian factions Hamas and Fatah to hold a dialogue in Qatar like the Doha forum which produced a political accord for Lebanon.

BEIRUT (AFP) - Lebanese militant Samir Kantar, who is set to be freed from jail on Wednesday, has been serving a 542 jail sentence in Israel for a triple murder including the brutal killing of a four-year-old girl.

PARIS - Embattled Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert declared Sunday that Israel and the Palestinians have never been closer to making peace — even as a widening corruption probe brings him closer than ever to being ousted from office.

PARIS (Reuters) - Israel and the Palestinians have never been so close to a peace deal, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said on Sunday after talks with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and French President Nicolas Sarkozy.

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel and Lebanon's Hezbollah group will exchange prisoners on Wednesday under a U.N.-mediated deal, the Israeli prisons service said on Sunday.

DUBAI (AFP) - Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said Damascus would establish "normal" relations including the opening of embassies if a peace accord was sealed with Israel, in an interview broadcast on Sunday.

PARIS (AFP) - Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert held indirect talks through Turkey on Sunday, an Israeli diplomatic source said.

SANAA (Reuters) - Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal called on Sunday for the resumption of Yemeni-brokered efforts to reconcile rival Palestinian factions and Yemen said a meeting could be held in the Gulf state of Qatar.

PARIS (AFP) - Israel and the Palestinians "have never been this close" to a peace deal, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Sunday following talks with Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas in Paris.

PARIS - Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert says Israel hopes to have direct contacts with Syria soon.

PARIS (AFP) - Israel and the Palestinians "have never been this close" to a peace accord, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Sunday following talks with Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas in Paris.

PARIS (AFP) - Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert arrived in the French capital Sunday where he is to attend a Mediterranean Union summit and hold talks with Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas.

PARIS (Reuters) - Syrian President Bashar al-Assad will make history and seal detente with Europe on Sunday when he attends the launch of a French-inspired 43-nation Union for the Mediterranean alongside Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.