Jerusalem, Apr. 28 : Israel's Defense Minister Ehud Barak has described Iran as the country posing the most central threat not only to the Jewish state, but also to the entire world.

"Iran was "a threat to the entire world, as it is interested in changing the entire international order and is a source of instability in the Middle East and throughout the world," the Jerusalem Post quoted Barak, as saying.

Jerusalem - Likud leader Benjamin Netanyahu is returning to the Israeli premiership exactly one decade after he was voted out of what has been described as one of the world's most difficult jobs.

His first term between 1996 to 1999 - when he lost elections to Labour Party leader Ehud Barak, now a key coalition partner - saw a pronounced slowdown in the implementation of the Israeli-Palestinian Oslo peace accords, a process Netanyahu did not support.

Tel Aviv  - Israel Labour Party leader Ehud Barak is the most decorated soldier in Israel's history, but doesn't look the part.

He is pudgy, speaks with a slight lisp, appears stiff and ill-at- ease when facing the television cameras, is regarded as smug, aloof and even - say his many critics - arrogant.

Faced with this perception of their candidate, Barak's advisors have tried to turn his perceived disadvantages into campaign strengths.

Herzlia, Israel  - Diplomatic efforts to persuade Iran to abandon its nuclear programme must be accompanied by a clear timeline, after which harsh sanctions could be imposed, accompanied by a willingness to act, Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak said Tuesday.

He told an international conference in Herzlia, north of Tel Aviv, that all options regarding Iran were on the table. "Beyond that I will say nothing," he added.

Tel Aviv  - Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak ordered the military to open the country's border crossings with Gaza on Tuesday to allow trucks with basic humanitarian supplies to enter the strip for the fifth time in more than one month.

Some 40 trucks with basic food products and medical supplies of the United Nations and other aid organizations were passing through the Kerem Shalom crossing with southern Gaza, Israel Radio reported.

Israel also opened the Karni crossing for commercial goods with central Gaza to some 30 more trucks transporting grains. Cooking gas and industrial diesel for Gaza's power plant would be allowed in through the Nahal Oz fuel crossing as well, the radio said.

Tel Aviv - Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak said Thursday that a house in Hebron currently occupied by radical settlers would be evacuated and handed over to the army, until its ownership was decided by the courts.

The minister spoke after meeting in Tel Aviv with settler leaders, in an attempt to reach a deal on evacuating the building. According to Israeli media, the settlers asked Barak to delay the evacuation, and work to expedite a court hearing on the ownership of the house.