Palestine

by Osamah Khalil   The 2018 mid-term elections are expected to be the most expensive in American history. Four years ago, the 2014 mid-term elections had fewer donors than in previous elections but spending still surpassed previous elections. To fill their campaign coffers, Democrats and Republicans are again expected to rely …

The General Assembly on Tuesday voted by an overwhelming majority to temporarily grant the “State of Palestine” additional rights and privileges, allowing it to head the biggest bloc of developing countries at the United Nations. A whopping 146 states voted in favor of Resolution A/73/L.5, while only three countries — the …

Nearly 1,000 people attended the launch of the annual Palestine Cinema Days festival at the Cultural Palace in the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah on Wednesday. The 5th edition of the festival is screening in Ramallah, Bethlehem, Jerusalem, Nablus and Gaza between 17-23 October with more than 60 films …

Palestinian officials today slammed the US’ decision to downgrade its Jerusalem Consulate, merging it with the US Embassy to Israel. The Palestinian Authority (PA)’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Riyad Al-Malki condemned the US decision, saying it “proves that the US administration has adopted the agenda of the far-right Israeli settler …

Tayseer Khaled , member of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), member of the politbureau of the Democratic Front of the Liberation of Palestine warned of the grave consequences of the Israeli government’s policy of dealing with Gaza Strip in  Security standards only  to continue economic sanctions …

Israeli jets struck targets in the Gaza Strip early on Wednesday after a rocket fired by Palestinians struck a house in the southern occupied city of Beersheba, the Israeli military said. Residents in the Gaza Strip said jets had targeted eight locations. The military said another rocket had been launched …

A senior adviser to Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, has accused Australia’s prime minister, Scott Morrison, of destroying the chances of Middle East peace in order to win a byelection, after Morrison said he might recognise Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. Nabil Shaath said on Tuesday that Palestinian officials were now …

Yashir Pinto looks tired, and it’s difficult to blame him. He has just played an international friendly in Kyrgyzstan, but it is the jetlag rather than the football that is afflicting him. It took him 32 hours to reach Bishkek from his home in Coquimbo in Chile, a route that …

Israel is defending its handling of the case of an American graduate student who has been detained at the country’s international airport for the past week over allegations she supports a boycott against the Jewish state. Strategic Affairs Minister Gilad Erdan said Wednesday that Israel had the right to protect itself and …

Israel has detained an American graduate student at Ben Gurion International Airport for more than a week, accusing her of supporting the Palestinian-led boycott movement of Israel. Lara Alqasem, a 22-year-old of Palestinian heritage from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, arrived in Israel on a student visa to attend Jerusalem’s Hebrew University …

The 2,100-year-old Hebrew inscription on a piece of limestone unearthed in Jerusalem is the earliest-known mention of the full name of the city that is spelled as it is today, the Israel Antiquities Authority announced Tuesday. The name was inscribed on part of a Roman structure dating to the 1st …

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is fond of showing his visitors an ancient seal unearthed in Jerusalem, thought to date back more than 2,700 years. Its inscription is similar to the prime minister’s family name—proof of the historic bond between the Jewish people and their land, and perhaps (one might …

Using all kinds of deception, Netanyahu cheats the International Community, and continues to build new settlements in the West Bank, and denies being old settlements, even though some of which are classified as random ones, and Netanyahu refuses to give them a town name fearing European and the international community’s …

If the international community takes a common stance against Israel, it cannot continue blatant killings in Palestine, a Palestinian academic said on Saturday, Anadolu reports. Speaking at the “Palestine: Facing New Challenges, Preparing for Future” session on the second day of Muslim Future Thinkers Forum at Ibn Haldun University in Istanbul, Sami …

A Palestinian attacker opened fire inside a joint Israeli-Palestinian industrial zone in the West Bank on Sunday, killing two Israelis and seriously wounding a third, the military said. Military spokesman Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus said the preliminary finding is that a 23-year-old from a nearby village carried out a “terror …

The Palestinian Authority (PA) and Turkey are boosting their ties in economic, investment and educational sectors, despite Turkey’s close relations with the rival Hamas movement. This raises a question about how Ankara will balance dealing with both parties. The Palestinian government approved Sept. 12 an agreement designed to encourage Turkish …

The EU has yet to collectively agree to seek restitution for European taxpayers from Israel when it demolishes EU-funded schools, shelters and other facilities in Palestine. Tánaiste Simon Coveney said Israel had demolished emergency shelters, schools and water and power supply facilities, including water tanks and solar panels, that had …

By Mohamed Mohamed*   From presidents Truman to Trump, US administrations have never actually been an “honest broker” of peace between Palestinians and Israelis, regardless of all the rhetoric and official positions. On the contrary, the US has provided tremendous diplomatic, economic, and military support to Israel ever since its creation …

National security adviser John Bolton defended calling Palestine a “so-called state,” saying Wednesday “it is not a state.” Bolton, speaking to reporters in the White House briefing room, said that denying Palestine’s statehood isn’t counterproductive as the Trump administration prepares to unveil a Mideast peace plan. “It’s not a state …

Tayseer Khaled, member of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), member of the Political Bureau of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP), warned of the dangers to security and peace in the region and the world – due to $ 38 billion military aid …

The National Bureau for Defending the Land and Resisting Settlement said that the Israeli army and its affiliated organs are not only involved in the crime of forging the Palestinian documents which prove their ownership of the land, but also confiscate and allocate those lands for settlement purposes. The Jerusalem …

In recent years, Israel has attempted to manage the explosive problem of Gaza, and has found itself locked in stalemate as a result. The last major armed conflict between Israel and Hamas, fought in 2014, saw Israel dragged into combat, inclusive of a ground incursion, despite it having no wish to be bogged down in asymmetrical …

Updated 8 a.m. ET Monday President Trump’s administration has begun pressing Israel to embrace the idea of a Palestinian state. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is insisting on something less. Netanyahu spoke with NPR after Trump spoke in favor of a two-state solution while visiting the United Nations last week. …

The second edition of the Palestine Circus Festival, entitled “United for Freedom”, opened in Ramallah on Thursday, with the participation of about 200 local and international artists, according to press release. Palestinian officials, a representative of the European Union, representatives of international and local cultural and artistic organizations, municipalities and …

The International Court of Justice on Friday said it has received a complaint from the “State of Palestine” against the United States, arguing that the U.S. government’s placement of its Israeli embassy in Jerusalem violates an international treaty and it should be removed. The ICJ, known as the World Court, …

Donald Trump may have endorsed a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but one of the architects of such a plan doubts the president is capable of delivering. “What does he know? What did he do in life?” said Yossi Beilin, a former Israeli official who conducted secret talks that …

For the first time since taking office, President Donald Trump endorsed a two-state solution as the best way to resolve the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians as he met Wednesday at the U.N. with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Trump told reporters that he believes that two states — …

By Emad El-Din Aysha, PhD*   Just watched The Angel (2018), the so-called Ashraf Marwan story (President Abdel Nasser’s son-in-law), purely out of curiosity. And I’m glad to say I did not like it. That’s not just on account of my personal and political biases. Marwan Kenzari, playing the aforementioned son …

Delegates to Labour’s conference in Liverpool waved hundreds of Palestinian national flags on Tuesday during a rare debate on Palestine which backed an immediate suspension of arms sales to Israel. The debate was the first time in living memory that Palestine has been discussed at the party’s conference, where delegates …

In his weekly report on Israel’s settlement activities in the West Bank, the National Bureau for the Defending Land and Resisting Settlements  ( NBPRS )  reported , that  Israel’s settlement activities cover all the West Bank governorates encouraged by the US, and the absence of the international accountability. The Netanyahu …

A Labour government would recognise an independent state of Palestine “as soon as we take office”, Jeremy Corbyn has said. The opposition leader threw his support behind a two-state solution to Middle East peace, saying he wanted a “secure and viable” Palestine alongside Israel. Addressing the Labour Friends of Palestine conference …

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Friday voiced readiness to resume peace talks with Israel, either behind closed doors or in public. Speaking at a joint press conference in Paris with French counterpart Emmanuel Macron, Abbas said: “We’re ready for negotiations with Israel — either in public or behind closed doors …

The Spanish government will promote a European move to recognize Palestine as an independent state, Spain’s foreign minister said Thursday, adding that if the move fails the government will consider a Spain-only recognition. If “the EU is not able to reach unanimous decision – each to their own,” Spain’s Minister …

In its weekly report, the National Bureau reported that the number of settlement expansion in the West Bank, including Jerusalem, has increased several times since the Oslo Accord that as signed at the White House in Washington on Sep. 13th, 1993 between the Palestine Liberation Organization and Israel. Adding that …

A University of Michigan professor refused to write a recommendation letter for a student to study abroad in Israel, claiming it was part of an “academic boycott” of the country. John Cheney-Lippold, an associate professor in the American culture department, rejected student Abigail Ingber’s request in an email, a screenshot …

A Palestinian fatally stabbed an American-born Jewish settler in the occupied West Bank on Sunday then was himself shot and seized by armed civilians who gave chase. The victim, Ari Fuld, 45, was well-known amongst settlers as a pro-Israel advocate. According to his Twitter account, he had planned a lecture …

The United States will not present its long-awaited plan for Israeli-Palestinian peace any time soon and is instead trying to unilaterally change the terms of reference for any future proposal, a senior Palestinian official said on Saturday. Echoing deep scepticism among the Palestinians, Arab countries and analysts, Saeb Erekat, the …

As part of its policy to end all aid for Palestinian civilians, the United States is blocking millions of dollars to programs that build relationships between Israelis and Palestinians, according to current and former American officials briefed on the change. The move to prevent Palestinians — including, in many cases, …

The National Bureau for Defending the Land and Resisting Settlements called on the International Community to exert pressure on the Israeli government, preventing it from carrying out ethnic cleansing crimes in Khan Al-Ahmar village as well as opening an official investigation in its crimes, of which is the Israeli High …

By Labib Taha*   Considering the Palestinian cause from one angle, it seems to be in the most difficult situation since the emergence of the Palestinian tragedy more than a hundred years ago. The dangers that face the Palestinian people represented in attempts towards making the political division between the West …

The family of a Palestinian activist, who was arrested last year for slapping and punching two Israeli soldiers, said Friday they have been banned from traveling abroad. Ahed Tamimi’s father, Bassem, said they were informed by the Palestinian Ministry of Civil Affairs they were barred by Israeli authorities from leaving. …

Tayseer Khaled,  member of the executive committee of the PLO, member of the Political Bureau of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, described the decision taken  by the US administration to cut the financial aid it provided to the hospitals  in occupied Jerusalem as inhumane  and immoral , …

In nine months from start to finish – the time it takes to carry a baby to term – Palestinian businessman Faisal Saleh set up the first museum of Palestinian art and culture in the United States. He did it on a shoestring budget, housing the galleries in the ground-floor …

For nearly 20 years, the Birthright program has been a rite of passage for hundreds of thousands of young American Jews, who get a free trip to Israel along with a tour that shows the country in a very positive light. But in recent weeks, the same discomfort that many …