CMEP Bulletin: New School Year. New Push for Peace?
Kushner Heads to Israel for Latest Attempt at Peace Deal [Los Angeles Times]
Los Angeles Times reports, “President Trump’s son-in-law and advisor Jared Kushner arrives in Israel on Wednesday in the latest U.S. effort to revive long-stalled Middle East peace talks, but at a time when progress may be more elusive than ever.”
U.S. Pushing to Quash U.N. ‘Blacklist’ of Firms Doing Business in Israeli Settlements [The Washington Post]
The Washington Post reports, “The Trump administration is urging the United Nations not to publish what it calls a ‘blacklist’ of international firms that do business in Israeli settlements on land claimed by the Palestinians for a future state, diplomats and others said. The U.N. Human Rights Council voted to approve the database of companies last year, over objections from the United States and Israel, which describe the list as a prelude to anti-Israel boycotts.”
Israel Seizes Mobile Classrooms in Palestinian Village on Eve of New School Year [Haaretz]
Haaretz reports, “The start of the school year in a West Bank village was pushed back to Sunday after the Israeli Civil Administration on Tuesday confiscated and destroyed trailers that were supposed to serve as classrooms, along with other educational equipment. Authorities have confiscated and destroyed trailers used as classrooms in three other Palestinian communities in the last two weeks.”
Palestinian Leadership Considers Dissolving PA, Says Abbas Insider [The Jerusalem Post]
The Jerusalem Post reports, “The Palestinian leadership in Ramallah is considering dismantling the Palestinian Authority (PA), if there is no political horizon to establish an independent Palestinian state, [said] Ahmad Majdalani, a confidant of PA President Mahmoud Abbas. … Palestinian leaders including Abbas and top negotiator Saeb Erekat have said several times in the past that if the peace process fails to produce a Palestinian state, the Palestinian leadership would dissolve the PA. However, after the failure of negotiations in 2011 and again in 2014, the Palestinian leadership did not dissolve the PA.”