“Egypt has brokered a ceasefire between Israel and the Islamic Jihad terror group to end two days of intense fighting in Gaza that saw hundreds of rockets fired into Israel and 32 Palestinians killed in Israeli strikes, Palestinian and Egyptian officials said early Thursday. The truce went into effect at 5:30 a.m after three hours of tense calm following an Israeli strike that the IDF said killed Rasmi Abu Malhous, a terrorist said to head Palestinian Islamic Jihad’s rocket unit. The strike, which targeted a house in Deir al-Balah, reportedly claimed the lives of an additional five members of the same family. The Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry said the dead included a woman and a child and all were civilians.”

“Abu al-Ata was a target because he endangered the understandings between Israel and Hamas. By assassinating him, Israel sent a message to Hamas that it was interested in maintaining those understandings. Since Islamic Jihad militants began firing rockets in response to the assassination, Hamas has stayed out of the matter, while Israel has clarified that it is acting solely against Islamic Jihad. Hamas, whose top officials have not commented, has no interest in strengthening Islamic Jihad or in being dragged into an armed conflict with Israel. If, however, Israel’s responses take the lives of too many Palestinian civilians, Hamas will probably respond. In a situation of escalating tensions, this might happen as a result of operational failure or a misunderstanding.”

“The combination of a security crisis and a political crisis should serve as an opportunity to restore to the agenda the critical crisis in the peace process with the Palestinians, which has been pushed far off of center stage of the political musical chairs game. Once again, Israel’s policy of isolating Gaza from the world turns the tables overnight and isolates central Israel, sending residents to shelters and shutting down schools, businesses and offices. Now, the residents of the Gaza border communities are no longer the only hostages of the isolation — Tel Aviv residents are too.”

“In what is now part of its social media commonplace, a post published yesterday on the Arabic Facebook page of the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) repeats a false, but familiar, trope: The Gaza Strip has enjoyed a ‘relative stability’ in recent months, the electricity supply has improved, fresh fish have flooded the markets, goods have entered the Strip in abundance, and ‘many projects’ have been initiated.”

“There is no democracy in the Hebron Hills. The settlers are the lords of the land, and the army does their bidding, to the point that one former soldier says he frequently could not tell the difference between orders from his own commanding officers and those from the settler ‘security coordinators.’ Another former soldier recounts that the army blocked the roads leading in and out of Palestinian villages in order to protect a few settlers. The ‘shoot to kill’ order applies only in the case of Palestinians attacking settlers. Soldiers are not permitted to use force against settlers who attack Palestinians, or even against those who attack soldiers. That is why border police were deployed, rather than regular soldiers, to deal with the October 16 incident involving Yitzhar settlers who attacked olive harvesters.”

“Breaking the Silence regularly brings delegations of Israeli army veterans to the United States to share their experiences. This tour, however, is the first one in which it is bringing a group of so-called lone soldiers — the term used to describe army recruits whose families reside outside of Israel. Some 3,500 of them serve in the Israeli army at any given point in time, with about one-third coming from the United States. Six former lone soldiers — all of them originally from the United States (some have since moved back there) — are participating in this East Coast and Midwest tour. They have 20 events scheduled at Jewish community centers, synagogues and campuses in cities such as St. Louis, Boston and Washington.”

“Rabin’s government could have taken steps to instill calm and strengthen moderate Palestinian leadership during the 40 days of mourning that followed Goldstein’s rampage. Expelling the settlers of Hebron from the city would have proven that the Israeli government acts with determination and can prevent the large-scale reprisal actions that we have witnessed since April 1994, after 40 days of mourning. And there were good reasons to kick them out: ever since they entered the city in 1968, Hebron’s settlers have been a violent group that has caused severe damage in a city with a historically moderate political leadership.”

“Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made a surprise appearance in the Knesset on Wednesday. While Islamic Jihad rockets paralyzed the south and as Israel teetered on the brink of a full- scale military operation in Gaza, the urgent calling that took Netanyahu away from his post was to lambast the 13-MK Joint List for its blunt opposition to the targeted assassination of Islamic Jihad commander Baha Abu al-Ata.”

“In a conversation with Al-Monitor, one senior Jordanian official involved with various aspects of his country’s relationship with Israel was highly critical of what he claimed was Israel’s failure to move ahead with major economic initiatives. As he explained it, large projects are bogged down because of Israel’s current political crisis. ‘Israel has been postponing and deferring the Sea-to-Sea Canal project, which is the most important project to us, and in so doing, they seem to be showing us that they don’t consider relations with Jordan to be that important,’ he said on condition of anonymity. The source noted that the government in Amman is under tremendous pressure, much of it economic. Syrian refugees are taking their toll on the Jordanian economy and the government is having a hard time implementing necessary reforms. ‘A huge initiative like the Sea-to-Sea Canal along with an initiative like the Jordan Gateway industrial zone could help a lot, but Israel is holding everything up with all sorts of bureaucratic excuses, then blaming the transition government for all the delays’.”

“Most observers would probably agree that Israel’s current political situation is worthy of the word ‘crisis.’ And yet, politicians stubbornly refuse to acknowledge its severity and change course. One hopes we would not deteriorate as far as longing for more dire circumstances so that this country’s leaders see the light. Of course, if we do take that perverse route, possibilities are many: It could be an attack from Iran (a threat considered serious and about which the military keeps warning); it could be the alarming deficit turning into an economic calamity. Or it could be the recent-days collapse of a fragile cease-fire in Gaza.”

“Since 2013, in addition to at least two legal threats targeting the movement’s financial infrastructure, Shurat HaDin filed at least five complaints or lawsuits against boycott advocates and threatened to file two more. Shurat HaDin’s U.S. targets ranged from the Presbyterian Church to the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America to Airbnb. Both Shurat HaDin and the International Legal Forum (another Israeli group with ties to the Israeli government) appear to be escalating their activities in the United States, according to In These Times’ investigation. In July, the Berkman Law Office, a New York firm, registered as a foreign agent for Shurat HaDin. In May, the Zionist Advocacy Center, a pro-Israel legal group run by New York lawyer David Abrams, registered as a foreign agent for the International Legal Forum. Documents filed as part of that registration show that Abrams will be assisting the group in ‘submitting reports of terrorist connections to financial services firms and prosecuting authorities’.”

In this episode of the FMEP podcast “Occupied Thoughts,” Peter Beinart is joined by the Executive Director of Peace Now, Shaqued Morag, to discuss the history and current status of the Israeli peace camp.