Tel Aviv - Israel will not compromise on its security, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed Tuesday, as the country commemorated the over 22,000 soldiers and civilians killed in wars or attacks since Israel's foundation and the years leading up to it. "Never will we forsake our fate again. Never will we lose our defensive force. Our hand is extended in peace to all of our neighbors, but our enemies ought not to misconstrue us," he said at an official memorial ceremony at Jerusalem's Mount Herzl cemetery.

Tel Aviv- Israel Tu

Tel Aviv  - Israel sealed off the West Bank as it was marking its annual memorial day for fallen soldiers Tuesday, and preparing for its 61st independence day, Israel Radio reported.

The army shut down checkpoints on key West Bank roads leading into Israel, to avoid possible attacks by Palestinian militants in crowded city centres as Israelis plan to celebrate 61 years since their state was founded Tuesday evening.

Tel Aviv - Israel commemorated its more than 22,000 fallen soldiers and victims of terrorist attacks on Tuesday evening with a blast of sirens at 8 pm (1700 GMT). In addition to the sirens, traffic came to a halt and businesses, bars and restaurants closed.

Israeli President Shimon Peres lit a memorial flame in the old city of Jerusalem at the Wailing Wall, the site believed to be the remains of the ancient Judean temple.

Tel Aviv - Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman sees Iran as the biggest obstacle to peace in the Middle East, he told the newspaper Jerusalem Post on Friday.

He said it would not be possible to resolve a single problem in the region without first settling the issue of Iran's controversial nuclear programme.

This applied to Lebanon and Syria as well as "the problems with Islamic extremists in Egypt, the Gaza Strip and Iraq," he told the daily.

Tel Aviv, Apr. 23 : Israel considers Pakistan as its biggest strategic threat rather than Iran.

Expressing concern over the increasing Taliban threat in Pakistan, Israel's Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iraq were the three countries from which Israel faces an immediate threat.

"Pakistan is nuclear and unstable and Afghanistan is faced with a potential Taliban takeover, and the combination forms a contiguous area of radicalism ruled in the spirit of Osama bin Laden," The Daily Times quoted Lieberman, as saying.