“Illegal Israeli settlers in the occupied Palestinian territories have set up an illegal outpost in the village of Birin, east of Hebron, in order to “expand” an illegal settlement, Wafa news agency has reported. According to a representative of the Anti-Settlement Committee in the West Bank, Rateb Jabour, the settlers have placed a caravan on land belonging to a local Palestinian as the first step towards seizing hundreds of acres of land, despite it being owned by Palestinians who have proof of their ownership. He added that Israeli occupation forces stormed into the village and handed five residents notices ordering them to stop work on their land.”

“PLO Secretary Saeb Erekat said yesterday that US President Trump’s ‘deal of the century’ aimed to destroy the Palestinian Authority (PA) by creating an alternative for it. ‘PA President Mahmoud Abbas rejected it,’ he explained, adding that the ‘resilience’ of the PA resulted in stopping the annexation plans, ‘but the UAE-Israel deal, which was engineered by Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, represented a powerful strike to our efforts.’ ‘The PLO signed deals with Israel only for five years. The only mistake that we made was not to make clear where and what to do after the end of the five years if Israel did not commit to the deals.’ Rrekat claimed that the UAE-Israel normalisation deal ‘undermined’ the PLO’s efforts to achieve peace that would end the Israeli occupation of the lands occupied in 1967, create a Palestinian state and solve the refugee issue. He went on to condemn the silence of the Arab League, the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC) and the Council of the Gulf States regarding the deal.”

“A prominent Fatah leader spoke of the Arab League’s neglect of the Palestinian leadership’s request to hold an emergency meeting to discuss the UAE’s decision to normalise relations with Israel. Ahmed Aboul Gheit, Secretary–General of the League of Arab States, said on Saturday that the League will hold a regular meeting on 9 September at the ministerial level, ignoring the Palestinian leadership’s request for an emergency meeting.”

“Fatah sent its officials to the gathering: Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh spoke, and his colleagues, including Sabri Seidam, Rawhi Fattouh and Jibril Rajoub, sat on plastic chairs around the stage, alongside the perpetual representatives of other Palestinian organizations (some of them minuscule and negligent). They all listened patiently to the speeches. And who was absent from the demonstration of unity? Members of Fatah’s Democratic Reform Bloc, in other words, supporters of Mohammed Dahlan, who together with Fatah’s former security chief were expelled from the movement – but reject Abbas’ right to expel them. Dahlan’s name was not mentioned, but it was hovering in the air. The rumors and assumptions that are rife in Palestinian discourse are that Dahlan, adviser to UAE Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed, is the broker of the agreement with Israel and a favorite of the Israelis and the Americans, who are planning to crown him the next Palestinian leader.”

“The Israeli Defense Forces struck Hamas installations in Gaza, following another day of cross-border arson attacks from the Hamas-ruled enclave, the IDF said in a statement on Tuesday. According to the statement, IDF jets and tanks hit Hamas ‘military positions and underground infrastructure,’ in response to ‘incendiary and explosive balloon’ attacks on southern Israel on Monday, which Israel’s Fire and Rescue Service said ignited dozens of fires in open fields.” Also see: YNet: IDF pounds Hamas targets as incendiary balloons continue to terrorize Israeli border towns; Israel Hayom: Israel-Gaza tensions simmer as arson terrorism persists; Times of Israel – IDF strikes Hamas targets in southern Gaza after continued arson balloon attacks; Al Jazeera – Hamas: Gaza will not ‘remain silent’ as Israel escalates siege

“Officials in the Gaza Strip on Monday evening declared a full lockdown for the first time after the Hamas-run Health Ministry announced the first cases of community spread of coronavirus. Until now, all the cases reported in Gaza were linked to quarantine facilities for residents returning from abroad.The Health Ministry said four people from the same family have tested positive for the virus in central Gaza and investigations were underway to track the source of the infection. A full lockdown was imposed on the al-Maghazi refugee camp, where the family lives. The Hamas-run government announced 48-hour curfew in the entire territory, closing businesses, schools, mosques and cafes. The discovery of the local cases comes despite months of strict efforts taken to prevent community transmission.Starting on March 15, Hamas imposed mandatory isolation for 21 days at designated quarantine centers for all those returning to the Strip by the way of Israel and Egypt.” Also see: Israel Hayom – Gaza under lockdown after COVID begins to spread; AP – Local virus cases in Gaza raise fears of a wider outbreak; Times of Israel – Gaza sees first COVID-19 cases outside of quarantine facilities

“Gazans are expecting the arrival of a Qatari envoy and the funds  they hope he is bringing to the impoverished Hamas-controlled enclave that has recently seen power cuts and several new coronavirus cases. According to reports from Gaza, Mohammed al-Emadi is due to arrive in the Strip on Tuesday. It was not clear whether, as in the past, he would be coming with suitcases full of cash, or if the Qatari funds would be distributed to Gazans by bank transfer or via post office branches. A Hamas source told Haaretz it also wasn’t certain how much money he would be coming with and whether the funds would be directed solely to needy families – at $100 each to between 100,000 and 120,000 families – or if it would also go to support other humanitarian projects.”

“Israel should renew its shipments of fuel to Gaza, so that the enclave’s sole power plant can open and resume its generation of electricity, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency said on Tuesday. ‘We are calling on all concerned parties to maintain a supply of electricity that is sufficient to meet the basic needs of the civilian population,’ Director of UNRWA Affairs in Gaza Matthias Schmale said.The agency noted that according to international humanitarian law, the passage of ‘relief consignments’ such as fuel should not be prevented.” Also see: Middle East Monitor – UNRWA calls for unimpeded passage into Gaza for vital goods

“Gaza incendiary balloons made Israel stop fuel import into the Gaza Strip, causing in turn for Gaza sewage plants to cease operating.”

“The delay gives Netanyahu and Gantz more time to try to resolve the weeks-old dispute that is also weighing on the power-sharing accord they reached after an election in March, which followed inconclusive ballots in April 2019 and September 2019.” Also see: Israel Hayom – ‘This is the time for unity’: Netanyahu compromises to avoid 4th election

“Two hours before a deadline on Israel’s state budget that could have seen the Knesset dissolve, the Israeli parliament approved legislation that would extend it by 120 days, avoiding a fourth election cycle in less than two years. Ahead of the vote, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Benny Gantz said their parties would back it. Sixty-seven Knesset members voted in favor of the bill, and 37 opposed.”

“US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s meetings with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other top officials have kicked off an Israeli diplomatic blitz over the country’s normalization deal with the United Arab Emirates.”

“The UAE canceled a trilateral meeting with US and Israeli representatives that was supposed to take place on Friday at the UN, Walla! reported on Monday. The three diplomats were supposed to celebrate the agreement to normalize the ties between the two countries, the outlet says. However, the UAE decided to cancel the public vent in a bid to protest the statements on the prospect of the US selling advanced F-35 stealth fighter jets to the Gulf Kingdom coming from the Israeli security establishment.” Also see: Al Bawaba – UAE Cancels Anticipated Tripartite Meeting With The US, Israel; Times of Israel – Likud minister: We oppose sale of ‘even one screw’ of the F-35 to UAE

“Prominent Muslim American activist Aisha Al-Adawiya has resigned from the UAE-based Forum for Promoting Peace in Muslim Societies (FPPMS) following its support for the Emirates’ normalisation deal with Israel, Anadolu reported yesterday. Writing on Facebook, Al-Adawiya, the founder of the human rights group Women in Islam, disclaimed the FPPMS’ statement which supported the deal, accusing the organisation of a ‘breach of trust’ and stressed her ‘staunch’ support for Palestine…The FPPMS hailed the UAE-Israel deal, claiming it reinforces peace and dialogue among nations, however after being criticised for the statement, the body removed the statement from its platforms. Hamza Yusuf, vice-president at FPPMS, denied any knowledge of the statement… ‘My allegiance is and has always been with the oppressed peoples of Palestine, whether Muslim, Christian, or otherwise,’ Yusuf wrote on Facebook. In addition to Al-Adawiya and Yusuf, Abdullah Al-Matouq, an adviser to Kuwait’s royal court and a member of the forum, distanced himself from the statement.” Also see: Middle East Monitor – Anti-normalisation groups set up in UAE to counter Israel peace deal

“The Israeli firm NSO Group Technologies, whose software is used to hack into cellphones, has in the past few years sold its Pegasus spyware for hundreds of millions of dollars to the United Arab Emirates and other Persian Gulf States, where it has been used to monitor anti-regime activists, with the encouragement and the official mediation of the Israeli government.”

“Senior Hamas officials tell Lebanese paper that Emirati agents were sent to the Gaza Strip during Operation Protective Edge to collect information about captive Israeli soldiers, Hamas tunnels and funding, and the location of its rocket launchers.”

“The United States is planning a regional peace summit with several Arab states that will likely be held in the next few weeks in one of the Gulf sheikdoms, an Israeli newspaper reported Tuesday. That reportedly is the purpose of US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s current tour of the Middle East, which includes stops in several Arab countries rumored to be in line to follow the United Arab Emirates in normalizing ties with Israel. The summit was reported by the Israel Hayom daily, generally regarded as a mouthpiece for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The report cited an unnamed senior UAE diplomat who is involved in Pompeo’s talks with the various Arab states.”

“Informed sources said that Jared Kushner, the senior adviser and son-in-law of the US President Donald Trump, will visit Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Oman in early September to persuade Gulf leaders to normalise relations with Israel, as the UAE did. Axios quoted Israeli and Arab sources as saying that Kushner will, in the first week of September, tour the Middle East, accompanied by the White House representative to international negotiations, Avi Berkowitz. The tour will start with a visit to Jerusalem and then the UAE with the aim of inspecting the implementation of the US mediated agreement to normalise relations between the two parties. According to the news website, ‘Officials familiar with the planned tour,’ said that ‘Kushner will attempt during the talks he will hold with some leaders in the region to urge more Arab countries to follow the example of the UAE and move forward towards full normalisation of relations with Israel.’”

“Morocco’s Prime Minister Saad-Eddin El-Othmani declared his government’s rejection of normalisation with Israel, in the first official reaction to the US-brokered deal between Israel and the United Arab Emirates… ‘Morocco’s stance, both that of the government, the king and the people, is to defend the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people and the Holy Mosque of Al-Aqsa,’ Othmani said during a parliament session on Sunday. ‘These are red lines for Morocco, and hence our rejection of any compromises in this respect and any process of normalisation with the Zionist entity [Israel],’ he added. ‘Any normalisation with the Zionist entity amounts to encouraging it to increase its violations against the Palestinian people.’”

“Sudan’s acting Foreign Minister Omar Qamar Al-Din Ismail stressed yesterday that his ministry was not ordered to normalise ties with Israel, RT reported. He said that he was ‘surprised’ by the claims made by his ministry’s spokesman regarding an eminent [sic]  announcement of a normalisation deal with Israel. Ismail, who joined the transitional office in July, added: ‘There are no talks between Sudan and Israel.’ ‘Ambassador Haidar Badawi was sacked as an official spokesman for the ministry after his remarks about normalisation with Israel, as well as for the violation of the ministry’s rules.’” Also see: Israel Hayom: Sudan punts on idea of normalization with Israel; Jerusalem Post – Israel ties not a condition for Sudan to shed terror-sponsor status – US; Al Bawaba – Pompeo Heads to Sudan on First Direct Flight From Israel

“Defense Ministry tries to shrug off responsibility as Senate report reveals activities of Psy-Group; Israeli law prohibits unlicensed export of defense tech, knowledge, services.”

“The backdrop for Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s planned speech to the Republican National Convention promised to be spectacular: sweeping views of Jerusalem’s Old City, with the domes and spires of its holy sites. But even before his plane touched down in Israel on Monday, Mr. Pompeo was being criticized there and in the United States for breaking a longstanding taboo against mixing diplomacy and partisan politics.

Also see: Haaretz – Biden Slams Pompeo for ‘Politicizing’ Israel by Taping Convention Speech in Jerusalem; ABC News – Pompeo to speak at RNC in unprecedented move critics call inappropriate; Politico – State Department memo warned Senate-approved officials against appearing at partisan events; Jerusalem Post: Nikki Haley: Obama, Biden led UN to denounce our friend Israel; Times of Israel – Pompeo to defy his own order to deliver RNC speech from Jerusalem; Washington Post – Pompeo’s Christian Zionism takes center stage; Middle East Eye – Pompeo triggers outrage with Republican convention address from Israel

“The US State Department has strongly objected to Turkey’s hosting of two Hamas leaders in Istanbul. The meeting took place on August 22 as the Hamas members got a red carpet from Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. The statement condemned the meeting as US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo departed Israel for Sudan. It marks a shift in US policy standing up to Ankara’s continued support for the terrorist group; for years the US ignored its Turkish ally’s increasing support for Hamas.”

“No country in the world would be willing to accept the fact that against any diplomatic norms, friendly governments would transfer millions of dollars to organizations trying to hurt it under the guise of aid and humanitarian groups. It’s time the government and lawmakers act directly against these funding governments and parliaments, in order to bring a fundamental change in the policy of how groups are funded by European governments.”