Palestine - AL-MONITOR: The Middle Eastʼs leading independent news source since 2012

Palestine cover image

Palestine

September 19, 2026

Ramallah 6:40 pm

22°C

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and French President Emmanuel Macron arrive to hold a joint press conference in Jerusalem, Oct. 24, 2023.

Analysis

After France's settlement ban, Israel sees no warming of ties with Macron government

Israeli diplomats say France’s decision to ban imports from West Bank settlements has brought bilateral relations to an unprecedented low point.

Rina Bassist

By Rina Bassist

In Paris, reporting on Israeli politics and European affairs

Jewish settlement of Kedumim, in the West Bank

Analysis

Europe’s West Bank trade ban fires warning shot at Israel’s economy

Weeks before key Israeli elections, a dozen nations announced new trade restrictions targeting settlements in the West Bank, delivering a sharp rebuke to Israel's government that could presage additional international pressure.

Samuel Wendel

By Samuel Wendel

In Washington, DC, reporting on regional business and tech

Chaim Goldberg / AFP via Getty Images

Netanyahu threatens to sue Haaretz for reporting UAE warned Israel of Oct. 7 attack

The Emirati president reportedly warned that a planned attack could cause bloodshed, destabilize the region and threaten the Abraham Accords.

Palestinians hold up the green Hamas flag during a protest by supporters of both the Fatah and Hamas movements, as they rally in support of the Palestinian people following Friday noon prayers in Hebron, occupied West Bank, Nov. 3, 2023.

Majority of Palestinians lose trust in Hamas and Fatah, new poll finds

A recent poll by a Palestinian survey center found that trust in Palestinian factions has declined, amid stalled efforts to implement the Gaza peace plan and escalating settler violence in the West Bank.

Latest News

12 countries including France, UK, Canada end trade with West Bank settlements

West Bank settlements

Katz warns PA against 'Oct. 7-style' attack as West Bank violence rises

Israeli soldiers take positions during a military operation in the town of Qalqiya, in the occupied West Bank, Dec. 4, 2025.

Analysis

LORA missile test reveals limits of Germany’s Gaza criticism of Israel

A woman walks past a model of a Lora missile, Israel's long range artillery missile at the Israel defence stall at the international DefExpo 2008 defence fair, in New Delhi on February 16, 2008. India kicked off South Asia's largest defence fair, with hundreds of global weapons firms offering their latest hardware to the country's technology-hungry military. About 450 weapons companies from 30 countries are present at the four-day "DefExpo" in New Delhi, with several big-ticket announcements expected. AFP P

Rina Bassist

By Rina Bassist

In Paris, reporting on Israeli politics and European affairs

Analysis

As Israeli settler attacks mount, Trump avoids public pressure on Netanyahu

Israeli soldiers arrive in the village of Qusra, south of Nablus in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, which has faced escalating Israeli settler violence over the past month, on Aug. 29, 2026.

Elizabeth Hagedorn

By Elizabeth Hagedorn

In Washington, DC, reporting on diplomacy, regional politics, human rights

Beatrice Farhat

Associate Editor (Lebanon)

In Beirut, reporting on regional news, culture, conflict

Daoud Kuttab

Palestine Columnist

In Amman, reporting on Palestinian politics

Rasha Abou Jalal

In Gaza City, reporting on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict

Abeer Ayyoub

In Istanbul, reporting on Palestine

Naima Morelli

In Rome, reporting on Middle East culture

Fatima AbdulKarim

In Ramallah, reporting on the West Bank

The Dome of the Rock is seen in the background as Israeli policemen stand guard before Palestinian men begin to pray in the Arab East Jerusalem neighbourhood of Ras al-Amud September 26, 2014. Israeli police declared an age limit on Friday for Palestinians wanting to enter the Old City, only allowing males above the age of 50 and all females to enter. REUTERS/Ammar Awad (JERUSALEM - Tags: CIVIL UNREST POLITICS) - RTR47U0S

Can Israel, Palestine exist as parallel states on same land?

Contrary to what politicians on both sides are willing to admit, the Israeli and Palestinian people can live together side by side, and might accept an idea of having two parallel, “overlapping” states established on the same land.

Senior Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh (R) waves as he hosts Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah at his house in Gaza City October 9, 2014. Hamdallah arrived in the Hamas-dominated Gaza Strip on Thursday and convened the first meeting of a unity government there since a brief civil war in 2007 between Hamas and forces loyal to the Fatah party. REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa (GAZA - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST) - RTR49J6C

Hamas plays down Cabinet meeting in Gaza

The Palestinian national unity government held its first Cabinet meeting in Gaza last week, but Hamas is still cautious about allowing the new government to expand its presence in Gaza.

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (C) leaves after casting his ballot for the Likud party leadership election at a polling station in the West Bank Jewish settlement of Givat Zeev, near Jerusalem November 25, 2012. REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun (WEST BANK - Tags: POLITICS ELECTIONS) - RTR3AUN8

Netanyahu prefers right-wing electorate to new Middle East

While preparing early primaries for the Likud Party, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu prefers strengthening his right-wing leader image to seizing a historic opportunity to promote a changed regional order in the Middle East.

Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh (L) holds the hand of Egyptian Cleric and chairman of the International Union of Muslim Scholars Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi (R) upon al-Qaradawi's arrival at Rafah Crossing in the southern Gaza Strip May 8, 2013. Al-Qaradawi arrived on Wednesday for a three-day visit to Gaza Strip with a delegation of Muslim scholars. REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa (GAZA - Tags: POLITICS RELIGION) - RTXZFCT

Hamas, IS share neither goal nor methods

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insists that Hamas and the Islamic State are fruits of the same tree, but there are significant ideological and methodological differences between the two groups.

JERUSALEM, ISRAEL - SEPTEMBER 15: In this photo provided by the U.S. Department of State, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (C) shakes hands with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas (R) as U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton looks on at the Prime Minister's Residence September 15, 2010 in Jerusalem, Israel. Netanyahu and Abbas are deadlocked in peace negotiations over Israeli settlement building. (Photo by U.S. Department of State via Getty Images)

Can P5+1 formula work for Israel, Palestinians?

While Palestinian officials partially welcome the idea of a P5+1 framework for multilateral negotiations, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's associates count on the Americans to nip this idea in the bud.

Palestinians take part in a rally while the speech of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is being projected in the West Bank city of Ramallah November 29, 2012. The 193-nation U.N. General Assembly overwhelmingly approved a resolution on Thursday to upgrade the Palestinian Authority's observer status at the United Nations from "entity" to "non-member state," implicitly recognizing a Palestinian state. REUTERS/Mohamad Torokman (WEST BANK - Tags: POLITICS) - RTR3B1GJ

Is Abbas one vote from Security Council majority?

Faced with a diplomatic stalemate unprecedented since the Oslo Accord, the Palestinians have given up on negotiating with Israel, opting instead to go to the UN Security Council, where they appear on the verge of securing a majority.

A Palestinian employee paid by the Palestinian Authority shows money to the camera after withdrawing cash from an ATM machine outside a bank, in Gaza City June 11, 2014. Gaza's public sector union suspended protests on Wednesday that had paralysed the local economy and threatened the deal on a Palestinian unity government but said it would resume its action if its members were not promptly paid. The pay dispute involving some 40,000 public servants erupted last week shortly after Hamas, which has ruled Gaza

Gaza civil servants' salaries remain unpaid

The Palestinian national reconciliation government is suffering from a deficit that poses a challenge to the payment of the salaries of Gaza's government workers.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas addresses the 69th United Nations General Assembly at United Nations Headquarters in New York September 26, 2014. REUTERS/Mike Segar (UNITED STATES - Tags: POLITICS) - RTR47UHT

Netanyahu's rejectionist policies forced Abbas' hand

The current Israeli government does not want peace if the price is the evacuation of even a few settlements.

A signpost is seen in Giv'at HaMatos, a neighbourhood on the southern fringes of Jerusalem's city limits where according to anti-settlement watchdog Peace Now, Israel decided to move forward on a settler housing project slated for construction since 2012, October 2, 2014. President Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met on Wednesday in Washington. Netanyahu's visit was clouded by word of Israel's approval of the planned construction of more than 2,600 settler homes in mostly Arab Eas

The facts about buying land in Jerusalem's latest settlement

Despite condemnation from the United States and other countries, Israel is forging ahead with its plan to disrupt the Palestinian urban continuum in the Jerusalem area, while preventing the sale of real estate to non-Jews.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas (R) meets Kuwait's Minister of Foreign Affairs Sheikh Sabah al Khalid al Sabah, in the West Bank city of Ramallah September 14, 2014. REUTERS/Mohamad Torokman (WEST BANK - Tags: POLITICS) - RTR465AY

Abbas pushes UN statehood plan forward

The Palestinian Authority views Benjamin Netanyahu's government as a hopeless case, so it plans to move forward on four tracks to achieve UN recognition of Palestine by 2015.

Palestinian amateur archaeologist Waleed Al-Aqqad shows his collection of ancient artefacts at his house, which he was turned into a museum, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip April 3, 2011. Five thousand years of fascinating history lie beneath the sands of the Gaza Strip, from blinded biblical hero Samson to British general Allenby. Picture taken April 3, 2011. To match Feature PALESTINIANS-ARCHAEOLOGY REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa (GAZA - Tags: ENTERTAINMENT) - RTR2LFVJ

Israeli war destroys Gaza antiquities

Owners of private museums that housed thousands of antiquities continue to survey the damage and looting committed by Israeli forces in the latest conflict.

Despite diplomatic stalemate, Livni clings to her seat

Despite being a strong public advocate for peace, Tzipi Livni remains a member of an Israeli government hostile to the diplomatic process with the Palestinians.