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

Palestine cover image

Palestine

July 23, 2026

Al Bīrah 4:20 pm

32°C

Flags of Spain and Argentina

Culture

How Argentina-Spain World Cup final became debate over Israel, Palestine

Governments and fans alike have turned teams and players into symbols of political division.

Government Media Office Director Ismail Thawabteh (R) and Hamas spokesperson Hazem Qassem (L) speak at a press conference.

Explainer

What does Hamas' move to dissolve its Gaza government mean?

Hamas has agreed to hand civilian administration over to the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza, but the committee is not yet in Gaza and may not deploy until Hamas’ disarmament is resolved.

Joint List Party leader Ayman Odeh attends a meeting on April 5, 2021 in Jerusalem, Israel.

Interview

Ayman Odeh says Arab parties could back Bennett or Eisenkot to block Netanyahu

In an interview with Al-Monitor, head of the Arab-Israeli Hadash-Ta'al Knesset faction, Ayman Odeh, said his party is prepared to make difficult decisions to topple Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government.

Ayman Odeh

Head of the Knesset's Hadash-Ta'al faction

Michael Ciaglo/Getty Images

Who is Melat Kiros, the pro-Palestinian who unseated a longtime Democrat?

Kiros has taken a hard stance against Israel and opposes all aid to the country as pro-Palestinian candidates make further inroads in the party.

Latest News

Amnesty International accuses Israel of state-led ethnic cleansing in West Bank

Israeli security forces attempt to disperse Palestinians who had gathered to protest the reported burning of land by Israeli settlers in the Palestinian village of Idna, west of Hebron in the occupied West Bank, on June 5, 2026.

Ireland bans hard-line Israeli ministers Ben-Gvir, Smotrich: What to know

Israeli policemen surround Israeli Minister of National Security and far-right politician Itamar Ben-Gvir as he arrives outside the Damascus Gate of the walled Old City of Jerusalem on May 26, 2025, during a flag march for Jerusalem Day, commemorating the Israeli army's 1967 capture of the city's eastern sector during the Arab-Israeli war.

Record Israeli arms exports highlight global rush for air defense

People stand in front of the Arrow 3 shield system during an event of the German Air Force to declare the Initial Operating Capability for the Arrow Weapon System for Germany at the Annaburger Heide Air Base in Schoenewalde / Holzdorf, eastern Germany, on Dec. 3, 2025.

With Hungary’s ICC U-turn, Israel loses a key European ally

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, (R) shakes hands with Viktor Orban, Hungary's prime minister, during a news conference on April 3, 2025 in Budapest, Hungary.

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 police officers take positions on the roof of the Al-Aqsa mosque during clashes with Palestinians in Jerusalem's Old City, September 15, 2015. The U.S. State Department on Monday voiced concern about violence at the compound surrounding Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa mosque, an area revered by Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary and by Jews as the Temple Mount. REUTERS/Baz Ratner TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY - RTS15G9

The struggle to be king of the Mount

Israel should be wary that events surrounding the Temple Mount are morphing into a battle between the northern branch of the Islamic Movement in Israel and Jordan.

A general view of Jerusalem's old city shows the Dome of the Rock in the compound known to Muslims as Noble Sanctuary and to Jews as Temple Mount, October 25, 2015. Palestinian officials reacted warily on Sunday to what U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry hailed as Jordan's "excellent suggestion" to calm Israeli-Palestinian violence by putting a sensitive Jerusalem holy site under constant video monitoring. REUTERS/Amir Cohen - RTX1T4AE

Zawahri and Jerusalem

Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri, in a new audio message following a classic pattern, lauds Palestinian attacks in Jerusalem and calls on followers to attack Israel's international backers to hasten the fall of the Jewish state.

A Palestinian protester pushes a burning tyre during clashes with Israeli troops in the West Bank city of Hebron October 31, 2015. Israeli security forces shot and killed a Palestinian who ran at them with a knife in the occupied West Bank on Saturday, police said, as a month-long wave of violence showed no signs of abating. REUTERS/Ammar Awad - RTX1U4BU

How the Islamic State is looking to capitalize on Israeli-Palestinian unrest

The Islamic State's recent threats against Israel could be designed just to gain support among Palestinians.

A Palestinian boy squirts water from a tap in the street on March 20, 2014 as the construction of a major seawater desalination plant launched by the European Union (EU) and UNICEF began in Deir Al-Balah, in the central Gaza Strip. Only 5.8% of households in Gaza have a good water supply suitable for consumption according to a statement released by the Palestinian Central Beureau of statistics on the occasion of World water day. AFP PHOTO/MOHAMMED ABED (Photo credit should read MOHAMMED ABED/AFP/Get

Could desalination solve Gaza's water woes?

The Gaza Strip is in dire need of a seawater desalination project, in light of a severe water shortage and the depletion of the only freshwater source.

Congress probes US, Russia face-off in Syria

A look at the Middle East issues Congress will be addressing the week of Nov. 2.

Demonstrators wave Palestinian flags during an anti Israel protest near the border between Israel and the southern Gaza Strip October 28, 2015. REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa - RTX1TLBI

The Palestinian uprising's blurred lines

It is difficult to determine whether the events in the Palestinian territories are a limited and temporary uprising or a full-blown intifada.

Israeli-Arabs hold Palestinian flags during a pro-Palestinian demonstration in the northern Israeli town of Sakhnin October 13, 2015. Israel's leading Arab politician was in the middle of a television interview on a street in its biggest Arab city when the mayor, also an Arab, pulled up in his car and started shouting at him to leave. With Palestinian knife attacks on the rise, the live TV encounter illustrated a conflict within Israel's Arab minority between sympathy for Palestinian brethren in Jerusalem,

Is Israel headed to a civil war?

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has destroyed one of Israel's major achievements: the basic allegiance of Israeli Arabs with Israel, including their participation in the electoral process and their at least partial integration in the economy and in academic life.

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (2nd R) attends the weekly cabinet meeting at his office in Jerusalem October 18, 2015. REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun - RTS4XKV

Netanyahu's short-term thinking

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu feels threatened by Yisrael Beitenu head Avigdor Liberman's rising popularity over his management of the current wave of violence, which is why he keeps coming up with short-lived security ideas.

Israeli paramilitary police walk on the compound known to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary and to Jews as Temple Mount in Jerusalem's Old City October 26, 2015. Monday's visit to the compound was low-key by most standards - no fighting broke out, no one was ejected by the police, everyone left calmly and life returned to normal. But in critical ways it cut to the heart of an issue fuelling the worst violence between Palestinians and Israel in years: whether the status quo at the site, also known as the Al-Aqs

My visit to Temple Mount

With hundreds of tourists, I visited the Temple Mount, and contrary to Palestinian accusations, Israel is not trying to change the status quo but cooperates with the Waqf guards during visits at the site.

How to bring peace to Israel

Palestinian Knesset member Ahmad Tibi talked with Al-Monitor about the latest uprising in the Palestinian territories, saying though he advocates nonviolent resistance, peace will remain elusive until Israel ends the longest occupation the world has known.

What's happening in Gaza's detention centers?

Al-Monitor was given exclusive access to testimonies of former female detainees who were subjected to several forms of torture, which officials deny.

Why Gaza's brides are getting married via Skype

In light of the ongoing closure of the Rafah crossing, Palestinian couples find themselves forced to get married via Skype in proxy weddings.