With the normalization of relations between Israel and some Arab countries moving at a relatively fast pace, and with the Abraham Accords having taken over a significant proportion of US policy conversations and priorities for the region, there is a great need to provide a detailed and objective assessment of this new policy direction and its potential impacts and implications. Arab Center Washington DC (ACW) and the Foundation for Middle East Peace (FMEP) are hosting a half-day conference to discuss the implications of these agreements for human rights and democracy across the region, as well as for US policies and priorities, regional and global alliances, and the future of both peace and Palestinian human rights. The conference panels will also include an examination of the diplomatic, economic, military, and technological components of these newly established relations, the motivations of each of the countries involved, and an overall assessment of the future of the Abraham Accords.

1. Israel Introduces Second Plan to Expand Givat Hamatos Settlement in East Jerusalem
2. After 15 Yrs of Work, Jerusalem Govt Withdraws Support for Private Plan to Build First new Palestinian Neighborhood in East Jerusalem since 1967
3. Following Repeal of Disengagement Law, Israel Dismisses Cases Against Settlers Who Violated It
4. On the Potential for Mass Expulsion of Palestinians via West Bank Land Registration
5. Bonus Reads

“The temporary status of “occupation” of the Palestinian territories is now a permanent condition in which one state ruled by one group of people rules over another group of people. The promise of a two-state solution made sense as an alternative future in the years around the 1993 Oslo accords, when there were constituencies for compromise on both the Israeli and the Palestinian sides and when tangible if fleeting progress was made toward building the institutions of a hypothetical Palestinian state. But that period ended long ago. Today, it makes little sense to let fantastical visions for the future obscure deeply embedded existing arrangements.

It is past time to grapple with what a one-state reality means for policy, politics, and analysis. Palestine is not a state in waiting, and Israel is not a democratic state incidentally occupying Palestinian territory. All the territory west of the Jordan River has long constituted a single state under Israeli rule, where the land and the people are subject to radically different legal regimes, and Palestinians are permanently treated as a lower caste. Policymakers and analysts who ignore this one-state reality will be condemned to failure and irrelevance, doing little beyond providing a smokescreen for the entrenchment of the status quo.” See also What if the U.S. Recognized a ‘One-state Reality’ in Israel-Palestine? LISTEN (Haaretz podcast with two of this article’s authors, Shibley Telhami and Marc Lynch

“For the past 75 days, Palestinian prisoner Khader Adnan has been on hunger strike to protest his detention. Despite his deteriorating health, an Israeli military court on Monday delayed handing down a decision regarding Adnan’s request for release until April 27, or until the court can see a report summarizing the prisoner’s health…Randa said that many officials, as well as Physicians for Human Rights-Israel, have attempted to visit her husband to check on his condition, but the IPS [Israel Prison Service] will not allow it.” See also What is Palestinian Prisoners’ Day? (Al Jazeera); In the dead of night: Israel’s military raids into Palestinian homes (Al Jazeera)

“A shooting targeting a vehicle occurred near the Shim’on HaTsadik light rail station in Jerusalem, leaving two people injured…Also on Tuesday, eight Palestinians were injured in an Israeli raid in the Jenin refugee camp in the West Bank.” See also West Bank Dispatch: Repression and resistance are the new normal (Mondoweiss); Israeli forces arrest Palestinian minor over shooting of two Israeli settlers in occupied East Jerusalem (New Arab)

“For two years, the Qisrawi family says, settlers living on a nearby hillside have terrorized them, surrounding their home, throwing rocks and firebombs and trying to climb over the wall outside. With each attack, this Palestinian family in the Israeli-occupied West Bank town of Huwara fortified their home — adding the cameras, metal barricades and a higher wall…“If you see the security, you wouldn’t think this is a home. It feels like we’re living in a prison,” said Izz al-Deen’s mother, Leena Qisrawi, 38. “Every time they attack us from a new angle, we put up new fortifications.”…Huwara residents say they are vulnerable to more attacks because not many settlers were arrested after the attacks in February and March, amid what Palestinians say is a general lack of accountability.” See also Israelis Bulldoze Abandoned Palestinian Shops in Hebron (Haaretz); ‘No Palestinian state in Israel’s plans’ as Israel allocates more than $270 million to expand settlements (New Arab); Israel decides to ‘allocate $1bn to developing roads serving illegal West Bank settlements’ (New Arab)

“In mainstream American political discourse, such a prospect seems unthinkable. US government officials don’t acknowledge Palestinian fears of another Nakba. They more often treat Palestinians as a people that would be on route to independence if only they avoided “unhelpful” actions—like demanding international pressure on Israel— that leave them “further away from a two-state solution.” But when Palestinians claim that Israel’s long term goal is not Palestinian statehood but Palestinian expulsion, they aren’t hallucinating. Expulsion is deeply rooted in Zionist history, and the sentiment pervades Israel today, including among politicians and commentators generally viewed as centrists. Israel’s current defense minister, national security advisor, and agriculture minister—members of Benjamin Netanyahu’s center-right Likud party—have all alluded to removing Palestinians from the country. While the pace of Palestinian expulsion has waxed and waned in the 75 years since Israel’s war of independence, there is reason to worry that the radicalism of Israel’s current government, combined with rising violence in the West Bank, could turn the current trickle into a flood. Another Nakba is possible. By pretending it isn’t, American officials conveniently avoid an uncomfortable but vital question: What would they do to try and stop it?”

“Fifty-two Israeli Arabs have been murdered since the start of 2023 – but the streets are empty of demonstrations. Residents tell of an impossible situation and lack of faith in the authorities: ‘At least we heard a few slogans from the previous government – today there’s silence’”

“Tens of thousands of Christians took part in the Holy Fire ceremony on Saturday, an annual Orthodox Christian ceremony held in Jerusalem’s Church of the Holy Sepulchre, amid tension between police and Christian worshipers over Israel’s decision to place limits on the number of participants for the third year in a row. Thousands of clergy, police, diplomats and pilgrims huddled inside the church, while thousands more huddles in the surrounding alleys, where police clashed and in some cases violently beat worshipers trying to make their way through their barricades.” See also Christians in Palestine mark Easter in Jerusalem despite restrictions imposed by Israel (New Arab), Despite Israeli restrictions, Christians celebrate Holy Flame (Al Jazeera); 

“The 62-year-old arrived in Israel on Monday and was received and accompanied throughout his visit by Intelligence Minister Gila Gamliel. He had meetings with Netanyahu and President Isaac Herzog…His visit was welcomed by the far-right Israeli government, which branded him “the most prominent Iranian to visit Israel in history” and referred to him as the “exiled crown prince” of Iran. Pahlavi also engaged in a variety of activities with Israeli officials, including participating in a Holocaust Memorial Day event, visiting and praying at the Western Wall and visiting Rabbi Leo Dee, who lost his two daughters and wife this month in a shooting attack attributed to Palestinian assailants. He did not make any mention of Palestine or visit the Al-Aqsa Mosque, which has been subject to repeated raids by Israeli soldiers during the holy Muslim month of Ramadan.” See also Son of Iran’s shah Pahlavi arrives in Israel on controversial visit (Al Monitor)

“The recent execution of an alleged Palestinian collaborator with Israel in the West Bank city of Nablus was reminiscent of the extrajudicial killings during the first and second intifadas. According to local reports, Zuhair Ghalith, 23, was shot dead by six gunmen in the al-Qaryoun neighborhood of Nablus’ Old City in the northern West Bank last Saturday. A video of Ghalith confessing to working with the Israeli army had widely circulated on social media…In the video, which many viewers felt appeared to be forced, Ghalith says that he was blackmailed by an Israeli intelligence officer with a video of him having sex with another man, and used it to blackmail Ghalith into meeting him in the Huwara camp near Nablus. He explained that he was asked to follow and monitor the moves of several Lion’s Den leaders, including Adham “Mabrouka” al-Shishani, Muhammad al-Dakhil, Ashraf Mubaslat, Muhammad “Abu Saleh” al-Azizi, Abd Al-Rahman Subh and Tamer al-Kilani. All were killed in separate Israeli operations in recent months.” See also Losing ‘Deterrence’: How Palestinian, Arab Resistance changed rules of war with Israel (Ramzy Baroud//MEMO)

“Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas’s control over the Palestinian political and judicial systems is a topic of daily discussion among Palestinians. Following his October 28, 2022 decree no. 17, ordering the establishment of the Supreme Council of Judicial Bodies and Authorities (SCJBA) that he would head, many criticized his increasingly authoritarian rule. But decree no. 17 has many precedents; since 2007, Abbas has issued some 400 decrees entrenching his authority over the judiciary. In consolidating the domination of the executive authority over the judicial system, Abbas’s decrees contribute to shielding him and the ruling elite from accountability. This policy brief examines how Abbas has managed to tighten his grip over the Palestinian judicial system in the West Bank, and examines the ramifications of these actions on Palestinian civil society. It ends with suggestions for ways to confront Abbas’s authoritarian rule and reform the status quo.” See also Like Israel, the PA is cracking down on Palestinian civil society (New Arab); Defying PA repression, Palestinian teachers lead biggest strike in years (Basel Adra//+972)

“Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, aka MBS, discussed bilateral relations, Saudi Arabia’s economic diversification plans and the conflict with Israel, both sides said on Wednesday. Meanwhile, videos emerged on social media Tuesday evening showing Hamas leadership performing a pilgrimage in Mecca.” See also Explainer: A look at Hamas and Saudi Arabia’s rocky relationship (New Arab)

“Some 120,000 Muslim worshippers attended Eid al-Fitr prayers at the Al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied East Jerusalem on Friday, after several stormings of the mosque and its compound by Israeli forces and settlers during Ramadan.”

“The musician’s unashamedly individual style has brought some of Palestine’s most renowned artists knocking. Now, she’s taking her sound global.”

“She once said that she was “proud to be racist” and has called herself the “mother of the politically incorrect.” She once had a video removed from TikTok for inappropriate speech. And she may be Israel’s next top diplomat in New York City. May Golan, an Israeli government minister and ally of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, has been offered Israel’s consul general job in New York, a coveted position that is the country’s highest post in the largest city in the United States, according to Israeli press reports…Golan, 36, has long been a vociferous advocate for curbing the court’s power and is one of the most outspoken right-wing voices in Israel’s parliament, the Knesset.” See also Majority of Israeli Startups Fear Judicial Overhaul, to Transfer Funds Abroad (Haaretz)

“Yom HaShoah, or Holocaust Remembrance Day, is a solemn occasion in Israel and across the Jewish diaspora. Memorial ceremonies are held, often attended by survivors; testimonies about the horrors of the Nazi regime are disseminated across social media and in the press; and, in Israel, a two-minute air-raid siren blares, bringing much of the country to a halt. The occasion is also, however, an opportunity for hasbarists to share one of their favorite, and most repugnant, smears: that the Palestinian people are, in fact, Nazis…But the broadest, most dangerous function of the smear is in the latitude it is intended to grant Israel in its abuses, thus contributing to the larger project of obscuring the root causes of violence in Israel-Palestine. Describing one’s victims using the internationally-recognized shorthand for pure evil makes the ugly business of colonization and occupation not just permissible, but a moral imperative. Under this rubric, forced displacement, mass incarceration, extrajudicial killings, and home demolitions are not war crimes or human rights abuses, but rather necessary tools in a desperate, existential struggle against an irredeemable enemy.” See also Debunking the myths of Israel’s Declaration of Independence (Tom Pessah//+972)

“As Israel’s new government emboldens its settler right, Haaretz’s longtime occupied territories correspondent discusses the state’s old and new forms of domination over Palestinians.”

“The signs of such strains are everywhere…The meeting last month with Ambassador Herzog was a watershed, because it was organized by and included some of Israel’s strongest supporters in the Democratic Caucus…As their younger Jewish constituents see Zionism as less central to their Jewish identity, Democrats are finding it politically easier to level strong criticism of Israeli government action, said Representative Jan Schakowsky, Democrat of Illinois.”

“Dr. Maor Even-Khen (aka Maor Even-Chen) is an attorney who most recently served as the deputy director of the Economic Crimes Division of the Israeli Justice Ministry, as well as a major in the reserve force of the Israeli Defense Forces, where he serves as a military court judge in the occupied West Bank. In his capacity as a military court judge, Maj. (Res.) Even-Khen has played a central role in the ongoing arbitrary detention of an elderly United States citizen, Mr. Jamal Afif Suleiman Niser, based on secret evidence, apparently for his involvement in local political affairs…The United States should impose sanctions against Even-Khen for his role in the arbitrary detention of an American citizen, a severe violation of human rights and potential war crime.”

“Over 100 human and civil rights organizations have signed a letter urging the United Nations not to adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance working definition of antisemitism, warning it could impact freedom of speech and curtail criticism of Israel, Human Rights Watch said Thursday…The letter was first sent to UN Secretary-General António Guterres on April 3 with 60 signatures and since then dozens more have added their names to it, HRW said in a statement, putting the current total at 104.”