“Padan told me that our hill is higher than the Amihai settlement, and that’s what presents the security risk,” Sabawi told Haaretz. “But it is [the settlers] who pose the only security risk. They attacked us. They threatened us. They came here armed.”

“Hanna Issa, professor of international law at Al-Quds University in Abu Dis, told Al-Monitor that this is not the first time that Israel has committed violations against the staff of international and local human rights organizations. He explained that the latest of these violations was Israel preventing Muhannad Karajeh, Palestinian human rights lawyer and director of the Palestinian Lawyers for Justice, from traveling from the West Bank to the United Arab Emirates to participate in a human rights conference on Nov. 10 on the pretext of security reasons. In addition, Issa noted, Israel prevented Laith Abu Zeyad, Amnesty International’s campaigner, from traveling from the West Bank to Jordan on Oct. 26, using the same argument.”

“The U.S. House of Representatives passed on Friday a resolution opposing Israeli annexation of the West Bank. This is the first time such a resolution has passed in U.S. Congress, and while it is not legally binding, it displays growing opposition among the Democratic Party to the policies of Prime Minister Netanyahu and his right-wing coalition.”

“And yet, the agreement of the Democratic majority to approve a resolution that advocates a two-state solution and, more significantly, expresses opposition to “unilateral annexation of territory” is a watershed event. It marks a line in the sand. And, to mix metaphors, it sends a shot across the bow to Benjamin Netanyahu and the Israeli right, dispelling their illusion that their planned annexation of the Jordan Valley can be carried out with no risk and cost-free. “

“The Committee also decided that elections for party leadership will only take place if elections are declared. The Central Committee has also decided to implement the Norwegian Law in case a right-wing coalition government will be formed – an amendment that allows ministers or deputy ministers to resign from the Knesset but remain a minister, with their Knesset seat taken by the next person on the party’s list.”

“H. Res. 326: As reported in the 7/26/19 edition of the Round-Up, that week out of 4 Israel-related measures marked up and passed by the House Foreign Affairs Committee the previous week, H. Res. 326 was the only one NOT brought to the floor for a vote under suspension of the rules. Why? Because it even after amending the resolution in committee to further water down what was already an extremely meek statement of support for peace and the two-state solution (by stripping out a historically factual reference in the original text to U.S. efforts to end the “occupation,” softening references to settlements, and added in language bashing the Palestinians) Democratic leadership did not believe it could get the 2/3 majority support that is required to pass measures brought to the floor under suspension of the rules. This week, House Democratic leaders apparently decided to try again, this time hoping to soften the political blow for making even a meek statement of support for the two-state solution by counterbalancing by adding language that unambiguously seeks to force pro-two-state Democrats to go on the record, in effect, opposing any possible move to use U.S. assistance to Israel as leverage (i.e., to put any strings or conditions on any part of the $3.8 billion in annual assistance provided to Israel under the 10-year Memorandum of Understanding signed under the Obama Administration.”

“The final section of Part 3 will consider “anti-BDS laws,” which are designed to delegitimize and attack a Palestinian-led boycott movement for human rights. That ALEC is involved in supporting the passage of these laws is perhaps unsurprising given ALEC’s deep evangelical history. It was tele-evangelist Jerry Falwell, a close contemporary of ALEC founder Paul Weyrich, who said “to stand against Israel is to stand against God.” The roots of fundamentalist Christian support for Zionism stretch back to at least the writings of John Darby in the mid-1800s,  and carry through to the present day, with most modern evangelicals believing that the creation of Israel is a necessary step to bringing about the second coming of Jesus Christ. [76] Hence, it is no surprise that conservative Christian evangelical groups within ALEC played an influential role in supporting passage of a set of laws designed to criminalize advocacy for Palestinian rights. “

“Blue and White and Likud have agreed that the next round of elections will be held on Monday, March 2, 2020, barring a last-minute coalition deal in the next two days. The Knesset is expected to dissolve on Wednesday night, confirming the failure of both Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Blue and White leader Benny Gantz to form a governing coalition following the inconclusive September elections.”

“The first inkling of his fragile condition came, not from the growing list of the Likud local leaders and major members switching their support to rival Gideon Sa’ar, but rather from the international arena, which he seemed to rule for years. U.S. President Trump is ignoring him, Putin is letting him wait for hours, Boris Johnson and Emmanuel Macron don’t find the time or see a point in meeting with him at the NATO summit, which he tried to crash without invitation.”

“It was said that we had not discussed a formal plan and that was true, but the issue was raised and I raised it with Secretary of State Pompeo and I intend to raise the issue with the Trump administration,” the prime minister said.

Illan Goldenberg writes, “Netanyahu’s latest focus on annexing the valley is a transparent political ploy to stay in power and pressure Gantz to accept a unity government. In the process, he is building political support for the argument that Israel must annex the Jordan River Valley because of security concerns….But even more importantly, the strategic logic behind holding onto the valley, which was developed in the years after 1967, no longer holds: Today, Israel can remain entirely secure while allowing the valley to become part of a future Palestinian state.”

Rob Malley and Aaron David Miller writes, “When he departs, a lot will change right away: Netanyahu’s cult-like figure will have left the stage, and his corrupt practices will be over. The state’s illiberal drift might well be halted and respect for the rule of law, the judiciary and democratic norms enhanced; and the fanning of hate and fearmongering toward Israel’s Arab minority potentially could abate. But as for significant changes to the Israeli-Palestinian peace process—the one issue that seems to retain the bulk of the world’s interest? Not so much. And that will be the case regardless of what government replaces Netanyahu’s. In fact, paradoxically, Netanyahu’s replacement by a less contentious and more reasonable prime minister may well ensure that the Israeli-Palestinian peace process remains more about managing a process than securing a peace.”

“That frustration may have reached its boiling point on Thursday, when Bensouda published a status update on her investigation that avoided offering a timetable for when the preliminary probe would be finished, despite her declaration a year ago that her office had made “significant” progress and was preparing to present its findings.”

“Our organizations reject and condemn in the strongest manner what can only be described as a territorial reordering by the Office of the Prosecutor, in describing the West Bank and East Jerusalem as under the ‘control’ of Israel, and therefore occupied territory, while presenting the Gaza Strip separately as an area of ongoing hostilities. This assessment is manifestly out of step with agreed international positions on the status of the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip as comprising the occupied Palestinian territory since 1967, as determined by the myriad of UN Human Rights Council Resolutions, UN General Assembly Resolutions, UN Security Council Resolutions, the in-depth findings of UN Commissions of Inquiry, and an Advisory Opinion of the International Court of Justice. Our organizations remind that the territory of the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip is internationally recognized as one territorial legal unit. We further remind that the failure to include the status of the Gaza Strip as occupied territory resiles from previous reports of the Office of the Prosecutor, which consider that ‘the prevalent view within the international community is that Israel remains an occupying power in Gaza despite the 2005 disengagement.’ As such, the report feeds into Israel’s fragmentation of the occupied Palestinian territory, for the purposes of its colonialist territorial expansion, a fragmentation that is further entrenched by the application of different legal regimes in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip, the denial of freedom of Palestinian movement through its construction of Annexation Wall and checkpoints in and around the West Bank and Jerusalem, military walls, fences, buffer-zones, watchtowers and drone surveillance surrounding and imprisoning over 2 million people in the Gaza Strip, where Israel also retains undisputed control over the territorial water and airspace. Additionally, Israel’s continued effective control over all Palestinians through, inter alia, the Population Registry, denial of family reunifications, denial of return of Palestinian refugees, denial of freedom of movement of people, goods and services throughout the occupied territory, and the division of the Palestinian population through a discriminatory ID system, have fragmented families for decades throughout the OPT.”