“An official at the Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Al-Monitor the purpose of depositing the maps and coordinates with the UN and the Arab League is to introduce the world to the Palestinian maritime areas and to provide evidence that Israel is violating these areas, especially within the Gaza Strip coastline, and stealing Palestinian natural resources, namely natural gas.”

“Palestinian activist groups had organized a protest march from the village of Turmus Aya through the Shiloh valley and toward a hilltop referred to by settlers as Geulat Tzion. Israelis have illegally erected structures there in an attempt to establish an outpost over a dozen times in recent years, but security forces have intervened each time. Earlier this month, several new structures were spotted, sparking the ire of Palestinians, who once owned the land that was seized by the state for security reasons.”

“Next week, after the Jewish holidays end, the trial of Mohammed El Halabi will resume in Be’er Sheva District Court. It’s either/or: Either El Halabi is one of Israel’s greatest and most dangerous enemies ever, as the indictment against him indicates – or he’s the victim of a cynical, cruel propaganda system that is exploiting him to stop the influx of international humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip. Either he diverted tens of millions of dollars and hundreds of tons of iron to Hamas for tunnel-digging projects, as Israel’s Shin Bet security service maintains, or he’s a ‘humanitarian hero,’ as the United Nations designated him in 2014. Either he’s a long-time Hamas ‘plant’ in World Vision, the huge global aid organization whose Gaza and other branches he headed, or he’s a person who has devoted his life to providing humanitarian aid to farmers, disabled children and cancer patients in the Strip.”

“This week, the West Bank witnessed a wave of settler attacks and agricultural terrorism as Palestinian farmers began the year’s olive harvest. Attacks were mainly in northern villages near Nablus and Salfit, governorates with the largest concentration of illegal Israeli settlements.”

“’There can be no doubt that Erdogan is trying to push the Jordanians off the Temple Mount,’ Cohen Yanarocak noted. ‘Yet ever since 2015, we have witnessed the growing presence of Turkey’s Directorate of Religious Affairs in the Temple Mount compound. They come with lots of money, and their efforts are already bearing fruit. Erdogan’s popularity among the Palestinians is skyrocketing, and the main person to suffer for that is Jordan’s King Abdullah. He cannot compete with the funds that the Turks are pouring in, while his rhetoric on behalf of the Palestinians pales in comparison to Erdogan’s stinging attacks’.”

“Blue and White leader Benny Gantz is reportedly planning to invite representatives of Yisrael Beytenu and Likud to talks on forming a unity government if he is tasked with forming a coalition next week. Gantz does not expect Likud to show up, however, which he hopes will open the door for Yisrael Beytenu’s Avigdor Liberman to let him form a minority government, according to a Thursday report by Channel 13.”

“Likud MK Gideon Sa’ar on Thursday vowed to challenge Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as Likud leader when the party eventually holds primaries, and decried alleged efforts to deter him from doing so. Personal attacks and slander won’t change my decision,’ Sa’ar said at a Sukkot holiday event in Tel Aviv. ‘The days of [primary] elections without competition have passed’.”

“Netanyahu’s over-the-top bet on Trump to the detriment of any relationships he had with Democrats and the overwhelming majority of American Jews was a mistake from the start. There was and should be every expectation that an Israeli prime minister will seek to have a strong relationship with any occupant of the White House – even if Netanyahu had no problem violating this dictum during the Obama administration – but things such as tweeting in favor of Trump’s border wall with Mexico, defending Trump’s coddling of anti-Semites, and comparing him to Cyrus the Great ensured that Netanyahu had no hedge against the inevitable Trump unreliability.”

“Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday charged that Blue and White leader Benny Gantz intends to form a minority government with outside support from the mostly Arab Joint List alliance, warning such a move would endanger Israel’s security. Netanyahu, who is nearing the end of a period given to him to try, so far unsuccessfully, and form a government, appears to be returning to his election campaign stance of appearing to demonize the Arab parties and tar Gantz as a leftist.”

“Zohar asserts that anyone who cooperates with Arab Knesset members is prone to extortion by them, thereby becoming security threats to the State of Israel. In short, a person cooperating could essentially be considered a traitor. Netanyahu and his Likud associates have a long history of inciting against Israeli Arabs in general and Arab Knesset members in particular. This time, however, it looks like his breaking point is a lot more brittle. Unable to form a government, he is prepared to cross every red line imaginable.”

Zehava Golan writes, “Sovereignty is the great fantasy of the Israeli right. They want to apply sovereignty, expand sovereignty, demonstrate sovereignty. So, after a decade of firmly right-wing governments, what does Israeli sovereignty look like? More than 70 Arab citizens have been murdered since the start of the year, many of them by gunfire in the street. People are getting wounded by automatic weapons fire in city centers, and our public security minister, who is responsible for local sovereignty, explains that it’s just a part of their culture. But there is no greater failure of sovereignty than allowing our cities to be turned into armed and violent ghettoes.”

“White House senior adviser Jared Kushner will visit Israel later this month and hold his first official meeting with Blue and White party leader Benny Gantz. Kushner, who is expected to be accompanied by new US peace envoy Avi Berkowitz and special envoy for Iran Brian Hook, is also expected to meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.”

“From Jerusalem, the team will continue to Riyadh to participate in an economic conference. US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman said on Wednesday that the administration is waiting for a coalition in Israel to be formed so the plan can be released.”

“Israeli officials, among them Netanyahu, have condemned Turkey’s military operation and voiced support for the Kurds, but have not criticized US President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw US troops.”

“The push began at a conference in August held by the American Legislative Exchange Council, Alec, a conservative network which has a long history of propagating rightwing policies at state level through model bills. The group, dubbed a “bill mill”, has spearheaded attacks on trade unions, opposition to Obamacare, voter suppression measures and legislation blocking efforts to address the climate crisis. The meeting at Alec is disclosed in emails obtained under a freedom of information request by David Armiak, research director for the watchdog Center for Media and Democracy (CMD) and shared with the Guardian. They show that several Republican state lawmakers joined pro-Israeli lobbyists in Austin, Texas, to discuss disseminating new restrictions on speech relating to Israel on campuses across the heartlands.”