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

Palestine cover image

Palestine

September 22, 2026

Ramallah 5:49 pm

24°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

Israeli Labor Party Pushes For Two-State Solution

Labor Knesset Member Hilik Bar claims that the two-state solution has support among Israelis and the Knesset, but not inside the government, where the prime minister is “trapped in his party.”

A Palestinian works inside a smuggling tunnel flooded by Egyptian forces, beneath the Egyptian-Gaza border in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip February 19, 2013. Egypt will not tolerate a two-way flow of smuggled arms with the Gaza Strip that is destabilising its Sinai peninsula, a senior aide to its Islamist president said, explaining why Egyptian forces flooded sub-border tunnels last week. To match Interview PALESTINIANS TUNNELS/EGYPT/ REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa (GAZA - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNRES

Hamas Faces Financial Crisis After Egypt Tunnel Closures

Hamas is struggling to pay the salaries of government employees as revenues from smuggling tunnels have drastically dropped due to closures by Egypt.

A Palestinian woman waves her hand as she sits in a bus before leaving Rafah border crossing for the annual haj pilgrimage in Mecca, in the southern Gaza Strip October 14, 2011. REUTERS/Mohammed Salem (GAZA - Tags: POLITICS RELIGION TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY) - RTR2SO7F

Thousands Stuck in Gaza Without Identity Cards

As many as 35,000 Palestinians residing in Gaza are unable to leave the territory until Israel issues them identity cards.

Palestinians take part in a rally organized by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) to celebrate the 45th anniversary of its founding in Gaza City December 6, 2012. REUTERS/Mohammed Salem (GAZA - Tags: POLITICS ANNIVERSARY) - RTR3B9LB

PFLP Supports Egypt Coup

Palestine's main leftist party has broken with the official Palestinian stance of neutrality and endorsed the removal of Mohammed Morsi from power.

A Palestinian boy looks up as he walks on the beach of Gaza City June 24, 2013. REUTERS/Mohammed Salem (GAZA - Tags: SOCIETY) - RTX10ZFV

Sewage Pours Onto Gaza Beaches

Thousands of liters of sewage water are dumped into the sea in front of Gaza's beaches, creating an environmental hazard during the peak of summer.

Palestinian Syrian refugee children sit on a concrete block during a demonstration in front of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) in Beirut January 2, 2013. The demonstration, organised by the Islamic resistance movement Hamas, was held to ask the UNRWA for help in improving the refugees' living conditions. REUTERS/Sharif Karim (LEBANON - Tags: SOCIETY IMMIGRATION POLITICS CIVIL UNREST) - RTR3C1NY

Syrian Child Refugees Find Little Solace on Beirut Street

The tragedy of Syria's war is evident on the streets of Beirut, where working Syrian children struggle to survive.

Amram Mitzna speaks during a press conference in Tel Aviv May 4, 2003.
Mitzna, the dovish former general crushed by Prime Minister Ariel
Sharon in Israel's January election, announced on Sunday his
resignation as head of the main opposition Labor Party. REUTERS/Nir
Elias

NIR/JV - RTRMXK7

Former General, Current MK Sees 'No Military Threat to Israel'

Knesset member and former general Amram Mitzna contends that Israel faces no immediate threats in the region, and should use this window of opportunity to jump-start negotiations with Palestine.

Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal (L) and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas (C) talk with an official during their meeting in Cairo November 24, 2011. The leaders of Fatah and Hamas met for the first time in six months on Thursday and hailed progress toward ending Palestinian divisions that has led to separate governments in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, but there was no sign of a breakthrough. REUTERS/Mohamed Al Hams/Handout (EGYPT - Tags: POLITICS) FOR EDITORIAL USE ONLY. NOT FOR SALE FOR MARKETING OR ADVER

Fatah Official Urges Hamas To Abandon Muslim Brotherhood

Fatah senses Hamas' regional decline, and is urging it to focus its efforts on national reconciliation.

Palestinian members of security forces loyal to Hamas stand guard on the border between Egypt and southern Gaza Strip July 5, 2013. Egyptian security forces closed the Rafah border crossing and state media said it would reopen on Saturday. Security sources said Islamist gunmen opened fire on El-Arish airport, close to the border with the Gaza Strip and Israel and at three military checkpoints. A police station in Rafah on the Gaza border was hit by rockets, wounding several soldiers. REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu M

Tamarod Comes to Palestine

Hamas and Fatah are exchanging accusations over Egypt, while a Tamarod social media movement gathers steam in Palestine.

An Islamic Jihad militant stands guard during a rally marking the 25th anniversary of the movement's foundation in Gaza City October 4, 2012. REUTERS/Suhaib Salem (GAZA - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST ANNIVERSARY) - RTR38SLK

Palestinian Islamic Jihad Unfazed by Egypt Crisis

Palestinian Islamic Jihad is maintaining its approach of strict neutrality concerning regional developments including Egypt's latest crisis.

A Palestinian woman carries her daughter as she makes her way to fill a container with water from a nearby tank in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip June 20, 2013. A tiny wedge of land jammed between Israel, Egypt and the Mediterranean sea, the Gaza Strip is heading inexorably into a water crisis that the United Nations says could make the Palestinian enclave unliveable in just a few years. Picture taken June 20, 2013. REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa (GAZA - Tags: POLITICS SOCIETY ENERGY BUSINESS) - RTX11

Hamas Feigns Optimism As Gaza Limps Toward Crisis

Though Hamas downplays the effects on Gaza of the unrest in Egypt and the closure of the Rafah crossing, economists worry that conditions in the Strip are about to reach a new low.

Members of the Muslim Brotherhood and supporters of deposed Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi shout slogans in front of army soldiers at Republican Guard headquarters in Nasr City, a suburb of Cairo July 8, 2013. At least 51 people were killed on Monday when demonstrators enraged by the military overthrow of Egypt's elected Islamist president said the army opened fire during morning prayers outside the Cairo barracks where Mursi is believed to be held. REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh (EGYPT - Tags: POLITICS CIVI

Four Reasons Why Iran Wins From Morsi’s Fall

Iran stands to gain regionally from the coup in Egypt.