I hope you are doing well.

I’m writing as a J Street advocacy leader to share important updates from the region as well as J Street’s statements and resources from this past week. This week, the J Street community mourned the loss of Israeli hostages Shiri, Kfir, and Ariel Bibas, whose bodies were returned home after being murdered by Hamas. Additionally, Arab leaders are beginning to formulate their own strategies for rebuilding Gaza to counter Trump’s plan; and Prime Minister Netanyahu rejected Palestinian Authority control in a post-war Gaza.

You can find more on each of these topics below, and you can always find our most recent statements here.

I invite you to reach out to your J Street Public Affairs staff with any questions.

All the best,
Lily

—
Lily Adelstein
She/Her
Deputy Director of Government Affairs, J Street
Cell: 202-699-2701
J Street’s Congressional Resource Page

This week on j street

STATEMENT

J Street Responds to Hamas’ Grotesque Handover of Four Hostage Bodies

J Street Policy Center Overview Memo

J Street’s Policy Agenda for the Trump Administration

ISSUE BRIEF

GETTING TO PHASE II: A GAZA CEASEFIRE STRATEGY

Alarmed by Trump’s Gaza Plan, Arab Leaders Brainstorm on Their Own

After President Trump shocked the Arab world last month by suggesting the entire population of Gaza be expelled from the territory, his aides reframed the idea as an invitation to the leaders of the Middle East: Come up with a better plan, or do it our way… Now, the governments of several Arab states are attempting to do exactly that. Representatives of Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates are quietly coordinating to form an alternative vision for Gaza in which Arab countries would help fund and oversee the reconstruction of Gaza, while keeping its residents in place and preserving the possibility of a Palestinian state, according to diplomats and officials briefed on the endeavor.

PM said to condition deal’s 2nd phase on end of Hamas presence in Gaza, no PA rule

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told cabinet ministers during a recent meeting that Israel’s conditions in upcoming negotiations on the terms of the second phase of the ceasefire and hostage release deal are for the Hamas terror group to disarm and have no presence in Gaza, and for the Palestinian Authority to be barred from the post-war management of the enclave, Israeli television reported Tuesday… Unlike the first phase of the deal which required Hamas to release several hostages each week over the course of six weeks, Kan reported on Tuesday that the terror group submitted an offer to Israel via mediators to release all the hostages in phase two at once, instead of a gradual process.

Palestinian Displacement in the West Bank Is Highest Since 1967, Experts Say

A weekslong Israeli military operation across several West Bank cities has displaced roughly 40,000 Palestinians from their homes, in what historians and researchers say is the biggest displacement of civilians in the territory since the Arab-Israeli war of 1967. Israeli campaigns against armed Palestinian groups in three parts of the northern West Bank have forced thousands of residents to shelter with friends and relatives, or camp in wedding halls, schools, mosques, municipal buildings and even a farm shed. The Israeli military says the operation is solely an attempt to stifle rising militancy in Jenin, Tulkarem and near Tubas, targeting gunmen who they say have carried out or are planning terrorist attacks on Israeli civilians. Palestinians fear it is a veiled attempt to permanently displace Palestinians from their homes and exert greater control over areas administered by the Palestinian Authority, a semiautonomous body that has also battled the militants in recent months.

Trump administration freezes funds to Palestinian security forces

The Trump administration has stopped all funding to the Palestinian Authority security forces as part of the global freeze on foreign assistance, according to U.S. and Palestinian officials. The freeze comes at a critical time for the embattled authority as it struggles to maintain its rule in pockets of the Israeli-occupied West Bank and jockeys to govern a postwar Gaza Strip. The security forces, which are chronically underfunded and widely unpopular, are nonetheless considered a linchpin to the Palestinian Authority’s ability to maintain law and order in both territories.

Five Israeli Army Reservists Charged With Abusing Gazan Detainee at Sde Teiman

Five Israeli army reservists were charged Wednesday with abuse and causing serious bodily harm to a Gazan detainee at the Sde Teiman detention facility in July 2024… Following the investigation’s launch last July, IDF military police detained nine soldiers, sparking protests at the base. Among the demonstrators were far-right Israeli lawmakers Nissim Vaturi, Tzvi Succot, and former minister Amichai Eliyahu. Last month, reports indicated that police sought approval to investigate the three politicians before questioning additional civilian suspects who allegedly broke into the base.

Interview | A Family Taken Hostage by Hamas

“She has hardly slept, says Hadas Kalderon, 57, as she walks into the lobby of a hotel near Tel Aviv on a Sunday morning in early February. Still, she seems cheerful and upbeat. Fewer than 24 hours earlier, her ex-husband Ofer Kalderon, with whom she has four children, was released by Hamas and admitted to hospital for observation. On October 7, 2023, the now 54-year-old was abducted by terrorists from the Nir Oz kibbutz and taken to the Gaza Strip with his son Erez and daughter Sahar, then 12 and 16 years old respectively.”

Opinion | What We Could Have Done Differently on Gaza

“…what if at the moment of leverage in December 2023 or January 2024, Joe Biden had laid out a completely alternative vision for how to end the war, instead of waiting until May? What if at that time, he had concluded that one of the centers of gravity for getting a successful resolution of the war was ousting a far right wing extremist Israeli government that would never do what needed to be done to get the hostages out or plan for a real post-conflict scenario. What if at the peak of his popularity in Israel he had gone out and offered the Israeli public a choice.”

J STREET GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS NEWS DIGEST | February 20, 2025