“The military-imposed permit regime in the Seam Zone has steadily grown more restrictive, through ever-harsher regulations and their implementation in practice, completely divorced from any security need. All this, contrary to Israel’s guarantees before the High Court of Justice (HCJ) to minimize as much as possible the damage caused to the farmers by the construction of the physical barrier.”

“In this report, Who Profits shows that Israeli agritech companies are deeply complicit in the ongoing occupation of Palestinian and Syrian land. The report exposes the contribution of agritech firms to agriculture in illegal settlements and examines their role in the Israeli blockade of Gaza. It investigates the reciprocal ties that exist between the Israeli agritech and military industries and highlights the economic gains made by Israeli agritech industries through their collaboration with the Israeli military apparatus.”

“Jordan’s King Abdullah II accuses Israel of trying to ‘impose an unthinkable solution’ on Palestinians as hopes fade for a two-state solution backed by the international community. Speaking to lawmakers at the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France, he says Israel’s construction of settlements in the West Bank and ‘disregard of international law’ could be summed up as ‘one state turning its back on its neighborhood, perpetuating divisions among peoples and faiths worldwide’.”

“Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan told the gathering that Arab citizens of the capital deserve to have personal security just as Jewish residents of the city do. But the station, he acknowledged, also serves a political function. ‘We are unifying the city through deeds, and I’m proud of having the privilege to strengthen Israel’s sovereignty over the entire city,’ he said. Along with Jerusalem Mayor Moshe Leon and two senior police commanders, Erdan cut a ribbon marking the official opening of the station. And to a recording of drumbeats, an Israeli flag was raised.”

“A meeting was held in Doha between former Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal and Robert Malley, president of the International Crisis Group (ICG) in Washington, who served as Middle East special adviser to President Barack Obama. This was not the first meeting between the two men. Meanwhile, Mousa Abu Marzouk, the head of Hamas’ international relations, held meetings with former officials from Switzerland, France and the UK. During some of the meetings, the parties discussed the possibility of future international recognition of Hamas. While some EU officials requested that Hamas maintain contact with the EU and the United States, the Palestinian Authority (PA) expressed concerns that the international community might open up to the Islamic movement, according to the Israeli broadcaster.”

“Palestinian activists launched a campaign on Tuesday to release 81-year old Fuad al-Shobaki, the oldest Palestinian prisoner currently held in an Israeli jail, local media reported. Shobaki was a senior general in the Palestinian Authority’s security forces, a senior Fatah leader and also a financial consultant for late PA President Yasser Arafat…Shobaki has three years of this sentence left to serve. While family members regularly visit to cheer him up, they say they are concerned that his health has rapidly deteriorated and are calling for his release.”

“A high-ranking source in the Palestinian presidency told Al-Monitor that President Mahmoud Abbas is leaning toward postponing the release of a presidential decree that would determine the time frame of holding Palestinian general elections (legislative and presidential) until further notice. This came after Israel’s irresponsiveness to the Palestinian request to allow the elections to be held in Jerusalem, which might jeopardize the whole process.”

“It has been more than a decade since the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) last met, due to infighting between Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah and Islamist terror group Hamas. The two sides are currently talking up the prospect of new elections — the first since 2006 — but for now the key Palestinian political institution, located in the West Bank, lies empty.”

“Activist groups around the world are heralding the Dec. 20 announcement by chief prosecutor for the International Criminal Court (ICC) Fatou Bensouda, who said, ‘I am satisfied that war crimes have been or are being committed in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip.’ Pending confirmation from the court that it has jurisdiction over the Palestinian territories, Bensouda recommended the ICC pursue a full investigation. However, Palestinians literally confined to those territories by the Israeli blockade are more skeptical — if not outright dismissive. ‘[An investigation] is all about reliving the pain, the harsh memories, over and over again,’ said Majdi Wahdan, who lost 12 members of his family — including his parents and two sisters — in the 2014 Israeli war on Gaza. ‘But nothing will happen; it will produce another report and the world will move on. International law never ends up changing anything on the ground’.”

“For the third election in a row, Likud is urging religious-Zionist parties to ensure that the Kahanist-inspired Otzma Yehudit party is part of their slate for the March 2 race, fearing that votes could be lost to parties that fail to clear the electoral threshold otherwise.”

“Right-wing faction heads on Tuesday urged Knesset speaker Yuli Edelstein to prevent the Knesset plenum from convening, in an attempt to delay the formation of a parliamentary committee to rule on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s immmunity from prosecution. The speaker is the only official authorized to convene a session of the full Knesset during its pre-election recess, which is necessary to approve the composition of the House Committee, the body authorized to discuss granting immunity. The Knesset launched the debate process on Monday, in an attempt to reach a decision before the March 2 election – and both Likud and Kahol Lavan are busy addressing the obstacles in the path to a final decision.”

“The parties on the Zionist left have been facing an ongoing crisis of deep and wide-ranging origin that predated their current party representatives. The parties have been brutally tarnished by the right over the past two decades, to such an extent that their supporters have been forced into self-denial. And to avoid appearing crazy or, even worse, traitorous, the supporters have put aside their hope that one day Israel would have clearly defined borders and no longer be an occupied.”

Jeremy Ben-Ami and Rabbi Jill Jacobs write, “As leaders of two major American Jewish and pro-Israel advocacy groups, we might not be expected to spearhead a fight against laws that seek to discourage participation in the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions movement against the state of Israel. Although some under the broad BDS umbrella have trafficked in anti-Semitic ideas and rhetoric, heavy-handed attempts by states to restrict or prohibit people from participating in the movement both violate the First Amendment and do absolutely nothing to protect Israel or Jews.”

“The Israeli government recently paid tens of thousands of shekels to the Jerusalem Post in order to publish a series of articles connecting the boycott, divestment, and sanctions movement (BDS) to anti-Semitism, according to the government’s own procurement department. The articles were part of a ‘package’ purchased by the Ministry of Strategic Affairs that included branding, advertising, a slot at a recent Jerusalem Post conference, and the articles themselves, which appeared in the run-up to the conference. The Jerusalem Post denied that the articles had been paid for.”