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Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

Israel Bulldozes Palestinian Homes in East Jerusalem

  • Israeli forces began bulldozing Palestinian homes in Sur Baher in East Jerusalem today (Reuters)

Israeli Court Charges Palestinian Authority

  • Today, an Israeli court found the Palestinian Authority and the Palestine Liberation Organization guilty for financially supporting and inciting attacks in the early 2000s (Associated Press)

Israel Intercepts Gazan Drone

  • Today, Israel announced that it shot down and recovered a drone launched from the Gaza Strip (Associated Press)

Palestinian Businessman, Minister for Jerusalem Affairs Released

  • The Palestinian Authority released Salah Abu Mayala, a Palestinian businessman detained for participating in the U.S.-organized Bahrain Conference (Al Jazeera)
  • Separately, Israel released the Palestinian Minister for Jerusalem Affairs after he was detained for several hours without explanation (Al Jazeera)

U.S. Middle East Economic Plan Spurs Resistance

  • The Trump administration’s $50 billion Middle East investment plan sparked dissent in the region. In the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, Palestinian protestors have burned portraits of U.S. President Donald Trump (Reuters)
  • Lebanese leaders rejected the plan, which requires the naturalization of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon, and are boycotting today’s Bahrain Conference (Reuters)

United States Proposes Economic Portion of Israel-Palestinian Peace Plan

  • The Trump administration unveiled a $50 billion investment plan for the Palestinian territories, Egypt, Lebanon, and Jordan, to accompany a political solution to the Israel-Palestinian conflict (Reuters)
  • The plan was rebuked by the Palestinian Liberation Organization and Palestinian Authority, neither of which will attend tomorrow’s Bahrain Conference (Reuters)

Israeli, Palestinian Leaders to Skip Bahrain Meeting

  • The United States reportedly decided not to invite top Israeli officials to a Bahrain conference this month, at which it plans to unveil the economic part of its Israeli-Palestinian peace plan. The Palestinian leadership had already said it would boycott the conference (Axios)

U.S. Renews Push for Middle East Peace Plan

  • The United States and Bahrain will cohost a conference in Manama next month to encourage investment in the Palestinian territories as an incentive for Palestinian leadership to seek a peace deal with Israel. The White House has not said whether its proposed deal would include a two-state solution (Al Jazeera)

Qatar to Send $480 Million in Aid to Palestinians

  • Qatar is sending $480 million in humanitarian aid to Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza following the worst bout of violence between Israel and Gaza in years this past weekend. Qatar has long been a donor to Palestinians (Al Jazeera)

Israel, Gaza See Worst Violence Since 2014

  • This weekend, Israel carried out air strikes on the Gaza Strip after militants shot six hundred rockets into southern Israel, in what was the worst bout of violence since the 2014 conflict between Israel and Hamas (NPR)
  • Following the intense fighting that wounded hundreds and killed at least twenty-five Palestinians and four Israelis, Hamas and Islamic Jihad said a cease-fire was in place with Israel’s military (Washington Post)
  • Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office did not confirm the cease-fire (Haaretz)

Israeli Air Force Targets Gaza in Response to Incendiary Balloon Attacks

  • In response to hundreds of incendiary balloons launched by Hamas at Israel, the Israeli Air Force carried out a series of overnight strikes targeting the Gaza Strip. According to the Israeli military, two rockets were launched at Israel in retaliation (Jerusalem Post)

Palestinians Refuse To Accept Tax Revenues Collected by Israel

  • Palestinian Leader Mahmoud Abbas said his government will continue to refuse tax revenues collected by Israel through custom duties on products destined for Palestinian markets. The Palestinian Authority (PA) has refused to accept the earnings since February, when Israel announced that it would deduct about $10 million each month, equal to the amount it says the PA paid to the families of Palestinians jailed in Israel (Agence France-Presse)

Israeli Court Orders HRW Director Deported

  • A Jerusalem district court gave Omar Shakir, Human Rights Watch’s director for Israel and Palestine, until May 1 to leave the country for allegedly voicing support for a boycott movement, pending an appeal to the Supreme Court (Jerusalem Post)
  • The group has called for businesses to stop facilitating abuses in the occupied West Bank (Human Rights Watch)

Prominent Palestinian Activist Denied U.S. Entry

  • Omar Barghouti, a co-founder of the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement that seeks to apply economic pressure on Israel over its treatment of Palestinians, said he was prevented from boarding a U.S.-bound flight from Israel (New York Times)

March of Return Protests Along Gaza Border Turn Violent

  • According to Israeli officials, Hamas exercised restraint at the Gaza border during this weekend’s protests marking the one-year anniversary of the March of Return demonstrations. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said its military personnel opened fire on Palestinians who hurled explosive devices and hand grenades towards the border fence, while Gaza’s Health Ministry reported that three protestors were killed, along over three hundred casualties, including sixty people wounded by live Israeli fire (Haaretz)

Trump Recognizes Israeli Sovereignty Over the Golan Heights

  • U.S. President Donald J. Trump will reportedly sign a decree today officially recognizing Israeli sovereignty over the contested Golan Heights (Reuters)
  • Separately, in response to a rocket allegedly fired from Gaza into Tel Aviv that wounded seven, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu cut short his visit to Washington and said that Israel “will respond forcefully” to the attack (Al Jazeera)

Hamas Attacks Gazan Protestors

  • Hamas forcibly suppressed unarmed demonstrators who rallied against Gaza’s declining living conditions and increasing oil prices (Guardian)
  • Separately, Israeli military police announced an investigation into the deaths of eleven Palestinians killed by live fire during protests in Gaza last year near the Israeli border (Haaretz)

Rights Groups Accuse Hamas of Crushing Gaza Protests

  • Hamas security forces are violently cracking down on protests that began Thursday over dire economic conditions in Gaza, according to human rights groups in the area. A Hamas spokesperson blamed the unrest on the Palestinian Authority (Al Jazeera)

Israel Strikes One Hundred Suspected Hamas Sites

  • The Israeli military carried out the air strikes overnight after two rockets reportedly flew toward Tel Aviv. It said it believed Hamas was behind the launches and reported no damage (Washington Post)
  • The Gaza Health Ministry reported four people injured in the Israeli strikes. Organizers of Friday protests along the border called off this week’s demonstration to prevent further escalation (Haaretz)

Israeli Forces Kill One, Injure Forty-Two During Gaza Protests

  • Israeli troops killed one Palestinian and injured forty-two during protests at the Gaza Strip border (Reuters)

U.S. Embassy and Consulate Merge in Jerusalem

  • The U.S. Consulate in Jerusalem, which primarily served the capital’s Palestinians, officially merged with the U.S. Embassy in Israel. U.S. Department of State Spokesman Robert Palladino reported this decision was carried out to enhance diplomatic engagements and does not signal a change in U.S. foreign policy towards Jerusalem (Time)

UN: Gaza Protester Deaths May Amount to War Crimes

  • A United Nations commission reported that Israel may have committed war crimes or crimes against humanity in a crackdown last year on protests at the Gaza border. According to UN investigators, Israeli forces killed 189 people, including dozens of children (New York Times)

Gazan Demonstrators Protest Against Palestinian Leader Abbas

  • Thousands of protesters called for Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to step down following his attempts to put financial pressure on Hamas. Demonstrators also called for Israel to end its decade-long blockade of Gaza (Al Jazeera)

Palestinians Protest Israeli Move to Eject Foreign Observers

  • The Palestinian Authority called on the United Nations yesterday to deploy a permanent observer mission to the West Bank and East Jerusalem after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he would not renew the mandate of a decades-old civilian observer mission in the West Bank city of Hebron (Associated Press)

Hamas Rejects Qatari Aid

  • The Palestinian militant movement Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, said it will not accept the latest monthly transfer of $15 million from Doha, part of an informal deal totaling $90 million, due to the Israeli “occupation’s behavior and attempts to evade the agreement,” according to a top Hamas official (Haaretz)
  • The group reportedly accuses Israel of demanding a halt to protests in Gaza before it will allow the funds to be delivered through its territory (Al Jazeera)