At least 15 Jewish families moved into a three-story West Bank building whose ownership is in dispute. The ownership of the Hebron building, which is next to the Cave of the Patriarchs and known as the Machpelah House, is under appeal. Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu ordered the Defense Ministry not to evict the group.

Israel’s security forces blocked doctors from providing emergency medical care to critically injured protesters when it raided a Palestinian hospital in east Jerusalem, said Amnesty International on Tuesday.

The new standards, established by a government committee, bar advocates and organisations that promote boycotting Israel “in an active, continuous and ongoing manner”.

“Perhaps through this scene, of Palestinians resorting to smuggling bodies out of a morgue to prevent indignity even after death, is it possible to show Israelis and the world what the occupation really means to Palestinians,” writes Rami Younis.

“The Oslo Accords have provided Israel with effective political cover to maintain a prolonged occupation and undermine prospects for Palestinian self-determination through a two-state solution. If Europe truly believes that preserving the possibility of a two-state solution is a strategic and moral imperative, it must rethink its approach to peacemaking,” write Omar Dajani and Hugh Lovatt.

A senior Muslim official in Jerusalem said Wednesday that worshipers would not return to the Temple Mount until Israel removes the new railings and cameras it installed after a deadly terror attack there, prolonging a crisis that Israel hoped it had resolved by making concessions at the site.

“After years of oppression and fragmentation, Palestinians in the occupied city are remobilizing around a common political goal,” writes Amjad Iraqi.

Israel has decided to turn the Temple Mount compound into “a sterile area,” a senior Likud MK said Tuesday, and this will happen even though it has removed metal detector gates from the site.

A vast majority of Israelis oppose the security cabinet’s decision to remove metal detectors from outside the Temple Mount in the wake of massive protests from Muslim worshipers, a poll published Tuesday indicated.

After years of backing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the free daily Israel Hayom castigated the premier’s “display of feebleness” and his “helpless” response to the Temple Mount crisis on its front page on Wednesday, in a large above-the-fold headline.

Maverick Likud MK Benny Begin slammed the coalition on Wednesday for supporting his fellow party member Avi Dichter’s Jewish nation-state bill, while lamenting the proposed legislation’s disregard for Israel’s non-Jewish minorities.

“All new Israeli measures put in place since July 14 must be removed so things can go back to normal in Jerusalem and we can resume our work regarding bilateral relations,” Abbas said at the beginning of a meeting with the Palestinian leadership.