While the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza is the primary obstacle to Palestinian independence, writes Omar Shaban, it is not the only one.

Border policemen initiate “friction” with residents of East Jerusalem to provoke a violent response from them, according to police reports. Just such a provocation apparently took place in Isawiyah earlier this year, sparking confrontations in which a boy was seriously wounded.

The EU has sidelined a call from its most senior diplomats in Jerusalem to step up efforts to halt trade with Jewish settlements in occupied territory despite Brussels’ repeated public protests that the settlements are illegal and threaten the prospects for a two-state solution.

Israeli settlers attacked Activestills photographer Oren Ziv and Breaking the Silence activist Yehuda Shaul in Hebron on Tuesday, as they toured the city with famed Irish novelist Colm Tóibín.

Faced with an alarming arms proliferation, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has instructed his security forces to strike with an “iron fist” to prevent further bloodshed that could plunge the West Bank into complete security chaos.

During a raid on an arms production workshop in the Palestinian town of Al-Ram, northeast of Jerusalem, security forces were targeted by a vehicle traveling at high speed towards them early on Wednesday.

A controversial bill that would give lawmakers the ability to vote to suspend their colleagues has been dramatically beefed up, with the outcome of such a vote now upgraded to dismissal of the Knesset member until the end of the term rather than a mooted temporary suspension.

The US State Department on Tuesday expressed concern that a law recently passed by the Knesset to brand foreign-funded NGOs could impinge free speech and association in Israel.

The US government supported a group that tried to unseat Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last year to the tune of nearly $350,000, or NIS 1.3 million, a Senate inquiry published Tuesday found, though it cleared the State Department of any wrongdoing.

Palestinian leaders have presented several preconditions for participating in a trilateral Israeli-Egyptian-Palestinian peace summit in Cairo, including a freeze on Israeli settlement construction, a Palestinian official told The Times of Israel.

Hamas leaders are unhappy about the Egyptian initiative, which positions Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas as Israel’s only interlocutor, but fear to express loudly their objections.