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Palestine

September 24, 2026

Ramallah 2:18 pm

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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

Palestinian journalist Ayman al-Alul answers AFP journalists' questions during an interview on January 13, 2016 at his family home in Gaza City.
Alul, a 44-year-old journalist with the Arab Now news agency, was detained by Hamas security services in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip on January 3 and released on January 11.

/ AFP / MAHMUD HAMS (Photo credit should read MAHMUD HAMS/AFP/Getty Images)

Hamas stifles Gazans' giggles

The recent arrest of two satirists in Gaza points to increasing restrictions on freedom of expression due to Hamas' insecurity.

An Israeli right-wing activist holds a black flag with the Hebrew words for "High Court" during a rally to protest a recent court decision ordering Israel to release thousands of African migrants from detention, in Tel Aviv October 5, 2014. Israel's high court last month outlawed a detention centre where African migrants are held without trial and ordered some 2,000 inmates there released over the next three months. REUTERS/Finbarr O'Reilly (ISRAEL - Tags: POLITICS SOCIETY RELIGION CIVIL UNREST) - RTR490U7

The black flag over Israel's democracy

Israelis are relinquishing their democracy through their silence and actions.

Who are Israel's true friends?

The Israeli government tends to label every policy critical of Israel as an anti-Israeli policy.

Arrest of Palestinian journalist reflection of 'political chaos'

The arrest of Palestinian journalist Salim Sweidan and his detention for four days has exposed a broken legal system where understandings are replacing the rule of law.

Can Abbas bring hope to desperate young Palestinians?

Demonstrating against the Israeli occupation, young Palestinians have also been pointing a finger at President Mahmoud Abbas, who has finally addressed them and their problems in his latest speeches.

FOR RELEASE WITH FEATURE MIDEAST-SETTLERS - Jewish settler and manager of the Mofaz Etzion bullet-proof vest factory Shamai Ben-Baruch (L) helps his daughter Itamar model a child-sized bullet proof jacket in the West Bank settlement of Gush Etzion, near Hebron. Almost a day does not pass without Jewish settlers being shot at and sometimes killed as they drive on West Bank "bypass" roads. Many settlers are now buying bullet-proof vests to wear when they travel to and from their settlements.

NB - RTRJYGM

Israeli fashion gets tactical

Business is booming for Israeli clothes manufacturers that have developed bullet- and knife-resistant fabrics and apparel, though they may not all deliver what they promise.

A Palestinian worker straightens scrap metal collected from the rubble of a hotel in Gaza City that was destroyed during Israel's three-week offensive nearly two years ago November 7, 2010. Thousands of Gazans, mainly young men and boys, go close to a no-go border zone in the Gaza Strip daily to pick over the wreckage of factories and houses flattened by Israel in the past few years in its conflict with Islamist Hamas militants who control the enclave. REUTERS/Suhaib Salem (GAZA - Tags: POLITICS SOCIETY) -

Gaza scrap collectors finally back in business

Following years of interruption due to Israel's blockade on the Gaza Strip, the scrap trade there has resumed, sparking economic hope.

A member of the Druze community holds a Druze flag as he speaks to an Israeli soldier near the border fence between Syria and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, near Majdal Shams June 18, 2015. Gathered at a hilltop in the Israeli-held Golan Heights, a group of Druze sheikhs look through binoculars at the Syrian village of Hader, surrounded by Islamist fighters. They fear their brethren are in imminent danger. Intense battles this week have left Syria's al Qaeda branch, the Nusra Front, in control of hills

Does Bibi limit rights to those who are 'Israeli all the way'?

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has tied "loyalty" to the state to budget allocations for improvements in minority communities.

U.S. President Barack Obama walks to boards Air Force One for Nebraska and Louisiana, after a short meeting with Jordan's King Abdullah at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, January 13, 2016. REUTERS/Carlos Barria - RTX2293H

State of the Union highlights Jordan’s rift with Obama

The US president directly contradicts King Abdullah’s talking point that the campaign against IS is a “third world war.”

B'Tselem field researcher Iyad Hadad (2nd R) listens to a testimony from a Palestinian farmer, who said his land was damaged in an attack by Israeli settlers, in the West Bank village of Turmus Aya near Ramallah June 8, 2015. B'Tselem is an Israeli NGO that has long been a bane of the government, tirelessly flagging human rights abuses by Israel's military in the Palestinian territories. Set up by a group of academics, lawyers, journalists and politicians more than 25 years ago, the organisation - whose nam

The dirty war between Israel’s right-wing and left-wing NGOs

Israeli human rights nongovernmental organizations object to an investigative report by Channel 2 that accuses an activist of plotting against Palestinian land owners selling their property to Jews but stained all the NGOs in the process.

A Palestinian protester holds a stone during clashes with Israeli troops in the West Bank town of Halhul, north Hebron November 14, 2015. REUTERS/Mussa Qawasma - RTS70G7

Will tables turn in favor of youth in Palestine?

The new Palestinian generation leading the intifada did not wait for instructions from political leaders, who may now have to look to the youth for direction.

Palestinian industrial parks: Boon or bondage?

The Jenin industrial project is scheduled to start operating this year, with opponents claiming that such projects are in direct conflict with the Palestinian Authority's goal of becoming a fully independent and sovereign state.