“In this collection of analysis, Al-Shabaka experts provide insight into a range of issues related to Palestinian natural resources, from their theft by Israel to the deleterious effects of climate change and its intersection with the Israeli occupation. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change predicts a warming in the southern and eastern Mediterranean between 2.2 and 5.1°C over the twenty-first century – a higher rate than the global average. This will lead to highly disruptive, if not catastrophic, changes to the region’s climate, including increased desertification. As climate change intensifies, natural resources will only become more precious. These pieces show how the politicization of Palestinian resources — namely the myriad of Israeli impediments that prevent Palestinians from accessing and benefiting from their own natural resources — disrupts an already fragile geopolitical situation and exacerbates already dire Palestinian living conditions. The authors also put forward recommendations on how to change this untenable status quo.”

“Israeli volunteers have for years aided Palestinians in the Nablus area with the olive harvest, largely to protect them from settler attacks, which are common. The attack that occurred on Wednesday afternoon was particularly violent: a group of masked men uprooted olive trees, set the grove ablaze, and beat several of the volunteers bloody. Rabbi Moshe Yehudai, a member of Rabbis for Human Rights’ board, was taken to Meir Medical Center after suffering severe wounds. He recounted the incident while lying on a gurney in an ambulance, as medics bandaged his head. One of the masked youths had hit him on the head with an iron rod, while another instructed him to leave. ‘I told them to leave me alone, that I am 80 years old and cannot run,’ he said.”

“Hundreds of ultra-Orthodox teens rioted on Wednesday overnight in central Jerusalem, attacking Palestinians that drove by them and vandalizing their vehicle. Seven were arrested by police on suspicion of causing property damage.”

“The current level of coordination between the PA and Israel goes beyond political commitments. It reveals the actual alignment between the PA and Israel against the resistance: information is exchanged and members of resistance groups are arrested, exacerbating the difficult situation of such groups in the occupied West Bank. According to senior Israeli security officers, the coordination relies on the backing of the Palestinian President, Mahmoud Abbas.”

“Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu signed another agreement on Wednesday with his right-wing allies aimed at making it more difficult for Kahol Lavan’s Benny Gantz to try to forge a minority government with Israel’s center-left parties.”

“The dilemma now faced by Israel’s perpetual prime minister is a cruel one. Under the outline of conditions presented by Yisrael Beitenu leader Avigdor Liberman right after Yom Kippur (Oct. 9), Netanyahu would have to dismantle the right wing/ultra-Orthodox bloc of 55 seats he has entrenched himself in ever since the elections. If he agrees, he’ll receive Liberman’s support in the proposal made by Rivlin: This includes a rotation in which Netanyahu would be first to receive the premiership, but then would have to go into “incapacity mode” should an indictment be served against him. This is like a large delicious candy with a small poisonous pill inside. Netanyahu knows that the moment his right-wing partners get a whiff of an upcoming betrayal, they will be the first to jump ship and land in the opposing camp ASAP. Things got even worse Oct. 15 when Shas’ spiritual leader Rabbi Shalom Cohen (head of the party’s rabbinic council) called on Blue and White senior leader Yair Lapid and on Liberman to join a government with the ultra-Orthodox. Cohen said that if they agree to the scheme, they “will be awarded with a heavenly voice that will declare … ‘You are invited to the world to come.’”

“The US administration’s much-anticipated peace plan will not call for the uprooting of even a single settler, US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman said Wednesday, drawing sharp criticism from Ramallah. ‘Having seen the experience of the evacuation of Gaza [in the summer of 2005], I don’t believe that there is a realistic plan that can be implemented that would require anyone — Jew or Arab — to be forced to leave their home,’ Friedman told the pro-settler Israel National News website.’We think that’s just a recipe for disaster. It almost caused a civil war on much less aggressive circumstances in Gaza, compared to Judea and Samaria,’ he said, referring to Israel’s 2005 disengagement from Gaza, in which some 8,000 settlers were moved in a several-day operation. ‘And so we are not of the view that any forced evacuations are achievable,’ he said.”