New scientific findings suggesting Yasser Arafat might have been poisoned with polonium have brought to the fore decades-old tensions between rival Palestinian factions and with Israel.

Gaza rulers Hamas and the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority quibbled over festivities commemorating Arafat nine years after his death, and the findings by Swiss experts coincided with a visit by US Secretary of State John Kerry to try and salvage a fragile peace process.

U.S. Ambassador Dan Shapiro on Monday sought to quell Israeli fears over an emerging deal with Iran, vowing that Washington would never let Tehran acquire a nuclear weapon.

"On this crucial issue the U.S. and Israel share an identical agenda," Shapiro told delegates attending the General Assembly of the Jewish Federations of North America in Jerusalem.

The parliamentary telecommunications committee denounced on Monday the Israeli espionage stations along the border as violation of Lebanon's sovereignty, pointing out that it is happening despite the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701 and the presence of the UNIFIL.

“The ongoing Israeli aggression took a new direction in terms of the used techniques,” head of the committee MP Hassan Fadlallah told reporters after chairing a two-hour meeting at the parliament.

Failure to reach a peace deal with Israel would be better than inking an agreement which allows it to continue its settlement building, a top Palestinian negotiator said on Monday.

"In the absence of political will from the Israeli side to take the negotiations seriously, we believe that it is better not to reach a deal than to reach a bad deal," Mohammed Shtayyeh said in a statement.

The United States is "not blind, and I don't think we're stupid" in nuclear talks with Iran, Secretary of State John Kerry said in a U.S. television interview that aired on Sunday.

The top U.S. diplomat also insisted there is "zero gap" between the Obama administration and its commitment to Israel, with diplomatic relations between the two allies under strain over the Iran nuclear talks.

A deal between world powers and Iran on Tehran's nuclear program is within reach, British Foreign Secretary William Hague said Sunday following talks in Geneva.

"It is vital to keep the momentum," Hague told BBC television. "A deal is on the table and it can be done."

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday that Israel would do all it could to keep world powers from striking a "bad and dangerous" deal with Iran over its nuclear program.

Netanyahu said he had spoken with leaders of the United States, Russia, France, Germany and Britain -- five of the six world powers negotiating with Iran -- and told them the mooted deal was "bad and dangerous."

Israel plans to lobby the U.S. Congress to prevent a deal being reached on Iran's nuclear program, Economy Minister Naftali Bennett said Sunday ahead of the November 20 resumption of talks.

"Before the talks resume, we will lobby dozens of members of the U.S. Congress to whom I will personally explain during a visit beginning on Tuesday that Israel's security is in jeopardy," he told army radio.

Egypt will expand cooperation with Russia in the wake of a diplomatic spat with long-time ally the United States following president Mohammed Morsi's overthrow, Foreign Minister Nabil Fahmy said Saturday.

The foreign minister, in a interview with Agence France Presse, was speaking ahead of a visit on Wednesday by Russia's defense and foreign ministers to discuss arms sales and political relations.

Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon said on Saturday that a landmark deal on Iran's nuclear program under discussion with world powers is a "historical mistake".

"An agreement now, in the current conditions, is a historical mistake that will allow the bellicose regime in Tehran to pursue its dangerous nuclear program and its ambition to spread terror and to undermine regimes in the Middle East and the entire world," Yaalon said.