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…
The Labour frontbench is to press the government on Britain’s funding of the Palestinian Authority’s school curriculum – a curriculum which glorifies terrorists, incites violence and is riddled with antisemitic and anti-Israeli content. The announcement by shadow Middle East minister Wayne David (pictured) is a major step forward in LFI’s Read more…
Gaza’s humanitarian crisis could be eased by the announcement last weekend of a major deal between the Palestinian Authority and the Israeli energy company Delek to supply natural gas to the coastal enclave’s sole power plant. The agreement was announced by Qatar’s envoy to Gaza – a key intermediary between Read more…
Hamas has restocked its deadly arsenal since the 2014 Gaza war, a senior Israeli military commander said last week. The news came as an Islamic court in the coastal enclave further tightened restrictions on women, saying they needed the permission of a male guardian to travel. The Gaza-based terror group Read more…
Labour Friends of Israel Chair Steve McCabe MP has written for Jewish News. Click here to read the original. Britain is a long-standing advocate of a two-state solution, but its funding for these lessons in hate undermines this. We should support efforts to bring about peace, reconciliation and coexistence between Read more…
Representatives of Hamas and Fatah met in Cairo this week to begin talks aimed at securing an agreement which will allow Palestinians to vote in their first elections in 15 years. Mahmoud Abbas (pictured) last month signed a decree authorising elections to the Palestinian parliament and for the presidency this Read more…
The Biden administration has taken the first steps towards restoring relations between the US and the Palestinian Authority, which were severed in 2017. The move came shortly after the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas (pictured), announced new elections – the first to be held in nearly 15 years. What happened Joe Read more…
The Palestinian Authority has confirmed that it began vaccinating its medical staff on Tuesday after the shipment of 2,000 doses of the Moderna vaccine from Israel the previous day. However, the statement by the PA Ministry of Health – which said intensive care staff who “stand in the first line Read more…