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Palestine

July 25, 2026

Ramallah 9:52 am

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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

Latest News

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

Michael Ciaglo/Getty Images

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.

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

A Palestinian protester throws a stone towards Israeli troops during clashes following a rally marking Nakba Day near Israel's Ofer Prison near the West Bank city of Ramallah May 15, 2015. Palestinians mark "Nakba" (Catastrophe) on Friday to commemorate the expulsion or fleeing of some 700,000 Palestinians from their homes in the war that led to the founding of Israel in 1948. REUTERS/Mohamad Torokman
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Palestinian youths speak out on occupation, corruption

Palestinian university students express their despair over a life of humiliation at checkpoints and a lack of credible leadership at home, warning that many of their colleagues are already preparing for an uprising.

Palestinians walk past the ruins of houses that witnesses said were destroyed by Israeli shelling during a 50-day war last summer in Beit Hanoun in the northern Gaza Strip, where Palestinian boy al-Hassan, who was born in January 2014 after being conceived with his jailed father's sperm smuggled out of an Israeli prison, lives May 10, 2015. Hana, the Gaza wife of al-Za'an, a Palestinian prisoner in an Israeli jail, gave birth to a baby boy in January 2014 in the first successful smuggling of sperm to lead t

Israeli soldier testimonials stoke Gazans' claims of war crimes

Palestinians believe a report of firsthand accounts by Israeli soldiers and officers who fought in the 2014 Gaza war prove that Israel committed war crimes in its conduct of the conflict.

Newly appointed Palestinian judge Khouloud Al-Faqih (R) looks at documents in her office in the West Bank city of Ramallah February 23, 2009. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas ordered last week the appointment of the first two female judges in the Palestinian Authority, one of them Al-Faqih. Picture taken February 23, 2009.
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Hamas-Fatah divide cripples Palestine’s judiciary

Efforts to reach a reconciliation agreement between Hamas and Fatah have failed, and the dichotomy separating judiciaries in the West Bank and Gaza Strip is growing.

Office chairs sit abandoned in front of shuttered store fronts along a normally bustling commercial street in central Gaza City, July 19, 2014. Israel's month-long war against Hamas, with Israel carrying out air strikes, artillery bombardments and ground operations in response to constant militant rocket fire and attacks via tunnels, left more than 2,000 Palestinians dead, most of them civilians, as well as 64 Israeli soldiers and three civilians. It was the deadliest war in Gaza since Israel unilaterally w

Investors remain wary of Gaza

A recent conference of investors landed six projects for the West Bank, but none for Gaza because of the risk involved.

Pope Francis waves as he arrives to lead his weekly audience in St.Peter's square, at the Vatican City, May 13, 2015. REUTERS/Giampiero Sposito - RTX1CQI5

What's driving Pope Francis' Middle East diplomacy?

Pope Francis' push for Palestinian statehood is part of a series of bold initiatives to preserve the region's rich religious mosaic.

JERUSALEM, ISRAEL - MAY 28: (ISRAEL OUT) Israelis during a march marking Jerusalem Day on May 28, 2014 outside Jerusalem's old city, Israel. Israel is celebrating the anniversary of the 'unification' of Jerusalem, marking 47 years since it captured mainly Arab east Jerusalem during the 1967 Middle East war. (Photo by Lior Mizrahi/Getty Images)

Israeli High Court authorizes Jerusalem Day march

Despite objections, the Israeli High Court has authorized right-wing activists to hold the annual Jerusalem Day Flag Parade.

A Palestinian sifts through garbage for salvageable items at a local dump site, in the east of Gaza City September 2, 2013. REUTERS/Mohammed Salem (GAZA - Tags: ENVIRONMENT SOCIETY) - RTX134M2

Gazans scavenge for food, recyclables

In light of the dire economic conditions generated by the Israeli siege, Gazans search for food to eat and recyclables to sell.

A passenger hands back passports to Palestinians waiting to cross into Egypt at the Rafah border crossing in the southern Gaza Strip June 1, 2010. Egypt opened its border with the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, letting Palestinians cross until further notice amid a storm of international criticism of Israel's blockade of the enclave, officials in Egypt and Gaza said. REUTERS/Mohammed Salem (GAZA - Tags: POLITICS) - RTR2EN6J

Halt in passport process restricts Palestinian movement

Some students and people seeking treatment in Gaza are unable to travel as they wait for their passports to be issued or renewed, while the Ministry of Interior slowly works on sorting out the procedure.

Senior Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh (R) speaks with Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah at Haniyeh's house in Gaza City October 9, 2014. Hamdallah arrived in the Hamas-dominated Gaza Strip on Thursday and convened the first meeting of a unity government there since a brief civil war in 2007 between Hamas and forces loyal to the Fatah party. REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa (GAZA - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST) - RTR49J6X

Hamas, Fatah ignore Carter's reconciliation attempt

Hamas and Fatah are focusing on trivial issues instead of taking advantage of former President Jimmy Carter’s efforts to achieve reconciliation between the two Palestinian movements.

Palestinian members of al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of the Hamas movement, take part in a military parade marking the 27th anniversary of Hamas' founding, in Gaza City December 14, 2014. REUTERS/Mohammed Salem (GAZA - Tags: POLITICS MILITARY ANNIVERSARY) - RTR4HY1G

Hamas military wing dictates movement's policies

Inside Hamas, the military branch is gradually taking even stronger control of the movement's institutions and blocking attempts to reach a long-term cease-fire with Israel.

Hamas's exiled leader Khaled Meshaal (L) holds a joint press conference with Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal following a meeting in Riyadh on Januray 3, 2010. Meshaal said that the Egyptian-led talks aimed at reconciling the Palestinian Islamist movement and its rival Fatah were close to bearing fruit. AFP PHOTO/PAUL HANDLEY (Photo credit should read PAUL HANDLEY/AFP/Getty Images)

Hamas courts Saudis

Hamas is seeking a rapprochement with Saudi Arabia to improve its leverage in Palestinian reconciliation talks, which might not please Egypt, which has long brokered the discussions, or Fatah leader Mahmoud Abbas.

Palestinian Senior Hamas legislator Mohammed Totah (L) and former Palestinian minister for Jerusalem affairs Khaled Abu Arafeh (C), are seen at the Magistrate's Court for their hearing in Jerusalem on January 24, 2012. The men were arrested the day before from the offices of the International Committee of the Red Cross in east Jerusalem where they were taking refuge to avoid deportation from Jerusalem to the West Bank. Over 20 of Hamas's 74 MPs in the 132-member PLC are currently being held by Israel, with

Israeli court to rule on minister's deportation case

After nine years, the Israeli Supreme Court is expected to decide whether the Israeli minister of interior has the right to deport a bona fide permanent resident of the city of Jerusalem.