Editor’s note: U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Nov. 18 said that Israel’s settlements in the West Bank do not violate international law. That pleased Israeli Jews who see the territory as rightfully theirs and infuriated the Palestinians who live there and claim it as their land. Here, a...
Palestinians Protest US Settlement Decision in ‘Day of Rage’
RAMALLAH, West Bank — Thousands of Palestinian protesters took part in a “day of rage” across the occupied West Bank on Tuesday, with some groups clashing with Israeli forces to protest the U.S. announcement that it no longer believes Israeli settlements violate international law. Around 2,000 people gathered in the...
Opinion: No, Israel Does Not Target Palestinian Children
Does Israel intentionally target Palestinian children, including during its most recent operation in Gaza? Several prominent figures would certainly like the public to think so. For example, the recent flareup in the region compelled best-selling author Shailja Patel to tweet: “I'm talking about Israel incarcerating over a million Palestinian children in...
US Angers Palestinians With Reversal on Israeli Settlements
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration on Monday softened the U.S. position on Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, reversing four decades of American policy and further undermining the effort to gain Palestinian statehood. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced that the U.S. is repudiating the 1978 State Department legal...
Israel Says it Has Completed Gaza Strikes After Rocket Fire
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Israel said early Friday it has completed a series of airstrikes on targets linked to the Islamic Jihad militant group in Gaza after overnight rocket fire that rattled a day-old truce. The Palestinian territory’s Hamas rulers, who kept to the sidelines of this week’s fighting,...
Israel Hits Gaza Amid Rocket Fire, Palestinian Deaths Rise
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Israeli airstrikes pounded Islamic Jihad targets in Gaza on Wednesday and militants resumed rocket fire toward Israel after a brief overnight lull, as the death toll rose to 23 Palestinians, including a 7-year-old boy and two other minors, in the heaviest round of fighting in...
Israel Kills Islamic Jihad Leader, Setting off Fierce Clash
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Israel launched airstrikes Tuesday against two senior Islamic Jihad commanders, killing one in Gaza but missing another in Syria in a sharp escalation of Israel's regional conflict with Iran, which backs the Palestinian militant group. The attack led to retaliatory rocket fire from Gaza and...
EU Condemns New Burst of Israeli Settlement Approvals
JERUSALEM — The European Union on Monday criticized Israel’s approval of plans to build over 2,000 new homes in West Bank settlements. In a statement, the EU reiterated its longstanding position that all settlement activity on occupied land is illegal. “It erodes the viability of the two-state solution and the...
Gideon Levy: ‘The Two-State Solution has Left the Station’
Haaretz columnist Gideon Levy offers his views on the status of a two-state solution to the Israeli – Palestinian conflict at PalExpo in London (July 2019).
Court Calls US 'Enhanced Interrogation Techniques' Torture
SAN FRANCISCO — A federal court in San Francisco took the unusual step of using the word "torture" to describe the treatment of a Palestinian man while he was in CIA custody following the Sept. 11 attacks. The Ninth U.S. Court of Appeals in San Francisco used the word in...