In response to the Israeli cabinet’s approval on Sunday of a map of the Jewish state's proposed maritime borders with Lebanon, which conflicts significantly with those proposed by Lebanon in its own submission to the U.N., Energy and Water Minister Jebran Bassil said Lebanon had demarcated its maritime borders according to the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea, calling on Israel to “sign this convention before speaking about international laws.”

Commenting on the Israeli cabinet’s announcement that it will soon present the map of its maritime economic zone located between Lebanon and Cyprus for a U.N. opinion, Bassil told Agence France Presse: “We don’t have a presupposition. Let’s see what will Israel send to the U.N. Should it respect international law, there will be no problem.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced on Sunday that the Jewish state recognizes South Sudan and wished the world's newest nation "much success."

"Yesterday, a new state was born, South Sudan. I hereby announce that Israel recognizes the Republic of South Sudan," he said. "We wish it much success."

Some 120 foreign activists were being held in Israeli jails Saturday, awaiting possible deportation, after arriving at Tel Aviv's airport over the weekend as part of a solidarity mission with the Palestinians, a government official said.

Others who managed to get through Israeli border controls traveled to the West Bank where some joined a demonstration against Israel's separation barrier.

Israel is to seek a U.N. opinion on its maritime borders with Lebanon in the Mediterranean, where lucrative offshore gas fields have been found, Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said on Sunday.

"We will soon be presenting the United Nations headquarters in New York with our position on our maritime borders," Lieberman told Israeli public radio.

At the remains of an ancient metropolis in southern Israel, archaeologists are piecing together the history of a people remembered chiefly as the bad guys of the Hebrew Bible.

The city of Gath, where the annual digging season began this week, is helping scholars paint a more nuanced portrait of the Philistines, who appear in the biblical story as the perennial enemies of the Israelites.

Scores of pro-Palestinian protesters trying to reach Israel were blocked at airports in Europe and two American activists who arrived in Israel were deported early Friday, Israeli officials said.

Israel increased security at the Ben-Gurion International Airport ahead of the activists' arrival and asked foreign airlines to prevent blacklisted travelers from boarding Israel-bound flights, as hundreds said they would travel to Israel to protest Israeli policies toward the Palestinians.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel Friday defended her government's silence on a reported secret deal to sell hundreds of tanks to Saudi Arabia, and said she was committed to democracy in the region.

"Deliberation and decisions by the federal security council are secret for good reason," she told the daily Mittelbayerische Zeitung, referring to the panel including the chancellor and top ministers that rules on arms exports.

Israel-Turkey talks meant to repair ties strained by a fatal attempt to breach Israel's Gaza blockade have collapsed, an Israeli official said on Thursday.

The talks were being held ahead of a U.N. report which Israel’s Haaretz newspaper said listed faults of both sides' handling of the issue, in which Israeli commandos killed nine Turkish nationals.

An Israeli soldier was moderately injured on Thursday in a blast apparently caused by an explosive device along the border with the Gaza Strip, an army spokesman said.

"The soldier was moderately injured, apparently by an explosive device," he said, without saying on which side of the border the incident had occurred.

A lone French yacht carrying activists hoping to run the Israeli blockade on Gaza was on Thursday blocked in Crete by the Greek coast guard when it stopped to refuel, an organizer said.

"The Dignite/Al Karama was taken to Sitia in Crete by the Greek coast guard after being stopped in a nearby port while it was refueling," Claude Leostic told Agence France Presse by telephone from Paris.