Sweden announced a multi-million-euro Palestinian aid package Tuesday as President Mahmoud Abbas made his first visit to Stockholm since 2009.

Sweden became the first major Western European country to recognize Palestine in October, but Prime Minister Stefan Loefven stressed that the recognition came with responsibilities.

At least two U.S. senators, including the chamber's longest-serving lawmaker, will skip Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's speech to Congress next month, deepening a partisan fissure over the controversial address.

In a blunt statement Tuesday, Democratic Senator Patrick Leahy accused Republican leaders in the House of Representatives of "unilaterally" arranging and politicizing Netanyahu's planned address before a joint meeting of Congress on March 3.

A Lebanese man went on trial in the United States on Monday on charges that he kept secret his prior affiliation with Hizbullah and Amal movement to remain in the country and to possibly gain access to sensitive information.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark Roomberg told jurors in San Antonio, Texas, that Wissam Allouche admitted to an undercover agent to previously being an Amal commander and that he supported Hizbullah.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday he is determined to address Congress next month over Iran's nuclear program, brushing off U.S. fears his intervention could derail talks with Tehran.

"I am determined to address Congress, that is why I decided to go to Washington and present Israel's position," Netanyahu told participants at an election event by his Likud party.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas arrived in Stockholm on Monday for an official visit tainted by a diplomatic row with Israel following Sweden's recognition of Palestine.

Swedish relations with Israel sank to an all-time low after the Nordic country's center-left government decided in October to recognize Palestine, just weeks after it took office.

It is a delicate subject which has been taboo since biblical times but now an Israeli documentary has broken new ground by exploring the ultra-Orthodox Jewish ban on masturbation.

"Sacred Sperm" was born from the worries of a religiously observant father, Ori Gruder, who did not know how to talk to his 10-year-old son about the act of masturbation or sex in general. 

A Qatar-based senior Hamas leader on Monday praised the Gulf state's "courageous" foreign minister, Khalid al-Attiyah, after an apparent spat with Israel's intelligence minister Yuval Steinitz at a German security conference.

In a statement, Izzat al-Rishq, a member of Hamas's political bureau in Doha, backed Qatar's foreign minister for his "strong, courageous statements and response to the lies of the 'Zionists', and his defense of Hamas and the resistance during the Munich security conference".

Israel's Supreme Court has ordered the government to demolish nine homes in a West Bank Jewish settlement which were built on private Palestinian land, court documents show.

But according to the ruling handed down late on Sunday, the authorities have until 2017 to carry out the demolitions in Ofra, north of the West Bank city of Ramallah.

The spokesperson of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon has said that the area of operations of peacekeepers is “stable and under control,” adding that UNIFIL enhanced its operations south of the Litani river following the latest clash between Israel and Hizbullah.

“UNIFIL's rules of engagement come in conformity with the mission's mandate which was set under Chapter 6 of the U.N. Charter,” Andrea Tenenti told As Safir daily published on Monday.

The United States is reportedly reconsidering a decision to invite Israel to a conference expected to be held in Washington next week after Lebanon decided to boycott it over claims that it cannot take part in a meeting to confront terrorism with the Jewish state's participation.

According to As Safir newspaper published on Monday, Lebanon's decision created a fuss among European countries that began wondering about the matter, which caused Washington to hesitate in its invitation.