“Last month Human Rights Watch published Occupation Inc: How Settlement Businesses Contribute to Israel’s violations of Palestinian Rights,” writes Dimi Reider. “But even advocates of the European Union’s recent move to distinguish settlement products from those made elsewhere in Israel admit that the economy of the settlements is virtually indiscernible from that of Israel as a whole.”

“Israel’s policy for the past decade or more is clear,” writes Robert Olson. “It will continue to expand settlements throughout the West Bank. It will build and exclude Palestinians from Area C.”

“Right-wing ministers in Israel’s government are putting their own political interests over the economic and social needs of the country’s Arab citizens,” write Rawnak Natour and Abed Kanaaneh.

“The prevailing IDF assessment by which the current wave of violence will die out has been proven wrong, with Palestinian attackers now using guns instead of knives,” writes Shlomi Eldar.

“The separation plans designed to separate Jerusalem from surrounding Palestinian villages will only perpetuate the annexation of Jerusalem to Israel,” writes Akiva Eldar.

“The government-sponsored attempts to delegitimize any pro-peace, pro-human rights movement have reached new proportions in recent months, raising the specter of a 2016 version of McCarthyism in what has become an increasingly intolerant environment for open debate and free speech,” writes David Newman.

Three Arab-Israeli lawmakers who met with the families of Palestinians who killed or attempted to kill Israelis could be facing Knesset sanctions.

According to an Israel Democracy Institute survey, an overwhelming majority of Israelis support a meeting between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, but paradoxically don’t believe it would lead anywhere.

The recently approved 2016 Palestinian general budget is garnering a lot of criticism from legislators who consider it lopsided at best, and possibly illegal. The $4.25 billion budget is marked by high administrative spending but no allocations for development expenses, leading some Palestinian citizens to fear the government will impose more taxes to reduce the budget gap financing.