Washington  - US President George W Bush and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert met in Washington on Monday pledging to move forward on the peace process as both prepare to leave office.

"I believe that vision is alive and needs to be worked on," Bush said of the peace negotiations that were relaunched in November 2007 during an international conference he hosted in Annapolis, Maryland.

New York  - The Palestinian people's rights to self- determination and statehood should be supported after 60 years of deprivation, United Nations officials said Monday.

While the UN advocates for Palestinians' rights, it also defends Israeli's rights to live in security within their borders.

The UN on Monday marked the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, an occasion to reiterate calls for ending the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Negotiators at last year's meetings in Annapolis, under the sponsorship of the White House, had hoped for a peace agreement by the end of December.

Gaza/Tel Aviv - Israel considered partially reopening its border crossings with Gaza after a reduction in rocket attacks from the strip over the past few days, Israel Radio reported Monday.

The border crossings have been all but completely shut for 20 days amid a deteriorating five-month-old truce, with only one convoy of 33 trucks with essential humanitarian supplies entering the strip one week ago.

Israeli defence officials were scheduled to hold consultations later Monday to debate easing the blockade if no new rockets landed in Israel.

Some 44 trucks with basic goods could enter through Israel's Kerem Shalom crossings with the southern Gaza Strip Monday.

Tel Aviv/Gaza City  - Palestinian factions have agreed to halt rocket fire from the Gaza Strip and to renew their commitment to an Egyptian-brokered ceasefire with Israel in exchange for opening crossing points into the strip, a Hamas spokesman said on Sunday.

Ayman Taha, the spokesman, said the agreement was reached Sunday morning and the factions would wait to see when Israel will reopen the commercial crossings into Gaza.

The meeting was held after Egypt, which sponsors the ceasefire, conveyed an Israeli message to Hamas that the Jewish state will call off recent restrictions if the armed Palestinian groups halted rocket attacks against Israeli border towns.

Tel Aviv/Gaza City  - Israel will keep the borders into the Gaza Strip closed after resumed rocket fire by Palestinian militants late Saturday toward southern Israeli towns, Israeli media reported.

Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak made the decision to keep all border crossings into Gaza closed, following the latest launches of three home-made Kassam rockets by militants toward two towns in southern Israel. There were no casualties.

An Israeli attack by a ground-fired missile in retaliation wounded two Palestinians militants who were allegedly trying to fire additional rockets, the Palestinian news agency Maan reported.