Following several nights of rocket fire from Gaza, Israel has warned Hamas that it will face major retaliation should the attacks continue. Gaza-based armed factions launched more than 40 rockets into Israel over the weekend, against a background of continued unrest in Jerusalem and electoral uncertainty in both Israel and the Read more…
LFI vice-chair Rosie Cooper today pushed Minister of State for the Middle East and North Africa James Cleverly on potential UK membership of the international board of the International Fund for Israeli-Palestinian Peace. “It is now five months since the US Congress passed a $250 million Act to create the Read more…
The Biden administration has announced plans to restore $235m (£171m) of aid to Palestinians, in a reversal of a cut made by Donald Trump. UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, will receive two-thirds of the aid. UNRWA experienced a sharp financial crisis when the Trump administration slashed $360m in US Read more…
The rollout of covid-19 vaccinations in the West Bank and Gaza received a boost on Monday as the Palestinian Authority received 100,000 doses of the Sinopharm vaccine from the Chinese government. The elderly, frontline medical staff and at-risk groups will be proritised, the PA says. This brings the PA’s total Read more…
Labour Friends of Israel chair Steve McCabe and Conservative Friends of Israel chair Stephen Crabb have written a joint op-ed in today’s Times Red Box, calling on the government to “seize the moment” at the G7 summit in Cornwall later this year by committing to an international fund for Israeli-Palestinian Read more…
Israel’s success in rolling out covid-19 vaccinations has continued this week, with more than 100,000 West Bank Palestinians who work in Israel receiving their first dose so far in March. All Palestinians in East Jerusalem are likewise entitled to be vaccinated by Israel, while a further 2,000 vaccine doses have Read more…
The unclear results of Israel’s general election this week appear to be mirrored within the Palestinian Authority, according to polling conducted by the Palestinian Centre for Policy and Survey Research. Should elections go ahead in May, the polling found that both Fatah, the party of PA president Mahmoud Abbas, and Read more…
Representatives of arch-enemies Fatah and Hamas are meeting this week in Cairo for a second round of talks aimed at allowing elections in the West Bank and Gaza to go ahead this summer. Mahmoud Abbas (pictured) called the elections – the first for 15 years – in January but his Read more…
Yahya Sinwar, the head of Hamas in Gaza, appears to be floundering in his bid for re-election after three rounds of voting in a highly secret ballot on Tuesday produced no clear winner. Sinwar has held the post since 2017, making him the defacto ruler of the coastal enclave. The Read more…
A series of decrees issued by Mahmoud Abbas has raised hopes that Palestinians will get to vote in their first elections in 15 years this spring. On Monday, the Palestinian president (pictured) released a decree establishing an elections court which, it is planned, will arbitrate disputes between Abbas’ Fatah party, Read more…
The Palestinian Authority announced a 12-day tightening of the West Bank’s coronavirus restrictions on Saturday, but also said a $10m batch of vaccine doses would be arriving this week. The new measures will see the closure of nurseries and schools as well as an earlier start to the nighttime curfew. Read more…
Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah party looks set to split into two – or possibly three – rival slates in this summer’s planned parliamentary elections, the Haaretz newspaper reported this week. Nasser al-Kidwa, the nephew of Yasser Arafat and a former PLO ambassador to the United Nations, confirmed publicly that plans are Read more…