Palestine-Israel: Europe Drowning in America’s Failures, Al-Shabaka
“Europe must recognize that ‘the US leads’ approach to resolving the conflict is doomed to never-ending failure: It affords time for the Israeli settlement enterprise to further entrench itself and makes the two-state solution increasingly impossible to achieve,” write Sam Bahour and Mousa Jiryis.
Occupation/Human rights
I’m Palestinian and I’ve been incited, Local Call
“Israeli government ministers, ‘Arab affairs’ analysts, and regular citizens incite against us — but they’re also inciting us. And yet, despite it all, we restrain ourselves,” writes Umar al-Ghubari.
Why the West Bank refugee camps refuse to join a Third Intifada, The Times of Israel
Palestinians in refugee camps talk about their experiences in the first and second intifadas, why they’re not interested in a third, and what they expect for the future.
How Israel’s military gov’t keeps Palestinians in the dark, +972 Magazine
An Israeli judge rebukes the state over its failure to publish all protocols and procedures that govern the lives of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
Israeli politics
Bennett equates far-left activists to Duma terrorists, The Times of Israel
Education Minister Naftali Bennett on Thursday compared radical left activists and groups with the Jewish extremists who allegedly torched a Palestinian home in the West Bank, killing three members of a single family.
Palestinian Citizens in Israel: A Fast-Shrinking Civic Space, Al-Shabaka
“Israel still portrays itself as a Jewish and democratic state. Yet in practice, as its Palestinian citizens can attest, it functions as a Jewish ethnocracy, leaving small margins of freedom for its Palestinian citizens that have been steadily shrinking in the past few years. Now the Israeli state has come under the complete control of the far right wing, which sees no need even for such limited margins of freedom,” write Nadim Nashif and Raya Naamneh.
US-Israel relations
Time to break the silence: An open letter to American Jews, +972 Magazine
“The American Jewish establishment, from the Federations to synagogues, must take a look in the mirror and decide whether this is the Israel it identifies with. If it isn’t, it should speak up,” writes Edo Konrad. “Urgently.”
Palestinian politics
Arrest of Palestinian journalist reflection of ‘political chaos’, Al-Monitor
“The arrest of Palestinian journalist Salim Sweidan and his detention for four days has exposed a broken legal system where understandings are replacing the rule of law,” writes Daoud Kuttab.
Pic of the Day
Israeli and Palestinian women marching for peace in the shadow of West Bank separation wall. #Battir pic.twitter.com/LMXibR2wsd
— Noga Tarnopolsky (@NTarnopolsky) January 15, 2016