The Palestinian Territories
Reports
The Future of Jerusalem and the Prospects for Palestinian Unity
Israel and Palestine in the shadow of the election: What do Americans want Obama and Trump to do?
Reviving the stalled reconstruction of Gaza
For decades, Saudi Arabia has positioned itself as the leading champion of Sunni Islam. One way they've done that is by bankrolling Palestinian causes, including funding the Palestinian Authority to the tune of $20 million a month. Yet Saudi efforts in the West Bank pose a problem for President Erdogan. He's made it no secret that he wants to restore Turkey to what he views as its rightful place atop Sunni Islam. Yet so long as the Saudis are viewed as the defenders of the Palestinians, that's not a mantle he can steal. That's why Erdogan is cultivating support within East Jerusalem—and why the Palestinian Authority is pushing back.
One of the unfortunate realities of conflict and occupation is you get societies that tend to be very militarized. That’s true of Palestinian society and of Israeli society. There was recently an ad making the rounds on social media, an ad for an Israeli maternity hospital in which they included the image of a fetus in military garb. A lot of people were horrified at the idea that even an unborn child is being militarized.
While this content is something you do see in societies that are in conflict, MEMRI only shows certain Palestinian media — the most extreme and inflammatory cases.
The political point is that each side of this conflict has their own narrative about the status of the Gaza Strip and Israel’s role. The argument is not whether this is a border. The argument is whether Israel is occupying Gaza.
The border with Egypt has always been a kind of safety valve for Gaza—any time the humanitarian crisis reaches a boiling point and tensions get too high, Egypt will open the border to alleviate the pressure. What’s interesting this time is how long the border will be open—not just a few days, but the whole of Ramadan. Normally the Egyptians might be reluctant to open the border that long, for fear that it would empower Hamas. However, the outrage in the Arab world over the plight of Gaza is now so high that the Sisi regime is willing to bear the risk. Since Hamas ceded control of the crossing to the Palestinian Authority last year, the Egyptians are also more confident that the humanitarian aid will get to where it needs to go.
