Top news stories from Israel/Palestine: February 6, 2018

What We’re Reading

Occupation/Human rights

Hagai El-Ad talks war crimes, forced displacement, and int'l pressure,

B’Tselem’s executive director speaks to +972 Magazine about his organization’s decision to describe the demolition and displacement of Palestinian villages as ‘war crimes,’ and the role of international pressure in changing Israeli policy in the West Bank.

School Could Be Out Forever for These Bedouin Kids in the West Bank,

First- to sixth-graders from the Bedouin community of Al Muntar have received a three-week reprieve. During this time, they’ll be able to study without fear that bulldozers could show up at any moment and raze their West Bank school to the ground, turning it into a pile of bricks and timber.

Palestinian injured from stones hurled by settlers avenging deadly stabbing,

A Palestinian was moderately injured Monday evening when settlers hurled rocks at vehicles in the West Bank in an apparent revenge attack for the murder of an Israeli man hours earlier.

Opinion: EU is all talk and no action on Israel-Palestine conflict,

“If it is to be taken seriously as a broker for peace, the EU must make disruptive decisions to pressure Israel, just as the US has been doing against Palestinians,” writes Kamel Hawwash.

Gaza

'There's No Humanitarian Crisis' in Gaza, Israeli Defense Minister Says, Contradicting Army Chief,

Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman addressed the situation in Gaza on Monday, saying there was no humanitarian crisis in the Strip, a claim that contradicts those voiced by the Israeli army only one day ago.

UN Secretary-General: Gaza is a 'constant humanitarian emergency',

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Monday described the Gaza Strip as a “constant humanitarian emergency” and said he was “extremely concerned” about the financial cuts made to UNRWA, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East.

Palestinian politics

Senior Palestinians sue PA over alleged CIA-backed wiretapping,

A former Palestinian intelligence chief and the head of the West Bank bar association are suing the Palestinian Authority after a purported whistle blower alleged the two were targeted, along with many other allies and rivals of PA President Mahmoud Abbas, in a large-scale CIA-backed wiretapping operation.

Abbas sets conditions for fresh peace talks, with diminished US role,

The Palestinians are prepared to return to the negotiating table with Israel, but only on the basis of an international multilateral mechanism, the Arab Peace Initiative and international resolutions pertaining to the Israeli-Arab conflict, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said on Monday.

US-Israeli/Palestinian relations

Amb. David Friedman calls out ‘Palestinian leaders’ for praising stabbing attack,

U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman accused Palestinian leaders of praising a terror attack that left a father of four dead. David Friedman did not say what Palestinian leaders he was referring to in the tweet on Tuesday morning.

Palestinians blast Trump’s ‘Zionist American’ peace envoy,

“What the US envoy is talking about is not a peace process. Instead, this is an attempt to completely liquidate the Palestinian cause and destroy all the national rights of the Palestinians.”