The World Briefly

August 30, 2024

The Offense

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Israel’s military killed a prominent Palestinian militant commander during the second day of a large-scale operation in the northern West Bank Thursday, an operation that has caused multiple deaths, severe destruction and raised concerns about escalating violence in the region, the Washington Post reported. On Wednesday,...

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Need to Know

August 28, 2024

Mob Rule

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When Moawya Ali saw dozens of armed and masked Israeli settlers rushing toward his house in the West Bank town of Jit on Aug. 15, he grabbed his five children and took them to a nearby house for safety. When he returned, his house was on fire. “We...

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The World Briefly

July 22, 2024

The Pressure From Below

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The International Court of Justice (ICJ) released a legal opinion declaring Israeli policies and practices in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem as unlawful, a non-binding decision that could impact Israel’s international standing and add pressure on the country to agree to a Palestinian...

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The World Briefly

April 30, 2024

A Legal Siege

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Israeli officials on Monday are growing increasingly concerned that the International Criminal Court will issue arrest warrants for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other top Israeli officials for their roles in the violence in Gaza and the West Bank, the Associated Press reported. The court, based...

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The World Briefly

March 20, 2024

Old Guard, New Guard

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The Palestinian Authority’s new prime minister on Tuesday unveiled a series of wide-ranging plans to fight corruption and rebuild the war-torn Gaza Strip, in a bid to revitalize the government following years of criticism over corruption and a lack of new elections, the Times of...

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The World Briefly

February 27, 2024

A ‘Half-Step’

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The prime minister and government of the Palestinian Authority (PA) stepped down Monday as the United States and Middle Eastern countries are demanding reforms for the body to govern Gaza after the war, a move falling short of key demands, the Wall Street Journal reported. In...

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Need to Know

December 11, 2023

Burying the Lede

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Israeli Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi recently gained the power to halt foreign media broadcasts and confiscate foreign media equipment on the grounds of national security. The new regulations, approved Oct. 20, mainly targeted Al Jazeera, the state-owned, Qatar-based news organization that Karhi claimed was “harming national...

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Need to Know

November 28, 2023

Hitting Pause

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Diplomats worked overtime into Tuesday morning to extend the ceasefire between Israel and the Palestinian terrorist organization Hamas by 48 hours beyond the four-day deadline to Thursday morning , the BBC reported. Both sides said that they wanted to prolong the peace and continue exchanging...

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Need to Know

November 13, 2023

Teasing a Detonator

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After the Palestinian terror group Hamas killed about 1,400 Israelis on Oct. 7, Israeli settlers – sometimes wearing masks or reservist army uniforms – started breaking into Palestinian homes in Zanuta, a village in the West Bank, and attacking their occupants. For years, Zanuta residents remained...

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Need to Know

October 24, 2023

No Quarter

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When Israel gave the order to evacuate northern Gaza in advance of military strikes, Lubna and her four children had already left their home there to flee south to her friend’s house, knowing that safety was going to become ever more elusive. She was all too...

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The World Briefly

October 23, 2023

The Containment Conundrum

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Israeli warplanes struck targets across Gaza, southern Lebanon, airports in Syria and a mosque in the West Bank over the weekend and into Monday, as the war with Hamas threatened to spiral into a broader conflict, the Associated Press reported. Israel has traded fire with Lebanon’s...

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The World Briefly

May 10, 2023

Stepping Up, Sitting Out

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Israeli airstrikes killed three Palestinian militant group commanders and 10 others in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, the latest round of violence in one of the deadliest periods in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in years, the Wall Street Journal reported. Israel’s military said the strikes targeted senior...

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Need to Know

April 12, 2023

New Kids on the Block

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For years, Fatah and Hamas have vied for control of Palestine. The largest faction in the late Yasser Arafat’s renowned Palestinian Liberation Organization, Fatah controls the occupied territories of the West Bank, where Palestinian officials uneasily cooperate with their Israeli counterparts in attempting to govern a...

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The World Briefly

January 11, 2023

Digging In

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Israel’s new far-right government imposed a series of punitive steps against Palestinians this week in response to the latter’s efforts to involve the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in the decades-long conflict, Reuters reported. The government has withheld nearly $40 million in Palestinian tax revenues and...

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The World Briefly

September 26, 2022

The Hunt for the Future

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Prime Minister Yair Lapid expressed support for the creation of a Palestinian state alongside Israel, the first Israeli leader to explicitly endorse a two-state solution to the long-running conflict in years, the Wall Street Journal reported. “An agreement with the Palestinians, based on two states for...

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The World Briefly

September 07, 2022

Codifying Reality

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Israel amended a draft of controversial rules this week that would have imposed steep restrictions on foreigners wanting to live or visit the occupied West Bank, following widespread criticism of the rules, the Middle East Eye reported. The original draft was released by the Coordination of...

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Need to Know

August 10, 2022

A Tiger’s Tail

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Palestinian lawyers took to the streets in Ramallah in the Israel-occupied territories of the West Bank recently to protest against the rule of Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas. As Agence France-Presse explained, the Oslo Peace Accords established the Palestinian Legislative Council, a kind of parliament,...

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The World Briefly

August 09, 2022

A Fragile Peace

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Israelis and Palestinians in the Gaza Strip reached a ceasefire agreement this week, ending three days of conflict that began following the arrest of a senior Hamas leader, the BBC reported. As of Monday, the Egypt-brokered truce appeared to be holding. Israel announced it was lifting...

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The World Briefly

June 27, 2022

Killing the Messenger

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Israeli soldiers fired the shots that killed veteran Palestinian-American reporter Shireen Abu Akleh last month, found a probe by the United Nations, Haaretz reported over the weekend. The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights said it had conducted its own "monitoring" of the incident – refraining...

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The World Briefly

June 08, 2022

Welcome, Entropy

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The Israeli government failed to pass a bill that would extend legal protections to Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank, a major setback that could collapse the fragile ruling coalition and create a legal conundrum in the territory, the Associated Press reported. The vote would...

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