Top news stories from Israel/Palestine: September 21, 2018

What We’re Reading

Occupation/Human rights

Settlers Establish West Bank Outpost in Response to Israeli-American’s Murder in Terror Attack,

The Civil Administration recognizes the establishment of the outpost and apparently there is no immediate intention of evacuating it.

How peace keeps receding in the Middle East,

“If maximum pressure could bring peace, the Israelis would have bested the Palestinians decades ago. The reality, it turns out, is that as people become poorer materially, they cling to their dignity and often become less compromising,” writes David Ignatius.

Photos: 25 Fridays of Protest in Gaza,

For nearly six months now, Palestinians living in the Gaza Strip have been staging weekly demonstrations at points along the border between Gaza and Israel—protests they call the “Great March of Return,” which demands that Palestinian refugees be allowed to return to their lands in present-day Israel.

Two States or One? Reappraising the Israeli-Palestinian Impasse,

The goal of a two-state solution is under serious challenge today.

Palestinian aid cuts

IDF chief: US steps could harm Israel, inflame West Bank,

Gadi Eisenkot warns Security-Cabinet that White House decision to halt funds to PA could foment outbreak of further violence in the West Bank, requiring larger deployments of IDF troops.

Senate Dems to Trump: Reverse cuts to Palestinian aid,

More than 30 Democrats, led by Sen. Chris Van Hollen (Md.), sent a letter to Trump on Friday warning that going through with the cuts would “make a desperate situation even worse.”

BDS and Settlement boycotts

Israel Project President Urged Funders to Anonymously Promote Pro-Israel Messaging,

A pro-Israel advocacy organization, The Israel Project (TIP), was identified last week as operating a series of Facebook groups as part of an under-the-radar effort to spread pro-Israel messaging without identifying the source of the content. Its media strategy, however, was much bigger than that.