By Elliott Abrams, Council on Foreign Relations– As Israelis cope with their fourth election in two years, Americans must wonder what U.S. policy on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict will be under the Biden administration—no matter who wins in the Israeli vote. A State Department memo entitled “The US Palestinian Reset and the Path Forward” gives some…
By Richard Goldberg and Jonathan Schanzer, Wall Street Journal— Lost amid President Trump’s unceremonious send-off were a pair of Jan. 14 tweets from Secretary of State Mike Pompeo : Of the more than five million people identified as “Palestinian refugees” by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, fewer than 200,000 meet the criteria for…
By Andrea M. Berlin, J. Andrew Overman, The National Interest— Against the backdrop of normalization between Israel and the United Arab Emirates and more recently Bahrain, are continued condemnations by Palestinian leaders. Palestinian president Abbas called the moves a “stab in the back,” “despicable,” and a “betrayal.” Even so, rumors regarding Saudi normalization continue to…
By Simon Waldman and Asaf Romirowsky, The Brussels Times— No-one in UNRWA, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, appears to understand that the troubled UN agency needs to adapt in light of the devastation wrought by COVID-19. UNRWA lost no time making a flash appeal for US$14…
By Bassam Tawil, Gatestone Institute— The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) claims that it is on the “frontlines of responding to COVID-19,” and its officials are appealing for donations to help Palestinian refugees in the Middle East. According to an UNRWA statement from April 5: “UNRWA is doing its part to flatten…
By Laurie Kellman, AP— President Donald Trump is closing the Palestine Liberation Organization’s mission in Washington, the latest U.S. blow against the Palestinians and an international court during the stalled Mideast peace process. Some things to know: THE GIST The administration’s move to close the PLO office in Washington is not directly connected to the…
By Times of Israel Staff— The United States has “thrown more than $10 billion” in aid to the Palestinians, but that spending has brought the region no closer to peace or stability, the US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman charged Tuesday, in an address explaining why US President Donald Trump thought it was important to…
By Caroline Glick, Jpost— President Donald Trump’s decision last week to defund the UN Refugee Works Agency for Palestine (UNRWA) may not seems as significant as recognizing that Jerusalem is Israel’s capital and transferring the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. But it is. Both actions involve rejecting myths embedded in the failed peace…
By Tsvi Sadan, Israel Today— Trump’s presidency divides Americans like never before. Most, however, would agree that his policy decisions vis-a-vis the Middle East match Israel’s interests, and at least on this point, Israel’s friend–Democrats and Republicans, alike–should support him. And Trump’s new policy regarding the Palestinian refugees is no exception. As published in the…
By Earl Cox, JPost— If Israel and the Palestinians are ever to forge an agreement meaningful to both sides, Palestinian educational reform must be a linchpin. Palestinian schools, including those run by UNRWA, model radical Islamic madrassas (religious schools), incubators of violence and terrorism that exploit education to indoctrinate the next generation. Billions in foreign…