“Sa’ar castigated Netanyahu for perpetuating the idea that two-states was the only solution, accusing him of making “endless concessions” to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas during the last decade, including settlement building freezes in the West Bank. He also referred to Netanyahu’s famous speech at Bar-Ilan University in 2009, in which the prime minister expressed support for the creation of a Palestinian state. Netanyahu has since said conditions for statehood no longer exist in the current reality in the Middle East.Sa’ar said that the solution needs to be an autonomous Palestinian entity linked together in a federation with Jordan. ‘Between the Jordan River and the (Mediterranean) Sea there cannot be another state,’ he said. Sa’ar appeared to be trying to outflank Netanyahu from the right ahead of the Likud party leadership vote, set for December 26. However, Netanyahu has in recent years also moved away from tacit support for a two-state solution and has, over the last few months, been promising to annex the Jordan Valley in the West Bank if reelected.”

“An Israeli court ruled this week that a Palestinian family may stay in its home in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Silwan until a final ruling on the Jewish National Fund’s demand to evacuate it is made. The Sumreen family case is the latest case that left-wing groups are holding up as evidence of a growing cooperation between the JNF and settler organizations in Jerusalem and the West Bank. After a 30-year legal battle, the JNF in September was granted ownership of the family’s home by the Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court, but the family appealed the ruling and asked to remain in the house until the case is settled.”

“The arrests were carried out by Israel Defense Forces soldiers, after the Palestinian driver contacted forces in the area on Saturday evening to report the incident. Two suspects were arrested at the scene, but two others managed to flee, according to police…The two suspects that security forces managed to nab were brought in for questioning and were released on bail Sunday morning. The investigation is ongoing, law enforcement said.”

“Christian petitioners in Gaza experience incapacitating measures in the process of obtaining a permit, including age limits, arbitrary selection and quota systems. Last Christmas, Israel blacklisted 104 Christians in Gaza, citing security concerns to reject their travel applications. Many reached out to the Palestinian Authority and human rights organisations to demand an explanation from Israel, but none was given. Gisha’s director, Tania Hary, said the decrease in the number of holiday permits issued to Christians revealed increased access restrictions between the two parts of the Palestinian Territories, and a worsening of Israel’s policy of separation between the West Bank and Gaza. ‘It’s easier to get to Bethlehem if you are a Christian from Japan or California than if you are a Palestinian Christian in Gaza, living just a little over an hour’s drive away,’ she said.”

“As part of an effort to prepare local governments for war, the Israel Defense Forces’ Home Front Command organized a massive exercise in the Binyamin region last week, complete with pyrotechnics, smoke machines, rocket sirens, and simulated casualties.”

“A group of Palestinians from Burka, including those who own land in the area, arrived to the site on Friday with copies of the state’s decision. They said soldiers did not let them enter the area, and that they saw five settlers there. ‘Exactly the opposite of what was decided in court is what happened,’ said Mushir Sleiman Seif, a landowner from Burka. ‘We were barred from entering our land while the settlers were permitted to be there.’ Seif said this was the first time he had tried to get to the site since the decision was issued. ‘We showed them [the soldiers] the court ruling but they said that this isn’t a court here,’ said Saddam Sallah, a photographer from Burka. Seif said village residents intend to continue marching to the site every Friday until they are allowed to enter.”

“The resolution insists that this position does not inhibit the right to criticize Israeli government policies — but that’s precisely what it does. It portrays the Israeli state and the Jewish diaspora as a homogenous unit, inferring that any criticism of the former must be viewed first and foremost with suspicion if not hostility. It views Zionism as the only legitimate framework for exercising Jewish self-determination, while ignoring the dissenting views of anti-Zionist and non-Zionist Israelis and Jews worldwide. And it dismisses the right of Palestinians — those who are citizens of Israel, for starters — to question why the state should privilege Jewish citizens instead of enshrining equal rights for all.”

“Something terrible is brewing in the West, including the United States. Last week President Donald Trump signed an executive order that adopts a broad and controversial definition of anti-Semitism that includes certain types of criticism of Israel, according to the Haaretz report. But the process of extending immunity to Israeli government policy began seven months ago in Europe, when the German parliament passed a resolution defining the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement against Israel as anti-Semitic. Then the French National Assembly a few weeks ago passed an even sharper resolution saying that anti-Zionism is a type of anti-Semitism.”

“Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud is trailing behind Benny Gantz’s Kahol Lavan by four seats in a new online poll released by Kan on Sunday, with 31 to Kahol Lavan’s 35. Although Netanyahu is dogged by indictments, the poll shows, Likud’s seats would drop to 27 were MK Gideon Sa’ar to take over the party.”

“Likud MK Haim Katz is expected to announce his support for Sa’ar, but has not yet made an official announcement. Katz is considered a relative heavyweight in the party. He chairs the party’s central committee and holds sway over Likud voters from Israel Aerospace Industries, having helmed its powerful workers union for more than 20 years. IAI, Israel’s largest state-owned company, employs some 16,000 people and is seen as a Likud stronghold closely aligned with Katz.”

“The New Right party on Monday launched an election campaign ahead of the March 2 vote, with the faction’s co-founder Ayelet Shaked missing from the promotional materials…The former justice minister apparently has not yet decided which party she is going to run with in the upcoming election, Israel’s third in less than 12 months.”

“Netanyahu generally accepts the recommendations of security officials on such issues. However, he is highly unlikely to take the risk of having Yisrael Beitenu leader Avigdor Liberman blame him for granting a foothold in Israel’s capital to his nemesis Abbas. After all, Netanyahu defeated Prime Minister Shimon Peres in the 1996 elections with a scare campaign alleging ‘Peres will divide Jerusalem.’ All Netanyahu needs now is for his hawkish former ally Liberman or the former military chiefs who lead the rival Blue and White party to adopt that same slogan and update it to say ‘Netanyahu is dividing Jerusalem.’…We cannot exclude the possibility that Abbas’ demand for East Jerusalem ballot boxes, knowing the makeup of Israel’s Security Cabinet, is, in fact, nothing but a ploy designed to obtain Israeli “help” in getting off his election high horse.”

“Haniyeh had been in Turkey since the previous Sunday following talks with the Egyptian General Intelligence Services. The trip marked the first time he has traveled beyond Gaza and Egypt since he became Hamas’s top leader in May 2017… The Hamas delegation and Erdogan discussed ‘the issue of Jerusalem, especially including the imminent dangers to the Al-Aqsa Mosque, and Turkey’s role in supporting the Palestinian people,’ the report added.”

“Of these provisions, one that is extremely important (but that has attracted virtually no attention) is Sec. 1226, also known as the Oorah Act. As noted in the 9/20/19 edition of the Round-Up, going into House-Senate conference on the NDAA, the Oorah Act was in the mix, having passed as part of the Senate NDAA and as part of the House Intelligence Authorization Act. As such, barring intensive outside efforts to strip the Oorah Act out of the text, it was virtually a foregone conclusion that the final conference version of the bill would include the Oorah Act. Which now turns out to be the case. This is a really, really big deal – akin to ATCA (as in, another case where something huge and dangerous implications will become law without anyone paying any attention, despite my best efforts to sound the alarm).”

“Underscoring the the systematic discrimination in planning policies and enforcement facing Palestinians in Jerusalem, Israeli officials have consistently refused to grant building permits for Palestinians to build on their own land in the area designed as the “Peace Forest” and have actively pursued demolitions against the Palestinians living there. In April 2019, the state began demolishing Palestinian buildings in the “Peace Forest” in an area known as the Wadi Yasul neighborhood. The reason for the demolitions: the buildings lack legally-required Israel-issued building permits, i.e. the buildings had the same legal status as Elad’s tourist buildings, but the two face vastly different treatment by Israeli authorities. Rather than demolishing Elad’s buildings in the same manner as Palestinian construction, the Israeli government is working hand in hand with the settlers to pursue every avenue to allow the retroactive legalization of Elad’s illegal construction. Even more brazenly, in tandem with the demolition of Palestinian homes in the area, Israeli officials have been working with the Elad to rezone the “Peace Forest” [something it refused to do for Palestinians] in order to allow the Elad to build more infrastructure in the forest, including a tourist zipline and a promenade meant to connect settlement enclaves in the area.”