Top news stories from Israel/Palestine: November 13, 2018

What We’re Reading

Gaza

Gaza factions agree to cease fire if Israel halts attack: Palestinian official,

Palestinian militant groups in Gaza said on Tuesday they would halt cross-border attacks immediately if Israel did the same after the most serious exchanges of aerial fire since a seven-week war in 2014.

Gaza’s fragile calm: The search for lasting stability,

Intensive UN and Egyptian efforts to mediate between Israel and Hamas have staved off an immediate return to conflict in Gaza. This is a quick fix that buys badly needed time to find a longer-term solution.

Violent escalation in Gaza: Palestinians killed, buildings completely destroyed,

Since violence escalated between the besieged Gaza Strip and Israel, six Palestinians have been killed and at least 25 others were injured during a campaign of Israeli airstrikes from overnight Monday until predawn Tuesday across northern Gaza.

Hamas didn't start this fight, but it won't win it either,

If Hamas allows Israel to drag it into another lopsided fight, it will not only cost the lives of countless innocent civilians in Gaza, it will also distract from ongoing mass resistance to the siege.

Israeli incursions into Gaza are the rule, not the exception,

Israeli troops have crossed into Gaza over 70 times this year alone, according to the UN. And those are only the incursions we know about.

BDS

Rep.-Elect Ilhan Omar Backs BDS In New Interview,

“Ilhan believes in and supports the BDS movement, and has fought to make sure people’s right to support it isn’t criminalized. She does however, have reservations on the effectiveness of the movement in accomplishing a lasting solution,” her office said on Sunday, according to MuslimGirl.

rudeau's anti-BDS Message During Apology for Turning Away Jews During WWII Continues to Make Waves,

“Anti-Semitism is far too present. Jewish students still feel unwelcomed and uncomfortable on some of our colleges and university campuses because of BDS-related intimidation.”

US-Israeli/Palestinian relations

Qatari Outreach to pro-Israel U.S. Groups Included Attempts to Stop anti-Hamas Bill in D.C.,

The legislation would place sanctions on countries and institutions that provide financial support for Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and other Palestinian terror organizations. If it became law, it would create significant problems for Qatar, which is widely seen as the main funder of Hamas’ government in the Gaza Strip.

Trump’s Full Spectrum Assault on Palestinian Politics,

One can be cognizant of the negative effects of humanitarian aid on Palestinian lives, as well as of the criticism refugees have directed at UNRWA, and also reject the Administration’s attack on Palestinians through its targeting of UNRWA.

Israel 'forced into military action,' White House says,

Writing on Twitter, Greenblatt, who is leading an effort to jump-start peace talks between Israelis and Palestinians, said that the world “has grown tired of Hamas’ violence and the violence of other bad actors in Gaza.”

Occupation/Human rights

Oslo is dead, Amichai is alive,

25 years after the Oslo Accords, the new settlement Amichai, being built for families evacuated from the illegal outpost Amona, and the nearby outposts that will be annexed to it and legalized, are helping create a Jewish corridor breaking up Palestinian territory in the West Bank and burying the agreements.