“Opinion polls forecast that neither Netanyahu’s right-wing Likud nor the centrist Blue and White party of his main challenger, former armed forces chief Benny Gantz, will win enough votes on their own, or with coalition allies, for a governing majority in parliament.”

“Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed Sunday that his party’s internal polling showed he was a stone’s throw away from a Knesset majority that would allow the formation of a right-wing government…Polling in the final days before Monday’s election showed support for Likud grow slightly, possibly surpassing its rival Blue and White, though the surveys indicated the party is still several seats short of achieving a 61-seat Knesset majority without the support of Yisrael Beytenu and its leader Avigdor Liberman. In response to his speech, Attorney Shachar Ben Meir filed a petition against Netanyahu with the Central Elections Committee on Sunday, accusing the prime minister of breaking election laws, which forbid the publication of polling data in the three days before an election.”

“Facebook removed fake accounts aiming to suppress voting in the election, in addition to a video by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu which illegally cited new polling numbers. The seven accounts join over a hundred Facebook removed recently. According to an investigation by The Democratic Bloc, an organization monitoring anti-democratic trends in Israel, the suspected profiles made comments to undermine Arab lawmakers and their parliamentary work, express despair in the political system and spread rumors about politicians’ personal lives.”

“The current, year-long election campaign began as a personal referendum on Benjamin Netanyahu. It evolved, at his initiative and under his direction, into a decision on the future of the State of Israel itself. Netanyahu’s desperate efforts to escape criminal prosecution led him to declare total war on democracy, the rule of law and the civic values on which they are based. Rather than facing his accusers in a court of law like a mere mortal, Netanyahu has turned his personal plight into an all-out culture war.”

“In an interview on Channel 12, Odeh scoffed at efforts by Netanyahu in recent days to appeal to the Arab electorate, declaring that ‘no prime minister has incited more against us than Netanyahu.’Among other charges, Odeh said Netanyahu had pushed for the inclusion in last month’s Trump peace plan of ‘population exchanges’ — a reference to a clause providing for the possible redrawing of Israel’s borders to place Arab areas of northern Israel in a future Palestinian entity in the West Bank. ‘All [Arab] local council heads will come out on Monday to help defeat Netanyahu,’ he predicted…Odeh did not rule out recommending Blue and White leader Benny Gantz for prime minister, but said Gantz would have to ‘change direction’ to regain the Joint List’s support. ‘Gantz has moved to the right’ over the past month, he said.”

Naomi Chazan writes, “In what has developed into arguably the most racist campaign in Israel’s history, Palestinian citizens of Israel have coalesced into a political force that can no longer be ignored. At the end of this unbelievably charged day, they may yet emerge as the new game changers in Israel’s seemingly intractable political puzzle. With them, Israel might yet be able to begin the slow process of extricating itself from its extended political morass; without them it may be doomed to further bouts of interminable turmoil. The prospect of power-sharing out of necessity, however, will bear significance only if it comes together with the long-overdue legitimacy due to fully one-fifth of Israeli citizens. Then will the remolding of Israeli politics – and the revival of its foundational norms – carry true meaning.”

“These problems are not technical, but rather structural in the Zionist left, which holds fast to an ideology that affords privileges to Jews above all others and is thus unable to put forth a vision based on equality for all under Israeli rule. Labor and Meretz may find new, innovative political configurations to keep themselves afloat for now, but with the dominance of the annexationist consensus on the one hand, and the possibility of a new left-wing vanguard led by the Joint List on the other, the Zionist left parties will be likely be forced to radically rethink their mission, face repeated political emergencies, or call it a day.”

“Do you support a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict – in other words, the establishment of an independent Palestinian state next to Israel?

I don’t think it would work. I don’t think they [the Palestinians] would suffice with Judea and Samaria. They don’t want us to be here. If we could definitely guarantee that something like this could bring peace, then for sure. I’d say yes in two seconds. But I think they’ll start with Judea and Samaria, and then they’ll demand the rest of Israel.

Do you support Israeli annexation of the West Bank? 

I do support the annexation of Judea and Samaria. I was born and grew up in Efrat. These lands are an inseparable part of the Land of Israel. Their location also protects Jerusalem. In my opinion, there must be Jewish settlement here. But it doesn’t have to be exclusively Jewish. We live in close proximity to Palestinians. That’s the reality.’

“Even as Israel has matured from a small, desert nation fighting for its survival into a regional power with an enviable high-tech industry, it has neglected the transportation, education and health-care systems that experts say are vital to its prosperity. As the country holds its third election in a year, major challenges in each of those areas have drawn precious little attention. Experts warn that without investing heavily, Israel’s ability to keep up with the rest of the advanced world faces a reckoning, and they question whether the country’s fractured political system is even capable of addressing such long-term problems.”

“On February 20, one week before the third national elections in one year, as Netanyahu is fighting for his political survival, our worst fears indeed did materialize. Netanyahu announced the approval of construction at E-1, Givat Hamatos, and Har Homa, and these three schemes had been preceded by a similar announcement regarding Atarot. The announcement was initially so fraught with errors and generalities that some hoped that this might be theater in the service of Netanyahu’s re-election campaign. Nothing can be further from the truth. In the days that followed, and one week before the elections scheduled on March 2, Netanyahu backed up words with deeds, issued tenders at Givat Hamatos, ordered the statutory approval of E-1, green-lighted statutory deliberations over Har Homa E and yet an additional expansion of Givat Hamatos. Two of  these schemes, the Givat Hamatos tenders and the statutory approval of E-1, are the two most devastating settlement developments since 1967. They are a clear and present danger, posing an immediate threat to the possibility of any two-state outcome. Dovetailed with the recently released Trump initiative and the approaching annexation scheme, they threaten to condemn Israel to perpetual occupation, the gravest existing threat to the long-term viability of the State of Israel.”

“Qalandia had been an airport since 1920, and the issue provokes emotional responses. PLO Executive Committee member Hanan Ashrawi tweeted Feb. 18, ‘Qalandia Airport was that magical place from which as a child I first felt the freedom of flying. Like the rest of Palestinian lands, it is being stolen, violated & distorted to become a symbol of oppression & captivity’…It is possible that a Jewish settlement will not be built at Qalandia Airport, but the fact that Israeli officials use the idea of settling in Palestinian areas as fodder for election campaigns is yet another sign of their utter contempt for the Palestinian rights. The Israeli announcement, which contradicts the US peace plan, has not received a single comment from Washington, thus speaking volumes about Trump’s collusion with Netanyahu and his right-wing government. The silence shows again that the US peace plan is nothing more than a reworded Israeli dictate for Palestinians.”

“Yisrael Beytenu leader Avigdor Liberman alleged on Satruday that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told King Abdullah of Jordan that he would not annex the Jordan Valley and that it was all for the elections. ‘I found out a few days ago that, during all the talk about annexing the Jordan Valley, Netanyahu sent a message to the King of Jordan saying ‘don’t worry, it’s just election talk, there won’t be annexation,’ Liberman said, adding that Netanyahu had security forces deliver the message.The Likud party responded calling  Liberman’s statement ‘a complete lie.’ ‘This did not happen. Only Prime Minister Netanyahu will annex, while Liberman is going with the Arab Joint List. Liberman’s ridiculous lies are outrageous,’ the Likud party responded.”

“A day before Israel’s third election in a year, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pledged to annex huge swathes of occupied West Bank territory within weeks if re-elected. ‘That will happen within weeks, two months at the most, I hope,’ he said in the interview with Israeli public radio. The annexation of the Jordan Valley and other parts of the West Bank was among ‘four major immediate missions’ he said. ‘The joint US-Israeli mapping committee started work a week ago,’ he added.”

“Political analyst and journalist for the Hamas-affiliated Felesteen newspaper in Gaza Iyad al-Qarra told Al-Monitor that the change is designed to avoid losses of life among the protesters to Israeli fire. Qarra noted, ‘Organizing these protests weekly has become burdensome for the participants and organizers. Therefore, it was agreed to organize the marches monthly instead.’ He added, ‘The protests were not a failure at all. They achieved important goals, such as improving the travel conditions of Palestinians through the Rafah crossing and pushing Israel to facilitate fishing in the Gaza sea and allow the entry of more merchandise to the Gaza Strip.’ Qarra said, ‘The protests along the border areas will continue as part of the marches of return and will maintain their peaceful aspect.’ Hamas still sees incendiary balloons as an option. ‘This option will remain available each time Israel reneges on its commitments in the Gaza Strip’.”

“A new app released by the Israeli pro-settler NGO Regavim will allow users to measure the proximity of their homes to the borders of the Palestinian state that is currently being proposed in US President Donald Trump’s ‘Deal of the Century.'”

“During an inspection tour in the West Bank village of Susya, Palestinian Minister of Local Government Majdi al-Saleh said Feb. 19 that his ministry is to start issuing construction permits for Palestinians in Area C of the West Bank and that the Ministry’s Higher Planning Council is to approve next month structural plans for these areas. Saleh said that the Palestinian government will protect these Palestinian permits from the Israeli authorities and will proceed to rebuild houses that Israel demolishes. About 400,000 Palestinians live in Area C, which accounts for about 61% of the West Bank and is subject to Israeli security and administrative control, as stipulated in the Oslo II Accord between the Palestinian Authority (PA) and Israel in 1995…Saleh told Al-Monitor that the government is to start issuing construction permits in mid-March ‘in response to the Israeli demolition policy adopted in PA areas. The decision is a continuation of the government’s decision to revoke the Palestinian recognition of the regional classifications in the West Bank.’ In response to Israel’s earlier demolition of Palestinian houses in areas under the PA administrative control in East Jerusalem, Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammed Shtayyeh announced during a Cabinet meeting in Ramallah on July 22 that the PA will no longer abide by the classification of the West Bank areas as stipulated in the Oslo Accords. He explained that his ministry will grant house construction licenses to more than 28,000 Palestinians in Area C. These are requests that Israel had refused in recent years. Saleh pointed out that in recent years, the PA submitted to Israel 116 structural plans to expand Palestinian villages and towns in Area C, but Israel has yet to approve such plans.”

“The source indicated that Egypt is rushing the construction work, which is designed to allow the government to manage entry and exit along the border with the Gaza Strip, as Cairo seeks to control all of the underground tunnels that can be used for terrorist operations, drug trafficking and weapons smuggling. Commenting on why Egypt refrained from making any official comment on the barrier, the source said this is to prevent rumors that Egypt seeks to isolate Gazans and Palestinians from spreading. He said that Egypt has never given up on the Palestinian people and that it endorses the Palestinian cause. The source said that the wall is being built for purely security and preventive purposes and that it has nothing to do with isolating or besieging the Palestinian people. The source refused to provide any further details.”

“Israel’s Attorney General expects Israel to face an escalating international legal battle in the near future, Safa news agency reported on Sunday. Avichai Mandelblit and his aide Gil Limon said in a joint article in Yedioth Ahronoth on Sunday that the core of the battle will be the accusations that Israel is guilty of war crimes. The legal experts said that Israel’s 2010 attack on the Freedom Flotilla in international waters and the killing of nine activists on board (a tenth died later of his wounds) is the main focus of the legal case against Israel. Describing the lawsuits filed at the International Criminal Court and other international bodies as a ‘strategic track’, they nevertheless believe that what are called Israeli crimes against the Palestinian resistance, are actually ‘anti-terror operations.’ ‘There is no other state subject to such a legal battle in relation to its operations like Israel,’ they claimed. They admitted, however, that Israeli military operations in the past couples of years have led to this “powerful judicial battle”. Mandelblit and Limon insisted that taking the fight to Israel’s enemies is something that ‘democratic states which fight terror’ should deal with.”