Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu linked on Sunday the massacres in Syria to Iran and Hizbullah, accusing them of providing Syrian President Bashar Assad with assistance.

"It's not just the Syrian government. It is being aided by Iran and Hizbullah," Netanyahu said at the start of a cabinet session about the massacre of hundreds of civilians in several towns in Syria.

Israeli President Shimon Peres urged the international community on Sunday to bolster efforts to stop the bloodshed in Syria, and said he hoped the rebels "will win" their struggle.

In an interview with Israeli public radio, Peres said the "efforts of the international community are insufficient."

Vandals overnight slashed car tires and sprayed graffiti at a mixed Arab-Jewish community west of Jerusalem in an attack which bore the hallmarks of an act of settler revenge.

An Agence France Presse journalist said cars in the village of Neve Shalom/Wahat al Salam or Oasis of Peace were sprayed with slogans including "Death to the Arabs" and "Revenge" in Hebrew.

France on Thursday condemned Israeli plans to expand a West Bank settlement by 300 homes and urged Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu not to follow through with their construction.

"We call on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to abstain from implementing these plans. We recall that colonization in all its forms is illegal under international law, undermines the two-state solution at ground level and is an obstacle to peace," foreign ministry spokesman Bernard Valero said.

Israeli troops erected earth mounds and established a military post along the border with Lebanon in an area that oversees the Wazzani river zone of Muntazahat, the National News Agency reported Thursday.

Around three bulldozers, a dredger and 30 soldiers backed by four Merkava tanks and 3 Humvees began the operations in the early morning hours along the border that stretches from the Western side of Ghajar all the way to the al-Hamari.

Head of the parliamentary energy committee MP Mohammed Qabbani stressed on Thursday that the disputed 854 square kilometers maritime zone belongs solely to Lebanon’s Exclusive Economic Zone.

The area, which Lebanon and Israel are bickering over, contains suspected energy reserves that could generate billions of dollars.

The Palestinians urged foreign governments on Wednesday to implement the recommendations of an Amnesty International report criticizing Israeli prison conditions and practices.

"The Palestinian government calls on the international community to take action to end -- and not merely condemn -- the torture, detention without trial and other abuses highlighted," the Palestinian government said in a statement.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed on Wednesday to expand the Beit El settlement by 300 homes after MPs voted down a bill to prevent the razing of buildings in one of its neighborhoods.

Netanyahu had opposed the bill, which would have circumvented a Supreme Court ruling ordering the dismantling of five buildings in the Ulpana neighborhood -- a settlement outpost built on private Palestinian land -- by legalizing outposts.

Israeli MPs on Wednesday voted down the preliminary reading of a draft bill that would have retroactively legalized settler homes built on private Palestinian land.

The 22-69 vote effectively thwarted an attempt to circumvent a Supreme Court ruling ordering the removal of five buildings from a settlement outpost known as the Ulpana neighborhood by July 1.

The Palestinians urged foreign governments on Wednesday to implement the recommendations of an Amnesty International report criticizing Israeli prison conditions and practices.

"The Palestinian government calls on the international community to take action to end -- and not merely condemn -- the torture, detention without trial and other abuses highlighted," the Palestinian government said in a statement.