WASHINGTON -- Israel's prime minister promised to present his vision for an Israeli-Palestinian peace in a speech before U.S. lawmakers on Tuesday, but vowed his country would not return to mid-1967 borders that he termed "indefensible."

Benjamin Netanyahu made this pledge in an address Monday to thousands of pro-Israel American Jews and U.S. lawmakers. His speech drew roaring cheers and standing ovations, a sign of the powerful backing he enjoys in the U.S. as the White House pressures him to do more to renew stalled Mideast peacemaking.

The warm reception Netanyahu enjoyed at the gala dinner of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee contrasted sharply with the contentious quality of some of his recent exchanges with President Barack Obama precisely over border issues...

The fallout over veteran White House reporter Helen Thomas' controversial comments about Jews continued to build as a Washington-area high school abruptly canceled a graduation speech she was scheduled to deliver. The cancelation came after the speaking agency that represents Thomas dropped her.

Alan Goodwin, principal of Walt Whitman High School in Bethesda, Md., wrote in an e-mail Sunday to students and parents that Thomas would be replaced as speaker for the school's June 14 graduation.

"Graduation celebrations are not the venue for divisiveness," he wrote...

(CNSNews.com) – As the Christian world prepares to mark the birth of Jesus Christ, the little town of Bethlehem has once again become a platform for Palestinians and their allies to use the seasonal spotlight to score political points against Israel.

In the crosshairs is the security barrier that runs between Palestinian Authority (P.A.)-controlled Bethlehem and the Israeli capital just two or three miles away. The project was launched by Israel in mid-2002 in a bid to prevent suicide bombings and other terror attacks of the type that had cost hundreds of Israeli lives since the outbreak of the “second intifada” 20 months earlier.

Traditional olive woodcarvers in Bethlehem have begun to incorporate the security wall into carvings of the nativity scene offered for sale to visitors, with the politicized versions reportedly especially popular with foreign diplomats and journalists...

Geneva (AP) - The U.N. Human Rights Council voted Friday to endorse a Gaza war crimes report and send it to the Security Council, possibly setting up international prosecution of Israelis and Palestinians accused of war crimes.

The council approved a Palestinian-backed resolution after two days of debate on the Goldstone report, which it had commissioned following the Dec. 27-Jan. 18 conflict in which almost 1,400 Palestinians and 13 Israelis were killed.

The resolution passed 25-6, with mostly developing countries in favor and the United States and five European countries opposing. Eleven mostly European and African countries abstained, while Britain, France and three other members of the 47-nation body declined to vote...