Dozens of Jewish settlers rioted on Tuesday in the West Bank town of Hebron, clashing with the Israeli troops who guard them but who may also soon evict them from a disputed building they've occupied.

UN aid agencies asked international donors Wednesday for $462 million to help fund their activities in Gaza and the West Bank in 2009, saying most of the money was needed for emergency food and cash assistance to Palestinians.

Appealing to all parties in the Middle East to eschew violence, India has stressed on the necessity of arriving at a "lasting and durable solution" to various inter-related tracks that constitute problems in the region.

President George W Bush and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said that the Middle East peace process, which has so far failed to yield results, will continue after the two lame-duck leaders leave office.

Israel partially eased restrictions over Gaza Strip on Monday and allowed the transfer of humanitarian aid following a reduction in rocket attacks by Hamas on its southern communities over the past few days.

Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas said on Sunday that he will call snap presidential and parliamentary elections in the New Year if reconciliation talks with the Islamist Hamas movement fail.

Israel will release 250 Palestinian prisoners "without blood on their hands" in a goodwill gesture towards moderate Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas ahead of the Muslim festival of al-Adha in December.

Oxfam joined the United Nations, European Union and Amnesty International in appealing to Israel to allow in food convoys and to resume supplies of fuel.

Violence flared again around Gaza on Friday, wounding a woman in Israel and two Palestinian militants, as UN food delivery to 750,000 people ground to a halt in the besieged coastal strip.

Basic supplies were to be sent into Gaza on Thursday following UN warnings that food deliveries to 750,000 people would be suspended unless Israel eases its total closure of the impoverished territory.

Israel indicated on Thursday that it hoped a truce in the Gaza Strip will hold despite a flare-up of violence in and around the besieged Palestinian territory in recent days.

Four Palestinian militants were killed and an Israeli soldier wounded in clashes on the Gaza border on Wednesday in the latest flare-up to rattle a nearly five-month lull and imperil aid deliveries.

"If we are determined to preserve the Jewish and democratic character of the state of Israel, we must inevitably relinquish, with great pain, parts of our homeland, of which we dreamt and for which we yearned and prayed for generations," Olmert told a memorial service on Jerusalem's Mount Herzl.

The Middle East diplomatic Quartet meets Israeli and Palestinian leaders on Sunday to take stock of the Middle East peace process with no sign that a deal will be reached by year's end.

The Middle East peace Quartet gathers in Egypt on Saturday to hear Israel and the Palestinians report on progress in peace talks currently stymied by elections in the US and Israel.

Israeli rescue services have reported a "massive" cross-border rocket barrage by Palestinian militants from the Gaza Strip. At least 20 rockets were reported to be fired from the strip early on Wednesday but there was no immediate word of injuries or damage.

Nearly 600 Palestinian troops took up positions in the tense West Bank city of Hebron early on Saturday and their commander said they would crack down on militants and criminals.

Egypt has invited the Islamist Hamas and the secular Fatah party of Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas to meet in Cairo on November 9 for talks aimed at restoring Palestinian unity, Hamas said on Monday.

Israeli leaders are giving serious consideration to a dormant Saudi plan offering a comprehensive peace between Israel and the Arab world, Defense Minister Ehud Barak said on Sunday.

With nothing in sight to weaken Hamas' grip, the political split between Gaza and the West Bank - the two territories meant to make up a future Palestinian state - looks increasingly irreversible.

India's growing ties with Israel are not a matter of concern for Palestinians as they stand assured on New Delhi's support for their struggle for independence, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said on Thursday.

Affirming India's consistent commitment to the Palestinian cause, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh announced on Tuesday an assistance of $20 million to the Palestinian Authority and promised to do all New Delhi can to help it in all its endeavours.

With a desire to see India play an active role in the West Asia peace process, Palestinian National Authority President Mahmoud Abbas arrived in India on a four-day visit that is expected to give a boost to New Delhi's engagement with Palestine.

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas will leave for India on a four-day visit on Monday, during which he will meet President Prathiba Patil Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress chief Sonia Gandhi.

Stepping up pressure on the rival Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, Islamic faction Hamas, has threatened to name an interim President if elections for the post are not held in January 2009, a media report said.