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Palestine

October 2, 2026

Ramallah 3:54 am

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West Bank settlers attack Israeli activists as Netanyahu claims 'hoax'

On Wednesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the attention surrounding settler violence was a “tremendous hoax.”

Israeli PM

On secret UAE visit, Netanyahu asked MBZ to deny pre-Oct. 7 warnings

During his trip to Abu Dhabi, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asked President Mohamed bin Zayed to deny reports that he had been warned ahead of the Oct. 7 attack that Hamas was preparing a major assault.

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

Latest News

Netanyahu threatens to sue Haaretz for reporting UAE warned Israel of Oct. 7 attack

Chaim Goldberg / AFP via Getty Images

Majority of Palestinians lose trust in Hamas and Fatah, new poll finds

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.

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.

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

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (L) arrives for the weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem February 10, 2013. Iran's nuclear ambitions, the civil war in Syria and stalled Israeli-Palestinian peace efforts will top the agenda of U.S. President Barack Obama's visit to Israel, Netanyahu said on Sunday. REUTERS/Uriel Sinai/Pool (JERUSALEM - Tags: POLITICS) - RTR3DKO7

Israel-Palestine Interim Agreements Block Final Deal

Israelis and Palestinians have negotiated one interim arrangement after another, but a final-status agreement has yet to be reached, writes Akiva Eldar.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas (L) and Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal (R) shake hands as Qatar's Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani sits between them during an agreement signing ceremony in Doha February 6, 2012. The leaders of rival Palestinian factions Fatah and Hamas signed a deal in Qatar on Monday to form a unity government of independent technocrats for the West Bank and Gaza, headed by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. REUTERS/Stringer(QATAR - Tags: POLITICS) - RTR2XEJX

Palestinian Parties Remain Divided Over Elections

Hamas and Fatah remain divided as discussions break down over pending elections, writes Hazem Balousha.

Palestinian blacksmith Hussam Haweyla works in the northern Gaza Strip February 14, 2013. Egypt's campaign to shut down smuggling tunnels running under its border into the Gaza Strip threatens to throw thousands of Palestinians out of work in the Hamas-run enclave. Haweyla remembers the day, three years ago, when the tunnel he was digging became a death trap. Workers heard the sound of an explosion before dirty water poured in. According to Haweyla, a colleague died in the incident, and he has stopped worki

Gazans Suffer As Foreign NGOs Refuse to Deal with Hamas

Because of its designation as a terrorist organization, many foreign NGOs have refused to cooperate with the Hamas government, increasing the suffering of the Strip’s residents, reports Omar Shaban.

Palestinians walk through a newly built 500 meter-long passage way on their way back to the Gaza Strip through Israel's Erez Crossing December 3, 2009. REUTERS/Yannis Behrakis (GAZA POLITICS) - RTXRERB

Palestinian Factions Silent On Gaza-West Bank Divide

Israel's separation of Gaza from the West Bank has been so successful that the main Palestinian factions no longer ask for freedom of movement between the two enclaves, Daoud Kuttab writes.

John Kerry, the new U.S. Secretary of State, holds the diplomatic passport he was issued at eleven years old, while greeting employees of the State Department in Washington February 4, 2013. Kerry's father, Richard, was a U.S. Foreign Service officer in Berlin after World War II. REUTERS/Gary Cameron (UNITED STATES - Tags: POLITICS TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY) - RTR3DCG4

Kerry Puts Middle East First

Geoffrey Aronson writes that, in the absence of a strategy for dealing with the Middle East, seeking advice from leaders in the region can be compared to listening to the inmates in an insane asylum, where useful advice is in short supply.

Palestinians hold placards depicting prisoner Samer al-Issawi, who has been on hunger strike for 209 days, during a protest in the West Bank city of Ramallah, calling for the release of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails, February 17, 2013. The European Union on Saturday called on Israel to improve conditions for Palestinians in its jails, and a Palestinian minister said there would be rallies this week to support hunger striking prisoners. Nearly 5,000 Palestinians are held in Israeli jails, many cha

Hunger Striker Samer Issawi Invisible to Israeli Society

Shlomi Eldar wonders about the political impact of Palestinian prisoner Samer Issawi's hunger strike, going on for more than 200 days.

Palestinian sisters Dunia, 10, and Dana, 5, sort out their school books after finding them among the debris of their parents' destroyed home in the southern part of Gaza City January 20, 2009. Voicing shock at stark scenes of destruction, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon visited the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, and Israel was poised to withdraw its troops before the U.S. presidential inauguration later in the day. REUTERS/Anja Niedringhaus/Pool (GAZA) - RTR23N6B

Gaza Blockade Erodes Palestinian Culture, Education

Although the recent blockade on Gaza is often characterized as depriving residents of vital food supplies and medicine, Asmaa al-Ghoul argues that the real tragedy is embodied by the intellectual blockade on the Strip.

Paul Hansen of Sweden, a photographer working for the Swedish daily Dagens Nyheter, poses holding his picture that won the World Press Photo of the year for 2012, at Dagens Nyheter's office in Stockholm February 15, 2013. The photograph, which Hansen took on November 20, 2012, shows a group of men carrying the bodies of two dead children, who were killed in an Israeli missile strike on Gaza City, and won the top World Press Photo prize on Friday. REUTERS/Fredrik Sandberg/Scanpix (SWEDEN - Tags: ME

Award-Winning Photo Shares Human Tragedy of Gaza War

Dalia Hatuqa tells the tragic story behind the World Press Award-winning photo of two dead children wrapped in white cloth during a funeral procession in Gaza last November.

A Palestinian protester holds a flag during clashes between protesters and Israeli border policemen outside Israel's Ofer prison near the West Bank city of Ramallah February 15, 2013. Clashes broke out on Friday between Palestinian stone-throwers and Israeli troops following a protest calling for the release of hunger-striking Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails. REUTERS/Mohamad Torokman (WEST BANK - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST) - RTR3DU35

Palestine Should Not Wait for Obama

Senior Fatah official Husam Zomlot speaks to Daoud Kuttab of the need for Palestinians to press ahead with their own strategic track, and not wait for the United States to impose a solution.

The Jewish settlement of Halamish is seen in the background as a stone-throwing Palestinian protester stands on a garbage bin during clashes with Israeli security officers at a weekly protest against the settlements, in the West Bank village of Nabi Saleh, near Ramallah February 1, 2013. U.N. human rights investigators called on Israel on Thursday to halt settlement expansion and withdraw all half a million Jewish settlers from the occupied West Bank, saying that its practices could be subject to prosecutio

Palestinian Attacks on Settlers Signal a Shift in Tactics

Attacks by Palestinians against Israeli settlers have increased in recent years, requiring a shift in Israeli strategies to protect settlers in the West Bank, reports Adnan Abu Amer.

U.S. President Barack Obama delivers remarks on the economy after touring Linamar Corporation that manufactures parts for the truck industry in Arden, North Carolina, February 13, 2013. Obama visited the facility on Wednesday to promote economic policies outlined in his State of the Union speech. REUTERS/Jason Reed (UNITED STATES - Tags: POLITICS TRANSPORT BUSINESS) - RTR3DQPD

Palestinians Not Optimistic About Obama Visit

As US President Barack Obama prepares to meet Israeli and Palestinian leaders in their respective capitals, Palestinians do not expect any progress on the peace process, reports Hazem Balousha.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Jordan's King Abdullah II and Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak (L-R) listen to U.S. President Barack Obama make a statement on Middle East peace in the East Room of the White House in Washington September 1, 2010. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst (UNITED STATES - Tags: POLITICS) - RTR2HTFY

'Jordanian Option' Not an Option, Says Shimon Shamir

Shimon Shamir, former Israeli ambassador to Jordan, tells Akiva Eldar why raising the possibility of Jordan annexing the West Bank is a slap in the face to Amman and runs counter to Israel's interests.