Israel / Palestine

The leaders of rival Palestinian groups are meeting in Algeria for two-day talks aimed at discussing a proposal for reconciliation and national unity. The proposal was drawn up after “months of effort by Algeria to reach a common vision for boosting the Palestinian national action”, Palestinian ambassador Fayez Abu Aita said on Saturday.

Essential Middle East examines whether social media companies aid in Israel’s digital occupation of Palestine.

Representatives from the European Union and Israel held high-level talks on Monday for the first time in a decade. The EU said it would press Israel on stalled peace efforts and the situation in the Palestinian territories during the talks in Brussels.

Twenty-four UN-appointed independent human rights experts condemned on Wednesday, Israel’s escalating attacks against Palestinian civil society in the occupied West Bank, describing it as “illegal and unacceptable”.

The UN Security Council has held an emergency meeting to discuss the situation in Gaza, with several members raising concerns amid a fragile ceasefire between Israel and Islamic Jihad, a Palestinian armed group, after three days of Israeli air raids on the territory.

Israel and the Palestinian armed group Islamic Jihad have declared a truce, raising hopes of an end to three days of Israeli bombardment in Gaza that has killed at least 44 Palestinians, including 15 children. … In the following series of maps, Al Jazeera takes you on a journey across Gaza’s five governorates, highlighting key locations, including hospitals, schools, universities, UN compounds, refugee camps, crossings and other vital infrastructure.

Israel is heading to its fifth election in less than four years after the collapse of the government. Foreign Minister Yair Lapid, who leads a center-left party, is set to take over as interim prime minister.

Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett's office announced the country’s coalition government would be disbanded, triggering a new election. … The new election could give longtime Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a chance to return to power.

Ending the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory, and discrimination against Palestinians, is essential to stopping the decades-long conflict between the two sides, a new UN independent human rights body said on Tuesday.  The finding comes in the first report by the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel, established last May by the UN Human Rights Council. 

Israelis and Palestinians must push beyond the paradigm of managing the conflict and move towards resolving it, the Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process told the Security Council on Thursday, as he expressed particular concern that dynamics in the occupied West Bank could spiral out of control “at any time”.