Peace Now: Israel ‘de facto annexing’ the West Bank; Israeli AG OK’s confiscating private Palestinian land

What We’re Reading

Occupation/Human rights

[PDF] Escalation in Israel's Settlement Policy: The Creation of De-Facto Annexation,

Presently, the Netanyahu government is quickly advancing de-facto annexation of Area C to prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state alongside Israel.

Attorney general okays seizure of private Palestinian land for outpost road,

Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit approved the expropriation of private Palestinian land for the building of an access road to an illegal West Bank outpost, in an unprecedented legal opinion on Wednesday.

Israeli Prime Minister After Six-Day War: 'We'll Deprive Gaza of Water, and the Arabs Will Leave',

“Empty” the Gaza Strip, “thin out” the Galilee, rewrite textbooks and censor political cartoons in Haaretz: These are among the proposals discussed by cabinet ministers after the Six-Day War that will be available to the public in a major release of declassified government documents by the Israel State Archives on Thursday.

Israel to Cut Palestinian Village From Water Source in Order to Take Control of Farming Land,

Israel has told residents of the Palestinian village of al-Walaja south of Jerusalem that they are to be cut off from their farmland and farming terraces because of the relocation of a checkpoint, shifting a large segment of land from the Palestinian side to the Israeli one.
read more: https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-1.823113

Israel to expropriate Palestinian land for settlement expansion in northern West Bank,

Israeli authorities on Tuesday reportedly notified Palestinian farmers that they intend to expropriate plots of land near the village of Shofeh, southeast of Tulkarem in the northern occupied West Bank, in order to expand the nearby illegal Israeli settlement of Avnei Hefetz.

Two more Palestinian schools under threat of destruction, says aid group,

Two new Palestinian schools in the occupied West Bank, which are funded by European governments, are under threat of destruction and seizure, the Norwegian Refugee Council’s (NRC) said in a report on Wednesday.

US-Israeli/Palestinian relations

Palestinian rights make a rare appearance in Congress,

A first-of-its-kind bill introduced this week focusing on the rights of Palestinian children could pave the way for greater transparency and accountability in America’s dealings with Israel.

House advances diluted bill cutting Palestinian aid,

Picking up where the Senate left off, the House today continued to dilute the impact of a bill intended to cut off US economic aid for the West Bank and Gaza in retaliation for the Palestinian Authority’s (PA) payments to convicted terrorists and their families.

US ambassador ‘confident’ Trump will move embassy to Jerusalem,

The US ambassador to Israel said he is “pretty confident” the US embassy will be moved from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem during US President Donald Trump’s current term in office.

Israeli politics

Opinion: Pandering to the Right is a losing strategy for Labor,

“srael’s Labor Party must decide what it stands for before the next round of elections. Without a true vision for the country, there’s really no reason it should win,” writes Dahlia Scheindlin.

Israeli minister: We must plan for a million settlers in the West Bank,

An Israeli minister said yesterday that the state must start planning for a million settlers in the West Bank, according to a report in the Jerusalem Post.

Palestinian politics

Palestinian reconciliation falters as Gaza crossing with Egypt stays shut,

The hold-up at the border is apparently due to ongoing disagreements between the PA and Hamas over security arrangements in the Strip.

Saudi Arabia won’t have normal relations with Israel before peace deal - Palestinian FM,

Saudi Arabia told President Mahmoud Abbas that it will not normalize relations with Israel before a peace solution is reached for the Palestinian conflict, Foreign Minister Riyad Malki said on Tuesday.