Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas is to attend the World Economic Forum on the Middle East and North Africa region, which takes place in Jordan later this week, an official said. "Abbas has been invited to attend the Forum which is being held near the Dead Sea in Jordan, and will participate," a high-ranking Palestinian official told AFP on Tuesday. "He received invitations to attend from Israeli President Shimon Peres's staff and Jordanian King Abdullah II," he added, saying US Secretary of State John Kerry would attend the forum taking place on Friday and Saturday.

By Noah Browning RAMALLAH, West Bank (Reuters) - Palestinians clashed with Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank on Wednesday during demonstrations to mark 65 years since what they call the Nakba (Catastrophe) when Israel's creation caused many to lose their homes and become refugees. A shell fired from Gaza, which is ruled by the Islamist movement Hamas, exploded in an open area of Israel but caused no injuries, according to an Israeli military spokesman. There was no immediate claim of responsibility from militants in Gaza.

Rival Palestinian factions Fatah and Hamas have set a three-month timetable to form a unity government and organise elections, officials from both sides said on Wednesday. The agreement came during a meeting late Tuesday between Fatah's official in charge of reconciliation affairs, Azzam al-Ahmed, and his Hamas counterpart Mussa Abu Marzuq, held at Egyptian security services headquarters in Cairo.

By Nidal al-Mughrabi GAZA (Reuters) - The alleged spy buried his face in his hands inside a Gaza jail as he admitted passing intelligence to Israel during its battles with armed Palestinian groups. "My handlers in Israel called me and told me that collaborators in Gaza don't know one another and that each worked alone, so hide and stay as you are," the man told visiting reporters, under the watchful eye of a plainclothed Hamas security officer.