U.S. Undersecretary of State Wendy Sherman on Monday warned Jewish leaders that if the new Israeli government does not demonstrate its commitment to the two-state solution, the U.S. will have a difficult time continuing to assist its efforts to halt international initiatives on the Palestinian issue at the United Nations.

Vying for the attention of major donors, Republicans attending a Jewish forum for presidential contenders said they would make better relations with Israel a priority. Speaking were declared candidate Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), as well former Texas Gov. Rick Perry and Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, both possible presidential contenders, and Sen. Rob Portman (D-Ohio), who has recently indicated he is unlikely to run for president.

Congress uses U.S. trade policy to undercut European pressure against Israeli settlements. A new U.S. bill legitimizes Israeli settlements and delegitimizes Palestinian non-violent resistance to the occupation.

“Legislation is moving through the US Congress that conflates Israel with the occupied territories, and attempts to penalize states and other entities that refuse to do business with settlements,” writes Hussein Ibish. “But settlement boycotts do not ‘delegitimise’ Israel at all. On the contrary, they insist on the legitimacy of Israel but also on the illegitimacy of the settlements.”

Palestinians in Jerusalem have launched a commercial strike over the killing of a teenager in the early hours of Saturday.

A Palestinian man stabbed an Israeli Border Police officer in the West Bank city of Hebron Saturday, inflicting moderate injuries. The alleged attacker, aged 20, was shot and wounded, and died of his injuries on the way to a hospital in Jerusalem.

“Under international law, experts say Palestinians could make a claim to boundaries that would give them five times more maritime territory than they currently hold,” writes Dania Akkad. “What is stopping Palestinians from claiming gas-rich maritime territory that may be theirs?”

“Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu believes that Israel is under a constant existential threat and thus perceives those who believe in peace as naive and unrealistic,” writes Uri Savir.

When Mohammad Saba’aneh was growing up in Kuwait, his parents used to show him newspapers featuring the work of Naji al-Ali, the famous Palestinian cartoonist who published in Kuwaiti papers. Al-Ali’s cartoons were used to tell the young Saba’aneh about Palestine. Today, the 36-year-old follows in the footsteps of al-Ali by creating political cartoons about the Arab world, and particularly the plight of the Palestinians.

Israel invited bids on Monday to construct 77 new homes in two settlements on occupied land in East Jerusalem, drawing a swift Palestinian condemnation. Peace Now, an Israeli group that monitors and opposes settlement-building on land Palestinians seek for a state, said only tenders for 18 of the 77 units were new, and the others were reissued after previous offers were not taken up.

In the last few years, top officials from the Palestinian Authority have stepped up threats to dissolve the governmental body in the West Bank, as a response to the bottleneck situation into which they accuse the Israeli government of forcing them.

“It’s been a year since Palestinian movements Fatah and Hamas agreed – within the Shati Agreement – to end their division, with the hope of an election process within six months,” writes Mohammed Omer. “Now, a year later, there are no elections, and only a fragile consensus government which is unable to set foot on the ground, leaving the Shati Agreement on the brink of collapse.”

The Israeli Right is once again seeking to introduce legislation that would limit the ability of human rights and anti-occupation organizations to seek funding abroad. As part of coalition negotiations with Prime Minister Netanyahu, Naftali Bennett’s Jewish Home party is demanding that foreign-government funding of local institutions require approval by the Defense Ministry and the Knesset’s powerful Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee. The next government is unlikely to adopt Bennett’s demand as policy, but some softer version may very well reach the Knesset floor, and even gain the necessary majority to become law.

“He wanted to be defense minister and saw Jewish Home ultimately ruling Israel. But Naftali Bennett’s political wings were clipped by his own constituents, and now he’ll be Netanyahu’s circumscribed education minister,” writes Haviv Gur.

Senior Likud MKs are furious over Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s tentative decision to give the Education Ministry to Habayit Hayehudi chairman Naftali Bennett, since at least four of them wanted that job for themselves.

Given that Israel and the West Bank had been Gaza’s main trade destinations until 2007, the ban on accessing these markets virtually eliminated economic life in Gaza and produced disparities between the two parts of the Palestinian territory with respect to nearly every economic parameter. Allowing the sale of Gaza made and grown goods in the West Bank, and recently also in Israel to a limited degree, is critical and gives ground for cautious optimism.

In the coming days, Israel will announce whether an incident known as “Black Friday” will warrant a criminal investigation. On that day, August 1, 2014, with no warning, the Israeli army let loose a torrent of shells, missiles, drone strikes and mortars on the southern Gaza city of Rafah, in order to prevent the capture of an Israeli soldier by ensuring his death. The army killed at least 123 Palestinians.

“For several weeks now, official representatives of the Israeli government and defense establishment have been holding a real dialogue with the Islamic terrorist group in a bid to reach a long-term calm on the Gaza border,” writes Alex Fishman.