Daily News Channel
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is meeting with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Salam Fayyad on Wednesday. The sessions are the first with the Palestinian Authority leaders for the Obama administration
Iran is calling for the arrests of 15 Israeli leaders, including Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, on charges of war crimes in Gaza.
Israel will hit back at Palestinian-controlled Gaza with a "sharp, painful and strong response" if rocket attacks do not stop, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Sunday. Rocket fire from Gaza, which is run by the militant Hamas movement, was the main reason cited for Israel’s three-week assault on the territory in December and January. The air and land campaign left about 1,300 Palestinians dead.
Israel’s prime minister denied media reports that it is negotiating with the militant group Hamas, which controls Gaza, but said there will be Israeli "consultations" Sunday "regarding the situation in the south." “Should a decision of any kind be required, it will be made only via a meeting of the Security Cabinet and after taking into account all of the new political circumstances that have been created in the wake of the recent Israeli elections,” Yanki Galanti, the media adviser for Ehud Olmert, said Saturday night in a statement. The consultations are to take place among Olmert, Defense Minister Ehud Barak and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni. Israel held elections Tuesday which resulted in a near-tie between Livni’s centrist Kadima party and the right-wing Likud party, led by Benjamin Netanyahu.