Middle East

Israeli forces kill Palestinian trying to ram them with vehicle

Israeli forces kill Palestinian trying to ram them with vehicle Jerusalem  - Israeli border policemen shot and fatally wounded an East Jerusalem Palestinian who tried to run them over during the demolition of a house in the village of Sur Bakher Tuesday afternoon.

The incident happened as border police and soldiers from the army's Home Front Command were destroying the home of a Sur Bakher resident who intentionally ran amok with a bulldozer and killed three people in West Jerusalem last July.

Israel seals off West Bank ahead of Passover festival

Israel seals off West Bank ahead of Passover festival Tel Aviv  - Israel will seal off the West Bank from midnight Monday (2200 GMT) for the duration of the seven-day Passover festival, which begins Wednesday at sunset, the Israeli military said in a statement.

The closure will remain in effect until Saturday April 18, according to "security assessments," the statement said.

Russia's President Medvedev calls for Palestinian state

Russia's President Medvedev calls for Palestinian state Moscow  - Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on Monday called for a two-state solution in the Middle East following talks with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Moscow.

"We continue to support the establishment of a separate Palestinian state," Medvedev said, according to Russia's Itar-Tass news agency.

The Kremlin chief again announced plans for a Middle East conference in Moscow, for which a date has yet to be set, saying the conference could mark "the next step towards a solution to the conflict."

Obama arrives in Turkey for first visit to a Muslim country

Obama arrives in Turkey for first visit to a Muslim countryAnkara - US President Barack Obama arrived in Turkey on Sunday on
an official visit that would see him fulfilling a pledge to visit the
Muslim nation in his first 100 days in office.

Obama was expected to seek to emphasize his administration's new
approaches to regional problems in talks with Turkish leaders President
Abdullah Gul and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the capital
Ankara on Monday.

Discussions on withdrawing US troops from Iraq, stepping up
reconstruction efforts in Afghanistan and new US moves to engage Iran

Israel to set peace agenda in coming weeks, Netanyahu says

Prime Minister Benjamin NetanyahuJerusalem  - Israel will set its peace agenda in the next few weeks, new Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday as he opened the first cabinet meeting of his government.

"In the coming weeks we will complete the formulation of our policy to advance peace and security," he told the ministers at the weekly cabinet session in Jerusalem.

The cabinet, sworn in last Tuesday night, also appointed a 12-man inner cabinet, which will take decisions on political and security matters.

Israeli fire kills two Gaza fighters

Israeli fire kills two Gaza fightersGaza  - Palestinian medics on Saturday confirmed that two fighters were killed during armed clashes with Israeli forces in the northeast of the Gaza Strip.

The Israeli army also confirmed that its forces killed two militants said to have been planting bombs near the security fence that separates between Israeli and Palestinian territories in the east of Jabaliya refugee camp.

Earlier, the medical sources were unable to confirm reports that the two fighters had died.

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