Top news stories from Israel/Palestine: October 22, 2018

What We’re Reading

Occupation/Human rights

Residents’ offer to move West Bank hamlet said behind Israeli demolition delay,

Israel’s decision to delay the demolition of a Bedouin village in the West Bank, whose slated razing has brought international condemnation in recent months, was due to an offer from residents to voluntarily relocate to a nearby site, Army Radio reported Sunday.

Revealed: Israeli Taxpayers Helped Bankroll Illegal West Bank Outposts for Decades,

The World Zionist Organization’s Settlement Division has provided dozens of loans over the past two decades to fund the establishment of unauthorized Jewish outposts and farms across the West Bank, an investigation by Haaretz has revealed.

Shin Bet Arrests Two Palestinians Amid Threats After Old City House Sold to Jewish Settlers,

The Israeli police are trying to prevent investigative efforts by a local sheikh as accusations among senior Palestinian Authority officials mount.

Cars Vandalized and Hate Graffiti Sprayed in West Bank Village, Palestinians Say,

Palestinians said 15 vehicles were vandalized Sunday night in the Palestinian West Bank village of Marda.

Jordan says it won't renew peace treaty land deal with Israel,

Jordan said on Sunday it would not extend the 25-year deal that allows Israel to use two tracts of territory along its border just as Israel said it was still planning to negotiate an extension.

Israel's assault on Palestinian universities is a threat to human rights and a tragedy for this generation of students,

Palestine has had to contend with Israel’s systematic obstruction of education: from enforced closures, campus raids, and the oppression of individual students and teachers, including arbitrary arrests and detention without trial.

Israeli politics

Likud MK calls on attorney general to dismantle B'Tselem,

By calling for international action against the decisions of a democratically elected government of the State of Israel, El-Ad was acting against the state’s democratic nature, MK Nava Boker said.

Israel advances bill linking cultural funding with 'loyalty' to state,

A ministerial committee in Israel’s parliament voted on Sunday to advance a bill that would cut subsidies to cultural organisations accused of not showing “loyalty” to the state, the culture minister said.

Breaking the Silence Meets School Students for First Time Since Passage of Law Seen as Targeting Its Activities,

Breaking the Silence director spoke Sunday morning with high school students in Tel Aviv for the first time since a law seen as targeting the organization passed in July, prohibiting lectures and activities organized by groups in favor of legal actions abroad against IDF soldiers.

BDS

Israel and BDS Take Center Stage in Heated Florida Governor's Debate,

In Sunday night’s gubernatorial campaign debate in Florida, Rep. Ron DeSantis repeatedly pivoted to Israel-related issues – from the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement to President Donald Trump’s Jerusalem embassy move – in an effort to paint his opponent as being hostile to the Jewish state.

US-Israeli/Palestinian relations

Did Camp David Doom the Palestinians?,

“A new diplomatic history argues that the United States, Egypt, and Israel prevented a Palestinian state from emerging. But leaders such as Yasser Arafat bear much of the blame.” Dennis Ross reviews Seth Anziska’s new book, Preventing Palestine: A Political History From Camp David to Oslo.