Arab Israeli MP Haneen Zuabi on Tuesday told a UN human rights inquiry into Israel's deadly raid on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla that its commandos had a "licence to kill."

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)-- As de facto Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas ventures into futile negotiations with Israel, the U.S. has given Israel the green light to resume construction in 57 Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, Israeli sources said, despite the alleged decision to freeze settlement activity until September 26.

US President Barack Obama claims direct talks between the Palestinian Authority (PA) and the Israelis will end the Israeli occupation of 1967.

During the Six-Day War of 1967, Israel occupied the West Bank, including East al-Quds (Jerusalem), the Golan Heights in Syria, Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, and the Gaza Strip.

Consistent with the established Israeli policy of denying non-Jews free access to their respective religious places in East Jerusalem, the Israeli occupation authorities have placed stringent restrictions against the entry of Muslims into occupied East Jerusalem.

27th August to 2nd September 2010

• A Middle East peace that wreaks havoc
• Hamas, the I.R.A. and Us
• UN team begins Gaza flotilla probe in Jordan
• Israeli actors refuse to take the stage in settlement theatre
• Israel academics snub settlements

Veolia has previously received strong international criticism for its involvement in the tramway project in Jerusalem, which is partly situated on occupied land and links illegal Israeli settlements in East Jerusalem with West Jerusalem.

HURA, ISRAEL // Nuri al Uqbi’s small cinderblock home in a ramshackle neighbourhood of Hura, a Bedouin town in Israel’s Negev desert, hardly looks like the epicentre of a legal struggle that some observers say threatens Israel’s Jewish character.

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)-- Israeli businessmen expressed fears that the European campaign to boycott Israeli products could widen after a sharp decline in exports.

GEORGE J. MITCHELL, the United States Middle East envoy, tried to counter low expectations for renewed Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations by harking back to his experience as a mediator in Northern Ireland.

The TUC congress will instruct the General council to boycott Israeli Goods. The annual Conference is due to be held on September 13th in Manchester.