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NEWS: Hamas and Fatah agree to hold elections as a prelude to national reunification. An Israeli human rights group has released video of Israeli settlers shooting rubber bullets at unarmed Palestinians while Israeli soldiers stand by impassively. An Israeli military occupation court convicts a leader of Palestinian protest movements. Israeli officials react with outrage at demands by South Africa and other states that settlement goods be clearly labeled as distinct from those produced in Israel itself. Palestinians and right-wing Israelis clash in occupied East Jerusalem. The settlement outposts issue is the most immediate test of the new Israeli coalition. A verdict will be reached in August on the Rachel Corrie civil liability case. Haifa University's faculty demands the return of Arabic to the school's logo. PM Netanyahu warns that Israel could be “overrun” by African migrant “infiltrators.” The family of a Hamas operative assassinated in Dubai is trying to block an Israeli film about the murder. Austria's defense minister describes FM Lieberman as “unbearable.” Former Israeli PM Olmert says Jerusalem must be partitioned for peace. COMMENTARY: Ilan Bloch looks at the complexities of partitioning or sharing Jerusalem from a Jewish Israeli point of view. Liat Collins says the Palestinian prisoners' hunger strike reveals many complexities on all sides. Nicola Nasser says Palestinians, and everyone else, should recognize that the traditional peace process is a sham. Abdul Rahman Al-Rashid says Israel has finally decided that the fall of the Assad regime in Syria is in its interests. Emily Hauser says it's vital that Israelis and Palestinians get to know each other. Yossi Alpher says it's too early to tell if a new Israeli coalition will have any effect on Middle East peacemaking. Ghassan Khatib says the new Israeli government augurs little change for Palestinians. Walter Pincus asks why the United States would be funneling several packages of large amounts of new defense spending to Israel at a time of American budget crisis.
NEWS: Palestinians say Interpol is refusing to cooperate in the investigation into a former aide to the late Pres. Arafat who is suspected of massive corruption. In a move likely to make municipal elections come sooner rather than later, Pres. Abbas issues a decree amending the election law. Leaders of Fatah and Hamas will reportedly meet in Cairo next week. Palestinians increasingly view settlements as an impossible impediment to the creation of an independent state. Israeli NGOs accuse Israeli police of severely abusing Palestinian prisoners. Northern Cyprus warns Israel against violations of its airspace. Israel says the international Olympic Committee's rejection of a request for a moment's silence for athletes killed in 1972 is “unacceptable.” An Israeli hospital bans people from speaking in Arabic. Plans are being made for the first joint industrial park on the Israeli-Jordanian border. Following the deal between Israel and prisoners resulting from a collective hunger strike, Palestinians are being increasingly drawn to nonviolent tactics. COMMENTARY: The CSM interviews Michael Sfard, an Israeli lawyer fighting settlement expansion. David Landau says the pro-Israel right wing wants to maintain the status quo, including the occupation. Jay Bushinski says it's “unthinkable” that some Jewish Israelis and state-funded institutions commemorated Nakba Day. The Media Line interviews Israeli photojournalist David Rubinger. Aaron David Miller says the peace process may seem dead, but it will come back to life eventually. Shmuel Rosner says the new Israeli coalition government probably won't pursue more constructive policies towards the Palestinians. Noam Sheizaf says ordinary Israelis feel no pressure to end the status quo and the occupation, but Ron Pundak says boycotts and threats to cut off contact will backfire on Palestinians and their allies. Ahmed Majdoubeh says neither Israelis nor Palestinians really have an independent state. Hussein Ibish says “creative alternatives” to negotiations and a two-state solution are invariably implausible and usually barely conceal maximalist ambitions.
NEWS: PM Fayyad reshuffles the PA cabinet. US Amb. to Israel Shapiro says the US is prepared to attack Iranian nuclear facilities if it decides to, although it prefers to continue negotiations. Questions begin to emerge about how much effect Israel's new coalition will have on moving its policies towards the political center. In spite of the agreement between Israel and Palestinian prisoners, seven still remain on hunger strike. Occupation forces arrest a Palestinian TV producer and confiscate his equipment. Seven Palestinians are injured by Israeli artillery fire in Gaza. The PA says it will hold municipal elections in the West Bank even without the cooperation of Hamas in Gaza. The Israeli military demolishes two small “unauthorized” settlement outposts. The Independent profiles the plight of Palestinian villagers in a border area designated as a military zone by Israel. According to an annual BBC poll, Israel's negative international image continues to decline, outstripped only by Iran and Pakistan, and coming in jointly third with North Korea. COMMENTARY: Ari Shavit says Palestinians must recognize the Jewish narrative and grand catastrophe in order for Israelis to reciprocate. Ha'aretz says Israel must change its attitude towards Palestinian prisoners. Roni Schocken says Israel's “Nakba Law” is an attack on human rights. Jonathan Rosen says that over time the question of Palestinian refugee return has become more an abstract principle than a specified demand. Jessica Montell says Israel must find a new way of dealing with Palestinian “administrative detainees.” Bernard Avishai says that by insisting on a distinction between Jewish nationality and Israeli citizenship, Israel has yet to fully recognize itself. Jamal Muqbel says peace seems farther off than ever. Amr Ezzat recounts his experiences attending a recent literary festival in Gaza. Aaron David Miller says Israel's plummeting international image isn't primarily due to a campaign of delegitimization, but its own policies and actions. Hussein Ibish asks if the new Israeli coalition government is really going to break from the hard-line positions, especially on settlement outposts, of the previous one.
NEWS: Palestinian officials say PM Fayyad will reshuffle his cabinet today, while Hamas condemns it as “illegal.” Palestinian “green” projects and environmentalist activists face numerous hurdles in the occupied territories. Palestine's chief corruption commissioner says Mohammed Rashid, a former financial adviser to the late Pres. Arafat, may have embezzled millions. Many Palestinians say the prisoners' hunger strike shows the potential for nonviolence to be effective against abusive Israeli policies. Israel says it has created mechanisms to get aid to Palestinians in the event of an earthquake. Israel's Interior Minister Yishai says all African migrants should be jailed. The Knesset approves another $12 million for settlement funding. Calls to abandon the two-state solution and the peace process in favor of imaginative alternatives are gaining ground. Jerusalem’s Al-Makassed hospital faces an acute cash crisis. ATFP Senior Research Fellow Hussein Ibish debates Reza Aslan at UCLA on the future of Israel and the Palestinians. COMMENTARY: Bradley Burston says Israelis should pay careful attention to the Nakba Day commentary by ATFP Pres. Ziad Asali. Benedetta Berti says, through hunger striking, Palestinians may have discovered the power of nonviolent protest. Zvi Bar'el says Israel isn't annexing settlements, it's the settlers who are annexing Israel. Chemi Shalev describes a lively debate between J Street's Jeremy Ben-Ami and William Kristol of the Emergency Committee for Israel. The Independent looks at a new play by A B Yehoshua on Ben-Gurion and Jabotinsky. Osama Al Sharif says the "Arab Spring" has not been helpful to the Palestinians. Rami Khouri says, as the Palestinian struggle continues, we should expect more innovative measures such as international BDS and hunger striking. Hanan Ashrawi agrees that the hunger strikers have set an example that will probably be emulated in other nonviolent ways. Alex Fishman says the situation between Israel and the Palestinians is becoming explosive.
NEWS: An agreement is reached between Israel and hunger striking Palestinian prisoners. Hamas again calls for capturing more Israeli soldiers to bargain for Palestinian prisoners. Palestinians commemorate Nakba Day, and doctors say over 80 were injured in clashes with Israeli occupation forces near Ramallah. MK Tibi says Israelis must show empathy on Nakba Day. Iran executes a man accused of being an Israeli spy. Israel allows the export of clothes from Gaza after a five-year ban. New documents suggest that settlers in the controversial Ulpana outpost may have been duped into thinking they were not building on privately owned Palestinian land. The EU says Israeli settlement expansions are threatening the prospects for a two-state solution. Israel displays its security technologies to international visitors. Palestinians are increasingly turning to the Gulf for trade and aid. COMMENTARY: Hanan Ashrawi says Israeli recognition of the Nakba is vital for peace. Ha'aretz says the Nakba is part of Israel's history. Noam Neusner says Israel might be ready for a peace agreement, but the Palestinians are not. The chief of the PLO's Washington mission Areikat says Congress should be more constructive regarding aid to the Palestinians. Tony Karon says Israel's settlement policy depends on tactical deceptions. The National says a letter from a US member of Congress demonstrates widespread ignorance at senior American levels about the Middle East. Alon Ben-Meir asks if the new Israeli coalition deal is an ingenious political coup or an insidious political scheme. Samuel Segev says the political climate in Jordan is “boiling,” including on issues related to the Palestinians and Israel.
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