The UN Security Council is to hold a special meeting next week on Israeli settlement building in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

Dr. Ziad Asali, president and founder of the American Task Force on Palestine discuses the Middle East conflict at the Chautauqua Institution. The discussion was moderated by Geoffrey Kemp, director of Regional Security Programs, Center for the National Interest.

Ahead of a U.N. commission report, the Israeli military issued an update on its internal inquiries, saying neither Israeli nor international laws were broken in several deadly clashes.

Israelis are once again locked in a bitter settlement dispute with their Arab neighbors, but this time the conflict is not unfolding in the West Bank, but in Israel's southern desert.

The Vatican has concluded its first treaty that formally recognizes the State of Palestine, news reports said Wednesday.

President Barack Obama says the United States is "taking a hard look" at its approach to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, telling an Arabic language news source Wednesday that Palestinians "deserve an end to occupation."