Jerusalem - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered Israel's ambassador to Switzerland to return home for consultations, in protest of Bern's decision to host Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad at a conference Monday in Geneva.

Netanyahu and Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman have decided to recall Ambassador Ilan Elgar "immediately," a statement issued by the Israeli Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem said.

Jerusalem - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu denied Monday that he had set a new precondition for starting peace talks with the Palestinians.

Israeli media had widely quoted Netanyahu as telling George Mitchell, US President Barack Obama's envoy to the Middle East, last week that the Palestinians must recognize Israel as a Jewish state before peace negotiations can resume.

Jerusalem  - New Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, has appointed an Israeli-Arab Bedouin as his political advisor for the Middle East, the Israeli Yediot Ahranot daily reported Sunday.

Ismail Khalidi, currently Israel's deputy consul-general in San Francisco, will take up his new position in the coming weeks. He is the first Bedouin to serve in the Israeli diplomatic corps.

Jerusalem, Apr. 18 : The Israeli military is preparing to launch a massive aerial strike on Iran''s nuclear facilities within days of being given the go-ahead by its new government.

"Israel wants to know that if its forces were given the green light they could strike at Iran in a matter of days, even hours. They are making preparations on every level for this eventuality. The message to Iran is that the threat is not just words," The Times quoted a senior defence official, as saying.

Jerusalem, Apr. 18 : Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has said that his country is in favour of a dialogue with the West over the nuclear stand-off.

He said he would soon give an official response to an offer of negotiations by the five permanent UN Security Council members and Germany.

"We are leaning toward dialogue," The Jerusalem Post quoted Ahmadinejad, as telling Iran's Army Radio.

Jerusalem, April 14 : New archaeological evidence has emerged which suggests that ancient Jews used human skulls in ceremonies, despite a strict prohibition on touching human remains.

According to a report in Haaretz News, British researcher Dan Levene from the University of Southampton published findings in Biblical Archaeological Review about the human skulls, known as incantation bowls, some of which bear inscriptions in Aramaic.