“On Saturday, local and international media outlets reported that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas had formally announced his resignation from another organization he heads: the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO),” writes Dalia Hatuqa. “This maneuver is widely seen as an attempt to consolidate power by Abbas.”

Does the boycott, divestment and sanctions campaign unfairly single out Israel? FMEP President Matthew Duss debates with Yousef Munayyer, executive director of the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation.

“The US is promising not to punish Jerusalem for lambasting the deal, but the bitter quarrels will take their toll,” writes Raphael Ahren.

“Israeli leaders have been quite serious regarding their repeated military threats against Iran (albeit restrained to date by several intervening factors),” writes Wayne White. “The recent Iran nuclear agreement doubtless represents a new and even more serious challenge in the eyes of senior Israeli political leaders that could produce renewed interest in going it alone militarily. Whether something would intervene again to stay the hand of Israel’s hardline leadership is unknown.”

Dozens of Palestinian-owned olive trees were uprooted to complete separation wall that will eventually fully encircle the Bethlehem area, amid protests from Palestinians.

“It’s hard to avoid the feeling that the police are incapable, even at their best, of obtaining convictions for Jews who burn Palestinian vehicles,” writes Yossi Gurvitz of Israeli human rights organization Yesh Din.

Israel’s military has already closed the file on the incident during last summer’s Gaza war.

“Saying it is apartheid may alleviate the frustrations of those who hate occupation, but it’s completely inaccurate, insults South Africans, and feeds Israel’s most hate-filled enemies,” writes Benjamin Pogrund.

Since Israeli settlers withdrew in 2005 from south Gaza, the Palestinian government allowed investments in these lands that turned into crops that generate considerable profit despite the water crisis.

Thousands of educational staff employed with UNRWA have taken to the streets of Gaza City on the first day of the school year, to strike over what they said was dwindling resources being provided by the United Nations agency which looks after Palestinian refugees.

“Palestinians in Gaza live in the ‘world’s largest open-air prison’ and exist more or less in a permanent state of traumatic stress,” writes Belen Fernandez.

“Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas appears to have gone too far, upsetting his European Union supporters, in ordering the closure of the Palestinian Peace Coalition, led by Yasser Abed Rabbo, whom Abbas earlier removed as secretary-general of the PLO’s Executive Committee,” writes Shlomi Eldar.

Former Defense Minister Ehud Barak harshly criticized Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for his performance as prime minister and his decision to appoint former military advocate general Avichai Mandelblit as cabinet secretary, in recordings broadcast Monday on Channel 2. Mandelblit served as military advocate general during the period of the so-called Harpaz affair, an alleged 2010 plot to use a forged document to undermine Barak’s choice to succeed then-IDF Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi.

President Reuven Rivlin said during talks with settler leaders on Monday that Israel had a “right” to build settlements in the West Bank, his office said in a statement.