The residents of the Shufat Refugee Camp in occupied East Jerusalem were recently surprised to find sanitation workers from Israel’s Jerusalem Municipality, escorted by Israeli border police and garbage trucks, picking up trash in the streets, which is normally the job of UNRWA sanitation workers. The cleanup, was ordered by Jerusalem mayor Nir Barkat as the first step in his plans to “end the refugee lie” and shut down UNRWA operations in Jerusalem completely.

After running a controversial campaign that drew criticism from Palestinian political factions, activists, and religious figures, 53-year-old Ramadan Dabash accepted defeat on Tuesday night as the results of the Jerusalem municipal elections came in. While the decades long Palestinian boycott of the Jerusalem elections was expected to be upheld on Tuesday, Dabash claimed to Mondoweiss that voter suppression by Israeli authorities could have also played a significant role in lack of voter turnout.

After nearly two months on high alert, the fear of imminent demolition permanently lingering in the air, the residents of Khan al-Ahmar and the activists supporting them took a collective, albeit temporary, sigh of relief last week.

When news spread that the Israeli government was postponing the demolition of the village until further notice, the Bedouins of Khan al-Ahmar, along with hundreds of activists and Palestinian government officials rejoiced.

Now, as the euphoria of the postponement wears off, the residents of Khan al-Ahmar are back trying to resume their daily lives as normal until the next decision comes.

The Israeli government has postponed the evacuation of Khan al-Ahmar, following weeks of international attention on the Bedouin village. But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed that the village would be “evacuated” soon. His comments followed a meeting with US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on Sunday.

Lara Alqasem, the graduate student detained at Ben Gurion airport for 16 days, was released at 9 PM last night after the Israeli High Court ruled to overturn the state’s decision to deny entry to her as a supposed BDS activist. Alqasem thanked her lawyers and other supporters and said she needs time “to process” before she says anything more.

Lara Alqasem, the 22-year-old Palestinian-American graduate student who has been stuck in a holding cell at Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport since she arrived in the country on October 2, appeared for her first hearing before the Israeli High Court on Wednesday morning to appeal her deportation from the country.

Tensions heightened Monday morning in the Palestinian Bedouin village of Khan al-Ahmar, as Israeli police forces entered the village with bulldozers, sparking confrontations with residents and local and foreign activists who attempted to prevent authorities from entering the village.

Lara Alqasem’s lawyer, Yotam Ben-Hillel, tells Mondoweiss that the 22-year-old student’s detention is part of a broader Israeli policy. “It really looks like they [Israel] are putting a lot of effort and money and resources in order to prevent entry,” he said. “This is all motivated by Jewish supremacy and wanting to keep the land — even if it’s the occupied territory — with as little amount of Palestinians as possible and to completely control who is entering, and the number of every Arab between the Jordan river and the sea.”

Israeli authorities only give the residents of Turmusayya, a lush Palestinian village nestled in a valley between Ramallah and Nablus, two days in the fall to harvest their olives. When time finally came this year they were devastated to find dozens of trees chopped down, uprooted, and rotting. “Some of these trees are 40, 50, 60, and 70 years old,” 78-year-old Palestinian Mahmoud al-Araj told Mondoweiss, “I have been cultivating these trees, this land, since I was a boy.” Pointing to the illegal Israeli outpost of Adei Ad, which was built on lands of Turmusayya, al-Araj’s voice intensified. “We give everything we have to our land and to these trees, and then the settlers come and destroy it all.”

UNRWA, the UN agency responsible for providing life saving services to 5 million Palestinian refugees across the Middle East, released a statement Friday expressing its deep concern over statements made by the Israeli Mayor of Jerusalem Nir Barkat on plans to remove UNRWA from East Jerusalem.