In other news, Los Angeles county detectives opened an investigation into the wildfires that claimed the lives of two firefighters this week, and Israel plans to speed up the pace of settlement expansion in the West Bank.
President Obama said Tuesday after meeting with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak that he is encouraged by progress in U.S. efforts to bring Israel and the Palestinians back to the negotiating table.
Margaret Warner reports on reactions to the meeting between Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and President Barack Obama Thursday.
In her first trip to the Middle East as the nation's top diplomat, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced that the U.S. will contribute $900 million in aid to efforts to help Palestinians rebuild.
After the expiration of a three-hour truce Wednesday to allow in humanitarian aid, fighting between Israeli forces and Palestinian gunmen resumed in the city of Gaza.
Gulf leaders are set to meet Wednesday in Cairo for an Arab League Summit amid increased international pressure on Israel to stop air strikes in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip. Two analysts probe both sides of the conflict.
As Israel continues strikes on Hamas targets in Gaza amid rocket fire, Israeli Ambassador Sallai Meridor and U.N. Palestinian Observer Riyad Mansour discuss the conflict.
Israeli forces struck a series of targets throughout the Gaza Strip on Thursday, killing 18 Palestinians, including five boys playing soccer near the town of Jabalya, as a new round of violence threatened to fuel stronger Israeli military action.
Israel has intensified airstrikes on parts of the Gaza Strip to squelch rocket and mortar attacks fired from Palestinian territory controlled by the militant group Hamas.
On the third day of his trip to the Middle East, President Bush predicted that there will be a peace treaty between Israeli and Palestinian leaders before he leaves office -- while acknowledging that such an agreement will require "painful…
