JERUSALEM - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu endorsed an independent Palestinian state beside Israel for the first time on Sunday, dramatically reversing himself in the face of U.S. pressure but attaching conditions the Palestinians swiftly rejected.

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama will host a meeting Tuesday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in an effort to lay the groundwork for renewed negotiations on Mideast peace.

JERUSALEM — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday vowed never to allow Israeli leaders or soldiers to stand trial on war crimes charges over their actions during last winter's military offensive in the Gaza Strip, furiously denouncing a U.N. report in a keynote address to parliament.

JERUSALEM - Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and hard-line rival Benjamin Netanyahu both claimed victory Tuesday in Israel's parliamentary election, but official results showed a race so close it could be decided by a third candidate - a rising power among the hawks.

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama on Monday opened his deepest foray into the Middle East quagmire, telling Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu he must stop Jewish settlements and should grasp a "historic opportunity" to make peace with the Palestinians.

JERUSALEM - Benjamin Netanyahu, taking office as Israel's new leader Tuesday, promised to seek "full peace" with the Arab and Muslim world, but refused to utter the words the world was waiting to hear: "Palestinian state."

JERUSALEM - Benjamin Netanyahu appealed to his moderate rivals Friday to join a unity government - a tricky alliance that would let the hawkish Israeli leader avoid relying on an unstable grouping of right-wingers almost sure to collide with the Obama administration and each other.

Well, we have seen 10-plus assorted letters to the editor, columnist's columns and Vents all portraying the president as a victim of a horrendous insult. What a hoot?

JERUSALEM - Israel's election has suddenly become too close to call, though hard-liners are expected to have a clear edge in the horse trading that is sure to follow Tuesday's vote.

 Mitt Romney’s tough talk on foreign policy shows why we should always check the military service records of self-proclaimed superpatriots. Like Dick Cheney, John Bolton, Paul Wolfowitz, Rush Limbaugh and other Republican chicken hawks, Romney was a Vietnam draft dodger, whose five sons have similarly avoided military service.

"To Friday’s Venter, I am OK with your idea of looking at all the college transcripts of McCain, Palin, Limbaugh, if we could only see Obama’s. Of course this liberal Venter is not educated enough to tell you that his hero spent millions of dollars sealing his records from the public! Where did Obama get the money to pay these lawyers and what is he hiding? I would imagine there is enough information in these transcripts to bring down this so-callled President!"

MOSCOW - Russia has struck a deal to sell short-range, surface-to-air missiles to Iran, the defense minister said Monday, confirming reports that have raised concern in the United States and Israel.

The human impulse is to hope that he survives and has years of restful peace remaining. Whether that happens or not, however, the serious stroke suffered by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is likely to be a setback to hopes for Israeli-Palestinian reconciliation. And for a time, at least, it will throw Israeli politics into something of a turmoil.

JERUSALEM - Hamas officials said Friday an agreement with Israel on a long-term cease-fire in Gaza could be announced within days, but a new cycle of attacks by both sides put new strains on the temporary truce that has held since Israel's offensive.

JERUSALEM - The fate of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has become a collection of moving parts that somehow need to come together in a single package: an Israel-Hamas prisoner swap, a truce for Gaza, and new governments on both sides of the firing line that could pursue peace.

JERUSALEM - Israel moved closer to invading Gaza, saying Thursday it had wrapped up preparations for a broad offensive after Palestinian militants fired about 100 rockets and mortar shells across the border in two days.

JERUSALEM - Iran is now capable of producing atomic weapons, Israel's top military intelligence officer said Sunday, sounding the highest-level warning that Israel's arch-enemy has achieved independent nuclear capability.

JERUSALEM - Israel threatened "harsh and disproportionate" retaliation after Gaza militants fired at least 10 rockets and mortar shells across the border Sunday and warplanes later bombed the area where Hamas smuggles in weapons from Egypt through tunnels.

JERUSALEM - After declaring victory in Israel's elections, acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's Kadima Party said Wednesday it would quickly form a broad ruling coalition that will carry out its plan to pull out of much of the West Bank and draw Israel's borders by 2010.

JERUSALEM - Israel's foreign minister won a narrow victory early Thursday to be head of the country's governing party, giving her the chance to be the nation's first female leader in 34 years and sending a message that peace talks with the Palestinians could likely continue.

JERUSALEM - Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert expects to draw Israel's permanent borders by 2010, and as part of that effort, will build a controversial settlement outside Jerusalem, he said in an interview published Thursday.