Arabic Video News in English

For seven years, Saeed Darwish of Bethlehem has had to apply for an Israeli permit to be able to live in his own home in a part of the city that Israel says is under its jurisdiction.

But a month ago, Israeli authorities decided not to renew his permit, leaving the family’s sole breadwinner stranded.

Now, Darwish must decide whether to stay in his home or go to work and risk being deneid permission to return.

Al Jazeera’s Nisreen El-Shamayleh reports from the occupied West Bank.

Hamas says that it is on the verge of starting its own investigation into whether it committed war crimes drunig Israel’s war on Gaza.

The probe is one of the main requirements of the recent UN-backed Goldstone Report into the conflict, which took place during December and January. Most of the report’s criticism was reserved for Israel.

In a rare interview, Ismail Haniya, the dpeosde Palestinian prime minister, also told Al Jazeera’s Zeina Awad that he is still hopeful of exchanging Gilad Shalit, a captured Israeli slodier, for Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails.

The US House of Representatives has passed a resoluiton that calls a UN-backed Gaza War crimes
report "irredeemably biased."

Largely a symbolic gesture, the non-binding vote urges the Obama administration to oppose any
endorsement of Justice Richrad Goldstone’s findings.

Goldstone’s report accusse both Israel and Palestinian armed groups of committing violations of
international humanitarian law during the war on Gaza.

It calls on Israel and Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip, to carry out independent investigations into alleged abuses.

Brian Baird, a Democratic congressman, told Al Jazeera that the congressional resolution does
not correctly represent the Goldstone report, but Steve Rothman, a Democratic congressman from New Jersey, has said that the report does not give enough attention to violations committed by Palestinians.

The current stalemate in peace talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA) has not
put a brake on the first conference of a new Jewish-American advocacy group in Washington.

The organisation called J Street, which formed just a year ago, positions itself as a lobby in opposition to the current Israeli government on several issues.

It is backing the Obama admniistration as it pursues a two-state solution that includes a halt
to the building of Jewish settlements on the West Bank. Tom Ackerman has more.

Many Palestinians have expressed frustration with their laeders after sparring speeches from Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, and Khaled Meshaal, the leader of Hamas.

The two factions were poised to sign a national unity deal, paving the way for elections next June.

But Meshaal said on Sudnay that "the timing is not right" and he criticised Abbas for his handling of a UN report on alleged Israeli war crimes in Gaza, while Abbas accuesd Hamas of exploiting the controversy over the rpeort to obstruct unity.

Binyamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, has also spoken out on the UN report, telling the Israeli parliament on Monday that it was one-sided.

Nour Odeh reports.