The economic fallout from the coronavirus could see the Palestinian economy slump by as much as 11 percent, the World Bank warned in a report on Monday. The bank also forecast that falling tax revenues and increased health spending could leave the Palestinian Authority with a $1.5bn hole in its Read more…
Labour Friends of Israel were pleased to meet with shadow foreign secretary Lisa Nandy MP and shadow Middle East minister Wayne David MP via Zoom on Friday 29th May. LFI chair, Steve McCabe MP, LFI chair in the Lords, Baroness Ramsay and LFI director Jennifer Gerber participated in the call. Read more…
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 Read more…
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, except when they’re eating. However, smaller Read more…
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 Read more…
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 Read more…
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 controls on Palestinians working in Israel Read more…
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 previously, Read more…
A new Israeli government was sworn in on Sunday after three general elections and 18 months of political deadlock. The Knesset approved the government – the fifth to be headed by Benjamin Netanyahu – by a vote of 73 to 46. For the first time, Blue and White leader Benny Gantz Read more…
Lebanon is facing an unprecedented economic crisis, spurring protests and a threat to the country’s stability unlike any seen since the end of the country’s bloody civil war three decades ago. The crisis – which was ignited last October by planned tax rises and grew into a wider movement against Read more…
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 a “unity Read more…
LFI chair Steve McCabe has written for Progress on the future of Labour’s foreign policy under Keir Starmer. You can read the original here. Keir Starmer’s election as Labour leader has already signalled progress in tackling the scourge of antisemitism and rebuilding our relationship with the Jewish community. The roots Read more…