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Analysis: Bibi has his day in court

Image: Kremlin.ru, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons After months of delays and legal ducking and diving, Benjamin Netanyahu finally appeared in court this week to face a raft of corruption charges. Israel’s longest-serving premier is also the first incumbent prime minister to go on trial. Sunday’s court appearance by Netanyahu was a formality in which he was…

In Brief: Israel reopens bars, restaurants and tourist attractions

CDC/ Alissa Eckert, MS; Dan Higgins, MAMS, Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons Israel continued to move out of its tight lockdown this week as bars, restaurants and tourist attractions were given the green light to reopen on Wednesday. Social distance and hygiene rules will be strictly enforced and customers are being told they must wear masks,…

In Brief: PA refuses to accept aid from UAE after it arrives on historic flight to Israel

  The Palestinian Authority is refusing to accept tonnes of coronavirus aid from the United Arab Emirates because it arrived on the first ever direct flight (pictured) from the Gulf state to Israel. The aid was being held at Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion Airport while United Nations officials seek ways to distribute it. The UAE, like…

In Brief: Annexation plans hit bump as settler leaders protest Trump plan map

  Hardline leaders of Israel's settlement movement are threatening to derail Benjamin Netanyahu's efforts to annex parts of the West Bank. The prime minister told his Likud party on Monday that he intended to press ahead with applying Israeli sovereignty to West Bank settlements and the Jordan Valley (pictured) after 1 July. "This is an opportunity…

In Brief: Israel planning to let 83,000 Palestinians return to work in construction

CDC/ Alissa Eckert, MSMI; Dan Higgins, MAMS, Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons Israel is planning to allow 83,000 Palestinians to return to work on construction sites in the country after 31 May. The move - which would provide a much-needed boost to both the Israeli and Palestinian economies - comes more than two months after tight…

In Brief: Doubts raised over Abbas’ claim PA is ditching Oslo over annexation

Kremlin.ru, CC BY 4.0 , via Wikimedia Commons President Mahmoud Abbas announced yesterday that the Palestinian Authority has effectively pulled out of the 1993 Oslo Agreements and said Israel would now have to assume responsibility for the civilian Palestinian population of the West Bank. The president, who has threatened such a move on a number of occasions…

Analysis: Israel’s new government takes shape

Image: איציק אדרי-Itzik Edri, CC BY 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons The painstaking process of assembling a new Israeli government is due to culminate in its swearing-in tomorrow. Israel has had a caretaker government since late 2018 when the first of three closely fought, inconclusive elections was triggered. The third of those elections in early March eventually led to…