July 17, 2012

Police took to the streets of Tulkarem on Tuesday to raise awareness about a campaign to stop child labor and begging, a statement said.

Accompanied by a committee set up to fight child labor, police toured Tulkarem's markets and main streets.

Sixteen children aged between 11-16 were taken to the police station for questioning, and their parents were called to explain that child labor is illegal.

Defense Ministry hires architect to resume construction of illegal West Bank outpost

The government is stepping up construction in the West Bank settlements and acting to legitimize at least one illegal outpost it has pledged to demolish, Haaretz has learned.

The Defense Ministry recently contracted an architect to resume construction of the Givat Sal'it outpost in the Jordan Valley, in what is seen as a step toward legitimizing the outpost. Givat Sal'it is one of 26 communities the Sharon government had promised the United States it would tear down nearly 10 years ago.

Ariel academic center in West Bank expected to be named university in disputed vote

The Judea and Samaria Council for Higher Education is to meet this afternoon at Bar-Ilan University to vote on whether to recognize the Ariel University Center as a full-fledged university. The planning and budget committee of the state's Council for Higher Education had recommended against it at this time.

'You're dead' daubed near Peace Now activist's flat

The words "Hagit, you're dead" and "Kahane was right" were daubed near the apartment of Hagit Ofran, the director of Peace Now's Settlement Watch project.

Police have launched an investigation into the incident, which marks the third time hate slogans were spray-painted near Ofran's apartment in Jerusalem.

MI chief: Over 10 recent Sinai attacks thwarted

IDF Military Intelligence head Aviv Kochavi said that more than 10 recent planned terror attacks emanating from the Egyptian side of the Sinai border have been thwarted during remarks before the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee.

Kochavi said that upheaval in Egypt is expected to continue for a long time, and that the victory of the Muslim Brotherhood's Mohamed Mursi in the presidential election has ushered in an age of political Islam.

'Mofaz mulling departure from coalition today'

Kadima leader Shaul Mofaz will remove his party from Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s coalition as early as Tuesday if gaps between Likud and Kadima on how to equalize the burden of IDF service are not bridged, sources close to Mofaz said Monday.

Occupation Divides Israeli Protest Movement

One year after Israel’s social protest movement was born, activists are battling over its soul.

Throughout June, protestors once again started to flow into the streets of Tel Aviv on Saturday nights. They all claimed to be reviving the demonstrations held weekly last summer, when tent cities proliferated all over the country. But it quickly became evident that this time, there were very different ideas among the protestors about what their demands should be.

The Palestinian Authority under pressure

We have been facing serious financial difficulties for more than two years

CNN – Can the stalled peace talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority be revived by the visit of U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to the region?

On Monday, Christiane Amanpour sat down with Salam Fayyad, the Palestinian Prime Minister, in his Ramallah office on the West Bank, where he expressed serious doubts – not only about the peace talks but about the very existence of the Palestinian Authority he represents:

Five Reasons Why the Two-State Solution Just Won't Die

By all accounts it's time to say a kaddish -- the traditional Jewish prayer for the dead -- over the idea of a Palestinian state living side by side in peace and security with Israel.

Romney, Condi, and the meme that pro-Israel must be anti-peace

Studies have shown that among American voters, Israel as an issue does not figure significantly in decision-making at the ballot box – even for Jews.

It shouldn't matter, but it could. One step down the wrong slippery slope - a cross-border war, perhaps, or a spiral of civilian deaths in terrorism and air strikes, or, in the nightmare scenario, a conflagration involving Iran – and Israel could become very much an American campaign issue.

BDS supporters can’t decide on what the endgame is

On the heels of new semantic murkiness about what is and is not Israeli occupation [26], one could be forgiven for being a tad confused about how to oppose whatever-it-is-we-should-now-call-it.

Borderline Views: To occupy or not to occupy

So what have we achieved by the publication of a political report, under the guise of a legal opinion, which arrived at a conclusion that the occupied territories are not occupied, that the illegal settlements are not illegal, and that everything Israel has done in the West Bank (Judea and Samaria) during the past 45 years is really okay?

Op-Ed: Look between the headlines to understand the Presbyterians’ vote

NEW YORK (JTA) -- The Presbyterian Church (USA)’s 220th General Assembly had just cast its first vote on an anti-Israel divestment resolution when the spin began. Major news outlets and activists on each side could hardly wait for the debate to finish the next day before declaring winners and losers. 

This was my fourth GA and one thing I’ve learned is that reality lies somewhere between the headlines. Here are some reality checks on the GA.

* The defeat of divestment was narrow -- and it wasn’t. 

Israel and the West Bank’s Oil

On July 10, 2012, the English-language website of the BBC published an article by journalist Alex Rowell, who recently visited the West Bank.

The article mentioned that Givot Olam Oil Ltd, an Israeli company, is producing oil from the Meged field located in Israeli territories “on the edge of the West Bank”, “raising concern that it might also draw from untapped Palestinian reserves”.

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