US President Donald Trump’s expected announcement of plans to move the US embassy in Israel to Jerusalem has quickly whipped up a furore, with pundits and foreign leaders warning of intifada-style upheaval and the collapse of Israeli-Palestinian peace efforts. Which begs the simple question: why announce the move? Trump has spoken of a desire to…
Donald Trump reaffirmed to Mahmoud Abbas on Tuesday that he intends to moves the US embassy to Jerusalem, as regional and world leaders sought to reiterate the dangers of the vow, a decision on which is expected in the coming days. The US president confirmed his “intention” to move the embassy in a phone call with…
As the war in Syria dies down and the dust starts to settle, the enormity of Israel’s strategic mistake during the long years of conflict is becoming all the more apparent. The first person to point this out publicly was Maj. Gen. Amos Yadlin, the Israel Defense Forces’ (IDF) chief of Military Intelligence from 2006…
Israel is putting in place the final pieces of a Greater Jewish Jerusalem that will require “ethnically cleansing” tens of thousands of Palestinians from a city their families have lived and worked in for generations, human rights groups have warned. The pace of physical and demographic changes in the city has accelerated dramatically since Israel…
Israel has approved the construction of 176 homes in east Jerusalem, paving the way for what will be the largest settlement inside a Palestinian neighbourhood of the city. The development will almost triple the size of the Nof Zion settlement, where there are currently 91 homes, in the Jerusalem neighbourhood of Jabal Mukaber, south of…
Palestinian Christians have pledged to fight against the sale of church land in East Jerusalem to Israeli settlers in a dispute that has pitted Greek church leaders against Palestinian worshippers. Church members told MEE that protest action and, if necessary, occupation of the sites were the last options available to prevent the transfer of three…
