Defence Minister Ehud Barak said on Wednesday Israel would consider a limited moratorium on new construction in Jewish settlements.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gave ground on Sunday by conditionally accepting a United States goal of a Palestinian state.
US envoy George Mitchell assured Israel on Tuesday the United States would remain its close ally despite differences over Jewish settlements.
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/ 11 February 2009
Israel faced on Wednesday what could be weeks of political uncertainty after an election that ended with clashing claims of victory.
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/ 26 January 2009
Front-runner Benjamin Netanyahu has moved quickly to deflect allegations his victory could mean conflict with new US President Barack Obama.
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/ 21 September 2008
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert announced his resignation at a Cabinet meeting on Sunday, but he could remain in office for weeks or months.
Ehud Olmert’s lawyers began on Thursday the cross-examination of a US businessman who says he supplied the then mayor with cash-stuffed envelopes.
Israel said on Wednesday it accepted an Egyptian-brokered truce with Hamas in the Gaza Strip, but voiced scepticism the ceasefire would hold.
Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak called on Wednesday for Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to step aside over corruption allegations or face a collapse of his coalition that would disrupt peace talks with the Palestinians. This came a day after an American businessman told a court how he handed Olmert envelopes stuffed with thousands of dollars in cash.
A United States businessman at the centre of a bribery case against Prime Minister Ehud Olmert testified on Tuesday he gave the Israeli leader cash-stuffed envelopes but without expecting any favours in return. ”I never expected anything personally. I never had any personal benefits from this relationship whatsoever,” Morris Talansky told court.