Israel

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel has postponed a move to annex large parts of the West Bank, a government minister said Wednesday, a day after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to quickly act on the Trump administration’s Mideast plan despite fierce Palestinian opposition.

Netanyahu had said the Cabinet would vote Sunday on extending Israeli sovereignty to dozens of Jewish settlements as well as the Jordan Valley, a move that risks provoking a harsh backlash from the Palestinians and the international community.

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli Defence Minister Naftali Bennett said on Wednesday that Israel should move to establish sovereignty over nearly a third of the occupied West Bank following the announcement of U.S. President Donald Trump’s Middle East peace plan.

The remarks by the hawkish Bennett, a partner in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing governing coalition, fueled accusations by Palestinians that Trump’s plan paves the way for Israel to formally annex large areas of the West Bank that it has occupied since the 1967 Six-Day War.

JERUSALEM, Jan. 29 (Xinhua) -- Israeli parliamentary committee barred on Wednesday an Arab lawmaker from running in the upcoming national elections.

After a tensed discussion, the parliament's Central Elections Committee decided to disqualify Heba Yazbak, a lawmaker with Balad, a national Palestinian party that calls for full rights for Israel's Arab citizens.

Right-wing lawmakers accused Yazbak during the discussion of expressing support to "terrorists" and attacks against Israeli soldiers.

29 Jan 2020; MEMO: As part of a package of goodwill postures, Israeli occupation authorities cement to entry the besieged Gaza Strip without UN observation, Arab48 reported yesterday.

Reporting the Israeli general radio, Arab48 said Gaza traders would buy and sell cement freely without restrictions.

JERUSALEM, Jan 29 (NNN-MA’AN) – Criminal indictment, charging Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu with corruption, was filed in the Jerusalem District Court on Tuesday, the Attorney-General’s office said.

The office of Attorney-General Avihai Mandelblit, said that, the indictment charges Netanyahu with three separate cases of corruption. The charges include bribery, fraud, and breach of trust.

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday withdrew his bid for parliamentary immunity from prosecution on corruption charges, making a criminal trial against him a near certainty.

Israel’s longest-serving prime minister said in a statement that an immunity debate in parliament would have been a “circus” and he did not want to take part in this “dirty game”.

Netanyahu, who denies all wrongdoing, said: “I informed the Knesset speaker that I am withdrawing my immunity request.”

27 Jan 2020; MEMO: Hundreds of haredi (ultra-Orthodox) Jews protested in Jerusalem yesterday against the army draft, facing down police officers deploying water cannons spraying “skunk water” against demonstrators.

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump is expected to present to Israeli leaders details of his long-delayed peace plan for Israel and the Palestinians on Monday.

Palestinians have already dismissed the plan, without having seen it, accusing the Trump administration of pro-Israel bias.

The initiative follows a history of peace efforts that have failed to overcome decades of distrust and violence.

26 Jan 2019; MEMO: The US ‘deal of the century’, which according to US President Donald Trump, aims to achieve peace in the Middle East, proposes demilitarising Palestinian resistance, Arabi21.com reported on Friday.

GAZA, Palestine, Jan 26 (NNN-WAFA) – Israeli warplanes on Saturday night, carried out several airstrikes on the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip, in response to the launch of balloons carrying explosives into southern Israel, security sources in Gaza said.

The sources said that, the warplanes struck posts belonging to Hamas movement’s armed wing, in southern and central Gaza Strip.

No injuries or damages were reported.

The Israeli army, said that, Israeli Air-Force planes targeted posts and positions that belong to the Hamas militants.