The White House has cautioned the UN heritage organisation UNESCO to cease meddling in the Palestinian attempt unilaterally to gain statehood.

The warning came after the cultural agency began considering admitting the Palestinians into its ranks.

Former President Jimmy Carter has given his backing to Palestinian plans unilaterally to declare statehood at the UN later this month.

Mr Carter, who oversaw the Camp David negotiations which secured peace between Israel and Egypt while in office, is well-known as a critic of the Israeli government.

An eight-year-old boy is taking on US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in the American Supreme Court.

If you ask pint-sized plaintiff Menachem Zivotofsky where he was born, he gives the same answer as most Jewish Jerusalemites: Israel.

A nine-year-old American is preparing for a court case against US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Menachem Zivotofsky began legal proceedings after his parents were prevented from registering his birth country as Israel.

Palestinian plans to bid for statehood at the United Nations in September are a distraction from the goal of peace negotiations, a US State Department official has said.

Hillary Clinton has condemned the pro-Palestinian activists who plan on sailing a flotilla to Gaza as unhelpful and provocative.

The US Secretary of State said the plans, which would see a flotilla departing later this month with the intention of breaching Israel's sea blockade of Gaza, would only serve to increase tensions in the region.

Hillary Clinton has announced that the United Sates will give an additional £93 million in aid to the Palestinian Authority.

The US Secretary of State made the announcement during a joint video conference with Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad.

The money is intended to boost the government there and help the Palestinian Authority reduce its budget deficit.

Mrs Clinton said that a peace settlement was still possible, despite a White House condemnation of plans for further construction in east Jerusalem yesterday.

Hillary Clinton has called for the Palestinians to publicly disavow terrorist organisations Hamas and Hizbollah.

The US Secretary of State told a Palestinian peace group that Israel must take further steps to relax restrictions on the Gaza Strip.

Mrs Clinton also told the audience at the American Task Force on Palestine event that while there is “no magic formula” to solve the Middle East conflict, negotiation remains absolutely necessary.

Direct peace talks resumed in Washington in September after nearly two years.

Hillary Clinton has praised the Israeli and Palestinian leaders for taking the peace negotiations seriously.

As a second day of direct Middle East peace talks commenced, this time in Jerusalem, the US Secretary of State said Benajmin Netanyahu and Mahmoud Abbas were "getting down to business".

Hillary Clinton has said that “there are lots of ways” for peace talks to proceed between Israel and the Palestinians despite concerns that the upcoming expiry of the West Bank construction freeze will derail the negotiations.

The partial ban on building of Jewish settlements is scheduled to end on September 26, and Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas had warned that he might walk out of talks if it is not extended.

Hillary Clinton has announced the first direct talks between Israel and the Palestinians in nearly two years.

The US Secretary of State invited Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas to Washington to resume negotiations in order to creat a "just and lasting peace."

Egyptian and Jordanian leaders have also been asked to attend.

It had been described as the wedding of the century and by all accounts Chelsea Clinton’s marriage to Jewish investment banker Mark Mezvinsky did not disappoint.

The daughter of former US President Bill Clinton and current Secretary of State Hillary Clinton married under a chuppah at a ceremony presided over by both a rabbi and a Methodist minister.

The event was shrouded in secrecy from the earliest stage of planning, and security was so tight that guests were given identification bracelets before they arrived.

Former "First Daughter" Chelsea Clinton has finalised plans for her wedding to Jewish fiance Marc Mezvinsky, according to reports.

Speculation has been growing for months about the event and now a resident has let slip that the pair are likely to marry in the upstate New York village of Rhinebeck.

Ms Clinton, 30, and Mr Mezvinsky are believed to be marrying on July 31 at a mansion owned by a donor to Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign, Kathleen Hammer.

The 50-acre Astor Courts estate is modelled on Paris’s Versailles.

The US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, has restated the US’s firm commitment to Israel’s security and has warned Iran and Syria against supplying weapons to Gaza and Hizbollah.

In a speech to the American Jewish Committee, Mrs Clinton underlined her commitment to peace in the region, and condemned the transfer of weapons from Syria to terrorists in Gaza and to Hizbollah in Lebanon.

Israel is becoming increasingly concerned over the possible transfer of Scud missiles to Hizbollah, which would allow terrorists to hit Israeli targets more easily.

Tony Blair, the former British Prime Minister and envoy to the Middle East Quartet has described his vision for a safer Israel at the Aipac conference in Washington.

He said: “Israel is a democracy. The politicians are in fear of the people, not the people in fear of the politicians.”

Like US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who spoke at the conference yesterday, Mr Blair called the kidnapping of Gilad Shalit "a disgrace" and said that Iran must not be allowed to acquire nuclear weapons.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has called the current situation in Israel “unsustainable” but guaranteed the Obama administration’s “rock solid” commitment to Israel.

In a speech prepared to deliver to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (Aipac) in Washington, which was released early by her office, Mrs Clinton will say: “Guaranteeing Israel's security is more than a policy position for me. It is a personal commitment that will never waver.

The Middle East Quartet peace mediators have called on Israel to freeze all settlement activity and say their aim is to create a Palestinian state within two years.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon, who led the meeting with representatives from the US, the European Union and Russia, was the latest to condemn Israel’s plan to build 1,600 homes in Ramat Shlomo, east Jerusalem.

US President Barack Obama has spoken of the “special bond” the US has with Israel, keen to smooth over the mounting diplomatic crisis between the countries.

Tensions have been high since the Israeli Interior Ministry announced the building of 1,600 new homes in Ramat Shlomo, east Jerusalem, just 24 hours after US Vice President Joe Biden visited the country in an attempt to start peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians.

Jerusalem appeared to have returned to a semblance of calm last night as police reopened the Temple Mount and road closures from the West Bank were lifted, despite yesterday’s violent clashes.

The riots were in protest against the Israeli government’s approval given to 1,600 new homes in East Jerusalem, a move which cause a deep rift between Israel and the US, with US special envoy to the Middle East, George Mitchell, cancelling a visit to Israel.

Chelsea Clinton is engaged to her Jewish boyfriend Marc Mezvinsky, a spokesman for former President Bill Clinton has confirmed.

Miss Clinton, 29, the daughter of Bill and Hillary Clinton, the current Secretary of State, is believed to have become engaged on Thanksgiving to Mr Mezvinsky, 31. The couple have been together for two years.

They were introduced through their parents in 1993 at the Renaissance Weekend, an annual event for political and business leaders. Both attended Stanford University. Mr Mezvinsky currently works as an investment banker for Goldman Sachs.