Prime Minister Ehud Olmert

Turkey is ready to oversee a new stage of secret peace talks between Israel and Syria, resuming a role it had played until last year, Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said here Friday. Historically Israel's only friend in the Middle East, Ankara has in recent years served as a conduit for diplomatic exchanges between the Jewish state and its arch foe Damascus about improving relations. But Turkey was angered by Israel's behaviour in the January 2008 conflict in Gaza and ties have become strained. Last month Israel was excluded from annual joint military exercises and the back channel to Syria has gone quiet. Turkey -- ... Read Full Story

Last night was the rally in Tel Aviv that marked the 14th anniversary of Yitzhak Rabin’s assassination. The memorial rally was hosted in Rabin Square which is the site where Rabin, was murdered on November 4th, 1995. Thousands of people crowded the square to rally for peace and remember the late Prime Minister of Israel. President Shimon Peres, Defense Minister Ehud Barak, and Kadima party leader Tzipi Livni were just a few of the people who made speeches throughout the rally. President Barack Obama also spoke via a pre-recorded video message broadcast. Read Full Story

Israel said on Wednesday that commandos had intercepted a ship carrying "hundreds of tonnes" of arms from Iran to Hezbollah in a raid dozens of miles off its coast but both Iran and Syria denied the cargo was headed to the Lebanese militia. "We found dozens of containers, with hundreds of tonnes of arms bound for Hezbollah from Iran," Israeli deputy naval commander Rani Ben Yehuda told reporters. The shipment was among the largest ever seized by Israel, dwarfing the 50 tonnes of weapons found aboard the Karine A seized in 2002 on its way to Gaza, which dealt a major blow to relations ... Read Full Story

I thank blog poster "Anonymous 12:35" for calling this important breaking news to my attention. You can read about it in full by clicking here . The same Ehud Barak who gushed all over Javier Solana November 27 and November 28, 1995 now has been forced to cancel his planned visit to Spain. When the original Barcelona Conference was held on those two days, it was Ehud Barak who said that "at long last, Israel has joined the European club." He went on to enumerate the benefits of "belonging to the European club." He also said that they had "beaten their swords into ploughshares." ... Read Full Story

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel offered cautious praise on Friday for a U.N.-drafted, U.S.-backed proposal for dealing with Iran's enriched uranium, calling it "a positive first step" toward denying Tehran the means to make nuclear weaponry. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu raised the issue expressly ahead of talks with U.S. President Barack Obama's Middle East envoy George Mitchell, who does not usually deal with Iran, following more skeptical remarks by Israeli defense officials. "I also wanted to take this opportunity to express my appreciation for the president's ongoing efforts to stop Iran from acquiring nuclear military capability," Netanyahu said at a brief welcome session video-taped and ... Read Full Story