“The high level security cabinet met for over four hours Sunday, as ministers considered options for confronting violence from the Gaza Strip after a weekend of rocket-fire and IDF responses. Gazan terrorists shot 10 rockets at Israel on Friday, damaging a home, though causing no injuries. Israel hit back with retaliatory air strikes on Hamas targets, in the latest round of on-again, off-again  violence that has plagued the region for months.”

“‘If there is no choice and we want to destroy the Hamas regime, it will have to be a ground operation, and this comes at a price,’ he added. Steinitz’s comments come after a tense weekend during which 10 rockets were launched at Israel from the Strip on Friday evening. The Israeli military said that the Iron Dome missile defense system had intercepted eight of the rockets.”

“Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday said he holds Hamas responsible for any attacks emanating from the Gaza Strip but will not divulge his plans for dealing with the situation, after 10 rockets were launched from the coastal enclave over the weekend, one of which hit a home in the southern town of Sderot. ‘We must understand that we hold Hamas accountable for any attack that comes out of the Gaza Strip. I’m not going to detail our plans here,” the prime minister said at the opening of the weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem. “We will continue to work in all arenas for the security of the State of Israel, both by visible and covert means, by sea, air and land’.”

“The shower of rockets on southern Israel last weekend has been credited to Baha Abu al-Ata, a household name to Gazans who is still practically unknown to Israelis. But Ata, a leading figure in Islamic Jihad, has become a dominant figure in the Strip, recently associated with the rise and fall of tensions with Israel….Ata has several hundred fighters under his command and an arsenal of dozens of rockets at his disposal that could be fired at Israel, Gazan sources claim. They add that he isn’t a lone wolf, but works with a cohort of Islamic Jihad field commanders who have no qualms with contradicting their superiors, whether in Gaza or Beirut. However, Palestinian Authority intelligence sources told Haaretz that Israeli officials overestimate Ata’s power to drive a frontal confrontation with Israel.”

“Israel’s Transportation Minister Bezalel Smotrich is pursuing a policy that would bolster the road and rail infrastructure in Judea and Samaria with the goal of creating de facto annexation of the territories, according to a report in Israel Hayom. The program, described by the ministry as ‘sovereignty through transportation,’ would see the road connecting Jerusalem to Gush Etzion expanded at a cost of about NIS 1 billion ($283 million). A major new road from Gush Etzion southward would be built at a similar cost under the plan.”

“The annexation bill also includes Efrat and Betar Illit, which are part of the Etzion bloc but are not within the auspices of the Gush Etzion Regional Council. Sovereignty would also be applied to the Megilot Region of the Dead Sea. Shaked clarified that the application of sovereignty would be for the areas within the settlements and would not cover roads and archaeological and industrial parks in the regions of Judea and Samaria.”

“Israeli soldiers arrested a researcher for the Israeli human rights NGO B’Tselem on Thursday because he had photographed a protest against an illegal West Bank outpost a few days earlier, according to the researcher. Arif Daraghmeh, 50, from the Palestinian West Bank City of Tubas, was detained at the Tayasir checkpoint, which isn’t usually manned by soldiers. He was released only late that night. At no point during his detention was he handcuffed, which he says proves his arrest was false and intended to intimidate him.”

“Head of the political branch of the Hamas terrorist group, Ismail Haniyeh, said on Sunday that the Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas approved presidential and legislative elections, The Jerusalem Post reported. According to the report, Haniyeh said that he has met with the chairman of the Palestinian Central Elections Commission (CEC) Hanna Nasir, who updated him of Abbas’s approval. The Hamas leader also revealed that the two discussed the guidelines and details of the electoral process, which Haniyeh described as ‘real reconciliation.’ In a separate report, Director of the CEC Hisham Kahil told PA-run Palestine Radio that the Palestinian president would soon pave the way to legislative elections in February by issuing a decree to formalize the process”

“Is it possible that his [Abbas’s] condition is little more than a cynical ruse intended to avoid holding elections at all? In an interview with Al-Monitor, senior Fatah member Qadura Fares said that various international factors are trying to convince Israel to place polling station in the eastern half of the city. He explained that the European Union has been pressuring Abbas to hold elections for the Palestinian Parliament for a long time, adding that German Chancellor Angela Merkel told Abbas explicitly, ‘You need to hold an election.’ That is not some insinuation. It is a demand.”

“The anticipated agreement on customs matters, whose provisions were drafted in November 2018, seeks to exempt some Palestinian exports to Russia and Eurasia from customs duties. Speaking to Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity, an official at the Russian Embassy in Ramallah said in August that the joint committee will examine a Palestinian request for Russia to fund an industrial zone in Nablus.Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh discussed Aug. 8 with Russian Ambassador to the Palestinian Authority (PA) Gocha Buachidze the possibility of setting up an industrial zone in Nablus with Russian support and with the goal of boosting the Palestinian economy. Speaking to Al-Monitor, Hossam Zaal, head of the Palestinian Federation of Leather Industries and a Palestinian businessman, said that he will be part of the delegation to Russia to meet with representatives of the Russian Federation of Footwear and Leather Industries, sign cooperation protocols in these fields and market Palestinian products in Russia.”

“Meanwhile, all that top Likud figures can do is to carp behind closed doors as they watch the dramas unfold, and privately admit that the prime minister’s war overshadows even their worst expectations. ‘He is leaving behind scorched earth,’ a senior Likud figure told Al-Monitor this week on condition of anonymity. ‘No one dares raise their heads, we are all lining up alongside this jihad against the state’s institutions. I don’t know what we will tell our grandchildren about this period, and I am not sure the rubble can be rebuilt on the day after’.”

“After all is said and done, it is still unclear whether a minority government is a real option or simply an attempt by Blue and White to leverage concessions from Netanyahu’s Likud. ‘A minority government is definitely on the agenda,’ senior Channel 13 analyst Raviv Drucker told Al-Monitor. ‘Gantz refuses to discount it and this is a courageous stand according to his standards. [His co-chair] Yair Lapid and Lapid’s Yesh Atid party are very much in favor, but on the other side there are Hendel and Hauser who are opposed. Liberman did not support it but did not rule it out, to date. Clearly, he is telling Blue and White that he will not back such a government, with all the harsh criticism he can expect to face, only to have two or three Blue and White renegades torpedo it. Therefore, even if Blue and White is using the prospect of a minority government as a threat [against the Likud] and does not really mean it, what they [Blue and White Knesset members opposed to a minority government] are doing is detrimental to establishment of a unity government by undermining the only threat Blue and White holds over the Likud’.”