Hundreds of Israeli settlers set out across the occupied West Bank on Wednesday to take part in an unprecedented effort to erect a number of illegal settlement outposts in the territory. Led by Daniella Weiss, a leader of the religious-Zionist and settler movements and an advocate of an “Arab-free” Jewish state, the plans started as a goal of establishing “10 Evyatars” – named after the Evyatar outpost in Beita, what the group considers to be one of its most successful settlement projects in years. Although technically illegal under Israeli law, the new campaign appears to have tacit government support, and is bringing a new wave of violence against Palestinians along with it.

Protests greeted US President Joe Biden as his motorcade passed along the main road of Bethlehem in the southern occupied West Bank on Friday. Palestinians chanted “America is a terrorist state,” and held signs saying “Zionists are not welcome,” along with photos of slain Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh.

Joe Biden met with Mahmoud Abbas in the occupied West Bank city of Bethlehem on Friday to announce “confidence-building measures” in an attempt to boost the standing of the Palestinian Authority, but Palestinians are skeptical that the moves will have any meaningful impact. “Biden represents a continuity of Trump’s policies, especially on Jerusalem,” Jalal Abu Khater, a Palestinian writer and analyst from Jerusalem, tells Mondoweiss.

Nine European Union states announced their support for the Palestinian civil society organizations that were arbitrarily deemed “terrorist institutions” by the Israeli government last year. The EU states rejected the Israeli designation, citing lack of proof.

New evidence reveals that US plans to build an embassy in Jerusalem would place the diplomatic compound on privately-owned Palestinian land that was confiscated from its owners by Israel, following the Nakba and the establishment of the state in 1948. 

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Following the US investigation into Abu Akleh’s killing, which was ruled “inconclusive”, her family are still urging for an open independent investigation by the US, UN, and the ICC.

Israeli settlers stabbed a Palestinian man to death on Tuesday evening in the northern occupied West Bank district of Salfit. Witnesses say settlement security guard fired shots into the air as a group of settlers began assaulting Palestinians in the area. During this attack one settler approached Ali Harb, 27, and stabbed him directly in the heart.

The three slain Palestinians were identified as Baraa Lahlouh, 24, Yusuf Salah, 23, and Laith Abu Srour, 24, bringing the total number of Palestinians killed this year to 66.

In the years I’ve been covering Israel’s occupation of Palestine, it’s an issue that arises time and time again. Palestinians are criminalized and imprisoned, and their lives destroyed all because of a weapon that Israel can yield, without any question or consequence: secret evidence.