Israel / Palestine

Palestinians in villages in the West Bank have voted in municipal polls amid a boycott by the main opposition Hamas. The Islamist group is protesting against the indefinite postponement of a general election.

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, said on Tuesday that the human rights situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory has become “disastrous”, with severe infringements occurring effecting some four million people.  

With violence continuing daily throughout the Occupied Palestinian Territory, the Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process urged the Security Council on Tuesday to adopt a more coordinated approach to the region.

Political stagnation is “fuelling tensions, instability and a deepening sense of hopelessness”, the top UN official working towards peace in the Middle East warned the Security Council on Tuesday. “We should have no illusions about the current state of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict”, Special Coordinator Tor Wennesland said, describing a situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT) that continues to deteriorate, with no progress towards a two-State solution.

The UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process told the Security Council on Wednesday that he was “encouraged” by the recent engagement of senior Israeli and Palestinian officials. 

Speaking at the UNGA, the PA leader accused Israel of ‘apartheid’ and ‘ethnic cleansing’ and threatened to withdraw recognition of the state unless it withdraws from the Palestinian territory.

The top UN envoy for the Middle East peace process told the UN Security Council on Monday that three months after the deadly escalation in violence between Israel and militants in the Gaza Strip, the situation there remains tense.

Israel’s defence minister has announced a series of gestures aimed at strengthening the Palestinian Authority, including plans to loan $150m to the cash-strapped autonomy government in the occupied West Bank. The announcement on Monday came a day after Defence Minister Benny Gantz met with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in the first high-level meeting between the two sides in years.

Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett visits the United States on his first official trip abroad.

The rocket fire could jeopardise three months of relative calm since Israel attacked Gaza over 11 bloody days.