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Palestine

September 20, 2026

Ramallah 6:20 am

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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

Palestinian Hamas militants march during a training exercise in Gaza February 17, 2014. REUTERS/Mohammed Salem (GAZA - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST) - RTX18ZRL

Hamas sinks in polls after cutting salaries to public servants

Hamas' popularity has fallen behind Fatah in the Gaza Strip, according to recent polls, as frustration mounts over its handling of the territory's economic crisis.

Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman gestures as he speaks at a conference for young members of his Yisrael Beiteinu party in Tel Aviv December 13, 2012. Lieberman said on Thursday he need not resign after the Justice Ministry decided to indict him for fraud and breach of trust, less severe charges than were originally considered. REUTERS/Amir Cohen (ISRAEL - Tags: POLITICS) - RTR3BJKC

Knesset bill threatens Israeli-Arab representation

In an interview with Al-Monitor, right-wing Knesset member David Rotem defended the governability bill designed to strengthen the government and its prime minister, even if it put him on a collision course with the Arab Knesset members fearing the rise of an electoral threshold.

A Palestinian man looks at the Facebook page of Avichay Adraee, the spokesman of the Israeli Army to the Arabic media, after hackers replaced his cover photo with that of the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigade during the "#Op_Israel" campaign launched by the activist group Anonymous, in Gaza City on April 7, 2013. The hackers reportedly hit several Israeli websites including that of the premier's office, the defence ministry, the education ministry and the Central Bureau of Statistics, among others, but all appeare

Gaza hackers prepare for next assault on Israel

A group of Palestinian hackers in Gaza talk to Al-Monitor about their cyberwar against Israel.

Senior Hamas leaders Mahmoud al-Zahar (L), Saeed Seyam (C) and Khalil al-Hayya wait at the Rafah border crossing in the southern Gaza Strip before crossing into Egypt October 7, 2008. Hamas leaders will hold talks in Cairo on Wednesday on proposals to end the schism with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah group by reshaping the way the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip is governed.
REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa (GAZA) - RTX9AWH

Hamas official says 'Abbas doesn’t represent anyone'

In an exclusive interview with Al-Monitor, Hamas official Mahmoud al-Zahar says "there is no agreement on the 1967 borders."

Palestinian members of the al-Qassam brigades, the armed wing of the Hamas movement, stand guard as they wait for the arrival of Hamas chief Khaled Meshaal in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip December 7, 2012. Meshaal, Hamas's exiled leader, will step onto Palestinian land for the first time in 45 years on Friday for a "victory rally" in the Gaza Strip, displaying his newfound confidence after last month's conflict with Israel. Meshaal, the Islamist group's leader, who has not visited the Palestinian Territ

Hamas tests anti-aircraft missiles

Palestinian armed groups in Gaza are said to possess anti-aircraft missiles, but their capabilities remain limited.

Foreign and Palestinian activists hold Palestinian flags as they march through a supermarket in the West Bank Jewish settlement of Modiin Illit October 24, 2012. Some 50 activists marched through the supermarket and tried to block a road in the settlement on Wednesday during a protest against Jewish settlements and in a call to boycott settlement products. REUTERS/Ammar Awad (WEST BANK - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST FOOD TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY) - RTR39IM8

Israeli government turns blind eye to boycott snowball

Companies around the world join the boycott of settlement products, while the Israeli right promotes a controversial law designed to punish Israelis who support the boycott.

RAWABI, WEST BANK - FEBRUARY 08: Bashar Masri, the Palestinian-American developer of Rawabi, visits the site on February 8, 2012 in Rawabi, West Bank. The planned Palestinian city, with the first stage expected to be finished in two years, will have six neighborhoods and a population of 40,000. (Photo by Uriel Sinai/Getty Images)

Palestinian entrepreneur returns to build new city in West Bank

Palestinian entrepreneur Bashar al-Masri explains his vision for the West Bank town of Rawabi.

Martin Schulz waves after he was elected the Social Democratic Party (SPD)'s top candidate for the European Parliament elections, by a congress of SPD European Parliament delegates in Berlin January 26, 2014. Also pictured are party leader Sigmar Gabriel (2nd L), North Rhine-Westphalia State Premier Hannelore Kraft (R), German Integration Minister Aydan Oezoguz (2nd R) and German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier (3rd L). REUTERS/Thomas Peter (GERMANY - Tags: POLITICS ELECTIONS) - RTX17V3E

Can Europe take over if US fails Israeli-Palestinian negotiations?

Israeli extreme-right politicians slandered European Parliament President Martin Schulz for his speech at the Knesset, ignoring European contributions in general and those of Germany in particular to Israel's well-being.

Members of the Palestinian security forces walk amid the ruins of the Muqata in the West Bank city of Jenin November 12, 2007. Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad's plan calls for rebuilding eight muqatas -- Arabic for headquarters -- and other administrative buildings flattened by Israel across the occupied West Bank after the start of a Palestinian uprising in 2000. Once seen by Palestinians as symbols of sovereignty, the ruins that remain have become permanent reminders of Israel's destructive power

Study shows dire consequences if Palestinian Authority collapses

The Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research has released a detailed study on the consequences of the fall of the Palestinian Authority.

Pedestrians look at billboards with the pictures of Turkey's Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan (R) and his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu (L), in Ankara March 25, 2013. Turkey's Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said on Saturday an Israeli apology for the 2010 deaths of nine Turkish pro-Palestinian activists that was brokered by U.S. President Barack Obama met Turkey's conditions and signalled its growing regional clout. The billboard reads, "Israel apologized to Turkey. Dear Prime Minister (Erdogan), We ar

Time not right for Turkish-Israeli reconciliation

Neither Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan nor Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are ready to do what is necessary to begin to normalize relations.

Salafists rally against Valentine's Day in Gaza

Salafists in the Gaza Strip have tried to halt Valentine's Day celebrations, condemning them as a forbidden Christian holiday.

Israel's Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman attends a meeting with the business community in Uganda's capital Kampala, September 10, 2009. Lieberman, accompanied by business and military delegation, is on an official African visit to Ethiopia, Kenya, Ghana, Uganda, and Nigeria. REUTERS/James Akena (UGANDA POLITICS BUSINESS) - RTR27O1U

Liberman's secret plan to storm the Likud Party

Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman considers registering thousands of his supporters in the Likud Party, which will enable him to take control of it on his way to the premier's seat.