French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said France is working at the United Nations for a resolution to restart Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations and to set a two-year deadline for success.

Shin Bet uncovers Hamas cell in West Bank with ties to Turkey, replacing Syria as its new center for overseas operations.

“The recognition of a Palestinian state is notb a goal in itself,’’ EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said Wednesday in the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France, as MEPs started a heated debate on the issue.

Officials in Jerusalem have said that Sweden's move to recognize a Palestinian state had much to do with domestic political consideration.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu applauded an announcement to extend negotiations over Iran’s nuclear programme until 30 June 2015.

A vote in the European Parliament in Strasbourg on a draft Socialist-initiated resolution calling on the EU to recognize a Palestinian state, scheduled to take place next Thursday, has been postponed to mid-December, a postponement which highlights the division in the parliament on this sensitive issue.

Dutch Member of the European Parliament Bastiaan Belder has urged the parliament to hold a debate on anti-Semitism, saying ‘’it's a shame that this has not been done before.’’

Israel denounced this week a vote by the Spanish lower house of Parliament calling on the government in Madrid to recognize a Palestinian state, hours after a deadly Jerusalem synagogue terror attack.

The situation in the Middle East will be debated in the European Parliament next Wednesday in Strasbourg with the 751 MEPs to vote the following day on whether or not the EU should recognize a Palestinian state.

Israel ''relieved'' as talks extended; US seeks political agreement within four months; Kerry warns against new sanctions legislation; Iran seeks ''victory.''