Top news stories from Israel/Palestine: November 28, 2017

What We’re Reading

Differentiation and BDS

Israel races to head off UN settlement ‘blacklist,

Weeks ahead of the expected completion of a U.N. database of companies that operate in Israel’s West Bank settlements, Israel and the Trump Administration are working feverishly to prevent its publication.

UN Settlement Business Data Can Stem Abuse,

“Israel’s brazen disregard of the 2016 Security Council resolution, passed without opposition, reaffirming the illegality of settlements makes it all the more urgent for corporations to avoid entanglement in rights abuses inherent in settlement activity,” said Sarah Leah Whitson, executive director of the Middle East division of Human Rights Watch.

Opinion: Calling for a boycott of Israel is not anti-Semitic,

“Attempts to shut down the BDS movement by claiming it is anti-Semitic are unfounded, and based on a worrying global campaign to shut down criticism of Israel,” writes Peter Speetjens.

Palestinian politics

Hamas due to hand over Gaza in major step toward unity,

Hamas is due to end its decade-long dominance of Gaza by Friday in its biggest step yet towards Palestinian unity, but hopes raised by a reconciliation deal have already given way to doubts.

How Can Palestinian Reconciliation Efforts Save the National Project?,

“If anything, the Cairo meeting [in which Hamas and Fatah committed to Palestinian reconciliation] was a sign of the weakness of the Palestinian movement and its inability to deal with either internal or international pressures,” writes Wajjeh Abu Zarifa.

Fatah: Disarmament of Hamas not on dialogue table,

The Palestinian faction Fatah has denied making the disarmament of Hamas’ military wing, the Qassam Brigades, a condition for ongoing Palestinian reconciliation talks.

Occupation/Human rights

How Israeli leftists trivialize the Palestinian cause,

“Ending Israel’s military rule in the Palestinian territories occupied in 1967 will not solve the problem of a state built for one group at the expense of another,” writes Zena Tahhan.

The Radical Women at the Heart of Palestine’s First Intifada,

An illuminating new documentary [by FMEP grantee Just Vision], ‘Naila and the Uprising,’ spotlights the female activists who held up a movement—and fought for both Palestinian liberation and gender equality.

Israeli MKs seek to triple cost of High Court petitions for Palestinians,

Palestinians and organizations representing them would pay three times as much as Israelis to petition the High Court, under a proposal on the agenda for a Knesset committee debate on Wednesday.

US-Israeli/Palestinian relations

Jordan king to US: Failure to resolve Palestinian issue will fuel violence,

King Abdullah II of Jordan warned members of the Trump administration on Monday that failure to resolve the Palestinian issue will spur violent unrest in the Middle East.