Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on Thursday sought guarantees from Washington that it would pressure Israel to cancel its plan for 1,600 new housing units in East Jerusalem, Palestinian media outlets reported.

"Our relationship with the Americans is above all else. It is an alliance that has survived complicated periods, and I had no intention of harming those ties, or to challenge the American administration, or to present obstacles to this important visit by the vice president," Shas chairman and Interior Minister Eli Yishai said Thursda.

U.S. Vice President Joe Biden's attempt to reassure Israel of American steadfastness survived a steadfast Middle East tradition of self-sabotage.

Israel's announcement of new housing starts during U.S. Vice President Joe Biden's visit was a "disaster," Abraham Foxman said in a rare rebuke.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton will be the keynote speaker at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee annual policy conference.

The European Parliament called for the immediate release of captive Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit.

The U.S. State Department's annual human rights report cited Palestinian incitement and Israel's denial of some basic Palestinian needs as ongoing problems in the region.

For Jews in Dnepropetrovsk and its environs, there is an addition to the already wide variety of foods available to the kosher consumer. “Kosherniy Pogrebok” (Kosher Vault) has begun to produce canned beef with buckwheat (beef hash).

Three of the men who allegedly cut up and stole the “Arbeit Macht Frei” sign from the front gate of Auschwitz have confessed to the crime.

The European Parliament passed a resolution that said European Union states should "demand the implementation of the Goldstone report's recommendations."