“Israel is planning to build a Jewish neighborhood in East Jerusalem on land that would become part of the Palestinian state under U.S. President Donald Trump’s peace plan, and is currently inhabited by some 15 Palestinian families…The Trump peace plan’s chapter on Jerusalem includes a section titled ‘Special Tourist Area.’ The plan specifies that ‘The State of Israel should allow for the development by the State of Palestine of a special tourism zone in Atarot, in a specific area to be agreed upon by the parties.’…The ‘deal of the century’ does not discuss exactly where this special tourism zone will be located, but the planned new neighborhood spans all the remaining unbuilt space in Atarot between the industrial area and the separation barrier.”

“The European Union will not pass any official resolutions on U.S. President Donald Trump’s peace plan for Israel and the Palestinians until “after Israeli elections,” foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell said on Monday, after a meeting of the organization’s foreign ministers in Brussels. ‘We had an exchange of views about the Middle East peace process following the presentation of the U.S. proposal,’ Borrell stated. ‘We briefly discussed how best to relaunch a political process that is acceptable to both parties and how best to defend the internationally agreed parameters, equal rights and international law’.”

“The UK government’s position on Israel-Palestine is unchanged in the wake of Donald Trump’s new proposals for the region, but the US president’s plan should be given ‘genuine and fair consideration,’ Prime Minister Boris Johnson was revealed to have said on Tuesday. In response to a letter from leader of the opposition, Jeremy Corbyn, Johnson said the British government would not be altering its position regarding the status of Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories. ‘The UK’s position on Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank is clear and has not changed,’ he wrote. ‘These settlements are illegal under international law, present an obstacle to peace, and threaten the physical viability of a two-state solution.’ He added that the UK would continue to fund the UNRWA refugee agency – unlike Trump, who ended American funding last year – and said London would continue to support a ‘just, fair, agreed and realistic’ solution to the question of Palestinian refugees and their right to return to their ancestral homeland.”

“Hundreds of Jordanians participated in a march in the downtown of the capital Amman on Friday, protesting against U.S. President Donald Trump’s U.S. Middle East peace plan commonly known as the ‘Deal of the Century.’ The protesters demanded the Jordanian Government show action against the Jordanian-Israeli Gas deal as well, calling for an end to the ‘deal of shame.’ The protests expressed that terminating the Gas deal will be the first real step for the Jordanian government towards the rejection of the Middle East peace plan which was announced by Trump last January.”

“Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday said the military was planning a ‘big surprise’ for Hamas if the terrorist group failed to rein in violence aimed at southern Israel, amid reports that Israel is contemplating the assassination of two senior Hamas leaders. In a pre-election interview with Army Radio, Netanyahu said: ‘Hamas and the other terrorist organizations such as Islamic Jihad, whose commander [Baha Abu al-Ata] we eliminated a few weeks ago, have to understand that either there is complete quiet and they rein in the rogue factions — shoot them in the knees, that’s the way — or we will have no choice but to launch our operational programs. I can’t share what they are, but I can say it will be a big surprise’…Meanwhile, the London-based pan-Arab website Al-Araby Al-Jadeed reported Tuesday that an Egyptian intelligence delegation that visited the Gaza Strip did so after receiving information that Israel was planning to assassinate two prominent Hamas figures. The website said it had been told by sources that Cairo had persuaded Israel to suspend a decision to assassinate Yahya Sinwar, the leader of Hamas in the Gaza Strip, and Marwan Issa, the leader of its military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades.”

“A Shin Bet security service agent threatened an East Jerusalem resident who had posted a video of a Palestinian demonstration, saying he would make trouble for the resident’s son because of his actions. During the call the agent also threatened to come to his house and either humiliate him in front of his family or ‘blow him up,’ though a recording of the conversation was not clear enough to be sure which was said. A few days later, Abu Quider received a phone call from a man who identified himself as ‘Captain Seif from Israeli intelligence.’ The captain berated Abu Quider for sharing the video. ‘I’m speaking to warn you. Your son in Azzariyeh who got into trouble with us still has an open account,’ he is heard saying in the recording, obtained by Haaretz. ‘If you want to help your people, good for you, but without problems and without connection to Al-Aqsa because it’s a holy place,’ he said.  The caller continued: ‘We, the Shin Bet, don’t forget one word, one stone, one incendiary device, nothing. Anyone who did something against the state’s security will pay the price all the way.’ Captain Seif then ratcheted up his tone: ‘I swear to God if I hear your name one more time I’ll come to your house and [unclear] you in front of your whole family. Aren’t you ashamed? Isn’t there any respect? Who are you to talk like that? You receive a salary from us, we support you and your children and you publish things against us?’ The unclear verb in the recording sounds like either ‘I’ll blow you up’ or ‘I’ll humiliate you’.”

” A Palestinian man tried to stab an Israeli police officer at the Tomb of the Patriarchs in the West Bank city of Hebron. He pulled out a knife during a security check at the site late on Monday morning and tried to stab a member of the border police, Israel Police said in a statement. He was stopped and arrested by other officers, the IDF said. There were no injuries reported.”

“Hamas heaped praise on a deceased Palestinian man on Monday, who the terrorist group said had carried out a shooting attack against Israeli soldiers at the beginning of February. The statement came hours after the IDF said that it had located the remains of the Palestinian man in the central West Bank who was believed to have opened fire on troops earlier this month.”

“A Israel Police spokesperson, however, said that Glick was arrested after violating visiting rules at the compound. According to police, following a visit to the Temple Mount with two United States congressmen and their families, Glick returned to the compound via the Mughrabi Gate on an uncoordinated visit and began provoking officers there…Tom Nissani, chairman of the Students for the Temple Mount movement, said in response to the incident: ‘The arrest and handcuffing of a former Israeli MK immediately after a tour with US Congress members emphasizes our shameful position on the Temple Mount — the Mount is not in our hands’.”

“A poll released Monday showed the centrist Blue and White party increasing its edge over Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud, while another survey showed the gap between the two largest parties closing. Both polls predicted continued deadlock, which has resulted in two failures to yield a government and three elections within a year. The overall bloc of religious and right-wing parties supporting Netanyahu was projected to get 54 of the 120 Knesset seats, while the center-left bloc led by Blue and White chief MK Benny Gantz had 58 — including the mainly Arab Joint List, which is not likely to support a Gantz government. Kingmaker Avigdor Liberman’s right-wing secularist Yisrael Beytenu party scored 8 seats in the television survey, enough to push either side above the necessary 61 seats.”

“Gantz laid out two potential paths while speaking to Channel 12 News on Saturday night. He said he’s either going to partner with a broad range of ‘Jewish and democratic’ parties — including the ultra-nationalist party led by apparent kingmaker Avigdor Lieberman. Or he could team up with the ruling Likud Party, but only if it gets rid of longtime leader Netanyahu, who’s fending off a slew of criminal corruption charges.”

“The prime minister’s defense may request that his arraignment be postponed and demand additional evidence, which would delay trial proceedings until the request is accepted or denied. The defense team is expected to request that Netanyahu be exempt from appearing in court, arguing that requiring him to participate would intervene with his work, should he remain prime minister or serve in another political position after the election.”

“In addition to the lack of factual accuracy, Bennett’s claim that there has been a strategic change in activity against Iran since he became defense minister is incorrect, since every time Israel was attacked it responded, and even hit Iranian targets. For example, in May 2018, about a year and a half before Bennett’s appointment, the IDF embarked on a large-scale strike in Syria in response to rockets launched into Israeli territory, in an operation called House of Cards.”

“Ravid and Yavin are among a growing number of Israeli Jews, longtime supporters of Zionist parties such as Labor and Meretz, who plan to break rank and, for the first time in their lives, vote for an Arab or mainly Arab list in the next election. In the past, Arab parties could count on Jewish voters to hand them the equivalent of a single Knesset seat. According to various internal polls that were shared with Haaretz, on March 2 the Joint List could win as many as two seats thanks to disillusioned and angry left-wing Jewish voters.”

“Gantz said it was ‘very important that we emphasize the importance of bipartisan relationship between Israel and the United States. We don’t care if the American president is a Republican or Democrat,’ Gantz said. ‘If he is a good president for the United States,’ then that person would be a ‘good president for the State of Israel as well’.”

“The Palestinians realized that their motion would be met with a US veto, but they wanted to isolate the Americans with a 14-1 vote. The plan fell apart largely because of a self-imposed time constraint of syncing a vote with Abbas’ speech as well as pressure from a US counter-campaign. ‘The idea of a UN Security Council resolution opposed to [President Donald] Trump was and is the right idea,’ said a senior PLO official in Ramallah who requested anonymity due to the sensitivity of the issue. ‘The US plan clearly violates international law and everything that the UN represents. If done right and with the time needed, the plan would have gotten enough votes to be read and discussed and voted on’.”

“Hamas leader Ismail Radwan told Dunia al-Watan website Jan. 28 that the weapons of the resistance are the target of the deal of the century, but this is a red line, and war is the only way this weapon could be taken away by force. Hazem Qassem, a Hamas spokesman, told Al-Monitor, “’srael’s intention to disarm Hamas is not recent, and I have repeatedly tackled it before, so including it in the deal does not change much. This goal will not be achieved because Hamas will not give up its weapons, which are surrounded by a strong popular environment that believes in it. Our weapons are legitimate because we use them to defend our people based on international laws, and Israel will not be able to take them away from us. There are even Israeli circles that find this goal quite unrealistic’.”

“Mohammed Abu Harbeed, an expert on security affairs at the Interior Ministry in the Gaza Strip, told Al-Monitor, ‘The construction of this barrier was highly coordinated with Hamas and the Gaza Interior Ministry. It is designed to bring about better security on [both] sides of the border.’ He explained that all of the security measures Egyptian authorities made, including building the barrier, serve the interests of both sides. Ending contraband, including the smuggling of drugs from Sinai to the Gaza Strip, and preventing the infiltration of extremists from and into the Gaza Strip are what Hamas seeks as well, Abu Harbeed added. He did not find it strange that Egyptian armed forces discovered a Palestinian tunnel on the border with the Gaza Strip. ‘Prior to the Egyptian army’s crackdown on the tunnels in October 2014, there were hundreds of tunnels underneath the Egyptian-Palestinian border — some of which were wide enough for the smuggling of cars. Yet the number of tunnels has become small following the Egyptian crackdown. The [remaining] tunnels are unknown and are run by individuals who are smuggling goods from Egypt to the Gaza Strip with the intent to evade customs duties or contraband such as drugs,’ said Abu Harbeed. He affirmed that the Gaza Interior Ministry does not see a need for these tunnels as long as Egypt opens the Rafah border crossing to Gazans, adding that the ministry is preventing any attempt to dig any new tunnels.”

“The Israel Lobby is in trouble. Until recently, support for Israel from both political parties was considered ironclad. But the Democratic Party is beginning to change, and its presidential frontrunner, Bernie Sanders, wants to condition US military aid on Israel respecting Palestinian human rights. To stem this trend, groups like the newly formed Democratic Majority for Israel (DMFI) are trying to frame support for Israel as a natural part of a progressive agenda. But the downfall of The Israel Project (TIP), a once-influential pro-Israel group that counted prominent Democrats as top supporters, offers a sobering lesson for groups like DMFI. Once dubbed ‘Israel’s most effective media advocacy organization’ by TIME magazine, TIP closed its doors last August after its funding dried up, with Democratic donors fleeing the organization because of its advocacy against the Iran nuclear deal, Barack Obama’s foremost foreign policy achievement. TIP’s decline reflects a new reality confronting Israel’s supporters in Washington. The group found it impossible to balance peddling Benjamin Netanyahu’s narrative with remaining influential in Democratic circles.”