“Annexation of portions of the West Bank is still on the table, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday. To underscore that message, he is scheduled to open the school year Tuesday at a school in the Mevo Horon settlement in the Binyamin region of Judea and Samaria. ‘The application of sovereignty is in the Trump [peace plan],’ Netanyahu said. He spoke at a press conference in Jerusalem that took place as a high-level Israel delegation was in the United Arab Emirates to cement details for the upcoming agreement between the two countries.”

“As an Israeli delegation prepared to depart the United Arab Emirates Tuesday after completing a first official visit, a senior Emirati official said that his government had received ‘assurances’ that Israel will not advance its plan to annex large parts of the West Bank. ‘We cannot speculate on future Israeli actions. We have assurances from the US on this, and through our trilateral dialogue,’ Jamal al-Musharakh, the director of the Emirati Foreign Ministry’s policy planning department, told Israel-based reporters at a briefing at Abu Dhabi airport, on the matter of annexation.”

“The Israeli municipality in Jerusalem has issues demolition orders for Palestinian residents. In order to avoid costly fines, families are forced to tear down their own homes.” [Video report]

“Palestinian Alaa Borqan preferred to tear down his own house in Israeli-annexed East Jerusalem after a court ruled that it was constructed illegally and must be demolished. The 35-year-old was given two options: To destroy his four-bedroom home in the Jabal Mukaber neighborhood himself, or to let the city council do it and then send him the bill. The Israeli authorities regularly raze homes built by Palestinians on their own lands in East Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank if they lack Israeli construction permits. The catch, according to an UN study, is that such permits are ‘virtually impossible’ to obtain and the result is a chronic housing shortage. ‘I applied to city hall for a building permit, but without success,’ Borqan told AFP. ‘I spent around 75,000 shekels ($22,000) on legal fees and on a ground survey,’ he said.”

“Israeli occupation authorities yesterday ordered two Palestinians to demolish their homes in Jerusalem’s Beit Hanina neighbourhood, Arab48 reported. The demolitions of the Palestinian homes were ordered under the pretext that they lack the necessary building licenses. Since the start of 2020, Arab48 news website said, Israeli occupation authorities have issued 650 demolition orders against Palestinian facilities in occupied Jerusalem. Brothers Abdul-Salam and Odai Al-Razm, who were ordered to demolish their homes yesterday, said occupation authorities told them to level their properties or be forced to pay the fees for Israel to do it for them. On Sunday, Israeli occupation forces ordered Khalid Bashir to demolish his home in the Jabal Al Mukaber in occupied Jerusalem.”

“Palestinian health authorities reported 69 new infections from the coronavirus in the blockaded Gaza Strip on Monday, reported Anadolu Agency. In a statement, the Health Ministry said the territory’s virus count rose to 356 confirmed cases, including four deaths, and 72 recoveries. ‘The number of active cases in Gaza has reached 280,’ the ministry said, going on to call on residents to pursue social distancing to help stem the spread of the virus. The ministry warned of a shortage of necessary medical supplies to curb the virus outbreak due to the 14-year Israeli blockade on the strip.”

“According to Adv. Muna Haddad of Gisha, while Israel itself admits that Gaza’s civilian population is not to blame for what is happening, it also knows that this population will be the first to be harmed in its ability to lead a normal life at a time when the Gaza economy is deteriorating because of the coronavirus. ‘This punitive policy has been implemented for a long time, and we can see its dire consequences on the ability of hospitals to function, for example,’ says Haddad. ‘The residents of the strip are under a kind of coronavirus curfew, with almost no electricity during the hottest days of the year, while people are in quarantine. These are residents who have no part in what Israel is trying to prevent. It is a cruel and inhumane step to exploit the seriousness of the coronavirus and the unbearable heat.’” Also see: Gisha statement – Five human rights organization in urgent petition to Israel’s High Court: Israel must immediately remove ban on entry of fuel to Gaza, which has disabled the power plant and puts public health at risk

“Office of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar in Gaza says agreement has been reached to ‘end aggression against our people’.”

“Fuel trucks began entering the Gaza Strip through the Kerem Shalom Crossing on Tuesday morning after a ceasefire was struck between Israel and the Hamas terror group the night before. Hamas-affiliated media in the Strip reported that the fuel would be used for the enclave’s power plant. The plant was shut down after Israel closed the crossing to everything but food and humanitarian aid in response to low-level violence along the Gaza border, particularly terror groups launching dozens of balloon-borne incendiary and explosive devices into Israel each day. On Monday night, after Hamas announced that Qatari envoy Mohammad al-Emadi had brokered the ceasefire agreement, Israel said it would fully reopen the Kerem Shalom Crossing on Tuesday morning and again allow Palestinians to fish off the Gaza coast.”

“The Hamas terror group said it accepted a ceasefire agreement with Israel on Monday night, ending a nearly month-long round of low-level violence along the Gaza border. Israel did not explicitly confirm the existence of a deal, but in a tacit acknowledgment said it would fully reopen the fishing zone off the coast of the Strip and the enclave’s border crossings beginning Tuesday. ‘This decision will be tested on the ground: If Hamas, which is responsible for all actions that are taken in the Gaza Strip, will fail to meet its obligations, Israel will act accordingly,’ Israel’s military liaison to the Palestinians said in a statement.”

“The International Committee to Support Gaza has called on the world community to save Gaza amid Israeli’s ongoing aggression, siege and the spread of COVID-19. This came in a statement by Essam Yousef, head of the Committee. Yousef called on charitable institutions that support the Palestinian people to ‘expedite the organisation of urgent relief campaigns for the health sector in Gaza, in addition to providing food aid and parcels for poor families.’”

“How do you safeguard Israelis who want to visit sites located a stone’s throw from Iran? Can Israeli security personnel carry arms? And, of course, what about annexation?”

Quick hits

US sales of F-35s

Foreign Policy: Peace for Warplanes? How a dispute over an arms deal complicates normalization between Israel and the UAE.

Jerusalem Post: Gantz to ‘Post’: Israel’s military superiority a critical security aspect

Axios: Kushner tries to smooth over F-35 dispute in visits to Israel and UAE

Israel-UAE cooperation

Al-Monitor: Israel, UAE discuss establishment of embassies

Times of Israel: Israel, UAE sign first agreement on finance, including blocking funds for terror

Haaretz: Not Just Cybersecurity: Israel, UAE Ties May Be a Boon for AI

Israel Hayom: Report: Israel, UAE setting up spy bases in Yemen

Middle East Eye: Israel-UAE deal: Netanyahu secretly met crown prince MBZ in 2018, report says

Arab News: Israeli journalists speak of ‘historic trip’ to Abu Dhabi

The Palestinians

Middle East Eye: Arabic Press Review: Palestinian cleric rejects UAE involvement in Al-Aqsa

Israel Hayom: Kushner: Palestinians will get peace ‘as soon as they are ready’

Times of Israel: Hosting Israeli delegation, UAE tells Palestinians it still backs their cause

i24 News: UAE says still backing Palestinian state with capital in East Jerusalem

Jerusalem Post: Palestinians outraged by Israeli delegation’s visit to UAE

Israel Hayom: PLO top official: Israel-UAE peace a ‘meaningless spectacle’

Middle East Eye: Direct flight from UAE to Israel ‘painful to watch’, says Palestinian PM

Middle East Monitor: Hamas: UAE-Israel deal will not make occupation acceptable

Wider normalization?

Arutz Sheva: Kushner: All 22 Arab states could eventually recognize Israel

Israel Hayom: Trump adviser sees more Arab, Muslim partners for Israel after UAE deal

Iran

AP: With Kushner in UAE, Iran’s leader decries Israel-UAE ties

Al Jazeera: Iran’s Khamenei says UAE ‘betrayed’ Muslim world with Israel deal

“What is normalisation with Israel? On the official level, the term is used to describe an Arab country pursuing policies or actions that treat Israel its citizens as a ‘normal’ part of the Middle East, without holding them accountable for past and continuing crimes against the Palestinian people. Egypt was the first Arab country to normalise relations with Israel in 1979. Jordan followed suit 15 years later. Then, on August 13, the United Arab Emirates became the third Arab country to officially normalise relations with Israel. In this video, Al Jazeera’s Linah Alsaafin gives a brief overview of the history of Arab-Israeli normalisation.”

“Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden condemned the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) campaign against Israel in a platform released this week aimed at Arab Americans, while at the same time saying he backed the free speech rights of the movement’s supporters. In a section titled ‘Defending the Civil Rights of All Americans,’ the campaign reiterated Biden’s longstanding opposition to BDS, but vowed to ‘protect the constitutional right of our citizens to free speech.’”

“US-Israeli relations will be significantly weakened if Joe Biden defeats Donald Trump this November, says veteran American-Israeli journalist Caroline Glick. In an interview with Arutz Sheva Tuesday, Glick warned that a Biden victory in this year’s presidential election would have serious consequences for American Jews and the State of Israel. ‘It will have very negative consequences for US-Israeli relations,’ said Glick, adding that over the past four years, the Democratic Party has undergone a process of radicalization, noting the victories by far-left candidates in recent years, such as congresswomen Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar, who defeated more mainstream Democrats in safe Democratic districts. ‘Over the last few months we’ve seen pro-Israel Democrats being defeated in primary elections and replaced by anti-Israel progressive-left Democrats, so that if there were four women from the progressive bloc [The Squad] before, now there are seven, and it looks like more will get in the primaries. They’ve taken over the field offices.’”

“The super PAC is expected to draw the support of a range of GOP megadonors, including Las Vegas casino mogul Sheldon Adelson and Home Depot co-founder Bernie Marcus…Adelson’s anticipated involvement comes weeks after a contentious phone call with Trump that left Republicans panicked he might not help Trump in the final weeks of the race. But the staunchly pro-Israel billionaire has generally had a warm relationship with the White House. Trump in 2018 came through on one of Adelson’s priorities: moving the American Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.”

“There are more than 1,800 forcibly disappeared Palestinians, including women and children enduring the worst torture and suffering inside Syrian regime prisons, Shehab news agency reported a new report showing. According to the Task Group for Palestinians in Syria, there are 1,797 forcibly disappeared Palestinians inside Syrian regime prisons in addition to 620 victims who died as a result of torture. On the International Day for the Forcibly Disappeared Persons, which is marked on 30 August, the Task Group said many families of Palestinian refugees refuse to release information about their forcibly disappeared or dead sons fearing arrest and interrogation by the Syrian regime.”

“Amid tensions between Israel and Iran-backed groups, Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says seven of 10 fighters killed in an overnight strike attributed to Israel belonged to Iran-backed militias.”

“The family of a decorated British civil servant who built a notorious jail for the empire in Palestine has revealed he leaked the building plans to Jewish militants, helping them to launch a legendary prison break in 1947. The storming of Acre prison has been credited as a critical event that led to the British decision to end what was increasingly viewed as an onerous mandate in Palestine. Until now, details of how the highly sophisticated operation was so successful had remained elusive. Gil Margulis, the great-nephew of the prominent engineer and architect Peres Etkes, believes he has the answer. ‘They actually had the plans of the whole prison from the guy who made it,’ he told the Guardian.” Also see: Times of Israel – An inside job: How a UK engineer helped the Irgun break into Acre prison in 1947

“An American think tank that studies Jew-hatred — including weighing in on when criticism of Israel becomes antisemitic — took a six-figure payment from the Israeli government but didn’t disclose it to the public or to the federal government. That information was detailed in an internal financial spreadsheet that listed payments approved by Israel’s Ministry of Strategic Affairs to entities around the world in the first quarter of 2020. It and other documents were uncovered after a Freedom of Information Act request by the Israeli Freedom of Information Movement and the Israeli news website The Seventh Eye, and shared with the Forward. It showed that the Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy, which is based in New York, received $445,000 from the Israeli government in 2018. That value equals nearly 80% of its reported revenue that year.”

“The Israeli government approved a grant to a Tennessee-based Christian Zionist organization that is on the Southern Poverty Law Center’s watch list of hate groups, according to a government spreadsheet acquired by the Forward. The document, which details payments approved to entities around the world by Israel’s Ministry of Strategic Affairs in the first quarter of 2020, was uncovered through a Freedom of Information Act request by the Israeli Freedom of Information Movement and the Israeli news website The Seventh Eye, and shared with the Forward. The document showed a transfer of $40,000 to a group called Proclaiming Justice to the Nations, which has lobbied to pass laws preventing state agencies from working with groups that support the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement against Israel, and has recently been active in mobilizing Christian Zionists in South Africa, a prime target of Israel’s public-diplomacy efforts.”