The second round of US-brokered Mideast peace talks will be held next week, the State Department said Thursday, even as the Palestinians protested new Israeli settlement activity. In a letter to Secretary of State John Kerry, the chief Palestinian negotiator, Saeb Erekat, said Israel's latest settlement announcements were an indication of "Israel's bad faith and lack of seriousness" in the talks.

Israel has authorized the young winner of the Arab Idol talent competition to move from the Gaza Strip to the West Bank as a "humanitarian gesture," an official said Tuesday. "General Eitan Dangot, coordinator of government activities in the (Palestinian) territories, accepted a West Bank residence request for Mohammed Assaf," the defence ministry official said. "This will allow his to travel abroad much more easily than from the Gaza Strip," the official explained.

Barcelona’s “Peace Tour” of Israel and the Palestinian territories reached its climax on Sunday evening with Lionel Messi and his teammates putting on a display of skills and training techniques in front of 12,000 children. As Messi juggled the ball, thousands of Israeli youngsters in the crowd at Bloomfield Stadium in Tel Aviv cheered his name. Dozens of young Israelis, including Israeli Jews and Arabs from the Peres Center for Peace, took part in the training session alongside Barcelona’s stars, including Dani Alves, Gerard Pique, Andres Iniesta and new signing Neymar.

There are plenty of reasons to be cynical about U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry's relaunch of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks. The personalities and the politics involved do not immediately inspire confidence. Nevertheless, I choose not to be negative, partly because it is always easy to sit on the sidelines and take potshots. The more important consideration is, because peace is so essential to the lives and futures of the peoples of the region and to American interests in the Middle East, that any good faith effort deserves support and a chance to succeed.

When Barcelona meet Brazilian side Santos in a friendly on Friday at the Camp Nou, there will be a quick dash to the airport afterwards. They’ve got places to be. People to see. Peace to spread. On Saturday afternoon Barca will be in the Middle East as part of their Peace Tour initiative, as Lionel Mesi, Neymar and a whole host of stars will visit Palestine and Israel over the weekend.

Israel and the Palestinians plan to resume peace negotiations this week for the first time in nearly three years after an intense effort by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry to bring them back to the table. The talks are scheduled to resume in Washington on Monday evening and Tuesday and will be conducted by senior aides to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, the State Department said.

Popular Colombian band Bomba Estereo has been asked to cancel their free concert in Jaffa as part of a boycott of Israel. The appeal has been made by the Colombian section of the “boycott Israel” campaign has appealed to the band to turn down the invitation to play in Jaffa to stand in solidarity with the Palestinian people.

With official relations between Palestinians and Israelis still poisonous after a century of conflict, any constructive dialogue is newsworthy. But these aren’t security forces talking about joint military patrols, nor is this discussion connected to the sudden resumption of peace talks after a three-year stalemate. The group, brought together by Cisco Systems, is speaking their common language: tech management.