One man killed and four wounded in apparent worst outburst of settler violence in northern West Bank in decades
Scores of Israeli settlers have gone on a violent rampage in the northern West Bank, setting alight dozens of cars and homes after two settlers were killed by a Palestinian gunman.
Palestinian medics said one man was killed and four other people were badly wounded in what appeared to be the worst outburst of settler violence in the area in decades.
Continue reading...Jordan hosts first such high-level talks in years aimed at defusing tensions in region before Ramadan
Israeli and Palestinian security chiefs have met in Jordan for the first such high-level talks in years aimed at defusing tensions in the volatile region ahead of the holy month of Ramadan, which it is feared could act as the catalyst for a wider escalation.
In a joint statement released at the close of the summit in the port city of Aqaba on Sunday, which was also attended by US, Jordanian and Egyptian officials, Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA) expressed “readiness and commitment to work immediately” to prevent further violence.
Continue reading...Daniel Kurtzer says legalised settlements are ‘a significant violation of a commitment the Israeli government made to the American government’
A former US ambassador to Israel has accused Benjamin Netanyahu’s far-right government of breaking a written agreement with Washington by legalising a group of hardline nationalist and religious settlements in the West Bank.
Daniel Kurtzer, who served in Tel Aviv during the George W Bush administration, also warned that some ministers in Netanyahu’s new coalition are not interested in a peace agreement with the Palestinians. He called on the Biden administration to be more proactive in stopping Israel’s “creeping annexation” of the West Bank.
Continue reading...Region braced for escalation in violence as attacks from both sides follow deadliest Israeli army raid in decades in Nablus
Israel and militants in the Gaza Strip have exchanged fire just hours after the deadliest Israeli army raid in decades killed 11 Palestinians and wounded more than 100 more in the occupied West Bank, leaving the region braced for an escalation in violence.
The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) said early on Thursday morning that it carried out airstrikes on two military sites operated by Hamas, the Islamist movement that controls the strip, after the launch of six rockets from the blockaded enclave towards southern Israel.
Continue reading...Palestinians decry ‘massacre’ after daytime operation in Nablus that Israel says targeted three militants
Israeli troops killed 11 Palestinians, including a teenager, and wounded dozens more, in a raid on a city in the occupied West Bank city that threatens further bloodshed.
The daytime operation targeted three militants who were near the centre of the old city of Nablus, the Israeli military said. All three wanted men were killed along with seven others, including a 72-year-old man. Palestinian officials said at least 103 people were injured, with many of them sustaining gunshot wounds.
Continue reading...New law is aimed at Israeli citizens who have received financial aid from the Palestinian Authority
Israel has passed legislation allowing the state to strip Arabs convicted of terror offences of citizenship or residency and deport them to the West Bank or Gaza Strip if they have accepted financial aid from the Palestinian Authority.
The new law, which the Knesset voted for on Wednesday, is designed to discourage what Israel calls “pay for slay” stipends, which Palestinians view as assistance for the families of those imprisoned. Israel says the longstanding practice serves as an incentive to violence.
Continue reading...Trump’s secretary of state makes comments on podcast to defend former administration siding more openly with Israel
Mike Pompeo, the former US secretary of state, has defended Israel’s decades-long control of the Palestinian territories by claiming that the Jewish state has a biblical claim to the land and is therefore not occupying it.
Pompeo told the One Decision podcast that his religious beliefs, US strategic interests and his view of the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, as a “known terrorist” underpinned his support as the Trump administration’s top diplomat for the shift in US policy away from mediating a two-state solution and toward more openly siding with Israel.
Continue reading...Security cabinet announces recognition of areas built without Israeli authorisation, after series of attacks in East Jerusalem
Israel’s security cabinet has announced it will authorise nine settlements in the occupied West Bank after a series of attacks in East Jerusalem, including one that killed three Israelis.
“In response to the murderous terrorist attacks in Jerusalem, the security cabinet decided unanimously to authorise nine communities in Judea and Samaria,” the office of the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said in a statement on Sunday that included the name Israel uses for the West Bank.
Continue reading...StadWithUs filed charge with US education department accusing Lara Sheehi of hate speech and discrimination against students
An Arab professor and lecturer in diversity has accused George Washington University of “colluding” with a rightwing pro-Israel group over a federal complaint accusing her of antisemitism.
The group, StandWithUs (SWU), filed a complaint with the US education department’s civil rights office claiming that Lara Sheehi, an assistant professor of clinical psychology, discriminated against Jewish students by refusing to accept their definitions of antisemitism.
Continue reading...Palestinian driver rams car into people on outskirts of city, in incident described by PM as terrorist attack
Two people including a child have been killed and several injured after a Palestinian driver rammed his car into a group of people at a bus stop on the outskirts of Jerusalem.
A police spokesperson said the driver, who was shot at the scene, was dead. An Israeli security official identified him as Hussain Qraqaa, 31, a resident of Issawiya in East Jerusalem.
Continue reading...Assault on Aqabat Jabr refugee camp comes as escalating violence raises fears of a third intifada
Israeli forces say they have killed several armed fighters during an army raid in the occupied West Bank city of Jericho, the latest violence in a period of escalating tensions that has raised fears of a third intifada, or Palestinian uprising.
A statement from the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) on Monday morning said “a number of armed assailants were killed after firing toward IDF soldiers who were operating in the area” overnight. The country’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, later said agents from the Shin Bet domestic security agency and soldiers had killed five suspects.
Continue reading...Push by parliamentary MPs to take up IHRA interpretation has been criticised as an ‘outright attack on academic freedom’
Australian universities are split on whether to adopt a controversial definition of antisemitism following a push from parliamentary MPs that has been criticised as an “outright attack on academic freedom”.
On 25 January, the University of Melbourne became the first institution to publicly announce it would adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism as part of its broader “anti-racism commitment”, leading to backlash from the Australia Palestine Advocacy Network (APAN) who said they were denied repeated requests for consultation.
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Continue reading...Party’s criticism of Omar’s Israel position has greased the path for Republicans to oust her from the foreign affairs committee
The resolution that set in motion the removal of the only African immigrant, Muslim and former resident of a refugee camp on the congressional committee overseeing US foreign policy paid scant attention to Ilhan Omar’s views on anything but a single issue: Israel.
“Omar has attempted to undermine the relationship between the United States and Israel,” said the author of the resolution, Republican congressman Max Miller. “She has disqualified herself from serving on the foreign affairs committee.”
Continue reading...Israeli army confirms ‘striking in the Gaza Strip’ early on Thursday, hours after it said it intercepted a rocket fired from the Palestinian territory
Israel conducted airstrikes on the central Gaza Strip early on Thursday, according to journalists and witnesses, hours after the military said it intercepted a rocket fired from the Palestinian territory.
New rounds of rockets were fired from Gaza after these strikes, and fresh explosions could be heard from Gaza City about 3.15am local time, Agence France-Presse journalists reported.
Continue reading...US secretary of state says it is up to Israelis and Palestinians to find way to end recent violence
The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, has finished his Middle East tour with no breakthrough in reducing tensions between Israelis and Palestinians, saying that it was “fundamentally up to them” to end the violence after days of bloodshed.
Blinken said he had heard “deep concern about the current trajectory” during meetings in Israel and the occupied West Bank but, beyond calling for a “de-escalation”, he offered no new US initiative.
Continue reading...US secretary of state meets Israel’s prime minister and reaffirms support for two-state solution
The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, has called for calm after days of violence between Israel and the Palestinians, as he visited Jerusalem for talks with the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.
A Palestinian man died on Monday after an altercation with Israeli troops, as violence in the region continued to spiral.
Continue reading...Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu announces moves after deadliest terrorist attack in Jerusalem in years
The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has announced a series of punitive steps against Palestinians in the wake of the deadliest terrorist attack in Jerusalem in years in which a gunman killed seven people outside a synagogue.
In a statement issued after the weekly cabinet meeting on Sunday, Netanyahu’s office said that Israel’s security agency would explore “additional deterrent measures regarding the families of terrorists that express support for terrorism”, including the revocation of Jerusalem residency rights and Israeli citizenship, and legislation allowing employers to dismiss workers who have “supported terrorism” without the need for a hearing.
Continue reading...At vigil in Neve Yaakov there are calls for reprisals after worst attack by a Palestinian against Israelis since 2008
Sifting through construction debris on the traffic intersection in occupied East Jerusalem where seven Israelis were killed by a Palestinian gunman on Friday night, three emergency response volunteers wearing plastic gloves and hi-vis vests scraped up handfuls of blood-stained earth, placing it in a bag.
After sunset on Saturday, the end of Shabbat, they had arrived equipped with torches, trowels and putty knives. Their task was to ensure every drop of spilled blood was collected for proper Jewish burial.
Continue reading...Benjamin Netanyahu announces punitive steps against Palestinians in response to attacks that killed seven Israelis
Israeli officers have sealed off the Jerusalem family home of a Palestinian gunman who killed seven people outside a synagogue on the outskirts of the city, police said, after Benjamin Netanyahu promised “a swift response”.
Netanyahu has announced a series of punitive steps against Palestinians in response to a pair of shootings in Jerusalem that killed seven Israelis and badly wounded five others.
Continue reading...A chain reaction of killings leaves Israel and the occupied territories on the brink of a new round of bloodletting
On Friday nights, quiet descends upon the holy city of Jerusalem. Many Muslim families are at home, spending time together after afternoon prayers; Jewish-owned businesses close just before sunset, buses and trams stop running and candles on dining tables announce the beginning of Shabbat.
What began as a normal, peaceful Friday evening ended in tragedy for the Mizrahi family, who live in the occupied East Jerusalem settlement of Neve Yaakov. At about 8pm, a lone Palestinian gunman opened fire on people outside a synagogue, killing seven and wounding nine.
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