How Israeli settlements exploit Palestinian workers

What We’re Reading

Occupation/Human rights

For many Palestinians, Israel settlement work the only option,

Israelis frequently point out that settlement businesses benefit Palestinians by paying them more. But Shaher Saed, the general secretary of the Palestinian Workers Union, calls it a false argument, one that excuses the occupation and undermines the ability of Palestinians to develop their own economy. “It does not help a worker build a decent job,” he said. “It is not an organised working environment and at the end of the day, Palestinian workers are being exploited.”

Isaac Herzog: The Man With Small Answers,

“Isaac Herzog, the nominal and ineffectual leader of the Israeli opposition, has found what he believes to be a platform for challenging Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu: despair of reaching a two-state agreement in the foreseeable future,” writes Gershom Gorenberg.

Israeli who burned Palestinian teenager alive ruled sane,

A psychiatrist has ruled that an Israeli found to have led the burning alive of a Palestinian teenager Mohammad Abu Khdeir in 2014 was responsible for his actions, the lawyer for the victim’s family said on Tuesday.

Israel's Military Intelligence chief says without peace process, terror wave will grow,

In the case where there is no peace process between Israel and the Palestinians, the current wave of terror will only increase, a Channel 10 report Monday cited the Chief of the Israeli Military Intelligence Directorate Maj.-Gen. Herzl “Herzi” Halevi as warning.

For Second Time This Month, Israeli Military Imposes Closure on West Bank City,

The Israeli Defense Forces imposed a closure Sunday night on Qabatiyah, located in the northern West Bank, not allowing any Palestinians to enter or leave the city. The IDF said the move is intended to prevent so-called copycat terror attacks by Palestinians on Israelis, in light of the large number of such assaults in recent days in the area, but it is not a punishment for these incidents.

Israel demolishes 313 Palestinian structures in six weeks,

Over 500 Palestinians have been displaced by the demolitions since the start of 2016, the vast majority of them in the West Bank.

Israeli politics

Revisions Take Sting Out of MK Suspension Bill,

The “Suspension Bill” has been amended to raise the bar for suspending a Knesset member. While the previous version had allowed a 90-MK majority to suspend a fellow MK because of his remarks, the new version requires proof that he took concrete actions to incite to terror or racism, to undermine Israel’s character as a Jewish and democratic state, or that there be proof that this was the intent of the MK’s actions.

Palestinian politics

The mysterious meeting between Abbas and Sisi,

“The ongoing conflict between Mohammed Dahlan, the former head of Fatah, and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has soured relations between the Palestinian Authority (PA) and Egypt,” writes Shlomi Eldar.

Gaza

A fractured Hamas looks to mend ties with Iran,

A senior Hamas delegation traveled to Tehran last week to attend celebrations marking the 1979 Islamic Revolution. The meeting comes at a tense time in the Hamas-Iran relationship.