JERUSALEM - Four Israelis were killed on Tuesday after a Palestinian gunman opened fire on their vehicle on the West Bank.  The Islamist militant group Hamas says its military wing carried out the attack.  The attack came as Israeli and Palestinian negotiators prepare to resume direct talks.
Israeli police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld says the gunman opened […]

JERUSALEM - Israel is moving ahead with plans to purchase nearly $3 billion in advanced stealth fighter jets from the United States aerospace firm, Lockheed Martin. The purchase would come as Israel considers options including a preemptive strike on Iranian nuclear facilities.
Israeli defense officials say the purchase of 20 next-generation F-35 fighter jets is part […]

JERUSALEM - Archaeologists in Israel say they have uncovered a 2,200-year-old gold coin that is the heaviest and most valuable ever found in the country.
The Israel Antiquities Authority said Thursday the coin was discovered in June in the ruins of the ancient village of Tel Kedesh near the border with Lebanon.
It says the gold coin […]

JERUSALEM - A U.S. travel advisory for a Middle Eastern vacation spot has irked Israel. 
Israel is angry over a U.S. advisory warning Americans to locate the nearest bomb shelter when traveling to the Red Sea resort of Eilat.  The advisory was issued by the State Department after rockets were fired at Eilat last week. 
The Israeli […]

JERUSALEM - There has been a deadly flare-up of violence on the Israel-Lebanon border.
Israeli and Lebanese troops exchanged fire in an incident that broke years of relative calm on the border.  There are conflicting accounts of what happened.
Israeli version of events
The Israeli army says its troops came under sniper fire during a routine operation on […]

JERUSALEM - One Palestinian has been killed and at least 11 wounded in a wave of Israeli air strikes on the Gaza Strip late Friday and early Saturday. 
Ambulances raced through the streets of Gaza as Israeli warplanes bombed five targets.  The ruling Palestinian militant group Hamas said missiles hit a military training camp in Gaza […]

JERUSALEM - A rocket attack is raising tensions on the Israeli border with the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip.
The Israeli military says Palestinian militants in Gaza fired a rocket that hit the Israeli coastal city of Ashkelon 12 kilometers away.  The Chinese-made Grad rocket landed near high-rise apartment buildings, causing damage but no injuries.
An eyewitness gave this […]

JERUSALEM - Some German pilots that are part of NATO operations in Afghanistan are in Israel for training on special reconnaissance drones.  The Jewish state’s expertise is helping to train the Germans to protect ground troops and convoys in Afghanistan.
At Israel’s Ein Shemer air base, a Heron drone takes off for a training mission.  But […]

JERUSALEM - Ten people have been injured in clashes between Jewish settlers and Palestinians in the West Bank.  Stone-throwing violence and fist fights broke out as dozens of Israeli settlers marched on the West Bank village of Burin and attacked Palestinians. 
The settlers set a Palestinian field on fire and damaged a new home.  Israeli troops […]

JERUSALEM - Israel’s new anti-rocket system, called the Iron Dome, has passed final tests and will be deployed near the country’s borders by November.  The system was produced by the state-owned Rafael Arms Development Authority and is partially financed by the United States.
The Iron Dome will help neutralize the rocket threat from Hezbollah in Lebanon […]

JERUSALEM - The Fatah Party of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas says for the time being there should be no direct talks between Israel and the Palestinians.
A statement issued by Fatah on Thursday says there has been no progress from indirect talks mediated by the United States.  It warned that without any progress, any move to […]

JERUSALEM - Israel has published its first internal investigation of the deadly raid on an aid flotilla heading to the Palestinian-ruled Gaza Strip.  An Israeli military inquiry said the army was poorly prepared for the raid on an aid flotilla trying to break the Gaza blockade six weeks ago.
Nine people were killed when Israeli commandos […]

JERUSALEM - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday he is willing to take political risks, but not security ones, to work out a peace agreement with the Palestinians. Speaking in New York City, Mr. Netanyahu said direct talks should begin between the two sides without delay.
Repeatedly driving home the point that he is ready […]

JERUSALEM - Israel is resisting international pressure over the flotilla raid this week in which nine people were killed while trying to run the blockade of the Gaza Strip.
Israel has rejected demands by the United Nations for an international investigation into the deadly raid on the flotilla carrying pro-Palestinian activists.
Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said Israel […]

JERUSALEM - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected criticism of his commandos’ storming of an activist flotilla that was trying to break the blockade on Gaza. The raid, Monday, killed nine activists. International criticism is growing, but as our correspondent  reports, Israel is not bowing to international pressure for it to lift the blockade […]

JERUSALEM - A confrontation at sea between Israeli commandos and pro-Palestinian activists has left at least 10 dead.  Israeli forces intercepted an international flotilla that was trying to break a blockade and take hundreds of activists, as well as thousands of tons of humanitarian supplies to the Gaza Strip. The violence has triggered a strong […]

JERUSALEM - Amid simmering regional tensions, Israel is holding a dress rehearsal for disaster. 
Israel is holding a big five-day civil-defense drill across the country aimed at preparing for the possibility of war.  Soldiers, emergency crews and civilians are taking part in the exercise, which deals with the threat of massive rocket and missile attacks with […]

JERUSALEM - Religious Jews and Israel’s secular government have clashed over ancient burial rights. 
Angry ultra-Orthodox Jews came out to protest as Israeli authorities removed ancient graves to prepare for construction of a hospital emergency room.  The demonstrators tried to disrupt the work at Barzilai Hospital in the coastal city of Ashkelon, charging that disturbing the […]

JERUSALEM - The Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization has approved indirect peace talks with Israel, the first negotiations in 18 months.
“The Palestinian leadership today has declared its acceptance to participate in the proximity talks,” said PLO Secretary-General Yasser Abed Rabbo.
He said the decision is based on guarantees from the U.S. “The United States […]

JERUSALEM - U.S President Barack Obama’s point man in the Middle East has little to show for his latest peace mission. 
U.S. envoy George Mitchell held three days of separate meetings with Israeli and Palestinian leaders, but failed to achieve a breakthrough on resuming peace talks.  He said he will return again next week.
“I look forward […]

JERUSALEM - On the eve of Israel’s 62nd Independence Day, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the nation must not rely on the help of foreigners.  He was quoting from the founder of modern Zionism, Theodor Herzl.
Mr. Netanyahu told the Cabinet that according to Herzl, Israel can rely only on itself.
Commentators say it is a clear […]

JERUSALEM - Israel’s government is urging Israelis visiting Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula to leave immediately because of what it calls an imminent terrorist attack.
Israeli authorities said Tuesday they have intelligence of a plot to kidnap Israelis in Sinai, a popular tourist destination.  The Israeli government called on family members to contact Israelis vacationing on the peninsula […]

JERUSALEM - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has canceled a planned trip next week to attend U.S. President Barack Obama’s nuclear security summit.
Israeli officials say Mr. Netanyahu called off his visit to Washington because Egypt and Turkey planned to use the summit to target Israel about its presumed nuclear arsenal.
Israeli officials say the head of […]

JERUSALEM - Jewish and Christian pilgrims have converged on Jerusalem as Passover and Easter coincide.
Thousands of Israelis participated in a Passover tradition: the biblical Priestly Blessing at the Western Wall in Jerusalem’s Old City. Jews who are descendants of the priestly caste of Aaron, the first High Priest in the Bible, covered their heads with […]