Marwan Barghouti, partner for peace?

What We’re Reading

Palestinian prisoners

Could Barghouti become Israel’s peace partner?,

“Through a hunger strike in Israel’s prisons, Marwan Barghouti wishes to fulfill his achievements in the last Fatah elections and position himself as Abbas’ successor. It may be time for Israel to change its tune and try to talk to the man who the Palestinians see as their leader,” writes Ronni Shaked.

Will the NYT start noting the violent pasts of Israeli contributors, too?,

“There was much uproar from the Israeli government and its supporters following the publication of a Marwan Barghouti op-ed in the New York Times. But where was the outcry when the paper published op-eds by Israelis with violent pasts?” asks Lisa Goldman.

Opinion: The Palestinian Hunger Strike Aims Beyond the Jailhouses,

“The Palestinian prisoners’ hunger strike, initiated and being led by Marwan Barghouti, has refreshing subversive potential, and not necessarily against the Israel Prison Service,” writes Amira Hass. “It’s about basic human rights that even prisoners, even prisoners who are members of the other nation, deserve.”

How a Palestinian hunger strike leader rattled Israeli politicians,

“Israeli politicians concentrated on The New York Times and the op-ed published by Fatah senior Marwan Barghouti, instead of focusing on Barghouti’s accusations against Israel,” writes Mazal Mualem.

PHOTOS: Palestinians protest in support of hunger-striking prisoners,

Hundreds of Palestinians in Bethlehem protest in solidarity with hunger-striking Palestinian prisoners and to mark Palestinian Prisoners’ Day.

Palestinian women join hunger strike, lawyers declare boycott of Israeli courts,

Hundreds of hunger-striking Palestinian prisoners entered the third day of the “Freedom and Dignity” hunger strike on Wednesday, with imprisoned Palestinian women launching protest measures, as lawyers representing the hunger strikers announced they were boycotting Israeli courts.

Palestinian politics

Palestinian PM, UNRWA head meet to discuss school impasse,

Discussion follows PA Education Ministry suspending ties with UN agency in dispute over how Israel is portrayed in curriculum

Opinion: A Hamas remake?,

“As the Palestinian movement works to elect a leader to replace Khaled Meshaal, its new charter is clearer about what the movements stands for,” writes Azzam Tamimi.

US-Israel relations

Abbas to Test Trump’s Commitment to Peace,

“If Trump desires a regional approach to resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, as he indicated in his press conference with Netanyahu, there is no need to reinvent the wheel: the Arab Peace Initiative (A.P.I.) already exists,” writes Yousef Munayyer. “Abbas’ effort to coordinate this message with Egypt and Jordan may prove to be a tactical counter to Netanyahu’s effort to get Arab states to further press the Palestinians into even greater concessions.”

Why 100 Massachusetts groups are defending the right to boycott,

“Whatever they may personally think about BDS, the 65 current co-sponsors of the “anti-discrimination” bill in the Massachusetts Legislature should consider whether they would have endorsed a more accurately titled ‘Act Prohibiting Dissent in State Contracts,'” writes Nancy Muray.

Occupation/Human rights

The impossible choice faced by East Jerusalem Palestinians,

Palestinians in East Jerusalem live in an ongoing state of limbo: either stay where they are and risk having any additions they make to their homes demolished, or move away and lose their residency status.

Israeli woman convicted of inciting attacks on soldiers, Palestinians,

The charge sheet against Eliraz Fein, a resident of the West Bank settlement of Yitzhar, south of Nablus, cited an online debate that took place after a series of violent altercations between the army and settlement residents. Residents were mulling the legality — according to Jewish law — of attacking, and even killing, IDF soldiers “under certain circumstances.”

Take a tour of West Jerusalem's Palestinian history,

A new documentary brings the hidden urban Palestinian history of West Jerusalem on to screens everywhere.

Israeli forces destroy property, deliver demolition notices in Issawiya raid,

Israeli forces raided the occupied East Jerusalem neighborhood of Issawiya on Wednesday and destroyed iron gates leading to Palestinian commercial properties and farms, while delivering demolition and evacuation notices for a number of structures.