Top news stories from Israel/Palestine: September 7, 2018

What We’re Reading

UNRWA and Palestinian refugees

GOP senator introduces bill targeting UNRWA refugee model ,

Republican Senator James Lankford of Oklahoma introduced a bill on Thursday that would demand the UN Relief and Works Agency change its definition of who qualifies as a Palestinian refugee or else permanently lose its annual congressional funding.

Politicizing Palestinian refugees won't make them go away,

At its core, Trump and his ilk fundamentally misdiagnose UNRWA as the source, rather than the product of the refugee reality, which will remain even if UNRWA is dismantled.

Head of UNRWA: The organization is a pawn in Trump’s plan for Palestinians,

Trump to US Jews: I won’t give Palestinians aid until they make deal with Israel,

In a conference call with several dozen American Jewish leaders ahead of Rosh Hashanah, Trump noted that he had recently slashed immense amounts of US aid to the Palestinians — a reference to the administration’s recent cuts in overall aid to the Palestinian Authority and its complete defunding of the UN’s Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA. The US would resume funding, he said, but only if the Palestinians reached a deal with Israel.

Occupation/Human rights

Garbage in the Streets: The Mayor Promised a 'Clean Revolution,' but East Jerusalem Is Filthier Than Ever,

The ‘clean revolution,’ as Mayor Nir Barkat calls it, began in Jerusalem last month, with the privatization of sanitation services in the east. Sanitation in East Jerusalem has since deteriorated

I Believed in the Oslo Accords for Years. But It Was Merely a Deception,

“The Oslo Accords have given Israel another 25 years at least of uncontrolled settlement activity and brutal occupation.”

Report: Israel bans Ahed Tamimi from leaving Israel,

Israel has imposed a ban on the Palestinian provocateur Ahed Tamimi and her family from traveling abroad, according to a report in the Turkish news agency Andaolu.

EU warns Israeli plan to raze West Bank village ‘undermines peace’,

The European Union on Thursday urged Israel to reconsider the razing of a Bedouin village in the West Bank, warning it would undermine efforts to reach a peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians.

Ceding the Palestinian narrative to ... Palestinians,

Marcello Di Cintio’s book, ‘Pay No Heed to the Rockets,’ ends up revealing something discomforting about us: our notions of Palestinian life may have little to do with how Palestinians experience themselves.

Gaza

Abbas threatens to sever relations with Israel if it negotiates with Hamas ,

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas threatened to sever ties with Israel if the state makes an agreement with Hamas, Palestinian sources told Al Hayat, a London based newspaper on Friday.