Israelis will be able to visit Gulf States next year, says former minister
Middle East Monitor / November 26, 2019
A former Minister of Communications in Israel has said that all Israelis will be able to visit the Gulf States from next year for business and political purposes, Maan News Agency reported on Tuesday.
Ayoob Kara told Israel’s i24news channel that normal ties will be declared between...
Israel’s NSO staff sue Facebook for blocking private accounts
Middle East Monitor / November 26, 2019
A group of employees from Israeli surveillance firm NSO Group filed a lawsuit against Facebook Inc today, saying the social media giant had unfairly blocked their private accounts when it sued NSO last month, Reuters reported.
Messaging service WhatsApp, which is owned by Facebook, had accused NSO in...
Hamas agrees to the plan for holding Palestinian elections
Middle East Monitor / November 27, 2019
Ismail Haniyeh, chief of Hamas’s Political Bureau, announced that the movement forwarded to Hanna Nasser, Chairman of the Palestinian Central Elections Commission (CEC), its positive response to the Palestinian elections’ execution map.
Haniyeh said in a press conference held on Tuesday evening, following a meeting with the head of...
West Bank settlements attracting growing numbers of young Israeli families
Middle East Monitor / November 25, 2019
There is a “growing trend among young Israeli families” to seek housing in settlements in the occupied West Bank, Haaretz reports, with many driven by a desire for alternative housing options.
According to one land appraiser cited by the paper, “settlements that once were outside the...
Israel tightens restrictions for Palestinians accessing land across the Wall
Middle East Monitor / November 25, 2019
Israel has “tightened its restrictions” for Palestinian farmers trying to access their land located between the illegal Separation Wall and the Green Line, reported Haaretz.
Most of the Wall’s route lies inside the occupied Palestinian territory – the basis for the International Court of Justice’s 2004 advisory opinion on...
Palestinian prisoner in Israel jails dies of medical negligence
Middle East Monitor / November 26, 2019
Palestinian prisoner Sami Abu Diak was pronounced dead this morning after suffering from serious illness while in Israeli jails.
The PLO’s Palestinian Prisoners’ Commission (PPC) said that Abu Diak, 37, from the occupied West Bank city of Jenin, died in the Israeli hospital Asaf Harofeh.
According to...
UNRWA faces ‘worst financial crisis in memory’
Middle East Monitor / November 26, 2019
The Acting Commissioner-General of UNRWA said on Monday that the Agency is confronted by “one of the worst financial crises in memory.” Christian Saunders told the Advisory Commission to UNRWA in Jordan that, “We are basically out of cash and need your urgent support not...
Activists plan legal action to stop EU trade with Israel settlement produce
Middle East Monitor / November 26, 2019
Activists are fundraising for legal action to stop the European Union (EU) from trading with Israel’s illegal settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory.
The organisers of the initiative, who describe themselves as “a coalition of anti-racist associations and committees within the Palestine solidarity movement in...
Rafah demands new hospital
Rami Almeghari
The Electronic Intifada / November 25, 2019
The emergency department in Abu Yousef al-Najjar hospital only has nine beds, yet has to deal with hundreds of patients each day.
With such a limited capacity, the department is constantly overstretched. During periods of extreme violence, its staff work under hellish conditions.
Waheed...
Syria plans to rebuild Yarmouk Palestinian refugee camp near Damascus
Tom Rollins
The National / November 22, 2019
But former residents harbour doubts about returning to war-ravaged area.
Authorities in Damascus say they are preparing reconstruction plans for what was once Syria’s largest Palestinian camp, now a war-wasted suburb in the capital’s south.
Yarmouk camp, once hailed as the “capital of the Palestinian...
