“At its core, Liberman’s plan calls for Netanyahu to give up on his bloc of right-wing and ultra-Orthodox parties and join a Likud / Blue and White / Yisrael Beytenu coalition, and for Gantz to allow Netanyahu to serve for the first two years of a four-year coalition as prime minister. Netanyahu would then hand over to Gantz, with Gantz taking over earlier if Netanyahu is indicted for corruption.”

“Likud expressed skepticism at his proposal. ‘Lieberman’s plan doesn’t offer anything new,’ the party’s statement said. ‘Lieberman continues to avoid saying out loud that he and his party will vote against (and not just try to prevent) a left-wing government headed by Gantz that will rely on the Arab parties’ Kahol Lavan, on the other hand, welcomed the proposal and said it views Liberman’s party as a partner for a future coalition. ‘We called on Likud to negotiate meaningfully… Unfortunately we have been blocked!’ the party’s statement said.”

“This convoluted explanation is meant as cover for the real purpose behind the plans which is no more than another attempt by the Bedouin Authority to uproot a large part of the Bedouin population currently living in unrecognized villages in the Negev/Naqab and concentrate it in dense, urban townships. The plans, which would apply to the entire planning area of the Eastern Negev/Naqab and two Regional Councils (Al-Qassum and Neveh Midbar), will enable the establishment of  supposedly transitional camps that will host tens of thousands of Bedouin people who will be displaced and relocated within the limits (blue line) of currently recognized villages and townships.”

“The heads of Bedouin communities in southern Israel came out against a government plan to temporarily resettle residents of unrecognized Bedouin villages in their communities while infrastructure projects are being carried out…’We don’t have room to breathe, the resources aren’t enough for the local residents,’ the mayor of Arara, Naif Abu Arar, told Haaretz. His town is one of those planned to accept the residents of the unrecognized villages. ‘This addition will cause us to collapse.’ In a session of the regional planning and building committee held last Thursday, the heads of local governments opposed accepting the Bedouins, saying they suffer from a lack of resources. The committee has not yet made a final decision on the plan.”

“A recent spike in killings within Arab towns has exposed the longstanding mistrust between the marginalized community and Israeli authorities, with each side accusing the other of neglecting the problem. Arab citizens, who suffer from widespread discrimination, say Israel’s vaunted security forces are suspiciously powerless when it comes to combatting violence in their communities. Police say local leaders and residents must do more to help them impose law and order.”

“The convoy was to travel from Majd al-Krum along Route 6 to the capital, ending in the government quarter, where a rally will be held. Later, leaders of an alliance of four predominantly Arab parties, the Joint List, are set to meet with Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan and acting Israel Police chief Motti Cohen to lay out their demands for government efforts to counter the violence, which has killed 73 people since the beginning of the year.”

“In the settler reality, the ongoing military rule of the region does not really pose a deep moral problem. They believe that they live in genuine coexistence with the Palestinians. They offer proofs: the Palestinians employed in the Barkan industrial zone (the recent site of a horrific terrorist attack), or the talks that some desperate Palestinians have held with the settlers, their hated adversary, about possible solutions.”

“From the beginning of 2018 there has been an increase in the number of testimonies from Palestinian women who undergo harsh interrogations, according to Rachel Stroumsa, the public committee’s executive director. They indicate that methods are being employed that in the past had only been used for heavier suspicions. But these methods – sleep deprivation and restraint in painful positions for many hours – are common in the interrogating of Palestinian prisoners even when the suspicions aren’t of the “ticking bomb” variety.”

Mariam Barghouti writes, “Being a politically active Palestinian woman on the ground in Palestine, I am acutely familiar with the racism built into the Israeli occupation which denies us our basic freedoms because we belong to the wrong social group. But in recent years, I have come to recognize an erasure of Palestinian identity not only from the Israelis who oppress us, but within the ranks of the international community, and even in the way it expresses solidarity. Increasingly, I have noticed moments in which my own very Arab, very Palestinian, very Muslim identity has been erased, not just by soldiers and the media but by politicians and members of civil society — even those who seek to support us.”

“Atef Adwan, head of the Economic Affairs Committee of the Palestinian Legislative Council in the Gaza Strip, told Al-Monitor, ‘The PA’s new system seeks to prevent the resistance factions [such as Hamas and the Islamic Jihad] in the Gaza Strip from obtaining money transfers from abroad. I, however, believe that these factions have unconventional tools for bringing in money from abroad.’ He said Know Your Customer will affect Gaza Strip charities the most, as they obtain support from various donors around the world via local banks to provide relief services to the poor, orphans and other vulnerable segments of society. He said the new system will obstruct or delay the arrival of this funding. ‘The PA’s restrictions on money transfers from abroad are mainly to tighten its siege on the Gaza Strip and subsequently weaken Hamas’ rule. That’s its strategic goal,’ he said.”