New Maps Show How Israel Has Thwarted Hopes for a Palestinian State

Palestinians collect belongings from their evacuated homes after the Israeli Army issued a number of short-term access permits for residents of the occupied West Bank refugee camp of Tulkarm, on June 17th.Photograph by Majdi Mohammed / AP

The breakneck expansion of settlements in the West Bank has rendered American talk of a two-state solution increasingly irrelevant.

By David D. Kirkpatrick

 

August 29, 2026  The New Yorker

Ten years ago, Frank Lowenstein, then the United States special envoy for Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, presented President Barack Obama with maps of settlements by Israeli Jews in the occupied West Bank. The maps revealed that a chronic problem had turned critical. The expansion of settlements crisscrossing the West Bank threatened the hope of establishing a contiguous Palestinian state there. As Jews and Palestinians lived in roughly equal numbers in Israel and the territories it had occupied since 1967, those settlements also imperilled Israel’s claim to be both Jewish and democratic. By gradually accomplishing a de-facto annexation of the West Bank, the settlements would require Israeli Jews either to rule over a resentful non-Jewish population of about equal size or to surrender the Jewish identity of their state. From the perspective of the United States, either scenario would undermine the stability of the region.

Obama was in the final weeks of hinterntional lawis Presidency, and Lowenstein’s maps helped persuade him to let the United Nations Security Council pass a resolution condemning the settlements, which most of the world had long considered violations of international law. (The U.S. declined to exercise its veto and abstained from the vote.) In a speech a few days later, on December 28, 2016, Secretary of State John Kerry defended that decision with a stark warning that settlement expansion was “increasingly cementing an irreversible one-state reality.” He continued, “Is ours the generation that gives up on the dream of a Jewish democratic state of Israel living in peace and security with its neighbors? Because that is really what is at stake.”

Ten years later... READ MORE  https://www.newyorker.com/news/a-reporter-at-large/new-maps-show-how-israel-has-thwarted-hopes-for-a-palestinian-state    

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The Guardian: Smoke rises after an Israeli attack in Gaza. A witness said the strike targeted the Asqalan prayer hall, which is home to many Gaza residents displaced during the Israeli incursion. More than 100 French and British former diplomats have said Palestine is being erased in front of the world’s eyes and called for urgent action including trade and arms sales bans to press Israel to accept a Palestinian state.

Gaza

Smoke rises after an Israeli attack in Gaza. A witness said the strike targeted the Asqalan prayer hall, which is home to many Gaza residents displaced during the Israeli incursion. More than 100 French and British former diplomats have said Palestine is being erased in front of the world’s eyes and called for urgent action including trade and arms sales bans to press Israel to accept a Palestinian state.  Photograph: Omar Ashtawy/HL/Getty Images

 https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2026/aug/28/the-week-around-the-world-in-20-pictures?CMP=share_btn_url#img-10

More photos from Palestine in The Guardian's Gallery: 

 

Gaza

Palestinians walk past the rubble of collapsed buildings at Jabalia refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip. Grassroots Labour groups in the UK are gearing up for a conference showdown with Andy Burnham over Gaza, as the party’s members seek to force the prime minister to recognise Israel’s actions as a genocide and impose a full arms embargo Photograph: Ramzi Abu Amer/JNA/ZUMA/Shutterstock

https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2026/aug/28/the-week-around-the-world-in-20-pictures?CMP=share_btn_url#img-11 

Jannatah, West Bank

Israeli settlers confront left-wing activists in the Israeli-occupied Palestinian village of Jannatah. Violent settler attacks in the occupied West Bank under direct Palestinian rule have almost doubled since 2025, as settlers pursue a self-proclaimed ‘great settlement revolution’ in the very heart of the territory earmarked for a Palestinian statePhotograph: Ilia Yefimovich/AFP/Getty Images

https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2026/aug/28/the-week-around-the-world-in-20-pictures?CMP=share_btn_url#img-12 

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Why Israeli Authorities Are Encouraging Settler Violence Against Palestinians: The retired I.D.F. colonel Doron Meiner, who was arrested while trying to protect a Palestinian community from settlers in the West Bank, discusses Israel’s strategy

A Palestinian man sits next to his family’s belongings after their house was demolished by Israeli security forces in the village of Nahalin, southwest of Bethlehem in the Israeli-occupied West Bank on July 22, 2026.Photograph by John Wessels / AFP / Getty

 By Isaac Chotiner

August 24, 2026

Violent attacks by Israeli settlers have accelerated across the West Bank in recent weeks, adding to what has already been a horrifying year for Palestinian communities in the territory. (The United Nations found that, as of early August, Palestinians in the West Bank had faced more than fourteen hundred attacks from Israeli settlers that resulted in casualties or property damage in 2026.) And now, in the lead-up to October’s elections, the Israeli Defense Minister, Israel Katz, has suggested that the country’s police forces take control of the area. (The police are overseen by Itamar Ben-Gvir, the far-right minister of national security, who is himself a settler and is famous for celebrating and encouraging deadly attacks on Palestinians.)

Some Israeli organizations have tried to prevent violence against Palestinian communities. Doron Meinert, a retired colonel in the Israel Defense Forces, was arrested earlier this month while trying to protect a Palestinian community in the West Bank that was under attack from settlers. I recently spoke with Meinert about his work with the group Looking the Occupation in the Eye, and about how the situation in the West Bank has deteriorated so rapidly. Our conversation, edited for length and clarity, is below.

Can you tell me about your background and career?

I’m sixty-six years old. I was in the army for about twenty-five years. I’ve been a colonel in the army. I’ve been a brigade commander, and then a staff officer. But, about fifteen years ago, I retired. And then I started work as a volunteer protecting Palestinians in the West Bank.

How did you decide to do this work that you’re doing now? What caused you to make this decision?

All my life I believed that the Palestinian problem and the occupation problem were the deepest and most serious problems Israel had... READ MORE  https://www.newyorker.com/news/q-and-a/why-israeli-authorities-are-encouraging-settler-violence-against-palestinians 

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Israeli settlers targeting Palestinian factories to force workers off land: Rising Israeli settler violence targets Palestinian industrial facilities across the occupied West Bank, aiming to paralyse the local economy and force mass displacement.

Burned trees and scorched land are seen following an arson attack by Israeli settlers on the Al-Omari aluminium factory in Ein Siniya [Screengrab/Al Jazeera]

 By Ola Mohammad

Published On 27 Aug 202627 Aug 2026

A massive fire, believed to have been started by Israeli settlers, has destroyed olive trees and farmland in the occupied West Bank.

A blaze broke out near the al-Omari aluminium factory in the village of Ein Siniya, north of Ramallah, on Monday morning, spreading to roughly 50 dunams (12.3 acres) of perennial olive trees and causing damage to the industrial facility’s yard.

It comes amid a settler campaign targeting the West Bank economy, including farmland and industry, in a bid to displace Palestinians, sources told Al Jazeera.

Emad Khater, the head of Ein Siniya council, told Al Jazeera that a settler from the Atara hilltops was seen close to the facility before the fire started. When the blaze broke out, Israeli soldiers prevented residents and workers from putting out the fire.

“[It] is one of a series of systematic attacks that previously affected Ein Siniya, which included deliberate fires in trees, homes, and cars, in addition to theft incidents and physical assaults with beatings that affected citizens and workers inside the factories,” said Khater.

Ein Siniya is in Area B according to the Oslo Accords, which should see it under Palestinian civil and joint Israeli-Palestinian security control.

Abdul Samad Abdul Aziz, the owner of the Ein Siniya facility, said Israelis from illegal settlements had infiltrated the industrial site in late July and set fire to heavy equipment. A stone crusher was severely damaged in the attack and caused an estimated $700,000 in losses.... READ MORE  https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2026/8/27/israeli-settlers-targeting-palestinian-factories-to-force-workers-off-land 

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Israeli settler attacks shift focus to West Bank areas under direct Palestinian rule: Report says violence is moving from Israeli-controlled areas to those earmarked for a future Palestinian state

Palestinians inspect the damage to a house set on fire by Israeli settlers in the Hallet al-Fara area of Yatta, in the southern West Bank city of Hebron. Photograph: Wisam Hashlamoun/Anadolu/Getty Images

Peter Beaumont and Quique Kierszenbaum in Jerusalem

Fri 21 Aug 2026 02.00 EDT

Violent Israeli settler attacks in the two areas of the occupied West Bank under direct Palestinian rule have almost doubled since 2025, as settlers pursue a self-proclaimed “great settlement revolution” in the very heart of the territory earmarked for a Palestinian state.

According to a report by the Israeli human rights organisation Yesh Din, shared with the Guardian, data shows that almost two-thirds of incidents of settler violence so far in 2026 have taken place in the so-called Areas A and B – placed under Palestinian Authority governance in the 1995 Oslo accords.

The report, The Next Frontier, Violence by Israeli Civilians in Areas A and B, describes the “rapid shift” in “violence and pressure exerted by the government, military and settlers on Palestinians … from Area C into Areas B and even A”.

While all three designated administrative areas on the West Bank were intended under the Oslo peace deal to encompass the shape of a future Palestinian state, successive Israeli governments, driven by the settler movement, have pursued a long-term policy of undermining Palestinian claims.... READ MORE  https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/aug/21/israeli-settler-attacks-shift-to-heart-of-territory-earmarked-for-palestinian-state 

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Even during the ceasefire, Palestinians in #Gaza continue to face daily threats from unexploded ordnance left behind by the fighting. Overall, about 82% of the structures in Gaza – about 200,000 buildings – are damaged.

© UNICEF/Eyad El Baba A nine-year-old girl outside her damaged home in Nuseirat camp in central Gaza.

 Gaza: Destruction of buildings rises by nearly 10 per cent since ceasefire

 https://news.un.org/en/story/2026/08/1168138

13 August 2026 Peace and Security

New satellite assessments show the destruction of buildings in Gaza has climbed by nearly 10 per cent since October’s faltering ceasefire between Hamas and Israeli forces aim to end the two-year war, which reduced cities to rubble and displaced more than one million people, UN agencies said on Thursday.

Even with the guns largely silent, Palestinians in Gaza continue to face daily threats from unexploded ordnance left behind by the fighting.

Key points

• UN agencies are struggling with shortages of fuel and other essential items
• Teenager injured by unexploded ordnance
• Aid efforts underway include mine action, summer school and food package distribution

At least three Israeli airstrikes have been reported since Wednesday, including one near Al Amal Hospital in Khan Younis earlier on Thursday, UN Associate Spokesperson Daniela Gross told reporters.

"Airstrikes on populated areas in Gaza risk increasing harm to civilians," the UN aid coordination office (OCHA) warned.

Meanwhile, a 13-year-old was injured by explosive ordnance earlier this week in northern Gaza.

Explosive hazard threats         

Against a landscape of rubble, the threat of explosive hazards is ever present in the shattered enclave.

More than 15,000 people participated in awareness-raising sessions related to explosive ordnance last week alone, and mine action partners have carried out 18 assessments to pave the way for rubble removal, the setting up of new shelters and the resumption of farming.

“While our partners still lack the permissions and equipment to remove explosive ordnance safely, they are also helping protect people by marking hazards and by educating civilians on how to beware of explosive items,” Ms. Gross said.

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More buildings destroyed

A new assessment by the UN Satellite Centre (UNOSAT) estimated that the number of destroyed structures across Gaza has increased by nine per cent since the declaration of a ceasefire in October 2025, according to the latest situation update the UN agency for Palestine refugees, UNWRA. 

Since the ceasefire, UNRWA has received “reports of demolitions affecting schools and other UN facilities in areas under Israeli military control, however, these reports could not be independently verified due to ongoing access restrictions”, the UN agency said.

Overall, about 82 per cent of the structures – about 200,000 buildings – in Gaza are damaged, with two thirds of them destroyed, UNRWA said.

Prolonged shortages

UN agencies and partners are facing mounting challenges that are affecting the delivery of essential services across Gaza, choking humanitarian movement and operational capacity.

“The prolonged shortage of lubricant oil and other critical supplies required to maintain generators, vehicles and operational equipment is placing additional strain on already overstretched service delivery systems,” UNRWA said.

The situation risks of disruptions to health, education and other lifesaving interventions amid persistently high levels of need, the agency said.

Aid efforts continue

Finding safe shelter also continues to be a challenge.

Aid partners provided more than 3,300 households with emergency shelters and other items last week. 

The provisions included nearly 500 new tents, a similar number of tarpaulins, thousands of bedding items and thousands of solar lanterns to keep people safer at night.

Despite robust efforts, more support is needed to serve the recovering population of Gaza, according to Ms. Gross, who said “more funding is needed as well as approvals to bring in longer-lasting shelter items”.

Here’s a snapshot of other ongoing efforts:

• From 1 to 9 August, UN partners provided monthly food assistance to nearly 60,000 households, each receiving three parcels and one 25-kg flour bag, which is enough to cover more than 100 per cent of people’s minimum caloric needs.
• With UN partner support, every day about 100 kitchens prepare 700,000 meals served at more than 1,000 locations, and over two dozen subsidised bakeries produce roughly 100,000 two-kg bread bundles for people in need
• A new UNRWA temporary learning space opened in Jabalia, northern Gaza, on 10 August, and its summer learning activities have reached 41,849 children between 3 and 9 August

Learn more about how the UN is helping ordinary Gazans here.

https://news.un.org/en/story/2026/08/1168138 

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[ISRAELI] Settlers and soldiers cut off water and electricity to [PALESTINIAN] homes, and block medical care in campaign of terror: “Every night, the [ISRAELI] settlers throw stones, use obscene language and shout during the night. We are living in a state of terror,” [PALESTINIAN] Hassan said. His mother, brother and sister, and three neighbours have also been blockaded inside, and their power and water have been cut off.

Refqa Hassan watches as Israeli settlers besiege her family home for the fourth consecutive day in the town of Qusra. Photograph: Alaa Badarneh/EPA

Israeli militants besiege two Palestinian families in their West Bank homes

Emma Graham-Harrison in Jerusalem

Thu 13 Aug 2026

Israeli militants have besieged two Palestinian families in their homes since the weekend, aiming to take over their properties in the West Bank village of Qusra through a campaign of terror.

A group of settlers and soldiers set up a tent outside the home of Yousef Hassan’s family on Sunday afternoon, trapping him inside with his wife and two young daughters.

The Israeli men gathered just metres away from the spot where 28-year-old Amir Moatasem Odeh was killed by a settler in March. Another attacker stabbed his father. No one has been arrested over the murder and assault.

“Every night, the settlers throw stones, use obscene language and shout during the night. We are living in a state of terror,” Hassan said. His mother, brother and sister, and three neighbours have also been blockaded inside, and their power and water have been cut off.

Settlers used the same tactics to steal another Palestinian home in neighbouring Jalud village, driving the al Tubasi family out in July after a months-long siege.

They cut off water and electricity to the homes, although a solar panel allows Hassan to keep some devices charged in Qusra. They have also blocked medical care.

When his younger daughter, aged two, fell ill with vomiting and a high fever on Monday, settlers blocked an ambulance from reaching the house. The girls and their mother were eventually evacuated on Tuesday.

Hassan said those in the house were short on food and were drinking water and juice delivered by the ambulance that came to collect his daughter. “The situation is extremely dire.”... READ MORE  https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/aug/12/israeli-militants-besiege-two-palestinian-families-in-their-west-bank-homes

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