“Should the United States give Israel $4 billion a year without asking it to do anything to keep the two state solution alive? It’s a timely question. America’s current agreement with Israel, which expires in 2018, grants the Jewish state $3 billion per year in military aid,” writes Peter Beinart.

Israel’s occupation is a physical construct, bolstered by the building of both the separation wall and Jewish settlements throughout the West Bank, and by the destruction of properties and the seizure of Palestinian land. Al Jazeera profiles three Palestinian families who have been impacted by the occupation in very different ways.

Continuing an apparent shift to the right, Israel’s opposition leader Isaac Herzog on Tuesday visited the West Bank settlement city of Ariel, and declared that it should be retained by Israel under any future peace agreement, along with the Etzion Bloc south of Jerusalem and Ma’aleh Adumim to Jerusalem’s East.

“Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon drew a distinction Tuesday between the grief experienced by Israelis, who he said were a life- and peace-seeking people, and by enemies who ‘yearn’ for death and self-destruction.”

A report by two Israeli rights groups released Wednesday says dozens of Palestinian detainees at an Israeli detention facility are subjected to mistreatment, which in some cases amounts to torture.

“It is a bitter irony that Israelis and Palestinians came into more frequent contact prior to the peace process. The Labor party’s new ‘separation plan’ does nothing to correct that,” writes Nadia Naser-Najjab.

Israel Police caught two East Jerusalem men with pipe bombs and ammunition hidden in their kiosk outside of Herod’s Gate in the Old City of Jerusalem on Wednesday.

The British have their treasured BBC. In the United States it’s NPR and PBS. In Germany it’s ARD. At various points, all these public media pillars have been accused of bias from one side or another of the political spectrum. But none has ever faced the prospect of actually being dismantled.

Netanyahu’s attempt to project false motives on Israeli Arab lawmakers is intended to bury the humane alternative for equal coexistence of two peoples within the framework of a state of all its citizens.

“The IDF is preparing for the next round of fighting with Hamas, which is expected to be much more intense than in previous operations. Yet, the spark which may start the fighting this time will be different. The Gazan population is at its boiling point, and when it explodes, the entire region will feel it,” writes Alex Fishman.

The Gaza Strip’s worsening humanitarian situation could lead to a conflagration with Israel, the Israeli military’s intelligence chief warned Tuesday.

Three senior Fatah officials yesterday delivered contradictory remarks about reconciliation with Hamas.