Former Prime Minister Fouad Saniora suggested to visiting United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon that the international organization demarcate Lebanon’s maritime border, reported the daily An Nahar on Sunday.

He proposed during their meeting on Saturday that the U.N. also determine Lebanon’s Exclusive Economic Zone, which would enable the country to exercise its rights to exploit the natural resources in the area.

Israelis and Palestinians fought across the Gaza border on Friday, with Israeli tank fire wounding two men at the frontier and Palestinians firing a rocket into southern Israel, medics and the army said.

Israeli tanks fired at a group of Palestinians who appeared to be attempting to plant explosives along the border fence, in the early hours of Friday a military spokeswoman told Agence France Presse.

Four Palestinian men were detained on Sunday after Israeli troops at a West Bank checkpoint discovered 12 pipe bombs, a knife and a gun in their possession, an Israeli police spokesman said.

"Four Palestinians were arrested at the Salem checkpoint. They had a commando knife, a pistol and 12 explosives. They were arrested and taken for questioning and the investigation is continuing," spokesman Micky Rosenfeld told Agence France Presse.

Inspired by the role of social media in the Arab Spring, Palestinians have harnessed the same tools, under the wary gaze of the authorities in the West Bank and Gaza.

In both parts of the Palestinian territory, ordinary people and activists have taken to social networking to share their hopes, mobilize demonstrations and call for government reform.

Israeli and Palestinian negotiators held a "positive" first face-to-face meeting in more than 15 months and agreed to meet again on Friday, but cautioned that full-blown talks were still some way off.

"The talks and atmosphere were positive," Jordanian Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh told reporters after Tuesday's talks in Amman between Israel's chief negotiator Yitzhak Molcho, his Palestinian counterpart Saeb Erakat and Palestinian negotiator Mohammed Shtayyeh.

Israeli troops on Thursday demolished four villas near the ancient city of Jericho, which Israel said endangered a nearby archaeological site, sources on both sides said.

An AFP correspondent at the scene said the villas, which are located in Ad-Duyuk at-Tahta northwest of the town, were owned by Palestinians living in Jerusalem and Ramallah.

Gaza's Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniya said support for Palestine should be a "religious and nationalist commitment" as he arrived in Tunis Thursday to a welcome from Tunisia's new leaders.

"Palestine is not a banner that we brandish like nobody's business, it's a religious and nationalist commitment," said Haniya after a meeting with Tunisia's moderate Islamist Prime Minister, Hamadi Jebali.

Israelis and Palestinians were downbeat about peace prospects on Wednesday, a day after the two sides held their first face-to-face talks since September 2010 at a meeting in Amman.

"It's difficult to be optimistic because (Palestinian President Mahmoud) Abbas continues to insist that Israel must commit to the 1967 lines and a settlement freeze, failing which he threatens tough measures," Israeli lawmaker Benny Begin told public radio.

Gaza's Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniya will Monday meet the head of an Islamic aid group whose Gaza-bound vessel was stormed by Israeli troops in 2010 in a raid that left nine activists dead.

Haniya, who is making his first trip abroad since Hamas rose to power in Gaza in 2007, will tour the Turkish passenger ship Mavi Marmara and meet relatives of the victims.

A senior Israeli cabinet minister on Monday said that a planned meeting with Palestinian negotiators after a 16-month pause was a positive step but should not be seen as renewal of negotiations.

"This is a positive development," Intelligence Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Dan Meridor told Israeli public radio.