The Israeli newspaper Israel Hayom, which is widely seen as a mouthpiece for Benjamin Netanyahu, has leaked a document purporting to be Trump's 'deal of the century' peace plan. If genuine, it offers a catastrophic vision of the future for the Palestinians.
With Israel and the Palestinian Authority at an impasse over tax transfers, the PA is facing imminent collapse. So, more in desperation than with any realistic prospect of achieving peace, attention is turning to Trump’s long-promised “deal of the century”. Reports suggest it is due for release next month.
With the election in the bag, Benjamin Netanyahu's only problem is that he faces imminent indictment for corruption. But he has a plan: extract an 'immunity from prosecution' law from his far-right coalition partners in return for annexing much of the West Bank
US recognition of Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights will prove a boon for Israel's right, which has been clamouring to annex vast areas of the West Bank and thereby drive a final nail into the coffin of the two-state solution.
US officials have warned the Palestinian leadership that a final peace deal will be settled over their heads if necessary. This time the US plan is not up for negotiation; it is primed for implementation. What Donald Trump needs now is someone like Mike Pompeo to bulldoze the Palestinians into submission.
At first glance, the decision by the Trump administration to quit the United Nation’s cultural agency seems strange. Why penalise a body that promotes clean water, literacy, heritage preservation and women’s rights? Washington’s claim that the Unesco is biased against Israel obscures the real crimes the agency has committed in US eyes.
The Trump administration is using unprecedented threats and financial "blackmail" against the United Nations and its agencies to end their focus on human rights abuses by Israel, according to analysts and Palestinian leaders. They accuse the US of leading the campaign of intimidation to forcibly rehabilitate Israel's international standing.
Palestinian leaders have denounced new construction projects they say will further tighten Israel's grip on occupied East Jerusalem and its holy places, including the incendiary site of Al-Aqsa mosque. The most elaborate plan is for a cable car intended to bring thousands of visitors an hour to the Western Wall and its Jewish prayer plaza, immediately below the compound containing Al-Aqsa.
On Thursday Donald Trump must decide whether to join his predecessors in signing a presidential waiver on moving the US embassy to Jerusalem and recognising it as Israel's capital. But the only real question to be decided is whether the US president prefers to take the fast or protracted route to failure.
Israel received three F-35 stealth fighter jets from the United States at the weekend - a new generation of "near-invisible" planes that critics fear will free Israel's hand to launch air strikes and spying operations against neighbouring states undetected. In total, Israel has bought 50 F-35s from Lockheed Martin, and claims it will have the first squadron combat-ready before the end of the year.
