An Israeli court on Wednesday acquitted Avigdor Lieberman on corruption charges, paving the way for the hardline nationalist to return to the post of foreign minister.

The anticipated return of Lieberman -- a tough-talking former bouncer with a history of incendiary anti-Arab rhetoric -- could further complicate already faltering U.S.-brokered talks with the Palestinians.

The Gaza Strip's Hamas government said on Tuesday it had added studies to encourage "resistance to Israel" to the territory's public schools curriculum.

Courses to "strengthen Palestinian rights, update programs and add studies on human rights" would be introduced at three levels in secondary schools, Education Minister Muetassem al-Minaui told Agence France Presse.

Paula Abdul, an award-winning singer, dancer, choreographer and TV personality, can add a new title to her resume: religious pilgrim.

The former "American Idol" and "The X-Factor" judge is on her first trip to Israel, where she is connecting to her Jewish roots and planning on holding a belated Bat Mitzvah — the Jewish coming of age ceremony girls typically have at age 12 or 13.

Justice Minister Tzipi Livni is pushing to change the law in Israel to allow civil unions, including between gays and lesbians, an official said Monday.

The purpose of the ministerial proposal, currently in the form of a memorandum, is "to legislate an official status for the union of couples for joint life, which reflects their will to live together, have a family life and joint household, without marrying according to personal law as applied in Israel."

The Palestinians threatened to go to the U.N. Security Council over Israel's announcement on Sunday of tenders to build more than 1,800 settler homes in the West Bank and east Jerusalem.

"The PLO is considering a mechanism to go the Security Council and the U.N. against these new Israeli decisions, especially as there are international resolutions that consider settlements illegal," senior member Wassel Abu Youssef told Agence France Presse.

Israel issued tenders to build 1,859 settler homes Sunday ahead of a visit by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry aimed at pushing the peace process forward, an NGO said.

Settlement watchdog Peace Now told Agence France Presse that 1,031 plots were offered by Israel's housing and construction ministry in the occupied West Bank and 828 in annexed east Jerusalem, and that successful bidders would be able to start construction shortly.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry sought Sunday to calm fears that Israeli-Palestinian peace talks are faltering, saying he remained hopeful there would be progress in the coming months.

But he renewed his plea for the world -- keen for a deal to end six decades of animosity between the two sides -- to give negotiators space to work.

An Israeli military unmanned drone crashed in the northern Gaza Strip on Sunday, with Palestinians saying they shot it down but Israel blaming a technical malfunction.

A security source from Hamas, the Islamist movement that rules Gaza, said they had "captured an Israeli drone that was flying over east Jabalia this morning."

Israel will build a security fence on the border with Jordan, a report said on Sunday, enraging Palestinians ahead of talks with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry.

Israel has long stated that it seeks to retain a long-term military presence along the Jordan Valley, which the Palestinians vigorously oppose.

South Africa has slammed Israel's plans to build new settler homes in east Jerusalem as pro-Palestinian activists launched an international campaign for the release of political prisoners.

"That arrangement there in Palestine keeps us awake," South Africa's Foreign Minister Maite Nkaona-Mashabane on Friday told members of Cosatu, the largest trade union which is a political ally of the ruling ANC party.