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

Palestine cover image

Palestine

September 20, 2026

Al Bīrah 4:50 pm

27°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

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry (L) talks to Israel's Finance Minister Yair Lapid before their meeting in Jerusalem December 6, 2013. REUTERS/Pablo Martinez Monsivais/Pool (JERUSALEM - Tags: POLITICS BUSINESS) - RTX1665G

Israelis witness Lapid change course, back peace talks

Yesh Atid Chairman and Minister of Finance Yair Lapid has changed course, openly supporting the talks with the Palestinians, but his statements must be followed by deeds.

A poster of late leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) Abu Ali Mustafa is seen during a rally marking the 46th of the movement founding in Gaza City December 7, 2013. REUTERS/Suhaib Salem (GAZA - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST ANNIVERSARY) - RTX1682M

Popular Front's role wanes in Palestinian politics

Once a high-profile Palestinian resistance movement, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine is today a shadow of its former self.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry (L) shakes hands with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after a joint news conference at the Prime Minister's Office in Jerusalem, December 5, 2013. Kerry said on Thursday that some progress had been made in Israeli-Palestinian peace talks and that he had presented Israel with ideas for improving its security under any future accord. REUTERS/Pablo Martinez Monsivais/Pool (JERUSALEM - Tags: POLITICS) - RTX164LE

Netanyahu worries about US reset in region

If Iran is no longer a diplomatic taboo, could Hamas and Hezbollah be next for Washington?

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry picks up his notebook after answering questions from members of the media before his departure from Ben Gurion International Airport in Tel Aviv, December 6, 2013. REUTERS/Pablo Martinez Monsivais/Pool (ISRAEL - Tags: POLITICS) - RTX166GA

Kerry has reason for optimism on Israeli-Palestinian talks

The US secretary of state's optimism over the Israeli-Palestinian talks is reasonable, considering their current goals: Right now, the sides are mapping out the points of disagreement, something they may well accomplish.

Posters depicting former South African President Nelson Mandela are seen on a wall in Jerusalem's old city December 7, 2013. South African anti-apartheid hero Mandela died aged 95 at his Johannesburg home on December 5, 2013 after a prolonged lung infection. REUTERS/Ammar Awad (JERUSALEM - Tags: POLITICS OBITUARY) - RTX168F9

Arab-Israeli peace academy honors Mandela's legacy

Sharon Stone, Nobel laureate Daniel Kahneman, former Palestinian Prime Minister Abu Alaa and peace activist Uri Savir work together in the spirit of Nelson Mandela's legacy to promote a first-of-its-kind young leadership Arab-Israeli peace academy.

Boys hold onto window bars as the bodies of Palestinian Moussa Makhamra (R) and Khalid al-Najjar are carried during their funeral in the West Bank village of Yatta, near Hebron November 27, 2013. Israeli security officials said their forces killed three Palestinian militants, including Makhamra and al-Najjar, on Tuesday who were part of an al Qaeda-linked network in the West Bank. REUTERS/Ammar Awad (WEST BANK - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST) - RTX15UU9

Are jihadists coming to the West Bank?

The recent deaths of three Palestinian men in Hebron has sparked a local debate on the presence of Salafist jihadism in the West Bank.

Israeli left-wing peace activists attend a rally, calling for the "two states solution" to the Mideast conflict, outside Jerusalem's Old City May 11, 2007. REUTERS/Ammar Awad (JERUSALEM) - RTR1PKSI

Netanyahu's diplomatic vacuum

Israel's prime minister will need to get busy in the peace process or present an alternative plan of his own.

A placard depicting former South African President Nelson Mandela hangs on a barbed wire as a Palestinian protester reacts to tear gas fired by Israeli soldiers during clashes at a weekly demonstration against Jewish settlements in the West Bank village of Bilin, near Ramallah December 6, 2013. South African anti-apartheid hero Mandela died peacefully at home at the age of 95 on Thursday after months fighting a lung infection, leaving his nation and the world in mourning for a man revered as a moral giant.

Mandela succeeded where Palestinians failed

Nelson Mandela has a special place among Palestinians.

Former South African president Nelson Mandela (R) and Palestinian President Yasser Arafat (L) take leave of one another after holding a meeting on the crisis in the Middle East May 3, 2001. Arafat is in south Africa to attend the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) meeting on Palestine, and also to inform President Thabo Mbeki about developments on the Middle East.

JN/WS - RTRHQJQ

Mandela's legacy shines on

Late South African leader Nelson Mandela will always remain a powerful symbol of liberation and triumph for the countries of the Arab Spring and others.

Palestinian patients undergo kidney dialysis at al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City September 12, 2013. Cairo closed the Rafah crossing completely on Wednesday after assailants crashed two explosive-laden cars into a security building adjacent to the border zone, killing six Egyptian soldiers. Ashraf al-Qidra, spokesman for the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry, said 1,000 patients a month required medical care in Egypt and in other countries. Rafah's closure, he said, would also affect the import of medication and

Gaza lacks accountability for medical errors

A number of recent cases have shown that medical errors, often leading to the patient’s death, have gone without punishment in the Gaza Strip.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry waves upon arrival for a meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in the West Bank city of Ramallah December 5, 2013. Kerry said on Thursday that some progress had been made in Israeli-Palestinian peace talks and that he had presented Israel with ideas for improving its security under any future accord. REUTERS/Mohamad Torokman (WEST BANK - Tags: POLITICS) - RTX164OT

Europe plays its hand in Israeli-Palestinian talks

With European threats of sanctioning both sides in the background, US Secretary of State John Kerry will try again to convince Palestinians and Israelis to make concessions before it's too late.

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 leaders oblivious to Europe's message on boycott

The Israeli leadership risks boycotts beyond West Bank products with its failure to fully appreciate the extent to which the EU distrusts Israel's stated desire for a peace settlement.