The United States and Israel are withdrawing contributions to UNESCO, the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization, after the body voted accepted Palestine as the 195th full member on Monday. The U.S. contributes 22 percent of UNESCO's budget, and Israel provides another three percent. UNESCO's full membership voted 107 to 14 to accept Palestine, with 52 abstentions.

Ariel Sharon served as Israel's prime minister from 2001 to 2006, but Sharon's long career in public service began with Israel’s War of Independence in 1948. Sharon suffered a stroke in 2006, leaving him in a coma-like state. While he is now immobilized, Ariel Sharon leaves a legacy that will no doubt affect his country for decades to come. 

Gilad Sharon, former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s youngest son, joins The Takeaway this morning to talk about his new biography of his father. A controversial and polarizing figure, Ariel Sharon dedicated his life to protecting Israel, but how best to preserve his country’s borders became a lifelong question. Sharon lived a life of contradictions. As Minister of Defense in 1982, he was found to be indirectly responsible for the massacre of hundreds of Palestinians at the Sabra and Chatila refugee camps in Lebanon by Lebanese Christians. As prime minister, violence between Israelis and Palestinians skyrocketed. Yet his decision to relinquish control of Gaza to the Palestinians in 2005 may yet define his legacy.

Sgt. Gilad Shalit, the Israeli soldier who has been imprisoned by Hamas since 2006, was released on Tuesday in Egypt as part of a prisoner trade between Israel and Hamas. In exchange for Shalit's release, Israel freed 477 Palestinian prisoners, the first group of what will be more than 1,000. "I very much hope that this deal will advance peace," Shalit told Egyptian television before he was released. The deal is seen as a major political victory for Hamas, which Israel considers to be a terrorist organization. While Shalit may be on his way home, what the prisoner swap means for the future of the Palestinian leadership and the Middle East peace process is far from clear.

Sgt. Gilad Shalit, the Israeli soldier who has been imprisoned by Hamas since 2006, was released on Tuesday in Egypt as part of a prisoner trade between Israel and Hamas. In exchange for Shalit's release, Israel freed 477 Palestinian prisoners, the first group of what will be more than 1,000. The deal is seen as a major political victory for Hamas, which Israel considers to be a terrorist organization. "I very much hope that this deal will advance peace," Shalit told Egyptian television before he was released. Many Israelis support the swap, but Arnold Roth, who was on The Takeaway yesterday, does not. Roth lost his daughter in 2001 to a Palestinian suicide bomber. The woman who drove that bomber is one of the 477 set to be released today.

Israel released the names of the 477 Palestinian prisoners it will free on Tuesday in exchange for captured soldier Gilad Shalit, who has been held by Hamas since 2006. Most of the prisoners were serving life sentences for violent crimes, including murder. About 200 of the prisoners will not be allowed to return home, and will be exiled to Qatar and Turkey. A poll by Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth found nearly 79 percent of Israelis support the swap.

A deal brokered by Egypt between Israel and Hamas to free a thousand Palestinian prisoners in exchange for the release of an Israeli soldier, Staff Sergeant Gilad Shalit finds all sides benefiting politically. Shalit has been held captive for more than 5 years — making him a powerful symbol of national anguish for Israelis. Not all the details of the deal have been released, but a Hamas spokesmen claims that among the Palestinian prisoners to be released is Marwan Barghouti. Barghouti is a Fatah leader widely viewed as a potential successor to President Mahmoud Abbas.

On Wednesday, President Obama made clear his opposition to the Palestinian National Authority's bid for statehood through the United Nations Security Council. "Ultimately it is the Israelis and the Palestinians, not us, who must reach agreement on issues that divide them," Obama said. Israel has criticized the Palestinian Authority's efforts as undermining the peace process, and the United States has been leading the pressure against the PA's application. Will Obama's remarks affect other countries' approaches to the bid? And what are the Palestinian Authority's chances at statehood anyway?

Among the multitude of serious issues facing this week's meeting of the United Nations General Assembly and Security Council, none has been the focus of as much attention as the Palestinian bid for statehood. The Palestinians will ask for UN membership, something the General Assembly anticipated in Resolution 181 in 1947, which partitioned Palestine into Jewish and Arab states. Many groups are protesting outside the UN headquarters in New York in advance of the application.

As the Palestinians appeal to the U.N. to become a state, we look at recent examples and ask what makes a state? And what are the implications of becoming one?

This week, Ben Bernanke and the Federal Reserve will hold a rare two-day meeting to decide on interest rates, which are currently close to zero. Meanwhile, President Obama will release details of his deficit reduction plan this morning, and one key component is taxing the wealthy, which has many Republicans screaming "class warfare." The Clinton Global Initiative annual meeting begins tomorrow, and the primary topic of discussion will be jobs, as unemployment and poverty prove to be an ever-increasing global problem. Later in the week, the Palestinian Authority will ask the United Nations Security Council for full membership, which the U.S. has already said they will veto.

Egyptian protesters surrounded Israel's embassy in Cairo on Saturday, prompting Israel to deploy military jets to rescue their diplomats there. A clash between police and demonstrators ensued. The protests were in response to Israel's military killing five Egyptian policemen on the Gaza border last month, as Israeli forces pursued militants who had killed eight Israelis.

A confluence of economic crises plaguing the Palestinian Authority are threatening to derail a number of efforts to unify and legitimize the emerging state. State employees have seen their salaries halved in recent weeks as the Palestinian government has struggled to pay its bills. Palestinian banks are refusing to loan the state any more money, and aid from Arab nations has dried up. Ethan Bronner, Jerusalem bureau chief for The New York Times, reported on this story for today's paper.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu received 29 standing ovations during Tuesday's speech in front of Congress in part for his praise of America's foreign policy. There was major applause following this statement: "Congratulations, America. Congratulations, Mr. President. You got bin Laden. Good riddance.” However, Netanyahu held firm against the idea of returning the borders to 1967 lines. What does this mean for the Palestinian-Israeli peace process? And what if a Palestinian leader were to address Congress? How many standing ovations would they receive? Diana Buttu, a fellow at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard, was a legal adviser to the Palestinian Negotiating Team from 2000-2005.

Over three decades have passed since Henry Kissinger served as Secretary of State for the Richard Nixon, and then Gerald Ford, and his advice is still sought and respected by politicians and world leaders. In the third installment of our interview with him, he shares his thoughts on the Arab spring, Israel and Palestine, and how President Obama is handling all of this.

President Obama and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel shared their visions of peace at a long meeting in Washington on Friday, but their differences remain stark. Coming up, Martin Indyk, former United States Ambassador to Israel and director of Foreign Policy at the Brookings Institute, shares his thoughts.

In President Barack Obama's speech on the Middle East Thursday, he addressed the looming issue of peace between Israel and Palestine. President Obama said that the borders of "Israel and Palestine should be based on the 1967 lines." This statement drew immediate negative reaction from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is scheduled to meet with President Obama today in Washington, D.C.

Yesterday marked the anniversary of the creation of Israel in 1948 and thousands of Palestinians marched to mark what they call the "Nakba" or the "catastrophe." Ever year, Palestinians protest this date. Sunday, thousand of protesters marched on Israel's borders with Syria, Lebanon and Gaza and over a dozen were killed in clashes with Israeli troops. It was significant that protesters crossed over from Syria's borders, says the BBC's correspondent in Jerusalem, Wyre Davies.

The leaders of the two main Palestinian factions, Hamas and Fatah, have signed a unity deal in Cairo this morning, ending four years of hostilities. Speaking at the signing ceremony in Cairo, the Palestinian president and head of the Fatah party, Mahmoud Abbas, said that Palestinians had turned "the dark page of division." Many are hopeful that this will help lead to peace in the region. The New York Times Ethan Bronner reports from Cairo on the agreement. 

Half-Palestinian, half-Israeli actor and leading non-violence activist Juliano Mer-Khamis was shot dead on Monday in the West Bank. Mer-Khanis was a leading figure in the arts and founded The Freedom Threatre in Jenin, a Palestinian refugee camp in the West Bank. The theater provides opportunities for Palestinian children to get involved in the arts.