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Palestine

September 26, 2026

Ramallah 3:37 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

People pray during the funeral of 20-year-old Palestinian man Jihad al-Jaafari in the West Bank city of Bethlehem February 24, 2015. Israeli soldiers shot dead al-Jaafari in the occupied West Bank on Tuesday, the military and a Palestinian hospital official said. Residents of the Deheishe refugee camp in Bethlehem said Palestinians threw stones at Israeli soldiers who had entered the area and the troops opened fire. An Israeli military spokeswoman said the Palestinians hurled rocks, blocks and firebombs at

Shooting of Fatah activist could doom security cooperation

The security coordination between Israel and the Palestinian Authority is in jeopardy after Israeli soldiers shot and killed a Fatah activist in the Dheisheh refugee camp.

Palestinian children from the Al-Qarawi family watch television in a tent in the northern Gaza Strip June 9, 2010. The tent was erected after their family's house was destroyed during Israel's three-week offensive in Gaza last year. REUTERS/Mohammed Salem (GAZA - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST) - RTR2EY18

Despite Hamas restrictions, Gaza actresses seek stage

The Hamas-led security apparatuses in Gaza limits the ability of actresses to play parts in high-profile movies as they are forced to wear the veil and avoid contact with male co-stars.

Palestinian Mohammed Sedody (R) of Shati club celebrates his goal against Khan Younis youth club during their semi-final soccer match as part of the local Ramadan soccer championship at Yarmouk stadium in Gaza City August 1, 2013. REUTERS/Mohammed Salem (GAZA - Tags: SPORT SOCCER) - RTX127P6

Female journalists excel in Gaza's sports media

Despite societal barriers, more women journalists in Gaza are covering sports, but their numbers are still low relative to men.

Palestinians walk near the ruins of houses that witnesses said were destroyed or damaged by Israeli shelling during a 50-day war last summer, on a winter day east of Gaza City February 20, 2015. REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa (GAZA - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST ENVIRONMENT SOCIETY) - RTR4QE85

One man's return to Gaza

In an interview with Al-Monitor, the journalist Majdi Arbid, who fled Gaza eight years ago, tells of the dire situation he encountered when he returned.

A view of the northern Gaza Strip as seen from the Israeli farming community of Netiv Haasara September 2, 2014. Israelis living on the Gaza border have warily returned home after fleeing constant mortar and rocket fire during a seven-week war, feeling it is just a matter of time before their villages are targeted again. Picture taken September 2, 2014. REUTERS/Amir Cohen (ISRAEL - Tags: POLITICS CONFLICT) - RTR44YNP

Israeli violations of truce keep Gazans on edge

The Palestinian Center for Human Rights reports that violations of the truce continue, with Israeli forces still firing across the border, hitting civilians and houses and making the entire area unlivable.

Israeli soldiers are pictured through a Palestinian flag as they stand guard during a protest by Palestinians against Jewish settlements near the West Bank city of Ramallah December 10, 2014. A Palestinian minister died on Wednesday shortly after an altercation with Israeli border police in the West Bank during which one of the policeman grabbed him by the neck. Ziad Abu Ein, 55, a minister without portfolio, was taking part in a protest against Israeli settlements when he was involved in clashes with aroun

Netanyahu has rejected two-state solution

Benjamin Netanyahu has declared several times, even to the US Congress, that he will accept the establishment of a Palestinian state, but all signs indicate that he now rejects a two-state solution.

Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah talks to media after the first unity government meeting in the West Bank city of Ramallah June 3, 2014. President Barack Obama's administration said on Monday it plans to work with and fund the new Palestinian unity government, and Israel immediately voiced its disappointment with the decision also criticized by some U.S. lawmakers. REUTERS/Mohamad Torokman (WEST BANK - Tags: POLITICS) - RTR3RY8D

PA trapped by tax revenue freeze

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has allegedly promised Israel to further tighten the noose around Hamas in exchange for Israel unfreezing Palestinian tax revenues.

A Palestinian boy rides his bicycle past Israeli soldiers during a protest, by both Palestinian and foreign activists against the continued closure of Shuhada street to Palestinians, in the West Bank city of Hebron August 7, 2010. REUTERS/Ammar Awad (WEST BANK - Tags: CIVIL UNREST MILITARY IMAGES OF THE DAY) - RTR2H4DA

Palestinian girl recounts imprisonment

Israel has circumvented international law to classify Palestinian children as minors only up to the age of 16, in clear violation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, in order to arrest and detain Palestinian youths.

A Palestinian policeman loyal to Hamas stands guard near burning tyres during a protest by Palestinians calling for reconstruction of their houses that witnesses said were destroyed by Israeli shelling during a 50-day war last summer, outside a United Nations food distribution center in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip February 16, 2015. REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa (GAZA - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST CRIME LAW) - RTR4PQSX

Regional events have Hamas in political limbo

Various events and unresolved regional crises have fed Hamas' reluctance to forge regional alliances and take decisive positions on developments in the Arab world.

A woman supporter of the Shiite Muslim Hezbollah movement holds onto an image of the movement's slain commander Imad Mughniyeh during a Hezbollah parade in the city of Nabatiyeh in southern Lebanon on December 19, 2010, to mark the 13th day of Muharram-Ashura, where believers mourn the killing of the Prophet Mohammed's grandson, Imam Hussein, in the seventh century, during the battle of Karbala in central Iraq. AFP PHOTO/MAHMOUD ZAYYAT (Photo credit should read MAHMOUD ZAYAT/AFP/Getty Images)

Was Hezbollah's Mughniyeh an unintended target?

A security source from Beirut tells Al-Monitor how the perpetrators of the 2008 assassination of Hezbollah's military commander might not have known they were targeting the elusive Imad Mughniyeh.

A Palestinian labourer holds up a box of freshly picked strawberries, intended for export, on a farm in Beit Lahiya in the northern Gaza Strip December 7, 2011. REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa (GAZA - Tags: AGRICULTURE FOOD SOCIETY BUSINESS) - RTR2UY5X

Gaza farmers unable to export produce

Agriculture in Gaza is suffering after the Israeli decision to ban vegetable exports from the Strip to the West Bank.

A Palestinian worker sticks Intajuna ("Our Products") stickers on Palestinian goods displayed in a supermarket in the West Bank city of Ramallah August 2, 2009. Intajuna is one of many campaigns asking Palestinians to avoid Israeli products. After 40 years of occupation, the Palestinian economy is tied to Israel's, so attempts to reduce its dependence clash with hard realities. Picture taken August 2, 2009. To match feature PALESTINIANS-ISRAEL/BOYCOTT REUTERS/Fadi Arouri (WEST BANK POLITICS BUSINESS) - RTR2

PA considers ending economic ties with Israel

Palestinians are discussing the possibility of rejecting the Paris Protocol and disengaging economically from Israel following Israel's decision to withhold tax revenues from the Palestinian Authority.