Top news stories from Israel/Palestine: September 5, 2018

What We’re Reading

US-Palestinian/Israeli relations

Abbas said to rebuff Trump request to meet; wants Kushner, Greenblatt fired,

US President Donald Trump reportedly offered to meet Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas later this month on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in an attempt to rectify their troubled ties.

Friedman: We’ve thrown $10b. at Palestinians; peace isn’t a millimeter closer,

The United States has “thrown more than $10 billion” in aid to the Palestinians, but that spending has brought the region no closer to peace or stability, the US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman charged Tuesday, in an address explaining why US President Donald Trump thought it was important to halt US funding to UNRWA, the UN’s Palestinian refugee agency.

Opinion: Trump cannot simply erase the Palestinian right of return,

“The American president’s decision to defund the Palestinian refugee agency is an attempt to accomplish something Israeli leaders have been trying for the better part of a century,” writes Jim Zogby.

Occupation/Human rights

Israel court okays demolition of West Bank village,

Israel’s top court on Wednesday upheld an order to raze a Palestinian Bedouin village in the occupied West Bank, clearing the way for the demolition to go ahead despite international pressure.

Israeli politics

The sin of Likud's young leader: meeting with Abbas,

The dismissal of the deputy head of Likud’s Young Guard over his meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas indicates how much the party has radicalized in recent years.

Likud lawmaker seeks to ban Palestinian flag in Israel,

In the wake of protests at which participants waved the Palestinian flag in Tel Aviv, a bill is being fast tracked to ban the banner at even small gatherings.

Gaza

U.S. decision to end funds to UNRWA: yet another blow to dire living conditions in Gaza,

The U.S.’s decision, and its support from Israel, with its politically-driven motivations, threatens the well-being of millions of Palestinian refugees, in Gaza and elsewhere.