Top news stories from Israel/Palestine: January 17, 2019

What We’re Reading

US-Israeli/Palestinian relations

Israel Will Be The Great Foreign Policy Debate Of The Democratic Primary,

After 50 years, support for Israel is no longer a bipartisan cause — a dramatic change that will be felt in the wide-open Democratic presidential primary.

U.S. sees Palestinian state on most of West Bank, some of East Jerusalem: Israeli TV,

Israeli television said on Wednesday that U.S. President Donald Trump’s Middle East peace plan would propose a Palestinian state on as much as 90 percent of the occupied West Bank, with a capital in East Jerusalem – but not including its holy sites.

Occupation/Human rights

Invading Ramallah, bursting the bubble,

The raids in Ramallah are part of Israel’s systematic efforts to keep Palestinians in a state of uncertainty and siege.

'Democracy' in Israel: Where the Palestinian Subjects Are Beholden to the Occupier,

“The fate of the inhabitants of Khan al-Ahmar is being used in the election campaign as a political pawn by the right-center camp, which is pushing hard for their expulsion,” writes Hagai El-Ad.

Humanitarian operations undermined by delegitimization, access restrictions, and administrative constraints,

Attempts to delegitimize humanitarian and human rights organizations operating in the oPt, particularly NGOs, have been on the rise in recent years.

Palestinian politics

Al-Malki to re-submit Palestine's application for full UN membership,

With Palestine assuming presidency of the Group of 77 and China in the United Nations, “the United States will have no choice but to negotiate with Palestine in its capacity as chair of this organization,” Foreign Minister Riyad al-Malki said in a statement on Wednesday.

Israeli politics

Gantz launches ‘Israel before all’ campaign with social media blitz,

After weeks of near-silence on his new party’s political platform, former IDF chief of staff Benny Gantz on Thursday unleashed a social media blitz as the “first step” in his election campaign.