With four months to go to the regional elections in France, the French President is to visit three suburbs to the north of Paris today in order to highlight the main themes of the election campaign: security and immigration.
A US State Department spokesman reiterated US commitment to a future Palestinian state but poured cold water on an initiative to ask the United Nations Security Council to recognise a state unilaterally.
Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat (pictured) said Sunday they plan to ask for UN recognition of their independence "with June 1967 borders", amid mounting frustration over the stalled peace process.
The Palestinian electoral commission has postponed presidential and parliamentary elections slated for January 24, saying the poll could not proceed in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip.
The Week in the Middle East looks at the increasing religious influence on the IDF, follow Palestinians trying to leave the Gaza strip and examine what Barrack Obama has achieved in the Middle East.
In this edition: no election in sight in Hamas-ruled Gaza; the battle for water between Israel and Palestine; anger boils over in Iraq after string of attacks; and the mystery man at the heart of a diplomatic row between France and Iran.
Amnesty international accuses Israel of depriving Palestine of water and mobilises net users; the web stands divided over Barack Obama’s planned education reform; and net users are invited to ask questions to Nobel Prize winners on Youtube.
On a visit to Jerusalem on Wednesday, US ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice (left) called for an end to "anti-Israel vitriol" at the UN, where a Gaza war crimes report will come under debate.
Mohammed Dahlan, member of the Fatah Central Committee and former security chief in the Gaza strip was also born in a refugee camp in Khan younes. He answers France 24 questions.
