News from Palestine

Palestine

OCTOBER 25

Palestinian militants held fire overnight Thursday and Israel refrained from air strikes as an informal truce brokered by Egypt appeared to take hold following two days of violence along the Israel-Gaza border. | Reuters

The government in Gaza will file a complaint with the United Nations over Israel’s airstrikes. | Maan News Agency

OCTOBER 24

Gaza militants pummeled southern Israel with dozens of rockets and mortars, and Israeli airstrikes killed two Palestinians in a sharp escalation of violence following a landmark visit to the coastal territory by the leader of Qatar. | AP; Maan News Agency

Around 150 protestors demonstrated in front of an Israeli chain store east of Ramallah; four activists were detained and several injured as Israeli police and soldiers broke up the demonstration. | Maan News Agency

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned of “extensive and deeper action” in Gaza as militant groups announced a joint operation room in the enclave. | Maan News Agency

OCTOBER 23

The Palestinian Authority cabinet called on civil servants to go back to work as strikes in ministries, universities, schools, and refugee camps paralyzed the West Bank. | Maan News Agency

UNRWA staff employed in schools, clinics, and offices in refugee camps across the West Bank will strike on Tuesday in protest over cutbacks in services. | Maan News Agency

Qatar’s emir ended the political isolation of Hamas with $250 million in aid and a visit to Gaza; meanwhile Fatah called on Palestinians to boycott the emir’s visit to the Gaza Strip. | Reuters; Maan News Agency

OCTOBER 22

Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas’s Fatah party claimed victory on Sunday in local elections it expected to win in the West Bank, in the first such vote since 2006. | AFP

The first elections held in the West Bank for six years reflect how frustrated Palestinians are with their political system and the ruling Fatah party, political observers said. | Maan News Agency; BBC

The emir of Qatar will become the first head of state to enter the blockaded Gaza Strip on Tuesday, in a high profile visit breaking the isolation of the Iranian-backed Islamist movement Hamas that seized power in 2007. | Reuters

OCTOBER 19

Only Palestinians in the West Bank will vote Saturday, choosing mostly between rivals from the dominant Fatah Party while Gaza's Hamas rulers will not allow elections there, and Hamas loyalists in the West Bank are boycotting the vote. | AP; Washington Post

Israel issued a detailed plan for the building of some 800 new homes on occupied land in the West Bank that is certain to attract further international condemnation of its settlement policies. | Maan News Agency

Haaretz newspaper said that the Israeli government will transfer NIS 300 million in tax revenues to the Palestinian Authority. | Palestine News Network

OCTOBER 18

Palestinians in the West Bank go to the polls on Saturday in long-delayed municipal elections that have already highlighted deep divisions in the occupied territory and stoked complaints about a lack of leadership. | Reuters

The Palestinian Authority finance ministry said it would pay partial salaries to its workers, as a 48-hour strike shut down government offices across the West Bank. | Maan News Agency

The return to the West Bank of eighteen released prisoners who were deported to the Gaza Strip has been postponed until after the Muslim holiday Eid al-Adha. | Maan News Agency

OCTOBER 17

Israel calculated the number of calories Palestinians would need to avoid malnutrition under its blockade of the Gaza Strip, according to a study which the Supreme Court forced the government to release. | Reuters

Qatar launched a $254 million plan to rebuild and modernize Gaza, the biggest injection of reconstruction aid for the Palestinian enclave since it was devastated in an Israeli military offensive nearly four years ago. | Reuters

The Palestinian Authority's public workers union has called for full strike Wednesday and Thursday and again next week in protest of the government's failure to pay salaries. | Maan News Agency

OCTOBER 16

Hundreds of olive trees have been uprooted, burned, or cut down by extremist settlers since the annual harvest got under way in the West Bank this month, prompting calls for the Israeli authorities to protect Palestinian farmers and their property. | Guardian

Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas has told the United States that he intends to resume peace talks with Israel if his bid to win UN non-member recognition for Palestine succeeds. | AFP

Islamic Jihad denied knowledge of a truce with Israel, but said Egypt was trying to negotiate a ceasefire after a bloody weekend in the Gaza Strip. | Maan News Agency

OCTOBER 15

The founders of a new Salafi political party said that their official launch is being obstructed by Hamas security forces, not legal regulations as the government in Gaza has claimed. | Maan News Agency

Palestinian sources reported that Israel will allow eighteen Palestinian security prisoners who were released and deported to the Gaza Strip after Shalit’s swap deal, to return to their houses in the West Bank. | Palestine News Network

Two men were killed and two others seriously injured in an Israeli airstrike on central Gaza on Sunday afternoon, bringing Gaza’s death toll from Israeli airstrikes to five within 24 hours. | Maan News Agency

The emir of Qatar is set to visit the Gaza Strip in the coming few days, the first visit by an Arab leader since Hamas took power in the coastal enclave. | Maan News Agency

OCTOBER 11

University staff in the West Bank and Gaza will go on strike Tuesday over ongoing wage disputes with the Ministry of Education. | Maan News Agency

Palestinian lawyers will boycott Israeli courts in protest over being subjected to physical searches before entering the courtroom. | Maan News Agency

OCTOBER 10

Israel launched an airstrike overnight Tuesday on the northern Gaza Strip, no injuries were reported. | Maan News Agency

Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas told EU envoys that he accepts European declarations on the peace process as the basis for renewing talks with Israel and plans to incorporate them into his UN statehood campaign. | AFP; Haaretz

The Palestinian Authority endorsed a national minimum wage for the first time Tuesday, but protesting workers said it was too low. | Maan News Agency

OCTOBER 9

An Israeli airstrike on the Gaza Strip injured eleven people on Sunday. | Maan News Agency

After a national committee announced the first minimum wage in Palestine at 1450 shekels ($375), the general federation of Palestinian trade unions has threatened to take serious steps against the decision if it is approved by the cabinet. | Maan News Agency

Palestinian refugees and those living in the West Bank and Gaza are a facing an urgent health emergency: a “hidden crisis” of high levels of chronic and acute illnesses. | Voice of America

OCTOBER 4

The United Nations is likely to hold a debate on whether to upgrade the Palestinians' U.N. status to a sovereign country in mid-November - after the U.S. election. | Reuters

The Erez crossing into the Gaza Strip was closed Thursday as Palestinian transport workers went on strike in protest of mistreatment by Gaza security forces. | Maan News Agency

France and the UK are among several European countries backing a proposal to force stores to label settlement produce. | Maan News Agency

OCTOBER 3

Human Rights Watch said that Hamas security forces in Gaza commit rampant abuses against Palestinian prisoners, including beatings, mock executions, and arbitrary arrests, and urged the Islamic militant group to reform its criminal justice system. | AP

Around 200 people demonstrated in the West Bank city of Ramallah to demand the resignation of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. | AFP

President Mahmoud Abbas says he expects the UN General Assembly to vote on a resolution to admit Palestine as a non-member state ”in less than a month or a month and a half.” | Maan News Agency

OCTOBER 2

Syria’s state-run media have criticized Khaled Mishaal, the leader of the Palestinian group Hamas — once a staunch ally of the Damascus regime — for turning his back on President Bashar al-Assad. | AP

Hundreds of Palestinian workers held a protest outside a northern West Bank checkpoint into Israel, slamming what they described as mistreatment by Israeli soldiers. | Maan News Agency

A Palestinian prisoners group criticized Israeli prison procedures for transferring detainees between jails, claiming that the facilities used are unsafe. | Maan News Agency

OCTOBER 1

In a boost to Gaza’s Hamas government, the Gulf state of Qatar opened the first diplomatic office in Gaza since the Islamic military group took power five years ago. | AP

The Palestinian Authority started consultations over phrasing a draft resolution to the UN General Assembly requesting acceptance of Palestine as non-member state; meanwhile the United States has warned European governments against supporting the bid. | Maan News Agency; Guardian

A new poll shows 72 percent of Palestinians plan to vote in elections taking place in three weeks, but supporters of Hamas are much less likely to participate in the vote, which is being boycotted by the party. | Maan News Agency

SEPTEMBER 28

A resolution seeking enhanced UN observer status for the Palestinians will be submitted after the U.S. presidential election; Palestinians were left cold on Thursday by a watered-down bid by President Mahmoud Abbas. | AFP; Reuters

Israel will allow 5,000 Palestinians from the West Bank to enter Israel to work in agriculture and construction. | Maan News Agency

Six medical facilities serving Palestinians in east Jerusalem warned of an “unprecedented financial crisis” because of unpaid bills owed by the Palestinian Authority government. |AFP

SEPTEMBER 27

President Mahmoud Abbas will address the UN General Assembly on Thursdayin a speech detailing recent efforts to upgrade Palestine’s status in the world body. | Maan News Agency

Donations to a Norwegian organization that funds illegal Israeli settlements will no longer be tax-deductible following a decision by the Norwegian government. | Maan News Agency

Israel’s supreme court has upheld a ban on Palestinian students from the Gaza Strip studying in the West Bank. | AP

SEPTEMBER 26

At least 500 protesters in the Gaza Strip have called for the overthrow of Hamas in a rare demonstration triggered by the death of a three-year-old boy in a fire during a power outage. | Reuters

Seven Palestinian detainees released in last year’s prisoner swap are being held by Israel under a military order claiming their amnesty has been revoked. | Maan News Agency

Ayman Sharawna is almost totally blind and suffering from severe kidney problems and partial memory loss after 88 days on hunger strike in an Israeli jail. | Maan News Agency

Fatah and the Palestinian leadership reject Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak’s proposal for a unilateral withdrawal from the West Bank. | Maan News Agency

SEPTEMBER 25

Khaled Meshaal, the head of the Hamas movement, has reaffirmed his decision to relinquish leadership of the group. | AFP

Israel will impose a general closure on the West Bank and Gaza for two days starting midnight Monday due to the Yom Kippur holiday. | Maan News Agency

A Palestinian lawyer submitted a petition to Israel's Supreme Court in a bid to pressure the legal body to open a testing center to identify the remains of Palestinian bodies held in Israeli cemeteries. | Maan News Agency

SEPTEMBER 21

The transport workers union said it would return to strike action, as it was not satisfied with measures taken by the Palestinian Authority to allay the strikes and protest rallies that rocked the West Bank in recent weeks. | Maan News Agency

An Israeli official said that military authorities have approved the entry of 100 million shekels from the West Bank to the Gaza Strip to assist with a liquidity crisis, amid a host of measures to facilitate the entry and exit of goods at Gaza crossings. | Maan News Agency

Abdul Nasser Farwana, a researcher in prisoners' affairs and a former prisoner, said that there are around 4500 prisoners in seventeen Israeli prisons and detention centers. He also claimed that among them are about 198 minors who are subjected to torture. | Palestine News Network

SEPTEMBER 20

Two Palestinian men were killed on Wednesdaywhen Israeli military forces shelled the al-Janeneh neighborhood in eastern Gaza. | Maan News Agency

Palestinian security services in the West Bank targeted dozens of Hamas members in the past 24 hours. | Palestine News Network

The Israeli Defense Ministry sealed off the Ras Khamis checkpoint Wednesday morning, one of the only two exits of the Shoafat refugee camp, which serves 65,000 people; the move contravenes a 2008 High Court ruling. | Haaretz

SEPTEMBER 19

Hamas and a Palestinian rights group said that security services in the West Bank initiated a wide-scale arrest campaigntargeting dozens of people. | Maan News Agency

Samer Barq, one of three long-term Palestinian hunger strikers in Israeli detention, has been moved to a hospital intensive care unit, while theatre director Zakaria Zubeidi resumes a total hunger strike in protest at his continued detention without charge by Palestinian security forces. | Al Jazeera; Guardian

The Palestinian Authority in the West Bank faces a $400 million budget shortfall even if current donor pledges are met, the World Bank warned in a report on Wednesday. | AFP

SEPTEMBER 17

An appeals court in the Gaza Strip convicted four Palestinians of the killing of Italian peace activist Vittori Arrigoni in 2011. | Maan News Agency

The government in the Gaza Strip conducted an investigation with Egyptian coordination into the deadly border attack last month and found no Palestinians were involved. | Maan News Agency

Palestinians jailed in Israel will refuse food on Tuesday in solidarity with fellow prisoners on hunger strike. | Maan News Agency

SEPTEMBER 14

Hundreds of protesters gathered in Jerusalem's Old City and the Gaza Strip on Fridayas regional protests continued against an anti-Islam video produced in the United States. | Maan News Agency

Israel's Nature and Parks Authority has rescinded its consent to build the separation wall around the village of Battir, warning of damage to Battir's landscape and relations with villagers, and demanding the ministry find an alternative route for the wall. | Maan News Agency

Activists have called for demonstrations in cities across the West Bank after noon prayers Friday to protest rising prices and the Palestinian Authority's economic policies. | Maan News Agency

SEPTEMBER 13

The Palestinian Authority minister of prisoner affairs urged the United Nations to interveneas detainees in Israeli jails prepare to go on hunger strike. | Maan News Agency

Egypt's closure of scores of cross-border smuggling tunnels has affected the flow of goods into Gaza but has not dealt the knockout blow widely expected by traders and officials. | AFP

The Israeli Government called the Israeli Supreme Court to allow new construction in forty settlements constructed on private land in the West Bank, which was seized by Israeli Military orders. | Palestine News Network

SEPTEMBER 12

Public transport workers will suspend strike action following "constructive discussions" with the Palestinian Authority. | Maan News Agency

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that his government will transfer $63 million in tax advances to the Palestinian Authority to ease the current economic crisis in the West Bank. | Maan News Agency

For the first time a women-only bloc will compete in Hebron's local elections. | Maan News Agency

SEPTEMBER 11

Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad announced several measures to alleviate the economic crisis; Palestinian faction leaders said that the proposed solutions were insufficient. | Maan News Agency; Maan News Agency

Public transport drivers will strike for one hour on Wednesday and Thursday in protest of economic concessions by the government they say are insufficient. | Maan News Agency

The Israeli government has appealed to Washington and the EU to transfer hundreds of millions of dollars to rescue the collapsing Palestinian economy amid mass protests in the West Bank. | Maan News Agency

SEPTEMBER 6

President Mahmoud Abbas said that the "Palestinian Spring" had begun, as Palestinians took to the streets across the West Bank in protest of rising prices. | Maan News Agency

The PLO will seek to upgrade its status at the United Nations this month bolstered by the support of Arab countries, Islamic states, and the 120-member Non-Aligned Movement. | Reuters

An Israeli airstrike on the northern Gaza Strip killed three Palestinians and injured three others, in the second deadly attack in 24 hours. | Maan News Agency

SEPTEMBER 5

Hamas security forces have detained twenty Salafi fighters in the Gaza Strip in a move to prevent rocket fire into Israel. | Maan News Agency

The union of public transportation workers will suspend all services in the West Bank for fifteen minutes on Friday in protest of skyrocketing fuel prices. | Maan News Agency

Palestinians welcomed the news that three French magistrates are to visit Ramallah as part of their probe into Yasser Arafat’s death, following claims he was poisoned by the radioactive substance polonium. | AFP

SEPTEMBER 4

The Palestinian Authority will start importing fuel from foreign countries, in coordination with Israel, in an attempt to reduce fuel prices in the Palestinian territory and bolster the PA’s treasury. | Maan News Agency

President Mahmoud Abbas said that the current political climate is not suitable for achieving Palestinian reconciliation. | Maan News Agency

A young man died after setting himself on fire in the Gaza Strip, apparently in protest at economic hardship. | Reuters

AUGUST 30

The Palestinian Authority has borrowed $75 million from banks to pay debts to suppliers. | Maan News Agency

Hamas’s politburo in Damascus is still open and has not moved to Cairo, the party’s representative in Yemen said. | Maan News Agency

Political advisor to President Mahmoud Abbas, Majdi al-Khaledi, denied news published in Israeli outlets that the PA decided not to bid for statehood at the UN General Assembly's meeting set to take place in New York this September. | Palestine News Network

AUGUST 29

French prosecutors opened a murder inquiry into the death of Yasser Arafat on Tuesday, his widow's lawyer said, after she and a TV investigation raised new questions about whether the Palestinian leader was poisoned. | AP

The Palestinian foreign minister says the Palestinians are putting their quest for international recognition at the UN on hold for now. Foreign Minister Riad Malki says President Mahmoud Abbas has decided not to apply at the General Assembly session next month, although he will informally appeal for recognition in a speech. | Haaretz

The Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation has received instructions from President Morsi to provide Gaza with fuel for its sole power station, Al-Watan newspaper reported. | Ma’an News Agency

AUGUST 28

The UN’s most comprehensive report on the Palestinian enclave said that Gaza will no longer be “"liveable"” by 2020unless urgent action is taken to improve water supply, power, health, and schooling. | Reuters

The land authority in Gaza began leveling ground to establish a free trade zone between Egypt and the Gaza Strip. | Maan News Agency

Palestinian leaders slammed an Israeli court’s decision which rejected accusations of negligence over the 2003 killing of American activist Rachel Corrie. | Maan News Agency

The results of the Council of Palestinian Human Rights Organizations’ inquiry into a crackdown on protesters in Ramallah found that high-ranking Palestinian officials ordered the suppression of protests in Ramallah; Human Rights Watch is calling on the Palestinian Authority to investigate the incidents. | Maan News Agency; AP

AUGUST 27

The Hamas government in Gaza said it declined an invitation to a meeting of 120 developing nations in Tehran this week, heading off a potential confrontation with rival Palestinian leaders in the West Bank. | Maan News Agency

Three Israeli children aged twelve to thirteen from the Bat Ayin Israeli settlement south of Jerusalem have been arrested on suspicion of fire-bombing a Palestinian taxi; six people were injured, two seriously, in the attack. | BBC

Former Israeli soldiers who served in the occupied territories say that mistreatment of Palestinian children by troops is "routine" and occurs even at times of relative calm. | AFP

AUGUST 24

Gaza Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh has finished consultations over a cabinet reshuffle; the new government line-up will be presented to parliamentarians in the Gaza Strip for a vote soon. | Maan News Agency

A Swiss radiology lab said it has received the go-ahead from the widow of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat to test his remains for poisoning by polonium, a highly radioactive element. | AFP

Israel's foreign ministry summoned South Africa's envoy to formally protest Pretoria's decision to place "Occupied Palestinian Territory" labels on goods from Jewish settlements. | AFP

AUGUST 23

Egyptian troops resumed the demolition of tunnels under their border with the Gaza Strip on Thursday morning. | Maan News Agency

Egyptian authorities have decided to re-open the Rafah crossing for three days a week, beginning next week. | Ma’an News Agency

Israeli and Palestinian officials will meet this week to discuss the Palestinian electric company's debts and set a payment schedule to postpone blackouts in the occupied West Bank. | Maan News Agency

AUGUST 22

Israel's foreign minister sent a letter to members of the Middle East Quartet this week, urging them to call for new elections in the Palestinian Authority, specifically calling President Abbas an “obstacle” to peace. | Ma’an News Agency

A new study conducted jointly by a consortium of Palestinian, Israeli, and American researchers from Michigan and Rutgers Universities reveals that Palestinian and Israeli children are becoming more violent amid the ongoing conflict. | Palestine News Network

South Africa approved a much-debated plan to ban “Made in Israel” labels on products from illegal Jewish settlements in the West Bank. Instead, such imports are to be labeled as coming from “Occupied Palestinian Territory.” | Times of Israel

AUGUST 21

A group of Jewish settlers tried to set fire to a Palestinian home near Nablus early Tuesday morning, a Palestinian Authority official said. | Ma’an News Agency

A 15-year-old Jewish boy arrested on suspicion of being involved in what police have described as the "lynching" of 17-year-old Jamal Julani admitted to hitting the Palestinian teenager in court on Monday, and said, "For all I care, let him die. He's an Arab." | Palestine News Network

Israel is to pursue the evacuation of settlers from the illegal West Bank outpost of Migron, the Israeli Attorney General's Office said in a statement to the Israeli High Court on Monday. | Palestine News Network

AUGUST 20

Israeli authorities released Palestinian lawmaker Khaled Tafesh on Sunday evening after he had spent seven months in Israeli detention without facing charges. | Maan News Agency

The U.S. Department of State has included violence by "extremist Israeli settlers" in its 2011 annual report on terrorism around the world. | Palestine News Network

Meeting in Ottawa on Friday, the governing General Council of the United Church, Canada's largest Protestant church, supported a resolution calling for a boycott of goods produced in the West Bank and eastern Jerusalem. | Haaretz

AUGUST 16

Israel has unexpectedly eased restrictions on Palestinians visiting Jerusalem during Ramadan, saying improved security meant it could let in thousands more from the occupied West Bank. | Jordan Times

Palestinian detainees in Israel are launching an initiative to press for prisoner of war status, the Palestinian Authority prisoners minister said Thursday. | Ma’an News Agency

Israeli authorities released Hatem Qafisheh and Mohammad Maher Bader, who are both affiliated to Hamas in the Palestinian Legislative Council, on Wednesday officials said. | Ma’an News Agency

AUGUST 15

Palestinian Authority spokesman Ghassan Khatib has decided to leave his position and return to teaching, the PA's official news agency Wafa reported. | Ma’an News Agency

Sources in Hamas announced that the government in Gaza will form a temporary security committee with Egypt to investigate last week's Sinai terror attack that resulted in the death of sixteen Egyptian soldiers. | Palestine News Network

At dawn on Wednesday, Israeli forces imposed a military siege on Beit Qad village, east of Jenin. | Palestine News Network

AUGUST 14

A number of Palestinians say they are stranded abroad because Egypt has denied them transit visas to return to Gaza. Palestinians in Lebanon, Turkey, Libya, and Kenya have contacted Ma’an, saying they were refused Egyptian visas. | Maan News Agency

Palestinian factions met in Gaza on Tuesday to call for national unity, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine said. | Maan News Agency

An Israeli soldier accused of shooting a Palestinian mother and daughter who were holding a white flag during the 2009 “Cast Lead” operation in the Gaza war has been sentenced to 45 days in jail, after reaching a plea bargain with Israel’s Military Advocate General (MAG), Israeli media and human rights groups reported on Sunday. | Palestine News Network

AUGUST 13

Senior Palestinian Official Dr. Mohammad Shtayyeh said that the President Mahmoud Abbas will propose a comprehensive plan to develop the city of Jerusalem. The plan will be proposed during his statement to the Islamic Summit to be held in Mecca on August 14. | Palestine News Network

An Israeli electricity company has threatened to cut off supplies to the West Bank over unpaid debts, a Palestinian electricity company official said Monday. | Maan News Agency

Relatives of Palestinians jailed in Israel left the Gaza Strip on Monday to visit detainees in the fifth such visit since 2007, a prisoners group said. As part of a deal to end mass hunger strikes in Israeli jails in May, Israeli authorities agreed to ease a ban on Gaza families visiting prisons. | Maan News Agency

AUGUST 10

Egyptian authorities have temporarily opened the Rafah crossing into the Gaza Strip for two days, but there is no date set for its full return to normal functioning. | Maan News Agency

President Mahmoud Abbas is forming a committee to study personal status laws to protect women, following a rise in violent attacks against women in the West Bank. | Maan News Agency

AUGUST 9

A Swiss laboratory will help investigate the unexplained death of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat in 2004 only if it receives guarantees its findings will not be used for political purposes. | Reuters

Washington is pressing the Palestinian leadership to delay a fresh bid to seek upgraded UN status until after the U.S. elections. | AFP

More than two weeks after Israeli settlers occupied private land belonging to a family from the Palestinian village of Susya in the south Hebron Hills, the authorities have failed to remove the intruders. | Haaretz

AUGUST 8

President Mahmoud Abbas reiterated that the Palestinian Authority would insist on the UN bid seeking to obtain international recognition that Palestine is a state under occupation rather than a disputed territory. | Maan News Agency

Addameer Prisoner Support said in a press release that four Palestinian political prisoners in Israeli detention will continue their open hunger strikes; Addameer is particularly concerned for the lives of Samer Al-Barq and Hassan Safadi who are consistently mistreated by the Israeli Prison Service. | Palestine News Network

Israel said that it will prevent a UN fact-finding mission from investigating the legality of Israeli settlements in the Palestinian territories. | Palestine News Network

AUGUST 7

Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad said that Palestinians should hold parliament elections in the territory soon, instead of waiting for the elusive reconciliation with Gaza's Hamas rulers. | AP

Lawyers say Israel’s Justice Ministry is making it tough for Palestinians and migrants to file suit in an Israeli court because under an amended regulation taking effect September 1, petitioners must include their Israeli identification number or a foreign passport number. | Washington Post

Egypt began work to seal off smuggling tunnels into the Gaza Strip, a security source said, two days after gunmen shot dead 16 Egyptian border guards in an attack blamed partly on Palestinian jihadi militants. | Reuters

AUGUST 6

A meeting in Ramallah between Palestinian leaders and ministers representing states of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) scheduled for Sunday, was cancelled, as Israel denied entry to some of the foreign diplomats that were set to participate. | Haaretz

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has offered to release 50 prisoners detained before the Oslo Accords if the Palestinian Authority cancels its proposed UN bid, Hebrew-language newspaper Maariv reported Monday. | Maan News Agency

An Egyptian security source said the Rafah border crossing with Gaza had been closed indefinitely after an attack on a police station in Sinai killed at least 15 officers. | Maan News Agency

AUGUST 2

Prisoners’ rights organizations are gravely concerned for the life and health of the three remaining Palestinian hunger strikers held by Israel—Samer Al-Barq, Hassan Safadi, and Akram Rikhawi. | Palestine News Network

Dozens of activists demonstrated in Bethlehem demanding stricter laws to stop violence against women. | Maan News Agency

The Gaza Strip's sole power station is working at full capacity for the first time since 2006 thanks to fuel from Qatar. | AFP

AUGUST 1

The Palestinian Authority and Israel agreed to a revamp of revenue collection that may help relieve the Palestinian government's deepening debt crisis. | Reuters

Israeli forces detained the projects coordinator of the Union of Agricultural Work Committees in Jericho and two of the union’s engineers. The union accused Israel of waging a campaign against the organization. | Maan News Agency

JULY 31

After optimistic remarks by Hamas and Fatah officials about a possible reconciliation deal, leaders of the rival parties posed new demands and preconditions which pose an obstacle to reconciliation and elections. | Maan News Agency

The U.S. State Department's annual report on religious freedom around the world credited the Palestinian Authority for protecting freedom of religion in the West Bank. | Maan News Agency

JULY 30

Mitt Romney told Jewish donors that their culture is part of what allowed them to be more economically successful than the Palestinians, outraging Palestinian leaders who suggested his comments were racist and out of touch with the realities of the Middle East. | AP

Israeli soldiers killed a Palestinian worker, Hasan Badee Omar 46, and injured two others, one of them seriously, after opening fire at a van as it approached a checkpoint near Jerusalem early Monday. | Maan News Agency

Egypt is set to increase fuel deliveries to the Gaza Strip on Monday; 10 trucks carrying 450,000 liters of fuel will be delivered to the coastal enclave daily, an increase from the previous six truckloads. | Maan News Agency

JULY 26

Two conversions that a Christian family says were forced have strained relations between a tiny Palestinian Christian community in the Gaza Strip and the Muslim majority as Christians staged protests in Gaza's main church demanding the return of their community members whom they said were kidnapped and forced to convert to Islam. | Reuters

Israeli police raided the Haram al-Sharif compound, forcing worshippers performing late prayers to leave and arrested the Imam leading the prayers. | Maan News Agency

While ending trade curbs will be a key demand of Gaza premier Ismail Haniyeh during his talks with President Mohamed Morsi in Cairo today, the bid may flounder due to constraints based on international agreements. | Bloomberg

A Palestinian Authority official said that a World Bank report describing weakness in the Palestinian economy was accurate, adding that the crisis will not be solved this year. | Maan News Agency

JULY 25

The Palestinian Authority cabinet said it was moving forward with plans to hold local elections on October 20, despite the Hamas' government's refusal to participate. | Maan News Agency

More than 100 Palestinian families returned to Gaza safely through Egypt's Rafah crossing over the past week after fleeing spiraling violence in war-torn Syria. | AFP; Maan News Agency

A World Bank report released on Wednesday said that the Palestinian economy's recent growth is unsustainable because of its heavy reliance on foreign aid. | AP

JULY 24

The Palestinian Authority has suspended payments to former prisoners due to the financial crisis. | Maan News Agency

Cairo's ambassador to the Palestinian Authority said that procedures for Palestinians entering Egypt have not changed, despite earlier reports that restrictions had been eased. | Maan News Agency

JULY 23

Israel is seeking a court's backing to raze eight Palestinian villages in the West Bank according to legal documents, in what an Israeli rights group called a potential "humanitarian disaster." | AFP

Israeli authorities have destroyed and exhumed dozens of graves in a pre-1948 Palestinian village in central Israel. | Maan News Agency

Akram al-Rekhawi ended a 102-day hunger strike after Israel's Prison Service agreed to release him on January 25, 2013, six months earlier than his original release date.| Maan News Agency

Egyptian officials announced that Palestinians will no longer need visas to enter the country, ending part of a five-year blockade on the Gaza Strip. | Maan News Agency

Israel plans to demolish eight villages in the West Bank to use the land for Israeli army training grounds. | Maan News Agency

Arab foreign ministers backed Palestinian plans to seek an upgrade to their status at the United Nations to that of a non-member state. | AFP

JULY 18

Minister of Prisoners' Affairs Issa Qaraqe said that Israel arrests 700 Palestinian minors annually (under the age of 18), 90 percent of whom are also subjected to torture, ill-treatment, pressure, and bargaining. | Palestine News Network

JULY 17

Peace Now, an Israeli settlement watchdog, accused the Israeli government of legalizing an unauthorized settlement outpost, Givat Salit, at the northern tip of the Jordan Valley. | AFP

Several Fatah leaders in the Gaza Strip resigned in protest against corruption in the selection process of party leaders, a statement said. | Maan News

JULY 16

Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad met with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in Jerusalem to discuss the prospects for negotiations with Israel, officials said. | Maan News

A senior Palestinian official suspected of embezzling public funds fell to his death from the third-floor window of a West Bank security compound where he was being interrogated; the official investigating the incident said Osama Mansour jumped and that there is security camera footage to prove it. | AP
 
A group of Gazan men and women had half-hour reunion with relatives in Israeli jails on Monday in the first such contact in more than five years as families from Gaza have not been allowed to visit their imprisoned relatives since June 2007 when Hamas took over Gaza. | AFP
 
Israel has agreed not to renew its detention order for Palestinian parliament speaker Aziz Dweik and will free the Hamas member on Thursday. | AFP
 

JULY 13

A Palestinian was killed when Israeli troops opened fire at him in an area near the border in the northern Gaza Strip. | AFP

The head of a medical committee investigating the death of Yasser Arafat said that the late President died from poisoning, but not could not confirm the use of a radioactive element called polonium. | Maan News Agency

Based on a deal struck between prisoners’ representatives and the Israeli prison services, limited visits by the families of Gaza prisoners will be allowed beginning Monday July 16th.| Palestine News Network

JULY 12

Relations between Israel and UNESCO reached a new low following the organization's inauguration of a Chair in Astronomy, Astrophysics and Space Sciences at the Islamic University of Gaza; this was made possible after UNESCO accepted Palestine as its 195th member. | Haaretz

UN agencies and NGOs reported that Israeli settler violence against Palestinians has increased by nearly 150 percent since 2009. | AFP

Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas met with U.S. Deputy Secretary of State William Burns to discuss the stalled peace process. | AFP

JULY 11

Mediation efforts by Hamas leader Khaled Mishaal failed to sway the Jordanian Muslim Brotherhood’s elections stance, who are poised to boycott upcoming polls; Hamas and the government deny any connection between Mishaal’s visit and the government’s ongoing talks over elections with the MB. | Jordan Times

The health ministry has been providing health services to displaced Syrians in Jordan at a cost set to reach JD30 million this year, a figure that is likely to increase as more displaced people cross into the Kingdom over the northern border. | Jordan Times

JULY 10

Former hunger-striker Mahmoud Sarsak arrived in the Gaza Strip after being released from Israeli custody; the soccer player has been held in Israeli administrative detention for three years. | Maan News Agency; Reuters

The Palestinian Authority cabinet agreed to hold local elections on October 20 in both the West Bank and Gaza Strip; a Hamas spokesperson responded angrily saying this move would block reconciliation. | Maan News Agency; AFP

A committee appointed by the Israeli government has reaffirmed Israel's longstanding position that the West Bank is not occupied territory and its non-binding report recommends a sweeping change of procedures in the West Bank to benefit settlers. | AP

JULY 9

Aide says Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas agreed to autopsy of the late Yasser Arafat in principle and has invited experts to test remains. | Al Jazeera

Netanyahu expressed willingness to release initially 25 Palestinian prisoners and another 100 by the end of 2012; President Abbas refused the offer, insisting that all 123 prisoners held since before the 1994 Oslo agreement be freed in a single release.| Haaretz; Maan News Agency

A Palestinian Prisoners' Society lawyer said that prisoner Akram al-Rikhawi entered the 91st day of a of hunger strike and is at risk of death due to his health condition; Nabil Al-Raee, artistic director of the Freedom Theater, also started an open hunger strike in prison. | Palestine News Network; Palestine News Network

JULY 5

The discovery of traces of a radioactive agent on clothing reportedly worn by Yasser Arafat reignited conspiracy theories about his death. As the Palestinian Authority prepares to exhume his body, Israeli government officials rejected suggestions that Israel may have poisoned him. | AP; Haaretz 

A study by Oxfam suggests that Palestinians could generate an extra £1bn ($1.5bn) a year if restrictions to their use of land, water, and movements were removed. The study also reported that Palestinians can use only 6 percent of the land, while settlers control 86 percent. | BBC

The Hamas-led government in Gaza called for the reform of the Central Elections Commission and said the body charged with updating the voter registry was imbalanced. | Maan News Agency

JULY 3

Palestinians are resuming protests today in Ramallah, demanding an end to negotiations with Israel and respect for freedom of expression after the Palestinian Authority police brutally dispersed protests this weekend. | Maan News Agency

Israel plans to start compiling land registry records of assets controlled by settlers which would bypass regular tabu land-listing processes and appears designed to prevent Palestinians from appealing the validity of the ownership listings. | Haaretz

Talks on the $70 billion a year global arms trade talks hit deadlock before starting Monday after Arab countries demanded that Palestinians be allowed to take part; this led to a threat of an Israeli walkout and a block on European Union presence at the conference. | AFP

JULY 2

Palestinian activists called for the Palestinian Authority to dismiss the head of police in Ramallah after two days of protests in the city were forcefully dispersed. | Reuters; Maan News Agency

Israel unsuccessfully sought a $1 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund for transfer to the Palestinian Authority to prevent its financial collapse; the PA government in the West Bank is facing its “worst financial crisis” since its 1994 establishment. | Reuters; Al Arabiya

A day before electoral registration was due to start in the Gaza Strip the Hamas government announced it was calling off the process due to repression of its members in the West Bank. | Maan News Agency; AFP

JUNE 29

UNESCO's World Heritage committee has voted to approve a Palestinian bid to place the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem on its list of sites of World Heritage in Danger. | AP

Palestinian activists urged the attorney general to arrest Israeli vice prime minister Shaul Mofaz when he visits Ramallah for talks on Sunday; more protests are planned during his visit. | AFP; Maan News Agency

Sweden upgraded Palestine's diplomatic representation to the status of an embassy. | Maan News Agency

JUNE 28

Two dozen prisoners in an Israeli detention facility in the occupied West Bank have launched a hunger strike against their living conditions. | Maan News Agency

The central elections committee will start an awareness campaign to update the electoral register in 256 centers in the Gaza Strip. | Maan News Agency

It is confirmed that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas will meet with Israeli Vice Premier Shaul Mofaz on Sunday in the highest-level meeting between the two sides since peace talks broke down in 2010. | Reuters

JUNE 27

A delegation of British lawyers concluded in an independent report that the belief that every Palestinian child is a potential terrorist may be leading to a "spiral of injustice" and breaches of international law in Israel's treatment of child detainees in military custody. | Guardian

An American investment firm has removed Caterpillar Inc. from three of its popular indexes that track socially responsible investments, citing concerns about the Israeli military’s use of company bulldozers in the Palestinian territories. | Washington Post

Egypt agreed to increase the number of passengers allowed to pass through the Rafah crossing with the Gaza Strip to 1,000 per day, up from 500. | Maan News Agency

JUNE 26

A month after prisoners signed a deal to end their mass hunger strike in Israeli jails, prisoner groups warn that Israeli authorities are not upholding their side of the bargain. | Maan News Agency

Settlers began moving out of apartment blocs that Israel's Supreme Court ruled had been built illegally on Palestinian-owned land, after they reached an agreement with the government to go quietly. | Reuters

President Mahmoud Abbas called for an international peace conference in Moscow after meeting with Russian President Vladmir Putin in the West Bank city of Bethlehem. | Maan News Agency

JUNE 25

A truce reportedly brokered by Egypt between Israel and Gaza militants seemed to have taken effect overnight Saturday, as airstrikes and rocket fire held off after a week of deadly violence that left one Israeli and as many as 15 Palestinians dead. | Maan News Agency; Bloomberg

PLO negotiator Muhammad Ishtayya said that the United States and other foreign nations are pressing the Palestinian leadership to suspend their campaign for membership of UN bodies until after the U.S. presidential election. | Maan News Agency

Mahmoud Abbas and Khalid Mashaal are set to organize a meeting now that the Egyptian presidential election results have been announced; they were scheduled to meet last Wednesday but the meeting was postponed amid the Egypt presidential electoral run-off. | Maan News Agency

JUNE 22

Israeli gunboats shelled a beach in northern Gaza late Thursday night, causing two explosions but no injuries. | Maan News Agency

Israel's deputy premier told US President Barack Obama on Thursday that there is an 18-month window for talks with the PLO and said agreements on borders and security could be reached. | Maan News Agency

JUNE 21

Hamas has said it will commit to a ceasefire after more than 100 rockets were fired from Gaza into Israel in the past three days and eight Palestinians, including three teenagers, were killed in Israeli airstrikes. | Guardian

Palestinians in the village of Susiya have clung to their arid acres for decades, living without proper electricity or water while Israel provides both to Jewish settlers on nearby hills; but demolition orders distributed last week by the Israelis aim to destroy virtually the entire village. | AP

Saeb Erekat and Shaul Mofaz held separate meetings with Hillary Clinton, but avoided each other while in Washington. | Haaretz

JUNE 20

Israel killed a Gaza militant as a surge of fighting across the border of the Palestinian enclave entered a third day despite what Egypt said were its efforts to broker a truce. | Reuters; Al Jazeera

A poll hosted by the Palestine News Network has shown that the majority of Palestinians, around 80 percent, have no confidence in the reconciliation between Fatah and Hamas, saying that there is no hope for the reconciliation. | Palestine News Network

American writer Alice Walker won't let an Israeli publisher release a new Hebrew edition of her Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, "The Color Purple," saying she objects to Israel's treatment of the Palestinian people. | AP

JUNE 19

Akram al-Rekhawi, a diabetic prisoner on his 64th day of hunger strike, was briefly hospitalized today, along with fellow hunger striking prisoner Samer al-Barq; they were returned to the Ramle prison clinic after undergoing medical tests. | Maan News Agency

Israeli air strikes have killed six Palestinians in Gaza during the past 24 hours following an attack on an Israeli border fence construction site that left one worker dead. | CNN

Palestinian officials slammed the torching of a West Bank mosque overnight, an attack Israel settlers are suspected of carrying out. | Maan News Agency; CNN

JUNE 18

Mahmoud al-Sarsak, on hunger strike in an Israeli jail for 92 days, agreed to start eating on Monday in a deal that will see him released on July 10, his lawyer said. | Maan News Agency

Two Palestinian men were killed on Monday and five, including a woman and a child, were injured in Israeli airstrikes when Israeli military forces shelled the northern Gaza Strip. | Maan News Agency; Maan News Agency

Several top-ranking Palestinian officials are under investigation by the Palestinian Authority anti-corruption commission, including PA Foreign Minister Riyad al-Malki. | Maan News Agency

JUNE 15

Amnesty International has called on Israel to either admit Mahmoud Sarsak to a hospital or release him; Sarsak is has been on hunger strike for over 80 days and is in danger of dying. | Amnesty International

A Fatah official said a meeting between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Mahmoud Abbas has been discussed; Abbas will demand the release of 123 long-term prisoners before agreeing to meet Netanyahu. | Maan News Agency; Maan News Agency

Israeli forces have killed nearly 2,300 Palestinians and injured 7,700 in Gaza over the last five years, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said. | Maan News Agency

JUNE 14

The Palestine Football Association asked UEFA to bar Israel from hosting the 2013 European Under-21 Championshipover its detention without trial of Palestinian players Mahmud Sarsak, Omar Abu Rois and Mohammed Nimr. As of today, Sarsak has been on a hunger strike for 87 days. | AFP

The Al-Aqsa Foundation for Endowment and Heritage said that Israeli authorities started excavation work in and around Jerusalem's old city, claiming that the work is part of Israeli plans to Judaize Palestinian neighborhoods in the city. | Maan News Agency

Marking the fifth anniversary of the Blockade of the Gaza Strip, fifty international charities and UN agencies called on Israel to lift its years-long blockade. These organizations include Amnesty International, the World Health Organization, and UNICEF. | Maan News Agency; Reuters

JUNE 13

FIFA president Sepp Blatter urged the Israeli Football Association to intervene in the case of Palestinian footballer Mahmoud Sarsak, held in Israeli detention without charge or trial and now on hunger strike for 86 days. | CNN; AFP

A representative of the Palestinian Christian community warned that Israeli officials were working to prevent the inclusion of Bethlehem's Nativity Church on UNESCO's list of World Heritage sites. | Maan News Agency

Hundreds of Palestinian workers held a protest outside a northern West Bank crossing into Israel this morning against what they described as mistreatment by Israeli security staff. | Maan News Agency

JUNE 12

After a meeting between the prisoner strike committee in Nafha prison and Israeli prison administration, prison administrators decided to start arranging visits for Gazan prisoners at the end of the month, each prisoner allowed two 45 minute visits a month. | Palestine News Network

Israel stripped the residency rights of more than 100,000 individuals from Gaza and an additional 150,000 from the West Bank in the 27 years between the 1967 occupation of Palestinian territories and the 1994 establishment of the Palestinian Authority. | Palestine News Network; Haaretz

An Israeli MK and AIPAC were behind the US Senate bid to cut total number of Palestinian refugees by requiring specifics on how many of the 5 million Palestinians who receive aid from UNRWA were personally displaced from their homes in 1948, and how many are their descendants. | Haaretz

JUNE 11

Saeb Erekat said that while he has held secret talks with Israeli envoys, a return to full negotiations will depend on a full settlement freeze; President Mahmoud Abbas said he was ready to hold dialogue with Israel if it frees prisoners, re-arms his police, and freezes settlements. | Maan News Agency; Reuters

Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails declared a one-day hunger strike today in solidarity with detainees Mahmoud Sarsak, Akram Rikhawi and Samer Al Bark, hunger striking for 82 days, 58 days and 19 days, respectively. | Al Jazeera

Israel Prisons Service said that Palestinian prisoner Mahmoud Sarsak, who has been on hunger strike for more than 80 days, had ended his protest, but Palestinian sources, including his lawyer, denied the claim. | AFP

JUNE 8

A UN official said that Israel will be responsible for any permanent harm caused to prisoners on long-term hunger strike as an Israeli rights group says that two Palestinian hunger strikers imprisoned in Israel are just clinging to life. | AP; Maan News Agency

A former aide to the late President Yasser Arafat, Mohammad Rashid, convicted of corruption has dismissed the charge as politically motivated. | Maan News Agency

Trucks carrying Qatari fuel crossed into southern Gaza on Thursday after weeks of delays at the Egyptian border. | Maan News Agency

JUNE 7

Entering the 80th day of a hunger strike Wednesday, former Palestinian national football player Mahmoud Sarsak said he will continue until he is released from the Israeli prisonwhere he has been held without charge since July 2009. Sarsak is in immediate risk of death. | CNN; Maan News Agency

Israel said it would build 851 new settler homes in the occupied West Bank just hours after the Knesset rejected a bill that proposed legalizing all settler apartments on privately owned Palestinian land. | Reuters

The Gaza Strip’s sole power plant stopped functioning due to delays on the Egyptian border preventing the some 150,000 liters of Qatari fuel from entering Gaza. | Maan News Agency

JUNE 6

Israeli authorities released former hunger-striker Thaer Halahla, 33, from Israeli jail last night; meanwhile doctors have warn that Mahmoud Sarsak, 25, is risking death or permanent damage with his 80-day hunger strike to end his administrative detention. | Maan News Agency; Guardian

Israeli MPs voted down the preliminary reading of a draft bill that would have retroactively legalized settler homes built on private Palestinian land by a 22-69 vote. | AFP

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas urged Israel to accept a two-state solution based on 1967 borders, warning that the opportunity "may not stay on the table for a long time" given the political upheavals caused by the Arab Spring. | Reuters

JUNE 5

As factions met Monday in Amman to discuss Palestinian National Council elections, activists insist the body must represent all Palestinians, even in the diaspora; meanwhile a PLO reform committee agreed to regulations designed to boost women and youth candidates for its first parliamentary election. | Maan News Agency; Maan News Agency

Hundreds of young settlers began marching from a West Bank outpost to Jerusalem to protest against plans to raze five homes built on private Palestinian land. | AFP

UNESCO said it will for the first time consider a Palestinian site for its World Heritage List— Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity—after the Palestinians joined the UN heritage body last year. | AFP

JUNE 4

A series of Israeli air strikes wounded at least seven Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, including two children, and left one man dead. | Reuters

Palestinian prisoners in Israel have threatened to re-launch a mass hunger strike, saying Israel reneged on a deal that ended their recent hunger protest; meanwhile an Israeli military court renewed the administrative detention of a prisoners’ representative who helped broker last month's deal to improve detainees' conditions. | Al Jazeera; Maan News Agency

Arab states pledged to provide the Palestinian Authority with $100 million each month as a back-up if Israel withholds tax revenues. | Maan News Agency

JUNE 1

Israeli airstrikes wounded four Palestinians in the southern Gaza Strip early Friday, hours after an Israeli soldier and Palestinian militant were killed in an exchange of fire along the border. | Maan News Agency

Rights groups are concerned for the lives of two Palestinian prisoners on hunger strike, Mahmoud al-Sarsak refusing food for 74 days and Akram al-Rekhawi refusing food for 50 days; Israeli prison service is refusing to transfer them to a civilian hospital. | Maan News Agency

President Mahmoud Abbas will call a Palestinian Legislative Council meeting in late June after a unity government has been chosen. | Maan News Agency

MAY 31

Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip gathered to welcome the return of the bodies of 91 Palestinians which had been held in an Israeli cemetery; this was slated by Israeli officials as a goodwill "gesture" to President Mahmoud Abbas. | Maan News Agency; AFP

US authorities disagree on a congressional request to distinguish between Palestinians displaced by the 1948 Arab-Israeli conflict and their descendants; the State Department argues that such a move would force the US to prejudge one of the final status issues of peace negotiations - refugees. | AP

The major market networks in Switzerland decided to remove "Made in Israel" labels to indicate settlement products and provide customers with transparency. | Palestine News Network

MAY 30

A top Palestinian official rejected a suggestion made by Defense Minister Ehud Barak that Israel should consider unilaterally withdrawing from the West Bank in case peace talks failed, saying that such a move would only serve to perpetuate the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. | Haaretz

The UN envoy for the Middle East peace process warned a session of the UN Security Council that the continuing diplomatic impasse between Israel and the PLO will likely force a one-state solution. | Maan News Agency

Fatah and Hamas will hold a meeting between the PA president Mahmoud Abbas and Hamas leader Khaled Meshal in Cairo, to finalize and announce the formation of the national censuses government. | Palestine News Network

MAY 29

Prisoners rejected an Israeli proposal to allow detainees from Gaza to receive one half-hour visit every two months; family visits to Gaza detainees was one of the demands agreed upon when 2,000 Palestinian prisoners ended their month-long hunger strike. | Maan News Agency

Fatah and Hamas began talks to form a unity government in a renewed bid to heal political rifts, paving the way for a general election; the Central Elections Commission will begin the voter registration process in Gaza in July. | Reuters; Maan News Agency

The Palestinian Authority signed a two-year deal with Israeli oil refineries to supply gasoline, diesel fuel and other oil products that will amount to half the Palestinian Authority's oil needs valued at NIS 1.9 billion. | Haaretz; Reuters

MAY 25

Prisoners in Israel's Huwwara detention center started a hunger strike in protest of poor conditions. | Maan News Agency

Jailed Hamas MP Aziz Dweik rejected an Israeli proposal to release him to exile; Dweik is the speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council and is being held in Ofer prison in administrative detention, without charge or trial. | Maan News Agency

MAY 24

The Amnesty International 2012 annual report, released on Wednesday, is highly critical of Israeli policies toward the Palestinians, charging that the Israel Defense Forces frequently uses excessive and lethal force against Palestinian demonstrators. | Haaretz; Palestine News Network

Amnesty International said that Palestinian security forces in the West Bank and Gaza abuse detainees with impunity and use excessive force against demonstrators, accusing Fatah and Hamas security forces of arbitrarily detaining each other's supporters. | Maan News Agency

Press freedom watchdogs have called on the Israeli military to release the director of the Palestine Prisoner Channel, Baha Khairi Moussa, who was detained last Thursday. | Guardian

MAY 23

Since May 5, Hamas student activists have remained on Birzeit University’s campus - a sanctuary considered off limits to the security forces - to evade arrest; they say that President Mahmoud Abbas' security forces keep harassing them. | AP

Israeli gunboats and an Egyptian clampdown on fuel smuggling into the Gaza Strip are strangling the Palestinian enclave's small fishing fleet, slowly turning a generation of fishermen into fishmongers. | Reuters

Public sector workers continued a partial strike, leaving work at 11 a.m.; most of their demands have been agreed to but have yet to be implemented. | Maan News Agency

MAY 22

"Airplane Hill,” in the southern fringes of Jerusalem's city limits has become the focus of hectic activity in the last six months as Israel released plans for 2,610 housing units and 1,110 hotel rooms; building could start later this year, creating the first new Israeli settlement in 15 years. | Reuters

Dirar Abu Sisi, a Gaza engineer who was kidnapped by Israel in Ukraine last year, is the last remaining prisoner held in solitary confinement, after the hunger-strike deal sought to end the practice; he is being held in an isolation cell in Ashkelon prison.| Maan News Agency

While most Palestinian prisoners freed in the Gilad Shalit deal were allowed to go home, the 163 prisoners who were exiled to Gaza are finding living in the strip a challenge. | AFP

MAY 18

The Committee of Israeli Internal Security revealed a project aimed to seize lands from Qalqilya and Tul Karem to expand the settlement of Ariel, north of the West Bank; 2100 new settlement units are planned. | Palestine News Network

The leaderships of Hamas and Fatah will meet in Cairo next week to revive their stalled reconciliation agreement. | Maan News Agency

Interpol is refusing to cooperate with Palestinian prosecutors to summon Muhammad Rashid, former economic adviser to Yasser Arafat, to answer corruption charges; he has failed to respond to repeated summons.| Maan News Agency

MAY 17

Three Palestinian prisoners, Mahmoud Sarsak, Akram al-Rekhawi and Mohammad Abdul Aziz, are still refusing food, despite the signing of a deal to end a mass prisoner hunger strike; they are in the hospital of al-Ramlah Israeli prison. | Al Arabiya; Palestine News Network

The late Yasser Arafat’s powerful moneyman, Mohammed Rashid, is the target of the highest-profile Palestinian corruption probe to date, facing allegations he syphoned off millions of dollars in public funds. | Al Arabiya

MAY 16

The reshuffled Palestinian Authority government will be sworn in Wednesday, officials said, in a move that Hamas condemned and labeled illegitimate. In the new government, Fayyad is expected to lose his post as finance minister. Other changes include a new portfolio for Jerusalem while the education ministry will be split from the higher education post. | Maan News Agency

A deal struck early Tuesday to end the Palestinian prisoners' hunger strike will not halt administrative detention, prisoners groups said Wednesday. | Maan News Agency

Israeli Police have established a new task force ahead of a number of demolitions of West Bank settlements and outposts that are due to take place by the end of this year. | Haaretz

MAY 15

Hundreds of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails ended a hunger strike on Monday that had lasted for weeks, signing an agreement with the Israeli authorities that promised improved conditions, according to officials. | New York Times

Palestinians are marking Nakba Day, or the "day of catastrophe", with protests taking place across the Palestinian territories on Tuesday with the main rally staged in Ramallah in the occupied West Bank. Demonstrations also took place at the nearby Ofer military prison and Qalandia checkpoint where there were some minor clashes. Over 80 Palestinians were injured in clashes with Israeli forces near Ramallah. | Al Jazeera; Maan News Agency

The attorney for two of the men who have been fasting the longest and are reported to be nearing death, Bilal Diab and Taer Halahleh, has said the two will continue their strike until they are released. | Washington Post

MAY 14

Palestinian officials said Monday that an Egyptian-brokered deal with Israel to end a hunger strike by hundreds of Palestinian prisoners awaited only the prisoners' approval. Meanwhile, Qaddura Fares, the head of the Palestinian Prisoners Society, said Monday that a senior Egyptian officer was en route to an Israeli jail to move forward talks to end detainees' hunger strike. | New York Times; Maan News Agency

The 27 foreign ministers of the European Union published on Monday a strong denunciation of Israel's policies in the West Bank. The announcement, reported for the first time by Haaretz, says that Israel's policies pose a threat to a two-state solution." | Haaretz

Protesters in support of Palestinian hunger strikers and against illegal settlements have blocked the road to the illegal settlement Ma'ale Adumim, blocking hundreds of cars from entering the settlement. | Palestine News Network

MAY 11

The Palestinian Center for Human Rights has condemned the Gaza Strip's Hamas government on Thursday for violently breaking up a Palestinian literature festival. | Haaretz

Israel is still refusing to transfer Bilal Diab and Thaer Halahla to a hospital after 73 days on hunger strike, the Prisoners Society said Friday. The International Committee for the Red Cross on Monday warned that Halahla, Diab and four other long-term hunger strikers were in "imminent danger of dying" and called on Israel to transfer them to hospital. | Ma’an News Agency

Hundreds of Palestinians on hunger strike in Israeli jails said Friday they would shun vitamin supplements and prison clinics in an escalation of their mass protest against detention conditions. | Ma’an News Agency

MAY 10

President Mahmoud Abbas met Thursday with the United Nations envoy for the Middle East peace processto discuss the issue of Palestinian prisoners, a UN official said. | Ma’an News Agency

A committee appointed by the Commissioner of the Israeli Prison Service will release some prisoners from solitary confinement as some of the requests made by hunger-striking Palestinian prisoners are met. | Palestine News Network

The World Bank contributed $3 million to the PA Ministry of National Economy for the provision of business development services. The project will create a business development unit at the ministry, and modernize technology infrastructure, services and skills, the World Bank said. | Ma’an News Agency

MAY 9

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said he was ready to engage with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on a Middle East peace agreement if he proposes "anything promising or positive". | Reuters

A high-profile Fatah delegation from the West Bank is scheduled to visit the Gaza Strip on Wednesday to hold talks with representatives of Fatah and other factions in the coastal enclave. | Maan News Agency

Palestinians blocked staff from entering the United Nations office in Ramallah Wednesday to protest U.N. silence on the hunger strikes in Israeli prisons. | UPI

MAY 8

Administrative detainees Bilal Diab and Thaer Halahleh entered their 71st day of hunger strike while more than 2000 prisoners entered their 21st day; despite deteriorating health Diab and Halahleh will continue with the strike. | Palestine News Network; AP

The Palestinian Authority called on the international community to immediately intervene on behalf of hunger-striking prisoners in Israeli jails. | Maan News Agency

In light of the formation of a unity government in Israel and the cancellation of elections, the Palestinian authority wants Israel's incoming unity government to halt all settlement activity on occupied land if it wants peace negotiations. | Haaretz

MAY 7

Israel's Supreme Court turned down an appeal for release by two Palestinians who have been on hunger strike for 70 days and are in danger of dying; the High Court of Justice said that the state should consider taking steps to alter the way that detentions are undertaken. | Reuters; CNN; Haaretz

A Fatah official said that President Mahmoud Abbas will announce a new cabinet by Tuesday, and that current Palestinian Authority PM Salam Fayyad is certain to remain head of the government after the coming ministerial reshuffle.| Maan News Agency; Maan News Agency

The commander of the Israeli Prison Service's elite “Masada” unit revealed that undercover soldiers hurled stones in the direction of IDF soldiers as part of their activity to counter weekly demonstrations in the Palestinian village of Bil'in. | Haaretz

MAY 4

Responding to charges that the Israeli prison administration is withholding legal counsel from hunger striking Palestinian prisoners, prison administrators said that prisoners' rights to see an attorney is conditional on their getting out of bed to ask for a meeting with a lawyer. | Palestine News Network

President Mahmoud Abbas has demanded that the archive of late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat in Tunisia be handed over to his care. | Maan News Agency

According to Israeli media Hamas chief Khalid Mashaal held secret talks with officials in Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert's government in 2006; Hamas denies these reports. | Maan News Agency

MAY 3

A Cairo meeting between Hamas chief Khaled Meshaal and an official of the rival Fatah movement made no headway on the formation of a Palestinian national unity government. | AFP

Hamas has been holding secret political talks with five European Union member states which, if confirmed, would be a sign that the isolation of the Gaza-based Palestinian movement is easing in the wake of the Arab uprisings. | AP

Facing Israel's highest court in their wheelchairs, two Palestinian prisoners on the 66th day of their hunger strike appealed for their release from detention without trial; Israel's Supreme Court postponed issuing a decision on their appeals. | Reuters; Maan News Agency

While the United Methodist Church voted against divestment from companies that provide equipment for Israel to control the occupied territories, it also passed a strongly worded resolution calling for “all nations to prohibit the import of products made by companies in Israeli settlements on Palestinian land.” | New York Times

MAY 2

Israel's military closed its probe into the 2009 shelling of a house in Gaza that killed 21 members of the Samouni family during Operation Cast Lead saying that the civilians had not been purposefully targeted and that the incident did not constitute a war crime. | Al Jazeera; Reuters

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Salam Fayyad have agreed to form a new Cabinet headed by Fayyad after Abbas dropped his demand for a reshuffle.| UPI

Hamas political bureau head Khaled Meshal is expected to keep his post after an internal vote, but sources said that Hamas leaders have decided to transfer some of his critical responsibilities to the leadership in the Gaza Strip, including budget and military wing. | Haaretz

MAY 1

Physicians for Human Rights-Israel warned that two Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails who have been on hunger strike for 62 days are in danger of dyingand are receiving inadequate medical care. There are about 1,430 Palestinian prisoners on hunger strike in Israeli prison. | AFP

An Israeli military court renewed the administrative detention of lawmaker Hassan Yousef for a further six months, without charges. | Maan News Agency

Palestinian television station Wattan TV is being sued next week over an investigation into alleged corruption at a Palestinian university involving the son of a senior Palestinian Authority official. | Guardian

APRIL 27

Fatah has not discussed reconciliation with Hamas for two months. | Maan News Agency

An activist group representing 1,650 Palestinian prisoners on a hunger strike urged Israel to start talks on the treatment of prisoners. | UPI

Nineteen-year-old Wasim Barham was critically injured after Israeli forces fired a tear gas canister at his head at a demonstration near Qalqiliya. | Maan News Agency

APRIL 26

The chief executive of the largest telecommunications company in the West Bank said they had no choice but to enforce censorship orders issued by the Palestinian Authority. | Maan News Agency

The number of Palestinian prisoners on hunger strike in Israeli jails has grown to 2,000, with more preparing to join the protest next week. | Guardian

President Obama, citing the United States' national security interests, waived restrictions on funding for the Palestinian Authority. | UPI

APRIL 25

It has been confirmed that the Palestinian Authority has blocked eight critical news websites in the West Bank since February 2012. | Palestine News Network; UPI

A representative of Physicians for Human Rights said the administration for prisons is preventing doctors from visiting prisoners who are on hunger strike, claiming the prisons' doctor is doing the appropriate examinations. | Palestine News Network

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said that high-level Arab visits to Jerusalem to pray privately at the third holiest site in Islam should not be seen as acceptance of Israel's disputed grip on the eastern half of the city. | Reuters

APRIL 24

Israel legalized three settler outposts, which the Palestinians denounced as a response to a letter from President Abbas demanding a halt to settlement activity; Palestinian leaders are examining ways to secure a resolution from the UN condemning Israeli settlement building. | Maan News Agency; AFP

Israel has taken measures against some 1,200 Palestinian prisoners on a hunger strike, denying them family visits and separating them from inmates not taking part in the protest. | Reuters

Members of Hamas said that the party held secret elections for the regional politbureau which were swept by candidates of its militant wing; PM Haniyeh won elections to lead the party's political office in the Gaza Strip. | Maan News Agency; Palestine News Network

APRIL 23

The Palestinian Authority has quietly instructed Internet providers to block access to news websites whose reporting is critical of President Mahmoud Abbas. | Maan News Agency

At least 1,350 Palestinian prisoners being held in Israeli jails are observing an open-ended hunger strike after another 150 inmates began refusing food; meanwhile an Israeli military court rejected appeals by two Palestinian prisoners who have been refusing food for 55 days. | AFP; AFP; Maan News Agency

A crisis has emerged between President Abbas and Prime Minister Salaam Fayyad over the latter's refusal to deliver a letter to Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu last week. | Maan News Agency

APRIL 20

The U.N.'s human rights office says three men recently sentenced to death in the Palestinian territory of Gaza were executed unlawfully without regular access to lawyers. | AP

Hamas senior party leader Moussa Abu Marzouk says the movement will not be bound by any agreement reached between the Palestinian Authority and Israel. | Maan News Agency; Haaretz

A team of experts is researching the possibility of drilling for oil in the West Bank. | Maan News Agency

APRIL 19

On Wednesday 18th April, the three day trial of Arab Knesset member Mohammad Barakeh will commence in an Israeli court in Tel Aviv, under the pretext that he prevented the arrest of one of the youth in a Bil'in demonstration, West of Ramallah, in 2005 and that he assaulted an Israeli soldier during a demonstration against the War on Lebanon in 2006, as alleged by the prosecution in Israel. | Palestine News Network

The demand for micro-loans has risen steeply in the West Bank and Gaza Strip in recent years, according to data from the Palestinian Network for Small and Microfinance (Sharakeh), which represents 11 microfinance non-profit institutions whose total loan portfolio was $75 million by the end of 2011. | Ma’an News Agency

Israeli authorities on Wednesday banned the former grand Mufti of Jerusalem entry into the Haram al-Sharif compound. Sheikh Ekrima Sabri, who was appointed Mufti of Jerusalem and Palestine by late president Yasser Arafat, said the decision was "arbitrary and illegal," and challenges the jurisdiction of the Islamic Wafq. | Ma’an News Agency

APRIL 18

A Palestinian delegation handed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a letter setting out their grievances, but Prime Minister Salam Fayyad backed out of what would have been the highest-level meeting since 2010. | Reuters; AP

The PA Ministry of Detainee Affairs said that Israel has tightened procedures against prisoners on a mass hunger-strike launched a day earlier. | Maan News Agency

The agenda set for the Israeli Knesset's special session being held today includes a bill that, if passed, would legitimize the arbitrary building of Israeli settlement outposts. | Palestine News Network

APRIL 17

A planned meeting between the Israeli and Palestinian prime ministers may be cancelled or postponedafter Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad refused to attend. | Reuters; Haaretz

At least 1,200 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails launched an open-ended hunger strike to commemorate Palestinian Prisoner’s Day, upping the stakes in a protest movement that has put Israel under pressure. | Reuters; Al Jazeera

Palestinian prisoner Khader Adnan, who is currently residing at al-Ramlah hospital, is expected to be released today while Israeli Security Services threaten to arrest his family and friends. | Palestine News Network

APRIL 16

Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas has no intention of dissolving the Palestinian Authority, while noting that it has been rendered largely powerless by Israel. | AFP; Maan News Agency

Some 1,600 Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails are due to begin a mass hunger strike on Tuesday, Palestinian Prisoner’s Day, to protest their conditions. | AFP

The results of Hamas' internal leadership reshuffle are still confidential. | Maan News Agency

APRIL 13

President Mahmoud Abbas called for NATO forces to replace Israeli troops on Palestinian land. | Maan News Agency

The Middle East Quartet appealed for continued international support to the Palestinian Authority for its institution building efforts in a new bid to restart talks. | Palestine News Network

Organizers of a planned pro-Palestinian demonstration said they expect about 1,000 activists from Europe and North America to board flights for Israel this weekend, despite Israeli threats to deport them. | AP

APRIL 12

Israel's Benjamin Netanyahu will propose holding direct talks with Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbaswhen he meets Prime Minister Salam Fayyad in Jerusalem next week. | AFP; Haaretz

Palestinians spurned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s latest invitation to resume peace talks, insisting the Israelis freeze settlement construction first. | Washington Post

A member of the gas company association in Gaza said that there has been a noticeable improvement in fuel coming into Gaza via Egypt. | Maan News Agency

APRIL 11

Palestinian prisoner Bilal Diab, detained by Israel and on hunger strike for 41 days, is in danger says Tel Aviv-based Physicians for Human Rights-Israel. | AFP

The Palestinian Authority says it has poured around $7 billion into the Gaza Strip since its rival Hamas seized control in 2007; a barrage of mutual accusations has recently driven Hamas and Fatah ever further apart as efforts at reconciliation are stalled. | Reuters

Envoys met in Washington to prepare for a high-level meeting of the Diplomatic Quartet aimed at reviving Israeli-Palestinian peace talks that stalled in 2010; Washington has low hopes that the stalled Israeli-Palestinian peace process will restart. | UPI; AFP

APRIL 10

Israeil Police are preparing to send reinforcements to Ben-Gurion Airport next Sunday to prevent the entry of a large group of pro-Palestinian activists planning to journey to the West Bank as part of the “Welcome to Palestine” campaign. | Haaretz

Palestine can still pursue an investigation into Israeli war crimes during the last offensive on Gaza at the International Criminal Court if the PLO signs the Rome Statute or goes to the UN General Assembly asking to become a non-member state. | Maan News Agency

APRIL 9

President Mahmoud Abbas said he will ask the UN General Assembly to recognize Palestinian statehood if Israel does not respond to his demands for the resumption of negotiations.| Maan News Agency; Haaretz

The World Bank plans to transfer $55 million to the Trust Fund for Gaza and the West Bank to help the two governments “build institutions.” | UPI

Authorities in Hamas-controlled Gaza have executed three prisoners, including a Palestinian convicted of collaborating with Israel. | Al Jazeera

APRIL 6

The chief Israeli architect of the Oslo accords urged the Palestinian leadership to declare the death of the peace process that he helped instigate; meanwhile the two sides met in Amman Thursday night.| Telegraph

Israeli military spokesman announced the imposition of a comprehensive closure on the Palestinian territories starting Thursday evening until Saturday evening on the occasion of the Jewish Passover holiday. | Palestine News Network; Maan News Agency

The Palestinian stock exchange made its market debut on Wednesday, weathering a year of regional political and economic turmoil brought on by the Arab spring to attract investors for the first of several planned share sales. | Reuters

APRIL 4

The Israeli and Palestinian prime ministers will meet later this month.| Reuters; Al Jazeera

Israeli forces evicted a group of settlers from a disputed house in the West Bank city of Hebron, a day after they were ordered to leave the property. | AFP

Journalists in the West Bank urged the Palestinian Authority to respect freedom of speech after a week in which it detained three vocal critics, including two reporters. | Reuters; Maan News Agency

APRIL 3

The International Criminal Court rejected a Palestinian bid to investigate Israeli war crimes during 'Cast Lead' in Gaza because Palestine is currently recognized by United Nations as “observer,” not as a “Non-member State”. | Haaretz

Fuel imports from Israel to Gaza will begin Wednesday following an agreement between the Palestinian governments in Ramallah and Gaza City. | Maan News Agency

Israeli PM Netanyahu overruled the planned eviction of Jewish settlers from a building in Hebron that is flashpoint of tensions with Palestinians; about 20 settlers moved into the building last Thursday night. | Reuters

APRIL 2

Former hunger-striker Hana Shalabi has been escorted to Gazathrough the Erez crossing between Israel and the northern Gaza Strip. | Maan News Agency; AFP; Maan News Agency

Jailed Fatah leader Marwan Barghouti has been put in solitary confinement in an Israeli prison after he sent a statement calling for civil resistance last week. | Maan News Agency

Hamas urged Fatah leader and President Mahmoud Abbas to consult with factions and form a unity government.| Maan News Agency

MARCH 30

The Red Cross said it would ship emergency supplies of fuel to help alleviate the Gaza Strip's worsening energy crisis, which is hitting medical services hard; 36 ambulances are now out of service. | AFP; Maan News Agency

A deal to was reached to end Palestinian prisoner Hana Shalabi’s 43-day hunger strike; she will be sent to Gaza for three years in exchange for ending her strike. | Maan News Agency; Al Jazeera

Israeli soldiers fired rubber coated bullets, tear gas and stun grenades to break up Palestinian demonstrations in the West Bank to commemorate Land Day; at least 121 people have been injured. | Al Jazeera; Maan News Agency

MARCH 29

President Mahmoud Abbas said that the reconciliation deal between Fatah and Hamas has broken down. | Maan News Agency

All members of the UN Security Council have accepted an invitation to visit the Occupied Palestinian Territory except the US. | Maan News Agency

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas urged Arab leaders gathered for a summit in Baghdad to fulfill their standing pledges for financial aid for the Palestinians. | AP

MARCH 28

An Egyptian parliamentary delegation will arrive in Gaza on Wednesday to meet with Hamas officials over the ongoing fuel crisis in the coastal enclave. | Maan News Agency

Dozens of international delegations comprising hundreds of pro-Palestinian activists began arriving in Lebanon for the massive demonstrations planned for Land Day on March 30. | Haaretz

A reconciliation committee will meet in the West Bank to tackle a recent escalation in political detentions between still-warring factions Hamas and Fatah. | Maan News Agency

MARCH 27

After the UN Human Rights Council voted to launch an international investigation into Israeli settlements last week, the PA prisoners ministry is preparing to ask the UN to force an end to Israel's detention of Palestinians without charge. | Maan News Agency

Another female Palestinian administrative detainee in Israeli prison, Amani Khandakji, has joined Hana Shalabi on hunger strike; Shalabi is in grave danger of death as she is refusing all foods except salt, calcium, and vitamin K. | Palestine News Network

The Palestinian Constitutional Court in Ramallah rejected a legal challenge to President Mahmoud Abbas's appointment as prime minister of a national unity government. | Maan News Agency

MARCH 26

Israel severed contacts with the UN Human Rights Council after it launched an international investigation into Jewish settlements in the West Bank; Israeli government ministers will discuss sanctions against the PA and UN Human Rights Council. | Reuters; Maan News Agency

An Israeli military court rejected the appeal of Palestinian prisoner Hana Shalabi, on hunger strike for 39 days; her case will now go to the High Court and she will continue her hunger strike. | Al Jazeera

U.S. lawmakers released $88.6 million in development aid for Palestinians that they had held since last summer, a move that should help ease a fiscal crisis in the aid-dependent Palestinian economy. | Reuters

MARCH 22

The Palestinian Authority asked the United Nations Human Rights Council to conduct a formal inquiry into the impact of Israeli settlements in the occupied territories. | Reuters

Addameer, Physicians for Human Rights-Israel, and Al-Haq express their concern for Hana Shalabi’s health, who is at immediate risk of death on her 34th day of hunger strike; the Israeli Prison Service refuses to transfer her to the hospital. | Palestine News Network

Half of Gaza's ambulances and fire trucks are out of service due to the fuel crisis. | Maan News Agency

MARCH 21

Hana Shalabi’s appeal session that was held today in the Israeli prison Ofer ended with no positive results or agreements; Ms. Shalabi, who has been on hunger strike for 33 days, was taken to a hospital briefly over health concerns. | Palestine News Network; AFP

Cooking gas in Gaza has almost completely run out as supplies sent through Israel have been negligible over the past two months; the 30 licensed gas stations are open four hours a week while gas cylinders pile up waiting to be refilled. | Palestine News Network

Hunger-striking Palestinian prisoner Hana Shalabi was transferred to a hospital after her condition deteriorated. She will maintain her strike despite pressure to back down after 34 days without food. | CNN; Maan News Agency

MARCH 20

Hana Shalabi’s appeal session that was held today in the Israeli prison Ofer ended with no positive results or agreements; Ms. Shalabi, who has been on hunger strike for 33 days, was taken to a hospital briefly over health concerns. | Palestine News Network; AFP

PLO official Saeb Erekat said that President Mahmoud Abbas insisted Palestinians are ready to return to negotiations if Israel commits to Quartet requirements, in a conversation with US President Barack Obama. | Maan News Agency

A new UN report reveals that Jewish settlers have seized dozens of natural springs in the occupied West Bank, barring Palestinians or limiting their access to scarce water sources. | Reuters

MARCH 19

The Palestinian Authority and Israel are holding a meeting in Tel Aviv in a bid to overhaul the Paris Protocol which gives Israel permission to collect taxes from the Palestinian Authority. | Palestine News Network; Reuters

The Israeli military is using dogs to police anti-fence protests in West Bank; 24-year-old Ahmad Stehwi was injured after being attacked by an Israeli military dog. | Palestine News Network; Haaretz

An Israeli court will hold a hearing for hunger-striking detainee Hana Shalabi on March 20 without her presence. It has been reported that her health is deteriorating rapidly on the 33rd day of her hunger strike. | Maan News Agency; Palestine News Network

MARCH 16

Sources in Damascus say Syrian security forces threatened to raid the Yarmuk refugee camp due to Fatah's alleged support of demonstrations against Syrian leader Bashar Assad. | Maan News Agency

The deteriorating health of Palestinian prisoner Hana Shalabi on hunger strike for the past month is focusing international attention on Israel's decades-old use of detention without trial. | Maan News Agency; Palestine News Network

The World Bank's latest report on the Palestinian economy warns that a severe fiscal crisis will deepen if the recent decline in donor assistance continues; this situation is "jeopardizing gains" made in recent years in building strong institutions. | Palestine News Network

MARCH 15

Israel launched airstrikes on the Gaza Strip overnight, less than 48 hours after agreeing to an Egypt-brokered truce; missiles landed on agricultural land, causing a fire and severe damage, and no injuries were reported. | Maan News Agency; AFP

A senior Hamas official said that Hamas' leadership in the Gaza Strip is unlikely to follow through on its end of the reconciliation deal with Fatah anytime soon, as the party is unconvinced by Fatah’s assurances. | Maan News Agency

Two units of the Israeli Mossad broke into Israel's Ofer Military Prison and discharged tear gas canisters into prisoners' cells. | Palestine News Network

MARCH 14

Israeli warplanes bombed the northern Gaza Strip causing damage but no injuriesand casting uncertainty over a truce deal agreed 24 hours earlier. | Maan News Agency

Analysts said that the latest conflict in Gaza put Hamas in a delicate position, forcing it to weather criticism from other groups as it sought a quick truce to avoid a full-blown war. | AFP

A PLO Executive Committee member said that President Mahmoud Abbas will not threaten to dismantle the Palestinian Authority in a forthcoming communiqué to Israel. | Maan News Agency

MARCH 13

Israel and factions in the Gaza Strip agreed to an Egyptian-mediated truceto end days of cross-border violence that left 25 Palestinians dead. | Al Jazeera; Maan News Agency

Israeli forces opened fire on a funeral procession east of Gaza City hours after a truce was agreed to halt cross-border violence, injuring three Palestinians. | Maan News Agency

Israel rejected a request by MK Ahmed Tibi to visit hunger-striking detainee Hana Shalabi in prison despite Tibi's role in brokering a settlement to end detainee Adnan Khader's 66-day hunger strike in February. | Maan News Agency

MARCH 12

Israeli air attacks in the Gaza Strip have killed five more Palestinians, bringing the number of dead to 23 since hostilities erupted on Friday. | Al Jazeera; Reuters; Maan News Agency

Islamic Jihad said that it would not agree to a truce with Israel while airstrikes continue to kill Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. | Maan News Agency

Eleven Palestinian prisoners were injured when Israeli security officers raided Ashkelon prison in southern Israel at 5 a.m. and strip-searched detainees. | Maan News Agency

MARCH 9

The Obama administration has told Palestinian leaders to expect little help with their statehood bid during the U.S. presidential campaign, the Palestinian foreign minister said Friday. | AP

Palestinians will not hold presidential and parliamentary elections in May because of disagreements between the two main political factions, a Palestinian elections official said this week. | National

Palestinian farmers, from the southern West Bank villages of Al Khadier and Beit Iskaria, announced that a group of settlers stormed on Thursday morning their lands uprooted 100 young olive trees. | IMEMC

MARCH 8

The Palestinian Authority announced that it will submit a list of historical locations to be registered as UNESCO world heritage sites. | Palestine News Network

There were clashes at a demonstration near Qalandiya as soldiers broke up a rally marking International Women's Day and in solidarity with hunger-striker Hana Shalabi. | Palestine News Agency

The head of Gaza's gas station owners organization said that the Gaza Strip is experiencing a domestic-use gas crisis after Israel reduced the amounts of fuel entering the enclave. | Maan News Agency

MARCH 7

A top Hamas official rejected reports that the militant group would stay out of an armed conflict between Israel and Iran, saying that if a war erupts Hamas will retaliate with “utmost power.” | Haaretz

Hamas leader Ahmad Yousef said that ministers in a new interim government will be named within two weeks, raising hopes that an impasse over the unity cabinet had been broken. | Maan News Agency

Hamas faces growing discontent in Gaza because of renewed tax hikes and the power crisis that has led to lengthy blackouts across the enclave. | Reuters

MARCH 6

Senior Hamas official Khalil al-Hayya said that his party refuses to hold electionsuntil they can operate freely in the West Bank. | Maan News Agency

Two children were killed as a mortar left by Israeli forces exploded near Hebron. | Maan News Agency

Prisoner Hana Shalabi entered her 19th day on hunger strike, rejecting the Israeli military court’s decision to reduce her six month administrative detention by two months; she demands an end to the policy of administrative detentions. | Palestine News Network

MARCH 5

A 19-year-old man was seriously wounded this morning during clashes with Israeli forces near Atara checkpoint, north of Ramallah. | Maan News Agency; AFP

President Mahmoud Abbas said that he is not set on taking up the prime ministerial post in the unity cabinet after the new government was postponed in the face of uproar in Hamas ranks. | Maan News Agency

A senior Hamas official said the movement was not taking sides in the conflict between the Syrian regime and the opposition. | AFP

MARCH 2

Speaking from Cairo, the deputy head of Hamas's politburo said that Hamas offices would remain in Syria despite the relocation of all political and media activities out of Damascus. | Maan News Agency

After a recent Israeli Supreme Court decision allowed Israeli companies to maintain quarrying and mining activities in the West Bank, local human rights groups say the decision may legalize Israel's extracting of other Palestinian resources. | Palestine News Network

Palestinian hunger striker Hana Shalabi said from Hasharon prison that she is continuing her open hunger strike, now on her sixteenth day, until her demands are met. | Maan News Agency

FEBRUARY 29

Israel legalized one of the oldest and largest of the unsanctioned settler enclaves in the West Bank, a step denounced as a show of bad faith ahead of talks next week between the Israeli leader and President Barack Obama. | AP

Three rockets fired from the Gaza Strip landed in an open area in Ashkelon. | Maan News Agency

FEBRUARY 29

Israeli soldiers raided two Palestinian television stations in the occupied West Bank, seizing transmitters the military said were interfering with air traffic communications. | Reuters; Maan News Agency

The Palestinian Authority minister of civil affairs denied that the government decided to end security coordination with Israel, indicating that all options were under consideration, but decisions will wait until the president returns from abroad. | Maan News Agency

The Palestinian Authority called upon the UN Security Council to send representatives to visit the occupied territories and Jerusalem as soon as possible to see firsthand the Israeli violations against the Palestinian people. | Maan News Agency; AP

FEBRUARY 28

Gaza's only power plant has been forced to shut down for the second time in two weeks due to a fuel shortage; Egypt increased its power supply to the Strip but the short-term requirement is fuel delivery and the route of the fuel is still pending agreement. | Maan News Agency

Senior Palestinian officials said that the Palestinian Authority may reconsider the diplomatic agreements it currently has with Israel given what it calls Israel's repeated violations of them. | Haaretz

A member of the public freedoms committee set up to implement a reconciliation deal between Hamas and Fatah said that the factions are bypassing the group on the issue of political prisoners. | Maan News Agency

FEBRUARY 27

The Israeli Foreign Ministry’s annual intelligence report warned that the stalled peace process is liable to push the Palestinians to turn increasingly violent toward Israel and that a potential Israeli military operation in Gaza would generate a severe response from Egypt. | Haaretz

A 23-year-old Palestinian man died after being shot in clashes with Israeli soldiers in the occupied West Bank, as Palestinian protesters and Israeli police also clashed near the al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem. | Palestine News Network; Reuters; Haaretz

Palestinian factions agreed on Saturday that the PLO parliament will be directly elected, and balance representatives from the Palestinian territories and the diaspora. | Maan News Agency

FEBRUARY 24

Hamas's Gaza premier Ismail Haniya hailed the "heroic" Syrian struggle for democracy during a rally at Cairo's Al-Azhar mosque, in a departure from the Islamists' refusal to criticize Damascus. | AFP

Palestinian factions meeting in Cairo insisted that talks had been positive, but in the face of continuing obstacles no progress was announced in the formation of a unity government; Abbas and Haniyeh met for first time in 4 years. | Maan News Agency

Israeli forces clashed with Palestinians in Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa Mosque on Friday after Israeli troops entered the Haram al-Sharif Compound following the Friday noon prayer, firing tear gas and sound grenades. | Maan News Agency

FEBRUARY 23

Israel gave preliminary approval to build 600 new homes in Shiloh, a hardline settlement deep inside the West Bank; the move threatens to raise tensions with the United States as PM Netanyahu prepares to head to the White House. | Haaretz

Hamas set new terms for implementing a reconciliation deal with the rival Fatah, further dimming chances that the accord will be put into effect; this after Hamas officials ended an internal dispute about the recent agreement at a meeting in Cairo on Wednesday. | Reuters; Maan News Agency

Egyptian authorities and Hamas officials reached an agreement to end the energy crisis in the Gaza Strip; the deal includes three stages, the first of which stipulates that Egyptian companies pump fuel directly to Gaza. | Maan News Agency

FEBRUARY 22

Grammy-winning jazz singer Cassandra Wilson has called off her scheduled concert in Israel tonight after receiving requests from pro-Palestinian activists asking that she join an artistic boycott of Israel. | Haaretz

Israeli forces transferred journalist Amin Abu Warda to Ofer Israeli military prison without giving reason for the transfer; Abu Warda was detained two months ago and given five months in administrative detention. | Palestine News Network

It is confirmed that Palestinian prisoner Khader Adnan agreed to end his 66-day hunger strike after Israeli authorities promised to release him on April 17 if no new charges are set against him. | Reuters; Palestine News Network

FEBRUARY 21

Mohamed Morsi, head of the Freedom and Justice Party (FJP), said the Muslim Brotherhood's political wing will announce which candidate the party will support only after the registration period for the presidential elections closes. | Al-Ahram

Egypt agreed to help ease Gaza's chronic power shortage as part of a three-stage plan that would eventually hook up the isolated territory to the regional grid; this as Gaza faces a severe fuel shortage crisis. | AP

Senior Hamas leader Khalil al-Hayyah said that Hamas is committed to the Doha agreement but that it must be amended, disputing President Abbas' dual role as prime minister and president. | Maan News Agency

FEBRUARY 17

The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights expressed concern that Gaza may be on the brink of a health and environmental catastrophe due to the power outage and lack of fuel. | Palestine News Network

Palestinian leaders demanded an investigation into the accident between a school bus and an Israeli-plated truck which killed at least six Palestinian school children and one teacher; the PA health minister criticized Israel for not responding sooner. | Maan News Agency

Several thousand Palestinians rallied in Gaza and the West Bank in support of jailed Islamic Jihad leader Khader Adnan, who is on the 62nd day of a hunger strike to protest against his administrative detention by Israel. | Reuters

FEBRUARY 16

The next reconciliation meeting is set to take place in Cairo on Feb. 23-24 to discuss the formation of a new government, which could potentially be announced after the meeting. | Maan News Agency

PLO and Palestinian National Council member Abdul Jawad Saleh has appealed to the Palestinian high court to halt the appointment of President Abbas as head of a transitional government and president at the same time. | Maan News Agency

FEBRUARY 15

The Gaza Strip's only power station has been shut down due to a shortage in smuggled fuel, cutting electricity in the area by almost two-thirds; energy authorities will only be able to give each household six hours of electricity at a time. | Al Jazeera; Reuters

The Palestinian Authority approved income tax rises, pushing the top rate from 15 percent to 20 percent as it seeks to tackle a debt crisis aggravated by cuts in foreign aid; Prime Minister Fayyad was forced to back down on doubling the rate to 30 percent after a public outcry. | Daily Star

The lawyer of Khader Adnan, a detained Palestinian who has been on hunger strike for 60 days, said that he would ask Israel's supreme court to overturn a military order imprisoning his client without trial. | AFP; Palestine News Network

FEBRUARY 14

A diplomat in the region said that the two top leaders of the Islamist Palestinian group Hamas failed at secret talks in Qatar to resolve an internal crisis over a reconciliation pact with the rival Fatah movement of President Mahmoud Abbas. | Reuters

Egypt is to start monitoring the performance of the Palestinian reconciliation committee. | Maan News Agency

FEBRUARY 13

Hundreds of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails have joined Khader Adnan on hunger strike after human rights groups reported that his life is in danger; held without charge or trial Adnan has been hunger striking for almost 60 days and today Israel rejected an appeal to reduce his jail term. | Al Jazeera; AP

Al-Quds al-Arabi reported that the deal giving Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas leadership of a Fatah-Hamas unity government has split the Hamas military wing. | UPI

A UN Special Rapporteur said that Israel is systematically implementing a discriminatory policy of housing and planning in Israel, East Jerusalem and the in occupied West Bank “that excludes, discriminates against and displaces minorities, particularly affecting Palestinian communities.” | Maan News Agency

FEBRUARY 10

Fatah Central Committee member Mahmoud Al-Aloul said that Palestinian leaders will seek Arab support for their decision not to return to direct negotiations with Israel, after exploratory talks ended last month without agreement. | Maan News Agency

An Iranian news agency reported that the Hamas prime minister of Gaza Ismail Haniyeh has arrived in Tehran; the visit may be an attempt by Hamas to avoid snubbing Iran as it cultivates ties with the Arab Gulf. | AP

American musician Cat Power has canceled her show in Israel, joining a list of artists shunning the country over its conflict with the Palestinians. | AP

FEBRUARY 9

Hunger striking Palestinian prisoner Khader Adnan’s life is in danger after 55 days without food and no access to an independent doctor; he is protesting humiliating interrogation conditions and being indefinitely held in administrative detention without trial or charge. | Reuters; Al Jazeera

Hamas MPs called for scrapping the reconciliation accord with Fatah on constitutional grounds after consultation with judicial experts found that Mahmoud Abbas taking on the premiership as well as the presidency is contrary to the Basic Law. | AFP; Haaretz

FEBRUARY 8

A Fatah official responded to criticism about the self-appointment of President Mahmoud Abbas as prime minister and head of the unity government, saying that the move was not illegal according to Palestinian law. | Maan News Agency; Daily Star

The Palestinian Authority called for the immediate release of Islamic Jihad leader Khader Adnan, who is held in administrative detention without charge or trial and has been on hunger strike for 53 days; fellow detainees Marwan Barghouti and Adhmad Saadat also appealed for his release. | Maan News Agency

The European Union says the Palestinian Authority's new Fatah-Hamas unity government will not change the EU's ongoing financial assistance to Palestinians. | UPI

FEBRUARY 7

Israel's military court ratified the administrative detention order for Islamic Jihad leader Khader Adnan as International rights group Amnesty International urged Israel to release or charge him as he enters his 52nd day of hunger strike. | Maan News Agency; Maan News Agency; Palestine News Network

Palestinian Authority PM Salam Fayyad welcomed the Doha agreement between Hamas and Fatah, which agreed to a unity government headed by Mahmoud Abbas; it is not yet clear if Fayyad will be part of the new government. | Maan News Agency

A delegation of Hamas officials arrived in Cairo as President Abbas and PLO members are expected to arrive within the next few days to announce the structure of a transitional government. | Maan News Agency

FEBRUARY 6

In a meeting in Doha, President Mahmoud Abbas and Hamas chief Khalid Mashaal agreed to form a unity government; they will form an interim government which will be responsible for preparing parliamentary and presidential elections. | Maan News Agency; Daily Star; Reuters

Hamas officials say a senior Hamas member Imad Al-Alami left Syria due to the Syrian government’s crackdown on the uprising; he was expected to enter Gaza. | AP

FEBRUARY 3

A meeting between President Mahmoud Abbas and the head of Hamas Khalid Mashaal has been postponed indefinitely; a Hamas leader was quoted as saying the postponement was at the request of Abbas. | Maan News Agency

A PLO official said that the diplomatic Quartet has proposed a series of measures to ease Israeli restrictions on Palestinians in order to restart stalled peace talks. | Maan News Agency

The PA Minister of Prisoners Affairs said that detainees in Israeli jails have launched a disobedience campaign to support detained hunger-striking Islamic Jihad leader Khader Adnan, who is being held without trial. | Maan News Agency

FEBRUARY 2

Dozens of Palestinians threw shoes, sticks, and stones at UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's convoy as it crossed into the Gaza Strip, protesting what they saw as a slight against Palestinians jailed in Israel after Ban refused to meet the relatives of Palestinian prisoners. | Reuters

Civil and human rights activists turned down an invitation to meet the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon in Gaza “because other representatives of more significant status such those working in the refugees, agriculture and health sectors have not received similar invitation." | Palestine News Network

Palestinians decided to reactivate the membership bid of Palestine in the United Nations and submit membership bids to the member bodies of the UN after the failure of the Palestinian-Israeli meetings that were held in Amman. | Palestine News Network

FEBRUARY 1

President Mahmoud Abbas and Hamas chief Khalid Mashaal are expected to agree on the structure of a Palestinian national unity government during their meeting in Cairo on Thursday. | Maan New Agency

Ban Ki-moon is in the region to attempt to persuade the Palestinians and Israelis to continue direct exploratory talks in Jordan after they failed last week; he is also asking Israel to make a “goodwill” gesture towards the Palestinians. | Haaretz

Dozens of Palestinian youths sustained injuries overnight in a confrontation with Israeli soldiers and police officers near Jerusalem when Israeli forces raided the village and arrested 20-year-old Ayoub Baha' Obeid al-Omur. | Maan News Agency; Palestine News Network

JANUARY 31

A Palestinian official source said that the U.S. Special Envoy for Middle East Peace, David Hale, arrives next Thursday to restore Amman meetings. | Palestine News Network

Turkey denied reports that Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal will move the group's headquarters to Turkey, or that they will provide millions in aid to the group. | UPI

Palestinian prisoner Khader Adnan marked 44 days on hunger strike on Monday, with Tel Aviv-based Physicians for Human Rights saying that the 34-year-old’s his life is in danger; he was arrested by Israeli troops on December 17 and is being held without trial. | AFP

JANUARY 30

Hamas is denying speculation that it is abandoning its base in Syria. | New York Times; AFP

Israeli and Palestinian leaders on Sunday blamed each other for the failure of the latest round of peace talks, raising doubts about whether the dialogue would continue just weeks after it began. | AP

Palestinian officials said that Israel’s proposed border, which closely follows the controversial separation wall, is “impossible”; Jerusalem was out of the question and large numbers of settlers will stay in the West Bank. | AFP; AP

JANUARY 27

The leader of the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas, Khaled Mashaal, has effectively abandoned his headquarters in the Syrian capital, Damascus; but Hamas will not formally announce his departure. | Reuters

Israeli negotiators presented the country's general principles concerning the borders of a future Palestinian state as part of peace talks being held in Jordan; but Israeli negotiators stopped short of handing their Palestinian counterparts any maps or written documents. | Haaretz

A Palestinian presidential spokesman said that PLO meetings with Israeli envoys have not been able to restart negotiations; the United States however called for the immediate resumption of negotiations. | Maan News Agency; Palestine News Network

JANUARY 26

Jailed Fatah leader Marwan Barghouti was sent to solitary confinement on Wednesday after making critical comments about Israel to journalists. | Maan News Agency

President Mahmoud Abbas said that the Israeli government still refuses to acknowledge the borders of the Palestinian state, adding that Palestinians would return to negotiations if the Israeli government acknowledges the borders of Palestine. | Palestine News Network

JANUARY 25

Exploratory peace talks with Israel have ended with nothing to show for them, the Palestinian president said Wednesday, pledging to consult with the Arab League about the next moves and leaving open the possibility of an extension. | AP

JANUARY 24

An Israeli military court ordered the detention of Palestinian parliamentary speaker Aziz Dweik for six months without charge after he was seized by Israeli forces at a Ramallah checkpoint on Thursday; Israel also detained a fourth Hamas lawmaker today. | Maan News Agency; UPI

It is “impossible” for the Palestinians to hold presidential and legislative elections in May as planned, a senior Palestinian MP warned on Monday, because the preparations necessary for a vote in May have not been made. | AFP

Jordan's king will host Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal this weekend in his first official visit to Jordan since his expulsion thirteen years ago; Mashaal will be accompanied by Crown Prince of Qatar Sheikh Hamad bin Tamim al-Thani. | AP; Maan News Agency

JANUARY 23

Hamas confirmed that its political chief, Khaled Mashaal, is stepping down after nearly sixteen years, leaving the group with a potential leadership battle. | Palestine News Network; Maan News Agency; AFP

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas called the 21 articles presented by Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu during their preliminary talks in Amman absurd and worthless headlines. | Palestine News Network; Maan News Agency

JANUARY 20

Following the arrest of senior Hamas official Aziz Dweik, Hamas urged President Mahmoud Abbas to suspend exploratory peace talks with Israel and to stop his cooperation on West Bank security with the Israelis. | Reuters; Maan News Agency

Thailand has officially recognized a Palestinian state and has informed all permanent and observer missions to the United Nations in New York of this development. | AFP

The London-based Al-Hayat newspaper reported that the Palestinian Authority arrested two Palestinian police officers who were allegedly employed by Israel to recruit Hamas members to carry out armed operations on behalf of the movement. | Palestine News Network

JANUARY 19

The Israeli daily Maariv reported that to encourage Palestinians to continue negotiations in Amman, EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton would pressure Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu to release 123 prisoners detained before the signing of the Oslo Accords in 1993. | Maan News Agency

Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad called for a national debate on the financial situation facing the West Bank-based government, saying that the economic crisis was serious and the PA must reduce reliance on external financial support. | Maan News Agency

JANUARY 18

Hamas officials say that senior members of their exiled leadership will evacuate their families from the group's headquarters in Syria in response to the deteriorating security situation, where President Bashar Assad has been resisting a 10-month uprising. | AP; Haaretz

A report by EU delegates in Jerusalem and Ramallah is calling for the reinstatement of the Palestine Liberation Organization in East Jerusalem and for the advancement of Palestinian Authority policies there, saying that Jerusalem would be a shared capital. | Haaretz

Israeli forces opened fire on the northern Gaza Strip on Wednesday killing two people and seriously injuring at least two others. | Maan News Agency

JANUARY 17

A special committee of the PLO met in the Jordanian capital to discuss mechanisms for a future election of the Palestinian National Council (PNC) amid demands from Palestinian youth for direct elections to the PNC for all Palestinians. | Maan News Agency

A senior Hamas analyst reported that Khaled Meshaal will step down as Hamas chief following an upcoming election to determine the group's new political leader. | Haaretz

Palestinian and Israeli officials agreed to meet for the fourth time on Jan. 25 as Palestinians rallied against renewing negotiations with Israel; sources say that Jordan and the Quartet oppose the Palestinian desire to set preconditions to carry on with the negotiations with Israel. | Maan News Agency; Maan News Agency; Palestine News Network

JANUARY 13

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said that Israel has made no new proposals in meetings about the possibility of resuming formal peace talks; two more meetings are scheduled for Saturday and for January 25. | AP

Gaza PM Ismail Haniyeh will host Hamas and Fatah leaders at his home in Gaza City on Saturday for reconciliation talks; Fatah and Hamas have given different reasons for the delay in reconciliation as Hamas blames Israeli interference and Fatah cites internal divisions within Hamas. | Maan News Agency; AFP

The Palestinian Authority accused Israel of drilling a new oil and natural gas well in the West Bank, west of Ramallah. | Arab News

JANUARY 12

The committee tasked with implementing the reconciliation agreement between Hamas and Fatah has finalized administrative preparations and will begin work immediately on issues like political prisoner release, reopening closed institutions, travel bans, and freedom of political expression. | Maan News Agency

Israel's Supreme Court upheld a controversial law that bans Palestinians who marry Israelis from living in Israel, claiming that Palestinians who gain Israeli citizenship through marriage pose a security threat. | AP; Haaretz

JANUARY 11

Around 60 people from across the West Bank tried to drive from Jericho to Ramallah on an Israeli-only road; popular resistance committees organized the motorcade of around 50 cars to protest the network of roads in the West Bank designated for the exclusive use of Jewish settlers. | Maan News Agency

The national reconciliation committee will hold its second meeting in Gaza City; this as a Fatah official claimed that Hamas is avoiding reconciliation with Fatah because it believes it will be strengthened by a Muslim Brotherhood victory in Egyptian elections. | Maan News Agency; Maan News Agency

JANUARY 10

Israeli anti-settlement group "Peace Now" said that the Israeli government broke all its settlement-building records in 2011. | Reuters

Jordan refused visas for an Islamic Jihad delegation to PLO talks on the future of the PLO; the PLO will hold its first elections next year and has allowed Hamas and Islamic Jihad to join the body as part of the reconciliation deal between Palestinian political groups. | Maan News Agency

JANUARY 9

Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad is cutting spending and raising taxes in an attempt to plug the $1.1 billion deficit in the public budget, aiming to knock $350 million off the budget deficit. | Maan News Agency; AFP

Youth activists in at least eight countries will take part in a global meeting via live media on Tuesday to call for elections to the PLO parliament, asserting their right to a voice in the umbrella body that is the legal representative of Palestinians. | Maan News Agency

A reconciliation committee has agreed that all political detainees will be released on January 15. | Maan News Agency

JANUARY 6

Israeli and Palestinian peace negotiators will hold their second round of face-to-face talks on Monday in Amman. | Maan News Agency; AFP

The Arab League seeks Hamas’s help with Syria, requesting that the Damascus-based leader Khaled Mashaal ask Syria to halt violence; Arab League Secretary General said that Mashaal had played a role in convincing the Syrian government to sign the Arab League protocol. | Reuters

Hamas border guards denied entry to four senior Fatah officials entering the Gaza Strip to work on reconciliation between Hamas and Fatah; the four Fatah leaders passed Israeli security at the Erez crossing but were stopped on Hamas' side of the terminal and after waiting 45 minutes they returned to the West Bank. | Maan News Agency

JANUARY 5

The first meeting between Israeli and Palestinian peace negotiators in more than a year ended without significant breakthroughs but the sides agreed to continue the talks; Palestinian president Abbas threatened to take “new measures” against Israel if the meeting fails. | AP; AP

Palestinian tax revenues amounting to 150 million shekels ($39 million) will be transferred by the Palestinian Authority to Gaza in the next 24 hours to solve a critical shortage of currency in the blockaded Gaza Strip. | Maan News Agency

Israel barred a dozen Jewish settlers from the occupied West Bank for a period of up to a year, a step Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pledged to take to rein in violence against Palestinians. | Reuters

JANUARY 4

Palestinian envoys handed Israeli officials a proposal for resolving border and security issues at a meeting in Amman attended by international Quartet delegates; Jordanian Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh emphasized that there were no specific breakthroughs at the meeting. | Maan News Agency; Haaretz

Fatah and Hamas are close to resolving the issues of political detainees and passports for Gaza residents; both parties are processing the release of political prisoners, as agreed in the unity deal. | Maan News Agency

Fatah and Hamas formed a senior reconciliation leadership committee that will provide leadership over differences between the factions for three-years; it includes three Fatah, three Hamas, and three independent figures, and one representative from each of the nine other political factions. | Maan News Agency

JANUARY 3

Palestinian and Israeli negotiators met in Amman today alongside international mediators trying to revive their stalled peace talks; Hamas and the PFLP warned that the negotiations are a mistake. | Reuters; Maan News Agency; Maan News Agency

Israel announces Jerusalem settlement construction ahead of peace talks as the Housing Ministry publishes tender for 300 housing units beyond the Green Line hours before Jordan-mediated session between a Netanyahu envoy and PA negotiator. | Haaretz

Hundreds of Palestinian prisoners plan a fast-to-death strike to protest deteriorating living conditions in Israeli jails; some 400 prisoners will emulate the Irish prison strike of 1981. | Arab News

DECEMBER 19

Israel released 550 Palestinian prisoners in the second stage of a deal with Hamas which released Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit after five years of captivity in the Gaza Strip. | Reuters; Al Jazeera

An aide says Gaza's Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh is planning his first official trip outside the territory since Hamas took over the strip in June 2007; he will likely travel to Turkey, Bahrain, Qatar, and Tunisia, where it is reported that he has been invited. | AP

Hamas and Fatah leaders applauded progress in their unity deal after meeting in Cairo but sounded a note of caution that more work was yet to be done; meanwhile a delegation of independent figures and political factions headed to Cairo to hold reconciliation talks. | Maan News Agency; Maan News Agency

DECEMBER 16

A classified working paper produced by EU ambassadors in Israel is concerned over Israel's treatment of its Arab minority, recommending that the EU consider Israel's treatment of its Arab population a "core issue, not second tier to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict." | Haaretz; AFP

A proposal released on Thursday by Congress would allow US economic aid to the Palestinians to continue next year so long as Palestine is not admitted as a state to any more UN entities. | Reuters

Israeli forces detained at least 15 people during a protest in Nabi Saleh today after demonstrators clashed with soldiers at the march to commemorate 28 year old Mustafa Tamimi, killed a week earlier. | Maan News Agency

DECEMBER 15

Israel published a list of the remaining 550 Palestinian prisoners who will be freed on the eve of December 18 to complete a swap deal which brought about the release of captive soldier Gilad Shalit; this list does not include senior militants; among them are six women and 55 children. | AFP; Haaretz; Al Jazeera; Maan News Agency

Extremist settlers vandalized and torched another mosque in the latest "price tag" vengeance attack as Israeli troops demolished part of an illegal settlement outpost in the northern West Bank; Israeli PM Netanyahu approved measures to crack down on ultra-nationalist Jewish settlers. | AFP; Al Jazeera

Trucks carrying fruit and produce crossed out of the Gaza Strip for export today through the sole functioning crossing in southern Gaza as part of an agreement with the Dutch government to permit limited exports from the strip. | Maan News Agency

DECEMBER 14

The second wave of the Palestinian prisoner swap is underway as the Palestinian Prisoners' Society released a list of names of detainees that Israel will release in this phase of the captive exchange deal. | Maan News Agency; Maan News Agency

Hamas leader Mahmoud Zahar said that it is unlikely that elections will be held in May as scheduled because a unity government and security committee needed to ensure a transparent vote have not been formed. | Maan News Agency

Israel reopened a controversial wooden access ramp to Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa mosque compound today, just over 48 hours after it was closed on safety grounds in a move which sparked controversy among Muslims; no renovations were done, but the Jerusalem municipality decided that it can be used again. | AFP; Palestine News Network

DECEMBER 13

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas raised the Palestinian flag at the headquarters of the U.N. cultural agency in Paris as the agency's 195th member, a historic move and symbolic boost for their push for an independent state. | AP

PLO official Hanan Ashrawi invited U.S. Republican Newt Gingrich to visit Palestine as her guest, after the presidential candidate said the Palestinian people were "invented." | Maan News Agency

As the Mideast Quartet meets in Jerusalem to revive peace talks, an international NGO coalition raised alarms on accelerating Israeli settlement expansion, settler violence, unlawful demolitions, and displacement of Palestinians from their homes. | Palestine News Network; Maan News Agency

DECEMBER 12

Israel has approved the construction of 40 homes and a farm in two new illegal settler enclaves near the southern West Bank town of Bethlehem. | AFP; Al Jazeera; Reuters

Israel closed a wooden access ramp to Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa mosque compound over public safety concerns, which sparked anger; Muslim leaders fear the demolition could have a destabilizing effect on the compound and accuses Israel of failing to coordinate the renovation with the Islamic Waqf. | AFP

Thousands of mourners gathered in the West Bank village of Nabi Saleh for protestor Mustafa Tamimi’s funeral, who died after being hit in the face by an Israeli tear gas canister on Friday in a non-violent protest. | Maan News Agency; Palestine News Network; Haaretz

DECEMBER 7

The head of the Anti-Corruption Commission handed President Mahmoud Abbas a financial disclosure report which will be released on December 9 to coincide with Global Anti-Corruption Day and will detail the finances of high-ranking PA officials. | Maan News Agency

A mosque was set on fire by Jewish settlers in the West Bank village of Bruqin near Salfit in another "price tag" attack against Palestinians in retaliation for Israeli government policies that are “too sympathetic” to Palestinians. | Maan News Agency; AP

An Israeli airstrike hit a group of armed men along the border between Israel and the Gaza Strip, killing a member of Islamic Jihad and injuring at least two others. There were also reports of a ground operation. | Al Jazeera; Reuters

DECEMBER 6

New research by UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, found that the number of Palestinians displaced by Israeli demolitions this year has already more than doubled that of 2010. | Maan News Agency

A Fatah official said that Palestinian reconciliation failed to advance despite a recent meeting between Hamas chief Khalid Mashaal and Fatah leader President Mahmoud Abbas. | Maan News Agency

Palestinian political factions will meet with Egyptian officials in Cairo this week to discuss implementation of the reconciliation deal; a delegation from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine already met with Muslim Brotherhood officials in Cairo today. | Maan News Agency; Maan News Agency

DECEMBER 5

President Abbas has stated that he will not meet with Prime Minister Netanyahu unless Israel completely halts settlement activity. | Maan News Agency

U.S. Defense Secretary Panetta has prodded Israel to do more to reverse its isolation in the Middle East and suggested that Israeli leaders bear significant blame for the stalled peace process. | Washington Post

DECEMBER 2

The UN General Assembly has passed a series of resolutions which are set to address core issues in the conflict between Israel and the Arab world. | Maan News Agency

Italy has upgraded the top Palestinian diplomat in the country to the level of ambassador. | Maan News Agency

DECEMBER 1

According to security sources, Israeli forces arrested 22 Palestinians across the West Bank on Thursday, among them members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. | Palestine News & Info Agency

The Palestinian Authority’s Labor Minister has stated his intent to resign after he came under fire for profanely criticizing public workers in a powerful employees union. | Maan News Agency

NOVEMBER 30

Israel is set to release millions of dollars in Palestinian tax revenues which it had frozen for the past month as a punitive sanction. | Guardian

Iceland has announced its recognition of a Palestinian state on the June 4, 1967 borders. | Maan News Agency

NOVEMBER 29

President Abbas has stated his hope that elections be held on May 4; his comments follow reconciliation talks between Hamas and Fatah in Cairo. | Maan News Agency

Palestinian Economy Minister Hassan Abu Libdeh has been charged with financial wrongdoing. | Haaretz

NOVEMBER 21

President Abbas has said that there are no signs of a near resumption of negotiations with Israel. | Palestine News & Info Agency

Fatah Central Committee’s Mahmoud Al-Aloul has stated that the Palestinian leadership is growing increasingly frustrated with unfulfilled American promises on the peace process. President Abbas also called on the United States to help Palestinians implement the agreement signed with former PM Olmert on the release of prisoners. | Maan News Agency; Palestine News & Info Agency

Reporters without Borders has expressed concern over the recent arrests of Palestinian journalists in Jerusalem and West Bank. | Palestine News & Info Agency

NOVEMBER 18

Haaretz reports that Israel has carried out an annexation of Palestinian land northeast of the Jordan Valley and given it to Kibbutz Merav; some consider the action the first instance of Palestinian-owned land being transferred to a community on sovereign Israeli territory. | Haaretz

The Palestinian Authority has strongly condemned Israel’s approval of hundreds of new settlement units built in the West Bank and Jerusalem. | Maan News Agency

NOVEMBER 17

The PLO’s Saeb Erekat has denied reports that the Palestinian Authority would be willing to stop attempting to join UN agencies if Israel lifted its block on tax transfers. | Maan News Agency

The PLO’s Hanan Ashrawi has told Washington diplomats that the United States should stop submitting to Israeli policies if they want to regain influence among the Palestinian people and leadership. | Maan News Agency

NOVEMBER 16

President Abbas has called on the Palestinian people to mount non-violent resistance to Israel’s occupation of the West Bank. | Haaretz

President Abbas and Hamas leader Mashaal are set to meet in Cairo on November 25 for new reconciliation talks. | Maan News Agency

Six Palestinian “Freedom Riders” who boarded an Israeli bus near a Jewish settlement in the West Bank were released after hours of detention; they were charged with “illegal entry to Jerusalem” and “obstructing police business.” | Palestine News & Info Agency

NOVEMBER 15

Foreign Minister Al-Malki has stated that the Palestinian leadership will call for a vote on the application for statehood membership in the United Nations Security Council even without 9 of the 15 votes. | Palestine News & Info Agency

Azzam Ahmed of Fatah has stated that Hamas and Fatah have reached an agreement on most of their contentious issues, suggesting that a deal between the two factions seems closer. | International Business Times

Envoys from the Quartet seemed to make no headway after separate meetings with Israeli and Palestinian officials in a bid to kick-start long-stalled peace talks. | Maan News Agency

NOVEMBER 14

Palestinian Prime Minister Fayyad has signaled that he is ready to step aside to help reconciliation and pave the way for presidential and parliamentary elections. | Al-Arabiya

The Israeli Ministerial Committee has decided to continue freezing the Palestinian Authority’s tax revenues. | Palestine News & Info Agency

A UN Security Council Committee has failed to reach an agreement over the Palestinian application for full UN membership. | Maan News Agency

NOVEMBER 10

Israel allowed limited amounts of aid, food, and fuel to enter the Gaza Strip; there were between 250 and 260 trucks carrying goods including construction material for UN projects, 30 new cars and cooking gas. | Maan News Agency

A Hamas leader said that ten more Palestinian female detainees in Israeli prisons would be released in the next two weeks as part of an exchange deal initiated last month. | Maan News Agency

Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki said that American intervention stopped the Palestinian application for statehood from getting nine votes at the UN Security Council and that he would not pursue a vote on Friday. | Palestine News Network

NOVEMBER 9

Envoys of the Mideast Quartet will meet separately with Israeli and Palestinian officials on November 14 in Jerusalem in their latest effort to restart the stalled peace process. | Reuters

A key U.N. Security Council committee was “unable to make a unanimous recommendation to the Security Council” on whether or not Palestine should be accepted as a UN member state and the bid is now set to fail due to the council's unresolvable deadlock. | Reuters; AP

British Foreign Secretary William Hague said Thursday Britain would abstain from a vote in the UN Security Council on Palestinian membership of the United Nations. | AFP

NOVEMBER 8

The Palestinian Solidarity Coordination Committee announced that Palestinians from the West Bank will ride on settler-only buses bound for East Jerusalem next week, emulating the “Freedom Rides” of the 1960s U.S. civil rights movement as an act of civil disobedience. | Palestine News Network

A senior Fatah official said that President Mahmoud Abbas will discuss holding general elections with exiled Hamas leader Khalid Mishaal later this month but won’t run for another term. | Arab News

U.S. lawmakers lifted a hold on nearly $200 million in aid to the Palestinians that were suspended in response to the Palestinian bid for full UN membership, but the committee is maintaining a block on $192 million for infrastructure projects in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. | AFP

NOVEMBER 4

The Israeli military boarded two vessels bound for the Gaza Strip this morning; the Canadian "Tahrir" and Irish "Saoirse" vessels, which had 27 people on board, are being taken to the Israeli port of Ashdod. | Maan News Agency; Reuters

Britain and France have announced that they will abstain from voting on the Palestinian statehood bid at the UN Security Council, avoiding a potential confrontation with the United States. | Telegraph; France 24

The PA Foreign Affairs Minister said that the PLO will not apply to join any more international organizations but will focus on full membership of the United Nations. Meanwhile the PA said that it will not accept anything less than full UN membership. | Maan News Agency; Arab News

NOVEMBER 3

Israel will freeze funding to UNESCO following the decision to grant the Palestinians full membership. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon said that Palestinian efforts to join UN agencies are "not beneficial for anybody," but the PLO is determined to seek membership. | Reuters; AP; Reuters

Protesters rallied in Gaza City and Ramallah to demand protection for a flotilla sailing to the Gaza Strip. Reports from the ships say their Turkish escort ships are beginning to trail off as the Israeli navy prepares to stop the ships. | Maan News Agency; Palestine News Network; Maan News Agency

President Abbas instructed his security commanders to be alert and cautious of Israeli attempts to escalate tension after Israel cut transfers of Palestinian tax revenues, depriving the Palestinian Authority of about $100 million, and threatening the salaries of about 180,000 employees. | Maan News Agency

NOVEMBER 1

The United States halted funding to UNESCO in protest of the cultural agency’s vote to admit Palestine into the body as a full member. Palestinians now seek to join 16 additional UN agencies. | Reuters; Al Jazeera; AP

The armed wing of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine claimed three rockets fired into southern Israel yesterday. An Egyptian official said that Israel agreed to briefly delay expanding military operations in Gaza as Egypt persuades Palestinian militants to halt rocket fire. | Maan News Agency; AP

Fatah is forming a committee to discuss the future of the Palestinian Authority; UN special envoy for the peace process Robert Serry warned of growing alienation toward the Oslo peace process and said many Palestinians are calling for the dismantling of the PA. | Maan News Agency

OCTOBER 31

The UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) voted today to admit Palestine as a full member, a move which is likely to cause the US government to cut off tens of millions of dollars in annual funding to UNESCO. | Al Jazeera

Egyptian officials secured a truce to end hostilities between Gaza militants and Israel after Israeli airstrikes over the Gaza Strip brought the death toll to eleven amid a barrage of rockets from Gaza that killed one Israeli. | Maan News Agency; Arab News; Al Jazeera

UN schools in the Gaza Strip went on strike Sunday to protest UNRWA's suspension of the staff union head Suhail al-Hindi. Hamas sources said the UN agency accused al-Hindi of meeting with Hamas political officials. | Maan News Agency

OCTOBER 28

The Palestinian envoy to the United Nations complained to the Security Council that the Israeli foreign minister's call for President Mahmoud Abbas's removal constitutes "incitement" and undermines the peace process. | Maan News Agency

With Sarajevo potentially holding a key vote in the UN Security Council, Bosnia's three presidents said that they could not agree on the Palestinian bid for full UN membership. Palestine’s foreign minister arrived in Sarajevo to lobby for the bid. | Maan News Agency; AP

Denying claims about dismantling the Palestinian Authority, officials are attempting to define the situation of the Palestinian Authority (PA) and discussing plans to return it to its former stature; President Abbas will discuss the fate of the PA with Hamas next month. | Maan News Agency; Reuters

OCTOBER 27

Israeli and Palestinian negotiators met on Wednesday with Quartet envoy Tony Blair in Jerusalem; officials said they agreed to come forward with comprehensive proposals on territory and security within three months in order to restart negotiations. | Maan News Agency

A Palestinian official said that Palestinian President Abbas will meet with Hamas’s Khaled Mishaal next month to discuss unity. | Arab News

The United States urged Israel to halt a plan that would approve new construction in a contentious Jerusalem neighborhood, saying that such a move would harm U.S. efforts to thwart the Palestinian bid for statehood at the United Nations. | Haaretz

OCTOBER 26

Fatah Central Committee member Dr. Nabil Sha’ath spoke to PNN and denied rumors that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas was willing to dissolve the Palestinian Authority. | Palestine News Network

Palestinian officials are pessimistic that scheduled meetings with representatives of the Middle East Quartet will see Israeli-Palestinian direct peace talks as the Quartet holds separate meetings with Palestinian and Israeli in Jerusalem to discuss the renewal of negotiations. | Haaretz; Washington Post

PLO official Saeb Erekat said that the Palestinian Authority would ask the Mideast Quartet to pressure Israel to implement an agreement with President Mahmoud Abbas to release prisoners from Israeli jails. | Maan News Agency

OCTOBER 25

The vote for Palestine’s membership into UNESCO is set to take place during the two-week general assembly meeting which opens today in Paris, and Palestinian officials are preparing for an intense diplomatic battle as the US threatens to cut UNESCO’s funding. | Maan News Agency

The Hebrew-language daily Maariv reported that in an effort to restart peace talks the United States made an offer to the Israeli government suggesting a halt to the construction of new settlements but building in existing settlements was acceptable. Saeb Erekat denies that the Palestinians were informed. | Maan News Agency

A Hamas official denied media reports that claim there were secret terms in the prisoner exchange deal between Hamas and Israel, saying that such reports are meant to “undermine the deal.” | Maan News Agency

OCTOBER 24

Hamas leader Mahmoud Zahhar told reporters that Israeli government threats to assassinate prisoners freed under the exchange deal with Hamas are an attempt to satisfy their public. | Maan News Agency

A Palestinian Authority official said that the Republic of Gabon is set to endorse the Palestinian bid for statehood in the UN Security Council. | Maan News Agency

Local labor officials announced that about 5,000 unemployed Palestinians registered over the past week at a Gaza trade union office for jobs that they hope will materialize in post-Qaddafi Libya. | Reuters

OCTOBER 21

President Mahmoud Abbas will visit Egypt on Saturday to move forward on a stalled reconciliation agreement with Hamas where, according to Abbas’s spokesman, the president will propose January elections. | Maan News Agency; Maan News Agency

Palestinians have confirmed that Israel offered a partial West Bank settlement freeze in return for talks; negotiator Saeb Erekat says Palestinians rejected the offer because it applied only to government construction, while most settlement construction is carried out by private contractors. | Haaretz; AP

Benefits for released prisoners in Gaza to help them re-enter society have been announced and will include a three-week stay in hotels, a private apartment, car, a job, and $2,000. | Maan News Agency

OCTOBER 20

Hamas’s armed wing announced that Israel and Egypt, not Hamas, would pick the names of the remaining 550 Palestinians to be freed in exchange for Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit. Hamas expects Egypt will ensure its interests are carried out. | AFP; Maan News Agency

Hamas said that Egypt pledged the release of the nine female prisoners remaining in Israeli jail in the coming days. | Maan News Agency

International mediators will press Israel and Palestinians to table their ideas on security arrangements and the borders for a two-state solution within three months. Palestinian Prime Minister Fayyad, meanwhile said that the time is not right for Israeli-Palestinian peace talks. | Reuters; Reuters

OCTOBER 19

Forty Palestinian prisoners released as part of the prisoner exchange were sent into exile and arrived today in Qatar, Turkey, Jordan, and Syria. | Al Jazeera

Head of the Palestinian Prisoners Society says that Ahmad Saadat, leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, will enter his 23rd day on hunger strike today, refusing to back down until the demands are met. He lost 10 kilos as he is surviving on just water. | Maan News Agency

Hamas leader Khaled Mishaal called on Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to meet him in Cairo next week to implement a reconciliation deal signed in May between the two factions and he urged Abbas to review the policy of negotiating with Israel. | Maan News Agency

OCTOBER 18

Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit returned to Israel today after five years of captivity as the first group of Palestinian prisoners were also freed in the West Bank and Gaza. Celebrations are taking place throughout the West Bank and Gaza Strip to welcome the prisoners. | AFP; Maan News Agency; AFP; Al Jazeera

The PA announced that Palestinian prisoners agreed to suspend their hunger strike for three days after authorities agreed to end the policy of solitary confinement and to transfer Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) leader Ahmad Saadat to a hospital for treatment. The PFLP denied the end of the strike.| Maan News Agency; Palestine News Network; Palestine News Network

The United Nations voiced concern that some of the Palestinian detainees released in exchange for Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit may have not have been given any choice on where to go, which could constitute an illegal forced transfer. Ten prisoners will go to Turkey. | Reuters; Maan News Agency

OCTOBER 17

Israel moved 430 Palestinians near the prisoner swap venue as Israel’s president began the process of formally pardoning Palestinian prisoners who will be exchanged. Meanwhile, Popular Resistance Committees spokesman said that the prisoner swap will be kept away from the media. | Reuters; Arab News; Maan News Agency

Only 27 out of 36 Palestinian female prisoners will be released because Hamas did not find out the number of women in Israeli jails. The Palestinian Prisoners Society released the names of the female detainees who are not included in the prisoner exchange. | Maan News Agency

A Hamas official announced that Qatar, Turkey, and Syria are willing to host the Palestinian prisoners who will be exiled after their release. | Maan News Agency

OCTOBER 13

The names of Palestinian prisoners who will be freed in the prisoner swap are being released, with the full list to be released on Sunday. | Maan News Agency; Palestine News Network; Maan News Agency

The Palestinians will apply for full membership to as many United Nations agencies as possible as part of their bid for full statehood at the UN. | Reuters

U.S. envoy David Hale will meet Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas during his visit to Paris this week to discuss efforts to relaunch the Israeli-Palestinian peace process and the Palestinian bid to gain state recognition at the United Nations. | AFP

OCTOBER 12

Hamas and Israel confirmed the prisoner swap deal to release 1,027 Palestinian prisoners in exchange for Gilad Shalit, an Israeli soldier captured by Hamas in 2006; 450 prisoners will be released within two weeks and the remainder will be released in two months. | Al Jazeera; Maan News Agency

With news of the prisoner swap, the Palestinian Center for Prisoners Studies (PCPS) warned against forgetting the ongoing hunger strike, now entering its 16th day, and the international solidarity in support of the strike. Prisoners in the Negev Prison joined today. | Palestine News Network; Palestine News Network

The Mideast Quartet has set October 23 as the date for the resumption peace talks between Israelis and Palestinians. The Palestinians continue to call for an Israeli settlement freeze before they go to negotiations. | AFP

OCTOBER 11

Fatah official Nabil Shaath said that nine countries in the Security Council have confirmed that they will vote in support of Palestinian statehood, and they are Gabon, Bosnia, Brazil, India, Lebanon, Nigeria, South Africa, China, and Russia. | Maan News Agency

Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu is seeking to legalize settlement outposts built on private Palestinian land by ordering Justice Minister Yaakov Neeman to explore legal options. | AFP

Palestinian prisoners across Israel announced that they are joining the hunger strike launched on September 27 by prisoners belonging to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine to protest prison conditions. Meanwhile, the Palestinian Detainees Center criticized prisoners affiliated with Hamas and Islamic Jihad for stalling to join the hunger strike. | Haaretz; Maan News Agency

OCTOBER 7

Protests continued today in solidarity with hunger-striking Palestinian prisoners, resulting in two injuries, as the strike enters its eleventh day. A prisoner rights group reported yesterday that Israeli prison authorities are cracking down on prisoners participating in the strike. | Palestine News Network; Maan News Agency

Official Palestinian sources confirmed that USAID froze its construction projects in the Palestinian Territories following a U.S. Congressional decision to halt aid to the Palestinian Authority in response to the UN membership bid. | Palestine News Network

PLO Secretary General Yasser Abed Rabbo denied reports that Palestinian officials would agree to holding talks with Israel without a freeze on settlement activity. Meanwhile the Mideast Quartet will meet this weekend in an effort to revive talks. | Maan News Agency; AP

OCTOBER 6

In the midst of official Palestinian calls for the replacement of international Middle East envoy Tony Blair that accuse him of being biased towards Israel, the office of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas says they will continue working with Blair. | Reuters

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas addressed the Council of Europe in Strasbourg today, appealing to Europe to support Palestine’s UN membership bid, stressing that security is created through peace, not force. | Maan News Agency

U.S. Secretary of State Hilary Clinton threatened to cut US funding to UNESCO if they grant the Palestinians membership. This comes after the UNESCO executive committee backed the Palestinians’ bid and put the issue to its member states for a vote. | Reuters; Al Jazeera

OCTOBER 5

Palestinians rallied against US diplomats visiting the West Bank yesterday and chanted slogans like “No to American funding” and “Yes we can—boycott America.” Protests come as US Congress threatens to cut aid to the Palestinians. | Maan News Agency

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has launched a “diplomatic charm offensive” as he flew to Europe yesterday on a week-long tour that will also take him to Latin America in an effort to garner more support for the Palestinian statehood bid. | Maan News Agency

As part of their campaign for statehood recognition, the Palestinians have moved a step closer to full membership to the UN Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) after its board decided to allow 193 member states to vote on the issue later this month. | Reuters; AFP

OCTOBER 4

Witnesses reported that Israeli helicopters fired randomly on homes in Southern Gaza this morning and bulldozers crossed the border to dig up agricultural lands. | Maan News Agency

The Obama administration wants Congress to release $200 million in aid to the Palestinian Authority that was blocked in response to their statehood bid. Palestinian officials say the Palestinian economy started feeling the effects of this freeze last week. | Reuters; Al Jazeera; Arab News

As Palestinian prisoners enter their eighth day of hunger strikes, Israeli authorities have refused their demands, which include, among other demands, better medical services and an end to cell raids. Thousands in the Occupied Territories rallied in solidarity. | Maan News Agency; Yahoo News

OCTOBER 3

Fatah official Nabil Shaath said that in an effort to avoid using its veto so as not to spark anti-American protests in the Middle East, the US is pressuring Security Council members to vote against Palestinian statehood. If nine countries vote yes, the resolution will pass and the US will use the veto to shut it down. | Maan News Agency

EU Foreign Policy Chief, Catherine Ashton, told Palestinian President Abbas that the EU will not cut aid to the Palestinian Authority (PA) after Palestine’s UN membership bid. The PA is facing financial trouble after the US Congress declined to transfer $200 million in aid. | Maan News Agency

Just one vote shy of the nine necessary for recognition, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas will visit Security Council member Colombia on October 11, although the Colombian President said that the visit would not change his position from abstaining to vote. | AFP

SEPTEMBER 30

Senior PLO officials will discuss a proposal to declare the Quartet envoy, Tony Blair, “persona non-grata,” predominantly for his “damaging role” in the UN bid. | Maan News Agency

Israeli warplanes raided the central Gaza Strip early this morning causing damage but no injuries. The Israeli Military said that the raid was in retaliation to rocket fire from Gaza. | Maan News Agency

UN schools in Gaza closed on Thursday after the staff went on strike to protest UNRWA’s dismissal of the worker’s union chief, Suheil al-Hindi, for “breach of the Agency’s rules and regulations.” The union claims he was fired for participating in functions attended by Hamas leaders. | Maan News Agency

SEPTEMBER 29

The Palestinian Authority (PA)’s Foreign Minister says that it has eight votes in support of the Palestinian Statehood bid and is currently attempting to secure the ninth vote from either Colombia or Bosnia. In order to pass, the resolution needs nine votes in favor and no vetoes from the five permanent members. | Maan News Agency; Reuters

The PLO effectively rejected a proposal by the Quartet to resume suspended negotiations with Israel next month without preconditions and insisted that Israel halt all settlement activity before restarting talks. | Maan News Agency

A report published today by the PA and the Applied Research Institute of Jerusalem says that without Israeli occupation the Palestinian economy would run a “healthy fiscal surplus.” The occupation has cost the Palestinian economy about $7 billion in 2010 in financial losses, including agriculture, mineral resources, and tourism. | Maan News Agency

SEPTEMBER 28

Palestinian prisoners in 23 Israeli prisons have gone on a hunger strike after the failure of discussions between their representatives and the Israeli Internal Security Ministry to secure better rights for them. | Palestine News Network

Hamas and Fatah leaders met recently in Nablus ahead of planned reconciliation talks in Cairo to discuss ways of finalizing reconciliation, political detainees, and trust building. | Maan News Agency

SEPTEMBER 27

In an interview published by the Jerusalem Post on Tuesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu suggested that he would not agree to a settlement-building freeze as a precondition to renewing talks with the Palestinians. Meanwhile, Israel approved the construction of 1,100 new housing units in East Jerusalem. | AFP; Al Jazeera

The UN Security Council held its first meeting to discuss the Palestinian statehood bid yesterday and will meet again on Wednesday to formally send the request to a membership committee, as Palestinian envoys battle for votes in the face of U.S. diplomatic measures. | Maan News Agency

A PLO official said that all agreements signed with Israeli will be reviewed while discussing the next phase after the statehood bid; he mentioned dissolving the Palestinian Authority as an option. | Maan News Agency

SEPTEMBER 26

Fatah and Hamas officials are expected to meet in the beginning of October in Cairo to further their dialogue about reconciliation talks and political issues. | Maan News Agency

The UN Security Council begins its consultations today on Palestine’s application for full membership as a state to the world body. Palestinian officials say they will wait for a response in two weeks before pursuing other measures. | AFP; Maan News Agency

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas responded to international mediators who urged him to return to negotiations within a month that he refuses to talk with Israel until there is a settlement freeze. | Reuters

SEPTEMBER 23

Uncertainty surrounds Palestine’s UN bid for statehood. Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas may not request the vote that so many people were anticipating, probably under mounting diplomatic pressure. Abbas, however, insists that he is moving forward without succumbing to pressure. | Maan News Agency; UPI; Maan News Agency

Gaza’s Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh urged Abbas not to “beg” for a Palestinian state at the UN as it “harms the dignity of the Palestinian people,” suggesting instead national unity and the Arab Spring as appropriate paths to benefit the cause. | Maan News Agency

A Palestinian man was killed and five others injured today in the Qusra village in the Northern West Bank after Jewish settlers raided the village and soldiers later entered it. | Maan News Agency; Huffington Post

Israeli police detained five Palestinian teenagers in the Jerusalem area today after thousands of officers were deployed around the city ahead of Abbas’s UN speech. | Maan News Agency; Haaretz

SEPTEMBER 22

PLO Secretary-General Yasser Abed Rabbo said there is no agreement to give the UN Security Council more time to discuss Palestine’s statehood bid aside from the legal review period. Rabbo is responding to news of a possible scenario that is meant to prevent a diplomatic clash. | Maan News Agency;  Reuters

As Palestinian protestors clashed with Israeli soldiers at the Qalandiya checkpoint yesterday, soldiers used new weapons, including a sound device and a new type of tear gas. Twenty Palestinians were injured as soldiers shot from close range. | Palestine News Agency

French President Nicolas Sarkozy proposed a one-year roadmap of Mideast peace after the UN grants the Palestinians observer state status, warning that a Security Council veto might renew violence. | Reuters

SEPTEMBER 21

Thousands of people rallied in the West Bank on Monday to support the bid for statehood at the UN as President Mahmoud Abbas presses ahead with submitting a formal application on Friday. Five Palestinians were injured by rubber bullets and tear gas. | Maan News Agency; Maan News Agency

The Israeli finance minister threatened to punish the Palestinian Authority (PA) economically if it insists on requesting full membership at the UN, saying that Israel can block 40 percent of the PA’s total budget from tax revenues. | Palestine News Network

President Barack Obama will meet Abbas on the sidelines at the General Assembly session at 6 p.m. Wednesday to urge him to drop the UN bid. Obama met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu earlier today. | Reuters; Palestine News Network

SEPTEMBER 20

The U.S.’s latest effort to avoid the UN Security Council vote on the Palestinian State involves the Palestinians submitting a letter for recognition to the Security Council without holding the vote. An unnamed Palestinian official said that this is being seriously considered as an option to avoid a showdown with the United States. | Politico; CNN

Responding to Israeli calls for resuming direct negotiations, the Palestinian Authority (PA) announced that Israel must accept certain conditions before talks can resume. This comes as President Mahmoud Abbas vows to move forward with the statehood bid at the UN, acknowledging the possible repercussions of this move. | Al Jazeera; Reuters

The Palestinian Monetary Authority governor, Jihad al-Wazir, said that if donors like the United States pull their funding, the PA risks potential collapse. Saudi Arabia said that it will give the PA $200 million to solve a looming financial crisis. | Reuters; UPI

SEPTEMBER 19

President Mahmoud Abbas arrived in New York on Sunday night as the United States and Europe scramble to avoid a showdown over admitting Palestine as a member state to the UN. Abbas told journalists on board his flight to New York that despite mounting pressure he will still seek full membership in the UN. | Maan News Agency; Maan News Agency

Abbas announced that he will not form a new cabinet after he returns from New York until the situation is more stable. No cabinet has been appointed since the Palestinian Authority (PA) cabinet resigned in February. | Maan News Agency

Israeli settlers uprooted over 500 fruit trees near Salfit on Monday morning while others attacked Burin, a village south of Nablus on Sunday evening. The PA called for “vigilance and caution,” expecting armed settler marches in the West Bank ahead of the statehood bid. | Maan News Agency;Palestine News Network; Palestine News Network

SEPTEMBER 16

Declining to provide specific details, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said that there is a growing recognition for the need to hold talks before the UN statehood bid. | Maan News Agency

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas spelled out the Palestinian UN statehood bid in a televised speech today. | Al Jazeera

Fatah and Hamas officials met on Thursday evening in Gaza City and discussed the reconciliation agreement as well as the upcoming UN statehood bid. | Maan News Agency

SEPTEMBER 15

Haaretz reported that the PA approached Israel firms to purchase anti-riot gear ahead of the UN bid and that Israeli approved these purchases. The PA denied these reports, saying that Europe supplied the necessary equipment but Israel refuses to allow it into the West Bank. | Haaretz; Maan News Agency

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is set to submit the application for UN statehood membership on September 23. Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu announced that he will address the UN next week to urge the Palestinians to abandon their UN bid and pursue negotiations with Israel. | BBC; Yahoo News; Maan News Agency

Fatah says that Palestinian political factions will meet on September 24 to discuss parts of the reconciliation deal. | Maan News Agency

A House of Representatives committee held a hearing on Wednesday to reexamine US aid to the Palestinian Authority if they go forward with the UN membership bid. Meanwhile a World Bank report said that the Palestinian economy is faltering which will have a negative impact on Palestinian state-building programs. | Yahoo News; Voice of America

SEPTEMBER 14

Commenting on a US envoy’s planned visit, senior Fatah official Mohammad Shtayyeh said that any US or European proposal will have to wait until after the statehood bid. | Maan News Agency

Gazans have expressed mixed feelings towards the PA’s UN bid for statehood as Hamas remains aloof because they were not consulted on the bid. Hamas Lawmaker Salah Bardawil said that the UN bid is a mistake akin to signing the Oslo Accords. | Yahoo News; Al Jazeera; Maan News Agency

Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman warned of “harsh and grave consequences” if the Palestinians persist with their UN bid, refusing to elaborate further on these consequences. | Maan News Agency

Disputing a conclusion reached by a separate UN probe into Israel’s raid on the Gaza-bound flotilla, a panel of UN human rights experts reported to a UN body that Israel’s naval blockade of Gaza is in violation of international law. | Arab News

SEPTEMBER 13

Hamas confirmed that it would not be moving its headquarters from Syria. | Maan News Agency

European Union Foreign Policy Chief Catherine Ashton said that Europe has not taken a unified stance on UN recognition of a Palestinian state. However, a poll reveals that the majority of German, French, and British citizens support the Palestinian statehood bid. | Haaretz; Haaretz

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan ruled out visiting Gaza as part of his tour of Arab Spring countries. This comes after signaling that he would visit Gaza in the midst of deteriorating Israeli-Turkish relations. | France 24

SEPTEMBER 8

The Palestinian Authority launched its “National Campaign for Palestine: state 194” to seek statehood at the UN as a build-up to September 20, when the membership request will formally be submitted. This comes after David Hale and Dennis Ross failed to convince the Palestinians to abandon their bid. | Maan News Agency; Huffington Post; Palestine News Network

Hamas informed political factions in the Gaza Strip that they will not allow mass protests in support of the Palestinian bid for statehood, although factions are still trying to convince Hamas of the importance of such actions. | Maan News Agency

The military trial of four men (who self-identify as Salafists) suspected in the murder of Vittorio Arrigoni began today in Gaza City and is open to the public. | Maan News Agency

SEPTEMBER 7

The United States has sent an envoy to meet with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas as U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton asked Abbas to “work with Washington” over Palestine’s UN bid for statehood, pushing instead for a return to direct negotiations. | Maan News Agency

The Palestinian Authority (PA) launched a media campaign this week featuring the words of President Obama from his 2010 UN General Assembly speech regarding prospects for a Palestinian state. | Yahoo News

For the second time in three months, the PA announced that it will pay half of employee salaries due to a lack of donor funds. The head of the Civil Servants Union said that the PA has not set a payday but that workers would not strike so as not to undermine the UN statehood bid. | Reuters; Maan News Agency

SEPTEMBER 6

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak renewed their call to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to hold direct talks and drop the Palestinian bid for statehood at the UN. Palestinian officials insisted that they would not drop the bid but said that they would return to talks regardless of the outcome. | Maan News Agency; Maan News Agency; Maan News Agency

Ultra-Orthodox Jewish settlers vandalized and set fire to a mosque near Nablus in the northern West Bank on Monday. | Maan News Agency; Palestine News Network

Senior Fatah official Nabil Shaath announced on Sunday that Palestinian leaders have a clear post-September strategy if the UN membership bid fails, pledging to seek full membership in every UN organization before eventually returning to the Security Council. | Maan News Agency

AUGUST 31

Sources say that Hamas chief Khaled Meshal is leading a senior Hamas delegation to Cairo to hold talks about the release of kidnapped Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit. | Haaretz

Israeli Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz classified the Palestinian UN bid for statehood as a “greater threat” than Hamas, as he reportedly blocked the payment of $106 million in tax revenue to the Palestinian Authority. | Maan News Agency

Florida Republican Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen introduced legislation on Tuesday to alter UN funding as a means of pressuring UN members to vote against Palestinian statehood. The bill is expected to meet opposition in the U.S. Senate. | CBS News; Haaretz

AUGUST 30

The Israeli daily newspaper Haaretz reported that in preparation for the UN bid in September, the Israeli military is training settlers and arming them with tear gas and stun grenades. | Haaretz

Israel said that Palestinians in Gaza have acquired anti-aircraft and anti-tank missiles from Libya since it fell to the rebels over the past six months. | Maan News Agency

The EU foreign policy chief, Catherine Ashton, announced that no resolution has been reached on the Palestinian UN bid for statehood, but said that it was up to the Palestinians to decide their approach. | Middle East Online

Debate is ongoing among Palestinians about the legal implications of the September UN bid, particularly in the way it will affect representation and the Right of Return. | Maan News Agency

AUGUST 29

A Palestinian man in his twenties from the West Bank city of Nablus injured eight in Tel Aviv when he crashed a stolen car into a road block and subsequently stabbed passersby and police officers. | Al Jazeera English

Ahead of the UN bid in September, 124 out of 193 UN member states support Palestinian statehood as Israel’s UN envoy says that Israel cannot stop UN recognition of a Palestinian state. Meanwhile Palestinian official Hanan Ashrawi is pressing the EU to support the bid. | Maan News Agency; Haaretz; Maan News Agency

Quoting Palestinian sources, the Egyptian press reported on Saturday that Egypt stopped Israel from going forward with a plan to assassinate Gaza’s Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, giving no details as to how. | Maan News Agency

AUGUST 26

Thursday’s Israeli attacks on Gaza left nine Palestinians dead, including two members of the Islamic Jihad, as rockets continued to be launched into Israel. At dawn on Friday, Islamic Jihad officials announced an Egyptian meditated ceasefire with Israel. | Maan News Agency; Zawya; Maan News Agency

Speaking on condition of anonymity, an EU diplomat said that officials are considering a cut-back on aid to the Palestinians due to Europe’s ongoing financial crisis. | Yahoo News

Responding to a legal warning by international law expert Guy Goodwin-Gill, Palestinian official Hanan Ashrawi refuted that the Palestinian Authority statehood bid would threaten the role of the Palestinian Liberation Organization as sole representative of Palestinians worldwide. | Maan News Agency

AUGUST 25

Eight Palestinians were killed and at least 35 injured in overnight Israeli military airstrikes over Gaza, continuing the escalation of violence after shootings in Eilat last week. | Al Jazeera English; Maan News Agency

The Israeli press reported that Egypt prevented a major Israeli incursion into the Gaza Strip after Cairo sent a message that a large-scale military incursion could lead Egypt to suspend diplomatic ties. | Maan News Agency

The Palestinian Center for Human Rights reported that eight Palestinians were injured this week from rockets launched by Gazan militants. | Maan News Agency

AUGUST 24

An Israeli military airstrike over Southern Gaza on Tuesday night killed a member of the Islamic Jihad’s military wing and injured another person. | Maan News Agency

An Oxford University law professor, Guy Goodwin-Gill, submitted a seven-page legal document to the Palestinian Authority outlining the legal risks involved in the UN bid for statehood, which includes altering the status of representation and the Right of Return. | Maan News Agency

In response to criticisms over the postponement of local elections a Fatah official announced that Hamas approached Fatah and requested the delay. | Maan News Agency

AUGUST 23

Hours after a temporary truce was negotiated between Gaza and Israel, militants launched four rockets from Gaza into an uninhabited area of Sderot in Southern Israel and into Ashkelon. Groups who claimed responsibility for the attacks were not party to the truce. | Maan News Agency

President Abbas postponed local West Bank elections on Monday “until appropriate circumstances.” Various Palestinian political groups have come out in opposition to the decision, calling it illegal. | Maan News Agency; Maan News Agency

A doctor, head of an emergency ward in Gaza City, said that Israel is using new and more brutal weapons against Gaza. This came after a four-day bombardment of the coastal enclave that left fourteen dead and dozens wounded. | Maan News Agency

AUGUST 22

Israeli military forces bombed the Gaza Strip over the course of three days, killing fourteen Palestinians and injuring over 40. A truce was called on Sunday evening between Gaza and Israel. Fatah officials requested a special emergency session of the UN Security Council to address these operations. | Maan News Agency; Arab News; Maan News Agency

During the three-day Israeli military bombardments over the Gaza Strip, multiple rockets were launched into Israel from the coastal enclave; several armed groups claimed responsibility for the attacks. The rockets left one Israeli man dead and at least four wounded. | Maan News Agency

Israeli forces detained 120 Palestinians across the Hebron district in the Southern West Bank, mostly Hamas supporters, in the largest detention campaign the district has witnessed since 2003. | Maan News Agency

AUGUST 19

At least seven Palestinians were killed in Israeli military airstrikes across the Gaza Strip, an attack Israeli officials say comes in retaliation for fatal shootings on buses in Southern Israel. Following the airstrikes, ten rockets were launched into Israel from Gaza. | Maan News Agency; Maan News Agency

Israel blamed the Gaza-based Popular Resistance Committees (PRC) for the attacks on buses in Eilat, as well as the new Egyptian government for failing to properly secure the borders. The PRC, however, denied involvement in the attacks. | Reuters; Maan News Agency

An Egyptian official said that the latest round of indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas over a prisoner release are going nowhere. | Haaretz

Although preparations for municipal elections in the West Bank are complete, Fatah says it is willing to delay the October elections to allow Hamas to prepare for a vote. | Maan News Agency

AUGUST 18

At least seven people were killed and dozens injured in shootings on buses near Eilat in the South of Israel. Israeli officials accused Hamas of responsibility, but Hamas was quick to respond that Gaza had no role in the attacks. | Maan News Agency; Maan News Agency

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas says that the US will not boycott Palestine after September’s UN bid, despite its opposition to the move. | Gulf Today

With unity between Hamas and Fatah stalled, President Abbas will head to the UN alone in September to seek recognition of a Palestinian state. | Daily Star

AUGUST 17

Announcing a state of emergency, an official in Gaza’s Ministry of Health warned that a shortage of fuel and medications are spiraling hospitals in the strip into a crisis. | Maan News Agency

Lebanon’s President Michel Sleiman announced that his country will back Palestine’s United Nations (UN) statehood bid in September while Lebanon serves as the head of the UN Security Council. Meanwhile Hamas’s leadership is divided on the Palestinian Authority’s UN bid. | Daily Star; Maan News Agency

The Palestinian Authority (PA)-run Palestine TV has taken the show Watan ‘ala Watar—famous for its criticism of PA policies and officials—off the air for crossing “red lines.” The show’s producer condemned the move as setting a dangerous precedent against freedom of speech. | Maan News Agency; Reuters

AUGUST 16

Israeli Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense Ehud Barak confirmed that Israel and Hamas are negotiating a prisoner swap in Cairo. | Maan News Agency

President Mahmoud Abbas appealed to Arab states for financial support leading up to the UN bid for Palestinian statehood in the face of U.S. and Israeli threats to slash aid. | Arab News

A group of Palestinian writers, intellectuals, journalists, parliamentarians, and civil society leaders called for the Palestinian Authority to continue considering all possible options besides the United Nations bid, accusing them of procrastination. | Maan News Agency

AUGUST 15

President Abbas revealed that he held four secret meetings with Israeli president Shimon Peres to restart negotiations. Meetings came to a halt when Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu refused to approve the negotiations. | Maan News Agency

The Palestinian foreign minister announced that the Palestinian Authority will present its bid for United Nations (UN) membership on September 20 at the opening of the sixtieth session. Abbas is set to discuss the UN bid in Beirut as Lebanon will take over presidency of the Security Council this September. | Gulf Today; Maan News Agency; Khaleej Times

U.S. aid organizations in Gaza resumed operations on Sunday after Hamas retracted its demand to audit the books of U.S.-funded charities. Hamas and the U.S. are now working to ensure full transparency of aid organizations. | Haaretz; Maan News Agency

Israel approved the construction of 277 new homes in the West Bank settlement of Ariel only days after the announcement that thousands of new settlement units would be erected in East Jerusalem. | Maan News Agency

AUGUST 11

A delegation of Arab foreign ministers, headed by Qatar, are set to urge the veto-wielding UN Security Council members to vote in support of Palestinian UN membership. Palestinian Authority (PA) officials dismissed Israeli threats of sanctions as intimidation tactics. | Maan News Agency; Maan News Agency

The PA is formulating plans to increase local revenues while maintaining social services next year to compensate for the lack of promised donor funds. Meanwhile, Sweden donated 4 million euros to pay PA employee salaries. | Maan News Agency; Maan News Agency

Israel’s interior minister approved the construction of 1,600 new settler homes in East Jerusalem and is set to approve an additional 2,700 soon. Authorities linked the decision to economic protests in Israel. | Al Jazeera; Maan News Agency

AUGUST 10

Israeli bulldozers destroyed a cable near the border late Tuesday night, cutting communication services for over twelve hours in the Gaza Strip. Mobile services resumed as the Israeli military investigates circumstances around the incident. | Maan News Agency

Hamas leader Mahmoud Zahar said that until the two parties reach an agreement on the unity government, reconciliation meetings with Fatah were “worthless.” | Maan News Agency

A Hamas official announced that there has been no improvement at the Rafah crossing—Gaza’s only border crossing that bypasses Israel—since Egypt permanently opened the border in May. | Maan News Agency

AUGUST 9

The Palestinian Authority (PA) urged the protection of Palestinian prisoners’ rights after two violations became public. Israel banned family visits up to seventeen years for a prisoner accused of smuggling cell phones into prison and 40 prisoners suffered from food poisoning in the Negev Prison. | Maan News Agency

Economists say there are no short-term solutions to the PA’s financial problems except relying on donor support to fill in the gaps. They blame government policies that increased military spending and neglected the productive sectors. | Albawaba

Israeli police have been caught taking bribes from the PA to smuggle goods from the West Bank to Israel, mostly through Jerusalem. | Haaretz

AUGUST 8

Hamas announced that Gazan civil servants will not receive their July salaries until the end of August due to financial shortages. Officials are trying to secure funding from outside of Gaza. | Maan News Agency

Findings of a Fatah inquiry accuse Muhammad Dahlan of being involved in poisoning Yasser Arafat and linked him to assassination attempts against other Palestinians. | Maan News Agency

Hamas and Fatah agreed to release all political prisoners, reverse the effects of political animosities, and create a joint government after meeting in Cairo to discuss the reconciliation deal signed in April. Another meeting is set to take place in September to discuss security and governance. | Maan News Agency; Maan News Agency; Palestine News Network

AUGUST 5

More than 2,000 Israeli police and border guards were deployed in Jerusalem for the first Friday of Ramadan. Access to the Al-Aqsa compound was limited and the Qalandiya checkpoint between Ramallah and Jerusalem was closed from Thursday evening to Friday evening. | Maan News Agency

Gaza’s High Court of Justice overturned a government decision to shut down the Sharek Youth Forum nongovernmental organization (NGO) in Gaza, calling on the government to explain its reasons. | Maan News Agency

The Palestinian Authority pledged to prevent violence in September protests supporting the UN bid for Palestinian statehood by concentrating the protests in Palestinian city centers and away from settlements and roadblocks. | Palestine News Network

AUGUST 4

Israel released 200 Palestinian prisoners whose terms were almost complete Thursday morning in a mass release of 770 prisoners due to overcrowding. These included 74 prisoners from the Negev prison, sixteen prisoners from Gaza, and Hassan Yousef, a West Bank Hamas leader. | Maan News Agency; Palestine News Network

Israel approved the construction of 900 new homes in East Jerusalem, which will significantly expand the Har Homa hilltop settlement. | Maan News Agency

The Palestinian Authority plans on going forward with their UN bid for Palestinian statehood despite Israeli offers to exchange negotiations for an end to the bid. | Zawya; Maan News Agency

AUGUST 3

The Palestinian Central Elections Committee announced its schedule for the local council vote set for October 22 in the West Bank. Elections will not take place in the Gaza Strip. | Maan News Agency

Palestinian Authority official Nabil Shaath said that Palestinian membership in the UN would improve peace talks with Israel by making the two more equal. Meanwhile, Hanan Ashrawi announced that she tried in vain to persuade the Obama administration not to veto the Palestinian bid for UN membership. | Maan News Agency; Zawya

JULY 29

Haaretz reported that Israeli President Shimon Peres has been holding secret talks with chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat in order to restart negotiations. The Palestinian Authority, however, denied the reports, stating that Israel’s lack of commitment to the 1967 borders has hampered negotiations. | Haaretz; Maan News Agency

The Palestinian National Council and the Palestinian Legislative Council met in Ramallah on Thursday in the first meeting of its kind between the two bodies. They discussed national reconciliation, elections, and the reactivation of political bodies “in a positive atmosphere.” Some Hamas lawmakers attended. | Maan News Agency

JULY 28

Palestinian security forces raided the home of ex-Palestinian Authority (PA) official Muhammad Dahlan after his appeal against expulsion from Fatah was rejected on Wednesday. Officials announced the confiscation of illegal weapons and ammunition. Dahlan was expelled from the party over allegations of financial corruption and murder. | Maan News Agency; Al Jazeera English

The government announced that Palestinian elections in October will only be held in the West Bank, as Fatah officials blame Hamas for blocking preparations for the vote in the Gaza Strip. Hamas responded, however, that Fatah failed to reform the Central Elections Committee to comply with the terms of the reconciliation agreement the two parties reached in May. | Maan News Agency

JULY 27

The PLO Central Council convened in Ramallah to endorse the bid for UN membership, where President Mahmoud Abbas announced that 122 nations recognize a Palestinian State. Hamas was absent, stressing that national reconciliation should happen before it joins meetings. The United States has announced that it will oppose the bid. | Maan News Agency; Maan News Agency; Al Jazeera English

Salam Fayyad requested urgent funds amounting to $300 million on Tuesday at an Arab League meeting in Cairo to help the Palestinian Authority (PA) recover from a financial crisis. Arab countries agreed to provide $330 million in aid to the PA every six months. | Daily Star

JULY 26

As parliaments across Europe have closed for the summer, the Palestinian Authority (PA) urged its European supporters to focus on civil society in backing the Palestinian bid for full UN membership. Fatah’s Europe spokesman said that European governments would not take unified positions on the issue until September 3, at a European foreign ministry meeting. | Maan News Agency

The government in Gaza executed two residents, a father and son, convicted of collaborating with Israel. Hamas reported that the men confessed to providing information that helped Israel track down several Palestinians. | Maan News Agency

JULY 25

In response to the Palestinian bid for full membership in the UN in September, Israel is considering revoking the Oslo Accords, among other options. Under the accords, a final status agreement was to be reached in 1999, but was never achieved. The PA’s press office states that it will move forward with the UN bid. | Maan News Agency; Palestine News Network

Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said that Israel should avoid confrontations with the PA over its UN bid for statehood and should focus instead on Europe to stop the bid. A PA official reported that preparations for the UN bid are set to end on August 4. | Maan News Agency

Speaking from Istanbul, Palestianian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas asked foreign ambassadors for the PA to mobilize foreign communities for the UN bid to gain statehood. Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan reiterated his country’s support for the Palestinian state and expressed a desire to see Palestinian reconciliation take place. | Maan News Agency; Maan News Agency

JULY 22

Israeli settlers set fire to land across the West Bank Thursday night, destroying hundreds of trees. This is the latest in a series of incidents of settler violence over the past month. | Maan News Agency

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UN OCHA) released a report on Thursday documenting a significant increase in forced displacement of Palestinians due to house demolitions. This trend is taking place in “Area C” of the West Bank, where Israel retains control over security, planning, and zoning. | Maan News Agency

JULY 21

President Mahmoud Abbas announced that his plan to seek UN recognition of a Palestinian State in September does not affect his will to reengage in negotiations with Israel. He has indicated that he would abandon plans for the UN bid if Israel agrees to negotiate based on the 1967 borders. | Palestine News Network

In a second day of protests, dozens of refugees gathered outside of United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) headquarters in Gaza City, blocking the entrance to the building. Organizers say they will protest as long as services continue to be cut. | Palestine News Network 

JULY 20

President Mahmoud Abbas met with King Juan Carlos of Spain to begin a two-day visit there to build support for UN recognition of a Palestinian state. Spanish Foreign Minister Trinidad Jimenez told Abbas that his country supports his efforts. | Ma’an News

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced on Tuesday that if conditions are favorable, he intends to visit the Gaza Strip following his planned trip to Egypt. | Ma’an News; Haaretz 

JULY 19

The Israeli navy intercepted the French vessel, Dignite Al-Karama, in its attempt to break Israel’s blockade of the Gaza Strip. Commandos boarded the ship after the activists ignored calls to divert its course. | Associated Press

Israel approved a tender for the construction of 294 new settlement units in Beitar Illit in the West Bank. A spokesperson for the Palestinian president affirmed the action provided “all the more reason to go to the UN” for recognition of a Palestinian state. | Ma’an News

Israeli forces bombarded a boat belonging to Hamas in the southern Gaza Strip, injuring two persons. | Palestine News

JULY 18

In response to the landing of three rockets from Gaza in western Negev on Saturday, Israeli forces initiated an airstrike on Sunday, injuring seven. | Ma’an News

Over 3,000 protesters joined a solidarity march from the old city of Jerusalem to Sheikh Jarrah in support of a two-state solution.  | Palestine News

Israeli forces attacked non-violent protestors with tear gas and rubber-coated steel bullets in the villages of Nilin, Al-nabi Saleh, Bilin, and Al-Ma’ssara in the West Bank. One protester was injured and another one arrested. | Palestine News

JULY 15

In a meeting for the Arab Peace Initiative Committee in Doha, the Arab League decided to submit to the UN a request for recognition of a Palestinian state. | Ma’an News; Palestine News

Israeli forces bombed two bases belonging to Hamas and a projectile launch site in Gaza–injuring four people–in response to six rockets fired from Gaza. | Ma’an News

JULY 14

Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat stated in a news conference in Ramallah that Palestinians are calling on the United States to support their bid to the UN for statehood. | Ma’an News

Israeli forces bombed tunnels used for terrorist activities in the Gaza Strip, injuring five Palestinians. | Palestine News; Haaretz

JULY 13

President Mahmoud Abbas promised to pursue a bid for statehood at the United Nations General Assembly after the Mideast Quartet meeting, which was expected to draw up a new initiative for negotiations, failed to reach a consensus. | Al Jazeera

Israeli forces bombed a car-repair workshop and two other targets in the Gaza Strip, injuring a Palestinian woman, in response to two homemade rockets fired from Gaza toward Israel. | Ma’an News

JULY 10

Israeli authorities arrested over 100 activists who participated in the “Welcome to Palestine Campaign” over the weekend. Authorities have so far expelled 36 people and 82 others are expected to be deported this week| Ma’an News

Israeli forces bombed a factory in the Gaza Strip on Sunday in response to three homemade rockets fired from Gaza toward Israel.  | Ma’an News

JULY 7

Violent confrontations occurred between Palestinians and Israeli soldiers in Issawiya in East Jerusalem.  Sources said that the Israeli army raided the town, fired gas and sound canisters, and arrested a number of people.  | Jordan News Agency

A French yacht named Dignite-Al Karama, which is carrying twelve pro-Palestinian activists and attempting to breach Israel’s blockade of Gaza, was blocked in Crete by the Greek coast guard when the boat stopped to refuel. | Ma’an News

JULY 6

The Palestinian Authority (PA) cabinet called upon donor countries to channel financial aid to the PA as quickly as possible to overcome its financial crisis.  | Ma’an News

The Arab League requested UN membership for a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza, with East Jerusalem as its capital.  | Palestine News Network

An Israeli air strike killed two Palestinians in the town of Deir al-Balah in the Gaza Strip after they allegedly tried to fire rockets into Israel. | Al Jazeera, Palestine News Network

JULY 5

Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak cancelled plans to return the bodies of Palestinian fighters to their families, believing it was inappropriate in light of the continued captivity of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit.  | Ma’an News; Palestine News Network

The Palestinian Authority said that Israeli plans to build 900 new settlement units in the illegal settlement of Gilo in East Jerusalem, which would destroy any attempt to restart the peace process.  | Jordan News Agency; Ma’an News

JULY 1

President Mahmoud Abbas urged Israel to recognize a Palestinian state in response to Palestinians’ recognition of Israel’s right to exist. He added that 117 countries have already recognized Palestine as an independent state and urged those that have not done so to recognize it.  | Ma’an News

The Israeli forces raided Ashkelon prison and attacked Palestinian detainees who had protested against the administration’s decision to close a section of the jail to bring in criminal prisoners.  | Ma’an News

Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh stated that progress was being made on implementing the Palestinian reconciliation agreement.  | Ma’an News

JUNE 29

Israeli forces detained eleven Palestinians in the West Bank, including Nasser Abdel Jawwad, a Hamas-affiliated member of the Palestinian Legislative Council.  | Ma’an News

Senior Hamas leader Mahmoud Al-Zahar blamed Fatah for the delay in reconciliation talks. He also denied reports that President Mahmoud Abbas and Hamas chief Khalid Mash’al met in Turkey to resolve the dispute.  | Ma’an News

JUNE 28

According to a senior Hamas official, Hamas is not aware of any arrangements for party chief Khalid Mash’al to meet with President Mahmoud Abbas in Cairo after their scheduled meeting was indefinitely postponed. The spokesman also added that while the reconciliation agreement has not collapsed, Hamas will not accept Salam Fayyad as prime minister of the new government.  | Ma’an News

JUNE 27

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said that the Palestinians would pursue their unilateral bid for recognition. He also said that “the American administration has notified him of their intention to use [their] veto [power] against the Palestinian state bid at the UN in September.” | Palestine News; Ma’an News

The Israeli army started dismantling a section of its West Bank separation barrier near the town of Bilin. | Al Jazeera

JUNE 24

Sources reported that Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, agreed to peace talks based on 1967 borders on the condition that the Palestinians recognize Israel as a Jewish state and solve the Palestinian refugee issue outside of Israel’s borders. However, Netanyahu’s office denied these claims in a statement, saying that Israel will not return to the 1967 borders. | Ma’an News

According to a UN envoy, Israel is ready to intercept the Gaza Freedom Flotilla seeking to breach Israel’s blockade of Gaza. | Ma’an News

The Israeli army arrested eight Palestinians in the West Bank. Palestinian sources reported invasions in Bethlehem, Hebron, and Ramallah. Israeli navy forces also attacked Palestinian fishing boats in Gaza, but no injuries were reported. | Palestine News

JUNE 23

The Turkish news channel NTV reported that Khalid Mishal, the leader of Hamas, arrived in Istanbul one day after Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas began a four-day visit to Turkey. Sources did not confirm whether or not he would meet with Abbas. | Palestine News

Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon said that Israel was ready to sit for talks with the Palestinians “on the condition that there will be no outside intervention by the UN.” | Ma'an News

JUNE 22

Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad said in a press conference on Tuesday that he “will not be an obstacle or impose on anybody in any new government.” He also said that delaying the government was not in the interest of Palestinians. On Monday, the head of Fatah, Mahmoud Abbas, told the Lebanese television station LBC that Fayyad was “the only option for the role of prime minister despite Hamas’s rejection of him.” | Palestine news

JUNE 21

President Mahmoud Abbas stated that the United States could stop Palestine’s UN recognition bid but added that the Palestinian leadership will turn to the UN in September if an alternative is not presented by the United States, the EU, or Israel to restart the peace talks.| Jerusalem Post; Haaretz

The expansion of 2,000 homes in East Jerusalem´s Ramat Shlomo settlement has been approved by Israel’s Jerusalem municipality. The Palestinian Authority has condemned the approval. | Ma’an News Agency 

JUNE 20

According to a Fatah official, the meeting scheduled on Tuesday in Cairo between the leader of Fatah, Mahmoud Abbas, and Hamas chief Khaled Mash’al to discuss the formation of a new government was postponed. Sources say Fatah and Hamas failed to agree on a prime minister. | Ma’an News; Al Jazeera

Abbas asked the EU to recognize a Palestinian state on the 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital, during a meeting with EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton. | Palestine News 

JUNE 17

According to Palestinian negotiator Mohammed Shtayeh, Palestinians will seek UN recognition and membership regardless of a resumption of negotiations with Israelis. | Ma'an News Agency

JUNE 16

Fatah officials in West Bank announced that Hamas had detained their spokesman in the Gaza Strip and condemned this detention as a violation of the conciliation agreement between the two Palestinian movements.  | Ma'an News

JUNE 15

Fatah and Hamas agreed to form a unity government next Tuesday. The movements also decided on the next prime minister, but did not announce who it would be. Salam Fayyad will reportedly not be a contender for the post.  | Ma'an News

In a meeting with EU Parliament President Jerzy Buzek, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu revealed that Israeli diplomats were seeking to secure 30 UN member states to oppose the unilateral declaration of a Palestinian state. | Ma'an News

JUNE 14

According to a study by the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), over 45.2 percent of working-age people in Gaza are unemployed. Although this marks a small improvement from a 45.7 percent unemployment rate in 2009, the Gaza unemployment rate remained among the highest in the world during the second half of 2010.  | Haaretz 

European Parliament President Jerzy Buzek announced that the European Union supports a unity government in Palestine, but that the new government must recognize Israel and accept past accords. | Ma'an News

JUNE 13

Hamas rejected Fatah’s proposal to appoint Salam Fayyad as the head of a unity government.  Hamas and Fatah will meet on Tuesday in Cairo to form a new government.  | Ma'an News

JUNE 10

Israel is planning to undermine Palestinian efforts to obtain UN recognition as a state in September. The Israeli Foreign Ministry has established a “September Forum” and ordered all of its envoys to attend so they can persuade other nations to oppose unilateral Palestinian efforts.  | Ma'an News; Haaretz 

Hamas is now considering staying out of government even if it wins elections in the future, an idea that helped the group to reconcile with its rival Fatah last month.  | Arab News; Jordan Times

JUNE 9

President Mahmoud Abbas’s political advisor Nimir Hammad denied reports by Israeli media about a rift among the Palestinian political leadership on seeking UN recognition of a Palestinian state in September. Hamad stated that achieving statehood before the UN was still a possible option.  | Palestine News Network

Israeli settlers set fire to crops owned by Palestinian farmers from the village of Bani Naim, near Hebron City in the southern West Bank. Kamal Hamid, the governor of Hebron, condemned the destruction of the crops, saying that it proves the “systematic abuse policy” that settlers use against Palestinians in the West Bank.  | Palestine News Network 

JUNE 8

The Rafah border crossing re-opened after a four-day closure due to a dispute between Cairo and Gaza’s Hamas rulers over travel arrangements. Egypt and Hamas will now allow an average of 550 travelers per day to pass.  | Ma'an News Agency, Haaretz

In a statement, Hamas officials in the West Bank accused Palestinian Authority security forces of arresting four of the party’s members. This is the first time Palestinian Authority security forces have been accused of carrying out politically motivated arrests since the signing of a unity agreement in early May.  | Ma'an News Agency

JUNE 7

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton held talks with both Israeli and Palestinian representatives to discuss the possibility of resuming peace talks. Clinton also met with French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe, who offered to host talks between the two sides in Paris. Clinton later stated, however, that she believed there was no point in holding a peace conference in France if the parties had not yet agreed to resume negotiations.  | Haaretz; Maan

JUNE 6

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated that the attempt by Syrian protesters to break through the Israeli border proves that Palestinians are not interested in a peace agreement based on 1967 borders, but rather want a return to 1948 borders.  | Haaretz

Israeli troops arrested thirteen-year-old Samah Mousalan from the northern part of Nablus as she was visiting her father who is being held by Israelis in the Negev detention facility.  | Palestine News Network

JUNE 3

French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe met with Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad and presented a new plan for resuming Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, which have been stalled since last year.  The French proposal is based on the 1967 borders with additional land swaps to compensate for Israeli settlement on Palestinian territory.  | Maan

Six Israeli police officers and five settlers were injured in clashes that erupted after police dismantled an illegal settlement outpost.  | Maan

Israeli forces detained two members of the Palestinian Legislative Council from the Hamas and Fatah blocs overnight on Wednesday, following raids on their homes in Nablus and Tulkarem.  | Maan 

JUNE 2

The Israeli army detained Hamas lawmaker Abdel Rahman Zaidan, along with two other Hamas members and an ex-Fatah official. | Associated Foreign Press

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office, as well as Egyptian and Hamas officials, denied reports by Egyptian newspaper El-Mesryoon of a reported deal to free Gilad Shalit, an Israeli soldier captured by militants in 2006, in exchange for 1,000 Palestinian prisoners. | Associated Foreign Press; Ma’an

After permanently reopening the Rafah crossing, Egypt imposed a limit on the number of Palestinians allowed to enter to 350 to 400 people per day. | The Washington Post

JUNE 1

Egypt and the Hamas government exchanged accusations for failing to create an effective mechanism for border control at the Rafah crossing. Tensions rose following the announcement of a cap of 400 travelers per day. Priority will be given to medical patients and students. | Maan

May 31

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated no one can prevent the UN recognition of a Palestinian state, but, if the plan is reviewed by the Security Council, as he suggests, it is “bound to fail.” | Haaretz

The Arab League announced at a meeting in Doha on Saturday with President Mahmoud Abbas that it seeks full UN membership for a Palestinian state, with East Jerusalem as its capital. | BBC 

May 27

Israel condemned Egypt’s opening the Rafah border crossing.  Israeli deputy Defense Minister Matan Vilanai noted the potential for arms trade and the entry of Iranian and Al-Qaeda terrorists groups into Gaza if it is not tightly controlled. | Al-Ayam

May 24

Representatives from Fatah and Hamas met with Sergei Lavrov, the foreign minister of Russia. Moscow reiterated its support for a UN declaration to form a Palestinian state. The representatives stressed that Russian support for the reconciliation agreement is important because of its “international status and membership in the Middle East quartet.” | Haaretz

May 23

President Mahmoud Abbas will hold a meeting Wednesday in Ramallah to discuss borders with Egypt and Jordan based on 1967 lines, as proposed in U.S. President Barack Obama’s speech, which he sees as a “positive step.”| Al-Ayam

Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri rejected Obama’s call for the party to recognize Israel. Zahri added that Obama’s address shows Washington’s bias toward Israel “at the expense of the freedom of the Palestinian people.” | Maan 

May 18

Member of the Fatah Council Azzam Al-Ahmad announced that the new Palestinian unity government would be announced within a month.  The Fatah leader told reporters that the two sides were seeing eye to eye on the details surrounding the formation of the unity government. | Maan

Imprisoned Fatah leader Marwan Barghouthi urged Hamas and Fatah to implement the terms of the reconciliation agreement as quickly as possible. In his interview with Egypt’s Al-Ahram newspaper, Barghouthi said, “Hamas and Fatah should work loyally and faithfully to accurately implement the agreement.” Barghouthi was sentenced to life in an Israeli prison in 2004. | Maan

May 17

The transitional Palestinian Authority has announced that muncipal elections will be postponed until October 22 to allow both Gaza and the West Bank to conduct polls simultaneously. The elections were initially scheduled to take place in July but were delayed at the recommendation of the Central Elections Committee. | Maan

After two days of discussions in Cairo on the implementation of the reconciliation agreement, Hamas and Fatah have reportedly agreed on all of the major items and specifically on the mechanisms for appointing and approving a new Palestinian unity government. | Maan

May 16

Hamas and Fatah representatives are currently in Cairo discussing the implementation of the reconciliation agreement. The main items of discussion will address the formation of a national unity government and the question of detainees in both Gaza and the West Bank. The Cairo meetings will continue for three days, after which representatives of the two factions will travel to Moscow to continue implementation discussions, as per an invitation from the Russian Foreign Ministry. | al Masry al Youm

President Mahmoud Abbas on Sunday signed an amendment to the honor killing law, ending leniency for civilians found guilty of murder “in defense of family honor.” Until Sunday evening, personal status laws in the West Bank mirrored the Jordan Penal Code. | Maan

May 11

Hundreds of Gazans took to the streets on Wednesday morning to demand the protection of and adherence to the Palestinian reconciliation agreement signed in Egypt last week. Protestors held banners stating: “the people want protection of reconciliation”; “the people and the police are one hand”; and “Gaza + West Bank = unity government.” | Maan

Salah Bardawil, head of the “change and reform” bloc of parliament, said the Hamas and Fatah delegations would be traveling to Egypt on Saturday to finalize the formation of a unity government comprised of competent Palestinian nationals from all factions. Bardawil also highlighted the recent formation of a pan-Arab delegation that will oversee the implementation of the reconciliation agreement terms. | Maan

Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad on Wednesday evening discussed the importance of empowering women to participate in all aspects of society, and the importance of facilitating their contribution to the Palestinian labor force. | Maan  

May 9

Palestinian faction representatives will be meeting in Cairo again next week to review the details of implementation arrangements and to push the reconciliation process forward. Abdul-Aziz Shiqaqi, leader of the independent figures coalition, said that committees would be appointed to oversee the implementation process and that the first of five appointed committees would be tasked with the formation of the new Palestinian Authority cabinet, including filling the prime minister and cabinet positions.| Maan

Representatives of Fatah are insisting that institutions and buildings in the Gaza strip, which formerly belonged to the party but were taken over by Hamas in 2007, must be rebuilt for use by Fatah as a means of restoring its presence there. | Maan

Palestinian youth in the Gaza strip will be forming a “shadow cabinet” once the transitional government has been formed, as a means to pressure the government to serve the Palestinian people to the best of their ability. Each member of the “shadow cabinet” will have a portfolio and lobby the government accordingly. | Maan 

May 6

During a political speech delivered to ministers and members of parliament of the former Gaza government, Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh declared that he will not be serving a role in the upcoming government and reiterated the importance of abiding by the terms of the reconciliation agreement. | Maan

May 5

Leaders of Hamas and Fatah held their first post-reconciliation meeting on Wednesday night to discuss the formation of a transitional government. Hamas leader Khalid Meshaal stated that he supports elections at the earliest possible time, but that first a “real and normal atmosphere” must be established on the ground. | Maan

Media correspondents from Fatah and Hamas stations broadcasted live from Gaza City and Ramallah on Wednesday evening, for the first time since 2007. | Maan

Right-wing members of the Israeli Knesset called for sanctions against their Arab counterparts who attended the signing of the unity agreement in Cairo on Wednesday. | Jerusalem Post

May 4

Palestinian leaders Mahmoud Abbas and Khalid Meshaal declared their respective commitments to unity and solidarity on Wednesday.  They agreed that the page had been turned on division. | AlArabAlYawm; Maan; Maan

Four individuals have emerged as likely contenders for prime minister: philanthropist billionaire Munib Al-Masri, legislative council member Ziad Abu-Amer, former presidential candidate AbdelKarim Shubair, and former minister Jamal Khudari. Sources indicated that President Abbas might also suggest that incumbent Prime Minister Salam Fayyad maintain his post. | Maan

West Bank incumbent Prime Minister Salam Fayyad stated the unity accord between Fatah and Hamas is a mere “first step” in the progress toward unity and statehood, and stressed that the deal must be implemented immediately. | Maan

May 3

Palestinian factions signed a reconciliation deal in Cairo on Tuesday, agreeing to hold elections in the coming year and to establish a joint “professional” security service. Representatives of 13 factions, including Hamas and Fatah, independent political figures and Egyptian officials were present for the signing. Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu highlighted the agreement as a blow to peace and called for its cancellation. | Maan; AP

April 27

Rival Palestinian parties Fatah and Hamas have finalized a reconciliation deal that includes agreement on three formerly contentious issues: control of the security forces, formation of the PLO leadership and a deadline for elections within the year. Hamas leader Mahmoud Zahar told reporters that Hamas and Fatah would jointly nominate government members in forming an interim government.  The talks have been taking place in Cairo under the auspices of Egyptian officials. The deal is to be signed by Mahmoud Abbas and Khalid Mashaal in Cairo in the coming week. | AlQuds; New York Times; Maan; Reuters; YNET 

The Palestinian leadership rejected Prime Minister Netanyahu’s offer to choose between peace with Hamas and peace with Israel. The PM made the offer after Fatah and Hamas reached an initial agreement on reconciliation during talks in Cairo on Wednesday. | Xinhua; Haaretz 

The White House is seeking additional details surrounding the reconciliation deal to form an interim Palestinian government comprised of both Fatah and Hamas, calling the latter group “terrorist”. White House spokesman Tommy Vietor told Reuters: “The United States supports Palestinian reconciliation on terms which promote the cause of peace; Hamas, however, is a terrorist organization which targets civilians.” | Reuters