In Gaza, Foreign Aid is Just a Band Aid

What We’re Reading

FMEP Information sheet

In Gaza, Foreign Aid is Just a Band Aid,

“The United Nations has predicted that Gaza would be unlivable by 2020. But they are wrong. It is unlivable right now,” writes Bill Corcoran, president of Americans for Near East Refugee Aid.

Gaza

Hamas authorities execute three men in Gaza Strip: Official,

Hamas authorities in the Gaza Strip executed three men for murder on Tuesday, the territory’s attorney general said, signalling more could follow despite appeals from the United Nations for a halt.

US-Israel relations

A third of Americans say it’s legitimate to boycott Israel,

One-third of Americans think the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement presents a legitimate strategy against Israel, while nearly two-thirds see it as anti-Semitic, a new poll found.

Occupation/Human rights

Palestinians to form ‘protection committees’ against Israeli settler violence,

Nearly 200 members of the most isolated and under threat Palestinian communities living in the occupied West Bank came together on Monday for the launch of a new project aimed at establishing “protection committees” to document Israeli human rights violations.

The vulnerability of Palestinian women in Israel,

“From economics, to health, to venturing into public spaces, Palestinian women feel their security is often at risk,” writes Ylenia Gostoli.

WATCH: How one West Bank village is fighting to regain its land,

Residents of the village of Deir Istiya, located next to the West Bank settlement Ariel, have been nonviolently protesting the blocking off access to their farmland by the Israeli army, which affects the lives of 500 families.

Israeli politics

Inside Israel's Mossad: Efraim Halevy on UpFront,

Former Mossad director Efraim Halevy has been an outspoken critic of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and once said that Jewish extremism was a bigger threat to Israel than nuclear Iran.

Opinion: Labor must take the security narrative back from Netanyahu,

“Since 2001, Labor party leaders have done little to confront the security narrative of the ruling Likud party and its partners,” write Nathan Hersh and Abe Silberstein.

Opinion: Israelis are no longer buying what Netanyahu is selling,

“Never has a prime minister appointed a defense minister so far beyond the consensus,” writes Alon Mizrahi.

Housing minister: Government policy not to build in West Bank,

Housing Minister Yoav Galant (Kulanu) reportedly told US Jewish leaders last week that the official Israeli government policy was not to build in the West Bank. Galant’s comments represented a break with the right-wing government’s support for Israeli settlement in the West Bank, though he admitted that building was ongoing under the aegis of other government ministries.

After coalition crisis, cabinet unanimously approves Liberman as defense minister,

The cabinet on Monday morning unanimously approved Yisrael Beytenu leader Avigdor Liberman as defense minister as a looming coalition crisis dwindled and the government moved to expand its membership.