Overview

• This past week three rocket hits were identified in Israel’s south after a month of quiet. InJudea and Samaria violent confrontations and friction continued between Palestinians and Israeli security forces, as part of the so-called popular resistance. A young ultra-Orthodox man was seriously wounded in a stabbing attack near the Nablus Gate in Jerusalem.
• Events focused on the announcement made by American Secretary of State John Kerry, according to which Israel and the Palestinians had reached an agreement establishing a basis for resuming direct final status negotiations. He said the final draft of the agreement was still being prepared and thus he could not discuss its contents. Israeli and Palestinian representatives are supposed to meet in Washington in the near future to formulate the agreements on which the negotiations will be based.
• The responses of Mahmoud Abbas and other senior Palestinian Authority (PA) figures to the agreement were to the point but cautious. Most of the Palestinian spokesmen stressed familiar Palestinian positions, noting that there were still many matters requiring solutions. Hamas objected to the agreement, claiming it deviated from the Palestinian “national position.”

Read more…