The office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the country will not cooperate with the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) investigation into potential war crimes in the Palestinian territories (Times of Israel)
In a response to the ICC due today, Israel will reject allegations against it and assert its ability to self-investigate (Reuters)
U.S. Reverses Trump-Era Aid Cuts to Palestinians
The Joe Biden administration announced it will restore $235 million in aid to the Palestinians, a move welcomed by the Palestinian Authority and rebuked by the Israeli government. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the decision reflects U.S. support for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and for the prosperity and security of both sides (Wall Street Journal)
Israel’s Netanyahu Invited to Try to Form Government
President Reuven Rivlin granted Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu the opportunity to form a government after last month’s deadlocked vote, Israel’s fourth election in two years, though Rivlin also said no candidate had a real chance of successfully forming a government. Netanyahu, who received the most endorsements from lawmakers, has twenty-eight days to build a coalition (Haaretz)
Separately, Israeli troops killed a Palestinian driver and injured his wife at a checkpoint in the West Bank. Local Palestinian officials said that they may raise the incident at the International Criminal Court (Reuters)
Trial of Israel’s Netanyahu Resumes as Postelection Talks Begin
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s trial for charges of fraud, bribery, and breach of trust restarted today. The hearing comes as President Reuven Rivlin meets with lawmakers to discuss whether to recommend that Netanyahu remain as prime minister following last month’s deadlocked election (Times of Israel)
Jailed Palestinian Militant to Challenge Abbas in Elections
Marwan Barghouti, a popular militant currently serving a life sentence in an Israeli prison, intends to challenge Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’s party in the territories’ May elections. The power struggle could weaken the Fatah party, which controls the Palestinian Authority, and strengthen Hamas, the militant group that controls Gaza (New York Times)
Vote Counting Underway for Israeli Parliamentary Elections
With almost 90 percent of votes counted, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party leads in parliamentary elections held yesterday. Still, whether he will gain enough seats to form a coalition government is unclear, raising the possibility of a fifth election (Haaretz)
Separately, the Israeli military conducted raids overnight on Hamas positions in Gaza. Air strikes reportedly attacked a rocket manufacturing site and military post, in response to rockets fired from Gaza (Al Jazeera)
Israel Holds Fourth Parliamentary Elections in Two Years
The country holds its fourth parliamentary elections in two years tomorrow. Polls indicate a close race, though Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu holds a slight edge (Associated Press)
Tens of thousands of people urged Netanyahu to resign at a protest in Jerusalem on Saturday (Times of Israel)
Israeli Troops Kill Palestinian Protestor During Stone-Throwing Clash
A Palestinian man involved in a weekly protest against Israeli settlements was shot by Israeli soldiers today. According to a witness, a group of Palestinians threw stones towards the soldiers and the soldiers opened fire (Reuters)
Memo Lays Out U.S. Plan to Reset Relations With Palestinians
A U.S. State Department memo obtained by the National reportedly details a plan to reset U.S.-Palestinian relations, including by providing coronavirus aid and backtracking on positions espoused by the Trump administration that were seen as favoring Israel (National)
Sources said the plan is at an early “working stage” (Reuters)
Kosovo Opens Embassy in Jerusalem
Kosovo opened an embassy in Jerusalem weeks after establishing diplomatic relations with Israel. The United States and Guatemala are the only other countries with embassies in Jerusalem, the status of which is central to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict (Al Jazeera)
ICC to Investigate War Crimes in the Palestinian Territories
International Criminal Court (ICC) chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda announced a probe into possible war crimes perpetrated by Israeli and Palestinian groups in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Israel rebuked the move as anti-Semitic, while the Palestinian Authority praised it (Haaretz)
Palestinian Factions Meet Ahead of Elections
Fourteen Palestinian political groups kicked off a two-day, Egypt-backed dialogue in Cairo to iron out issues before legislative and presidential elections are held later this year. The elections will be the first since Palestinian governance fractured over the results of elections in 2006 (Al Jazeera)
Israel Demolishes Palestinian Bedouin Village
Israeli authorities have begun demolishing a Bedouin village in the West Bank for the second time in three months, after claiming it was an illegal construction. A rights group claimed this was an attempt to displace the entire Palestinian community from the area (Reuters)
Israel to Send Five Thousand COVID-19 Vaccines to West Bank
Israel will send five thousand COVID-19 vaccine doses to the West Bank, which it previously gave one hundred doses for medical personnel. Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza have been left out of Israel’s vaccination campaign, sparking international criticism (Haaretz)
U.S. Will Restore Relations With Palestinians
U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration plans to restore aid to Palestinians and reopen diplomatic missions that were closed by the previous administration, said acting U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Richard Mills. Mills also reaffirmed U.S. support for a “mutually agreed two-state solution” (New York Times)
Israel Conducts Air Strikes in Syria
Syrian state media reported that Israeli air strikes in the region of Hama killed four people. In recent years, Israel has launched hundreds of air strikes in Syria against suspected Iranian military deployments (Reuters)
Israel Approves New Construction in West Bank
The Israeli government approved the construction of nearly eight hundred housing units in settlements in the occupied West Bank. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged Israel to reverse the decision, calling it a “flagrant violation under international law” (Times of Israel, Agence France-Presse)
Israel to Build Eight Hundred New Homes in the West Bank
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed that a Defense Ministry panel will approve plans to construct some eight hundred homes for Jewish settlers in the Israel-occupied West Bank (Times of Israel)
Militants in Gaza Fire Rockets in “Joint Exercise”
Militant groups in the Gaza Strip fired rockets into the sea in what they said was their first joint exercise. Israeli media described the event as a show of force organized by Iran (Reuters)
Israeli Government Collapses Again
The Knesset dissolved after the parties of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Benny Gantz failed to reach a deal on this year’s budget. The dissolution triggers the country’s fourth elections in less than two years, set for March 23 (Haaretz)
Israel Appears Set to Hold Snap Elections in 2021
Israel could be forced to hold its fourth elections in two years after the country’s leaders failed to resolve a dispute over the budget (Reuters)
Since establishing a unity government in May after three inconclusive elections, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who leads the Likud party, and Defense Minister Benny Gantz, who heads the Blue and White alliance, have been unable to agree on the 2020 budget. Lawmakers in the Knesset rejected a proposal overnight to postpone the deadline to reach a deal (Haaretz)
If the two sides cannot pass a budget by tonight, the government will dissolve and elections will be automatically set for March 23 (Washington Post)
The budget dispute comes as Israel has normalized relations with several Arab nations through U.S.-brokered deals; the first direct flight from Israel to Morocco took off today (Times of Israel)
Israel Begins COVID-19 Vaccination Campaign
Around ten thousand health-care workers and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu received COVID-19 vaccines yesterday as Israel kicks off its vaccination campaign. More than 170,000 people have scheduled appointments, sparking logistical concerns (Haaretz)
Palestinian Territories Wait for COVID-19 Vaccine
Though Israel is set to begin COVID-19 vaccinations next week, millions of people living in the Palestinian territories will have to wait for vaccines to be distributed by the Palestinian Authority (Associated Press)
Officials in Gaza have warned that the health-care system there is at risk of collapse due to a sharp increase in COVID-19 patients (Haaretz)
Israel Establishes Diplomatic Ties With Bhutan
The country established full diplomatic ties with Bhutan over the weekend. The deal was not linked to recent U.S.-brokered agreements between Israel and Arab countries (Times of Israel)
Morocco Agrees to Normalize Ties With Israel
Morocco will normalize relations with Israel under a deal brokered by the Donald J. Trump administration, making it the fourth Arab country to set aside hostilities with Israel in recent months. The two countries will establish full diplomatic relations, open liaison offices, and allow direct flights between them. Palestinian factions have criticized the normalization agreements, with a Hamas spokesperson saying they allow Israel to “increase its aggression” (Al Jazeera)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised “a very warm peace” between Israel and Morocco (Haaretz)
As part of the deal, the United States agreed to support Morocco’s sovereignty over the disputed region of Western Sahara, where Algeria-backed separatists known as the Polisario Front have sought independence for decades (New York Times)