Israel has approved a plan to construct 2,500 new settlement homes in the occupied West Bank, two days after the country accepted building permits for more than 500 settler homes in occupied East Jerusalem. [FMEP note: the move was condemned by the UN, the EU, and Australia, but not the Trump administration.]

“If President Trump really wants to have Israel’s back, as he’s often said he does, he should focus his energy on promoting peace, rather than on taking actions like moving the U.S. embassy that will distance its achievement even further,” writes Nimrod Goren.

“The moment of truth is quickly approaching in Israel and Palestine. The current dynamic threatens to plunge the whole region into an abyss of violence and despair. Actions like moving the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem will only make the situation more dangerous,” writes Hanan Ashrawi.

he State Department is reviewing a last-minute decision by former Secretary of State John Kerry to send $221 million dollars to the Palestinians late last week over the objections of congressional Republicans.

Palestinians living in Jerusalem have warned of the possibility of an “Intifada”, or uprising, if Donald Trump moves the US embassy from Tel Aviv to the ancient city.

When the bulldozers turned up in Umm el-Hiran last week, they were accompanied by hundreds of armed Israeli police, who locked down the village as residents were forced to watch their homes being destroyed.

Samah Abdullah, 18, was in a car with her family when she was shot in the head by Israeli soldiers, dying three weeks later. The army claims it was an accident.

“The non-stop incitement against Palestinian citizens of Israel from both the government and media prove the need for a new kind of resistance,” writes Rami Younis.

“After Israeli police shot and killed Yaqub Musa Abu al-Qi’an before demolishing his home, the state held onto his body for nearly a week. Only an appeal to the High Court allowed his family to bury their loved one,” writes Orly Noy.

“Benjamin Netanyahu must cope with a Trump administration whose policies are not yet known while facing pressures from the far right to annex settlement blocs and other pressures from Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman, the prime minister’s rival from the pragmatist right,” writes Mazal Mualem.

“Even as the end of Netanyahu’s reign seems to be approaching, it’s no time to celebrate — the problems in Israel run far deeper than one man,” writes Eli Bitan.