British government's £15 million project to support Palestinian businesses

The British government is launching a £15-million plan to aid Palestinian businesses.

UK International Development Minister Alan Duncan met Palestinian businessmen and women at the Hebron Chamber of Commerce this week to unveil the Palestinian Market Development Programme.

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Air France fined for refusing to fly activist to Israel

Air France has been court ordered to pay a $12,800 (£8,400) fine for taking a pro-Palestinian activist off a plane for not being Jewish.

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Unrest in Gaza and the West Bank

The United Nations humanitarian agency has suspended aid services to Palestinians in Gaza after demonstrators stormed its headquarters.

Protestors broke into the compound of the United Nations Relief and Welfare Agency building in Gaza city in reaction to UNRWA’s decision temporarily to stop relief payments to Palestinian families.

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Settlers hand out chametz to Arabs

For a third consecutive year, last week Israeli settlers gave their chametz to their Arab neighbours as part of an effort to build bridges between Israelis and Palestinians.

Settlers from seven West Bank settlements gave their leavened bread to a group that distributed the food to Palestinian families. The bread would otherwise have been burned ahead of Passover, in keeping with tradition.

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Hamas’s ‘moderate’ face in council elections

The Hamas Shura council re-elected Khaled Mashaal in Cairo on Monday for a fourth term as head of the Islamic movement’s political bureau.

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Pendle council cancels West Bank twinning plans

A Lancashire council’s plans to twin with a West Bank town have collapsed after residents voiced overwhelming objections.

Pendle Borough Council had agreed to link up with Beit Lid in a show of solidarity against “Israeli attacks”.

Labour mayor Asjad Mahmood’s casting vote had given the twinning the go-ahead last December.

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Bercow leads tributes to shot Israeli ambassador

The House of Commons Speaker led tributes in Parliament to an Israeli ambassador who was shot at point-blank range 31 years ago, to mark ten years since he succumbed to his injuries.

John Bercow emphasised the importance of Israelis serving free from the threat of barbarity in a ceremony honouring Shlomo Argov, who served as Israel’s envoy to Britain for three years.

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If you truly love Israel, don’t bury it in unexamined cliché

Next time you take part in a debate about the Israeli-Palestinian situation, here’s how to spot the people who care more about point-scoring than progress: they will be the ones saying Israel does nothing right, and also the ones saying that Israel does nothing wrong.

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New ‘Palestinian’ bus lines cause human rights row

Segregation, security and customer service have all been blurred in this week’s flurry of reports over the new separate bus services into Israel for West Bank Palestinian workers.

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