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Israel Puts E1 Settlement Project Back on Agenda, Weeks Ahead of Biden Trip, The Times of Israel
The Defense Ministry is planning to advance a controversial housing project in the E1 Area of the West Bank after the Israeli government withdrew the plan in January amid international pressure, and assured the Biden administration that it would not be moving forward with it. The ministry’s Civil Administration body that authorizes West Bank construction published on Tuesday its agenda for a July 18 meeting to discuss objections to projects that have received initial approval. Two E1 plans totaling 3,412 housing units were the only ones on the docket.
Israeli Troops Kill Palestinian Woman in West Bank, Say She Attempted Stabbing, Reuters
A knife-wielding Palestinian woman threatened an Israeli soldier in the occupied West Bank and was shot dead on Wednesday, the army said, an account that was disputed by Palestinian officials. In a statement, the Israeli army said “an assailant armed with a knife advanced toward an IDF (Israel Defence Force) soldier who was conducting routine security activity” near Al Aroub village.
Israel Signs Free-Trade Agreement With UAE in First of Its Kind Deal with Arab State, The Wall Street Journal
Israel and the United Arab Emirates signed a first-of-its-kind comprehensive free-trade agreement between Israel and an Arab country, boosting business ties less than two years after they established formal diplomatic relations in a U.S.-brokered deal. The agreement, signed Tuesday in Dubai by the Israeli economy minister and the Emirati minister of state for foreign trade, will cover 96% of bilateral trade, which amounts to about $1 billion. Officials said the agreement would help trade grow to more than $10 billion within five years.
Death Threats Sent to Jerusalem Pride Parade Organizers, Lawmakers, Haaretz
Police launched an investigation on Wednesday after one of the organizers of the Jerusalem Gay Pride Parade filed a complaint regarding threats she received on social media. Labor lawmakers Naama Lazimi and Gilad Kariv also said they received threats ahead of the parade slated to take place on Thursday.
Israel Simulates Massive Strike Against Iran With Hundreds of IDF Aircraft, The Jerusalem Post
Hundreds of Israel Air Force aircraft including fighter jets and refueling aircraft took off overnight Wednesday from various bases in Israel to simulate striking targets far from Israel’s borders, including in Iran. The exercise, part of the IDF’s month-long Chariots of Fire war game, saw fighter jets, transport planes and refueling aircraft take off from several bases in Israel for Cyprus.
In Call, Abbas Tells Blinken US Must ‘Turn Talk Into Actions,’ End ‘Silence’, The Times of Israel
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas slammed “American silence” and insisted that the current United States administration must “turn its talk into actions” during a phone call with Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Tuesday night.
The Violence Didn’t Stop With Jerusalem’s Flag March, +972 Mag
Vera Sajrawi reports, “Despite Palestinian resistance, Israeli police arrests and settler attacks inflicted a severe toll before and after the notorious march.”
Israel Has a Problem, and Arab Teachers Are the Solution, Haaretz
Haaretz’s editorial board discusses the teacher shortage facing Israel, writing, “The shortage of teachers threatens to empty the public school system of all meaning. To begin solving the problem, we need new thinking about outdated axioms. This is true not only regarding the principles that determine teachers’ work and their salaries, but also regarding the accepted separation between the two branches of the state education system – the Jewish one and the Arab one.”