Palestinian Territories

Israel's Netanyahu goes on the defensive

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Israeli lawmakers today that it was the US that dropped the idea of a three-month Israeli settlement freeze this fall.
Is Israel a democracy? Five actions in 2010 that fueled the debate.

Recent actions by Israel's religious and right-wing communities have challenged the rights of the country's growing Arab minority.
Global News Blog
Palestinian women race car drivers leave gender barriers in the dust

A handful of Palestinian women have taken up race car driving in the West Bank, and although there's been resistance, these women are too good to shut out.
Israel warns Gaza missiles could provoke new offensive against militants

Gaza militants fired 15 mortars or rockets into Israel on Monday and Tuesday in an unexpected flare-up two years after Israel's devastating offensive on the Hamas-controlled coastal strip.
Abbas invites Israeli lawmakers to lunch in Ramallah

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas hosted a banquet yesterday to appeal directly to Israelis, the latest move in an attempt to circumvent stymied peace talks.
In Israel, a rabbi who argues that anti-Arab measures are un-Jewish

Arik Ascherman, a Harvard grad who helped found Rabbis for Human Rights, is struggling to present an alternative voice amid rising anti-Arab and anti-foreigner sentiment in Israel.
With Mideast peace talks adrift, the US searches for Plan B

With the Obama administration's big idea to restart Israeli-Palestinian peace talks – a settlement freeze – abandoned, the region is skeptical about American leadership.
Global News Blog
Israeli police round up Palestinian youths, disregard their own laws, says rights report

The Israeli human rights organization B'Tselem says that the recent detentions of Palestinian youths, aimed at quelling stone-throwing in E. Jerusalem, violates Israeli law.
Palestinian nonviolence: Is the Budrus model still viable?

The recent film 'Budrus' champions a West Bank village's nonviolent resistance that inspired more than 15 similar protest movements. But the momentum is waning.
Gaza blockade over? Not according to the UN.

The UN's top representative in Gaza says building projects are being delayed because Israel is not allowing the free flow of construction materials into the territory.
Argentina latest in Latin America to recognize Palestinian state

The move follows Brazil days earlier, though some Jewish leaders say they worry about a copycat phenomenon that could be 'counter-productive' to the peace process.
Q&A: Why only 51 percent of Israelis support equal rights for Arab minority

A survey released this week showed stark views of the country's Arab minority, whose growing presence is challenging Israel's claim to being 'Jewish and democratic.'
For Israeli Arab teens, a way to serve the country – without joining the army

A civil service program gives Israel's Arab high school graduates – who are exempt from the military draft faced by Jewish 18-year-olds – the opportunity to contribute to their state.
Global News Blog
Palestinians turn a profit on the occupation

Some Palestinians living in Hebron make a living providing "tours" of the occupation, elements of which are easy to see in a city divided between Palestinians and Jewish settlers.
Palestinian officials fund schools, fill potholes in E. Jerusalem. Are they building a state?

Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad is spearheading an effort to improve public services for Arab areas of East Jerusalem, long neglected by municipal officials.
As Netanyahu pushes for settlement freeze deal, suburban Ariel could be sticking point

Ariel, the fourth-largest Jewish settlement could prove to be one of the thorniest points of contention in border negotiations that the US hopes will boost stalled Israeli-Palestinian peace efforts.
Global News Blog
Palestinian olive harvest plows on, despite tension with settlers

The annual Palestinian olive harvest dates to antiquity and continues today much the way it has for centuries – although in recent years, the presence of settlers has made the harvest more challenging.
Exclusive: Gazans shocked at how many collaborators are 'spying' for Israel

An intelligence source says that the number of Gazans arrested by Hamas for collaborating with Israel are in the 'high hundreds.'
Despite Hamas-Fatah split, Gaza's sportsmen score a truce. Game on.

Gazans from Hamas and Fatah have overcome the deep political divide to reopen sports clubs, many of which Hamas had turned into police stations and military bases.
How one man turned Israel's Gaza blockade into a business opportunity

Ahmed Ramlawy's plastics company survived Israel's Gaza blockade by buying garbage at $395 a ton and turning it into products all Gazans need, like trash bags.
Risks to US in gambit to keep the Middle East peace talks alive

The Obama administration's plan to clear the hurdle of new Israeli settlements is a risky leap, analysts say. Whether Middle East peace talks continue would hang on a 90-day window.
Israeli-Palestinian clashes over olive groves feed distrust

With Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations in limbo, a feud is escalating between Jewish settlers and Palestinian villagers over olive trees – and the land in which they're rooted.
Why Netanyahu is engaging Obama in a spat over E. Jerusalem 'settlements'

For Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who yesterday rebutted Obama's criticism of new building in E. Jerusalem, the debate may be a way of girding himself before agreeing to a new settlement freeze.
How Israel's easing of Gaza blockade has hurt Gaza business

Israel's lifting of the Gaza blockade allows Israeli goods into Gaza, but has not allowed Gazan manufacturers to import raw materials or export goods.
Global News Blog
A West Bank dairy farm churns out gourmet cheese

With funding from international organizations, a dairy farm in Tubas in the West Bank produces gourmet Italian cheeses with a little Palestinian spice.