AFP - A controversial decision not to press a vote on a UN report on the Gaza war has angered many Palestinians and weakened president Mahmud Abbas amid US-backed peace efforts, observers say.

AP - Hamas leaders on Monday launched an unprecedented attack against President Mahmoud Abbas, saying they no longer consider him a Palestinian after he agreed to suspend efforts to go after Israel for alleged war crimes in Gaza.

Reuters - The Western-backed Palestinian government pledged on Monday "to confront Israel" via diplomatic means as Israeli troops clashed with protesters for a second day in the Jerusalem area.

AFP - Rival Palestinian factions are to sign a long-delayed reconciliation deal in Cairo on October 26, Egypt's Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit said on Monday after meeting Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas.

Reuters - A court in Azerbaijan sentenced a group of militant Islamists including two Lebanese men to between 12 and 15 years in jail on Monday for plotting attacks on the Israeli and U.S. embassies in Baku.

AFP - Hundreds of people protested on Monday against the Palestinian Authority's support for delaying the endorsement of a UN report on possible war crimes committed during Israel's Gaza offensive.

AP - Israel deployed thousands of policemen in and around Jerusalem's Old City on Monday to prevent a new round of disturbances around a tense site holy to Jews and Muslims.

AFP - Police flooded into Jerusalem's Old City on Monday following clashes with Palestinians near the Al-Aqsa mosque compound and as tens of thousands of Jews attended a religious ceremony.

AFP - A Peace Now report said on Monday that some 800 new housing units are being built in settlements across the occupied West Bank, despite US calls for Israel to freeze settlement construction.

AP - An Israeli Cabinet minister has called off a visit to Britain because of concerns he could be arrested on suspicion of committing war crimes, a spokesman said Monday, becoming the latest Israeli official affected by a Palestinian legal campaign in the U.K.

AFP - Israel's vice Prime Minister Moshe Yaalon recently cancelled a planned trip to London over fears that he could be put on trial for alleged war crimes, his spokesman said on Monday.

AFP - An Azerbaijani court on Monday found two Lebanese men guilty of plotting attacks on the Israeli and US embassies in the capital Baku, jailing them for 15 years each, a court spokesman said.

AFP - An Azerbaijani court on Monday found two Lebanese men guilty of plotting an attack on the Israeli embassy in the capital Baku, jailing them for 15 years each, a court spokesman said.

AFP - Syria has postponed a visit to Damascus by Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas due to begin on Tuesday, a Palestinian official told AFP.

The Christian Science Monitor - Demonstrators descended Monday on this city's most famous traffic circle, Manara Square, which for years was a launching point of Palestinian protests against the Israeli occupation.

AP - Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak urged Israel to resume peace talks with the Palestinians where they broke off more than a year ago, warning that the peace process "can't take another failure."

AFP - The Palestinian Authority faced a backlash at home and a split among Arab ranks on Sunday after it backed a UN decision to delay a vote on a report accusing Israel of war crimes in the Gaza Strip.

Reuters - Hamas and Fatah, the warring parties that have divided the Palestinian territories, may agree this month to an Egyptian-brokered deal that sketches out a path to peace between them, but which also faces many further obstacles.

Reuters - Critics accused Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Sunday of letting down his people by bowing to U.S. pressure and postponing action on a U.N. report that criticized Israel's offensive in Gaza.

AFP - The prime minister of the Hamas-run government in Gaza on Sunday slammed as "reckless and irresponsible" the decision by the UN Human Rights Council to postpone consideration of a damning report into the Gaza war.