News:
Sec. Kerry and Pres. Abbas will discuss [1] the new US security proposal in Ramallah on Thursday. (Xinhua)
Kerry calls negotiations with Iran "a hinge point in history." [2] (Jerusalem Post)
Israelis and Palestinians seem to agree that peace talks are not progressing [3]. (Ha'aretz)
Palestinians raise the prisoner release issue [4] in international forums. (Jerusalem Post)
A major Dutch water company severs ties [5] to an Israeli company over settlement activity. (Ha'aretz)
Israelis express concern PM Netanyahu's skipping Mandela's funeral fuels accusations [6] Israel is an apartheid state. (Christian Science Monitor)
South African Jews and Blacks join together to slam Netanyahu's "disgraceful" decision [7]. (The Forward
In a eulogy to the late South African leader, Marwan Barghouti vows to "honor Mandela's struggle." [8](Ha'aretz)
Netanyahu cancels an appearance [9] at a US reform Jewish meeting as well. (Ha'aretz)
Romania angers Israel by refusing [10] to allow its workers to help settlement construction. (AFP)
The EU says the PA should stop paying [11] public employees in Gaza who don't work. (AP)
A group of Israelis is trying to draw up a "grand strategy" [12] for the country. (Jerusalem Post)
A Palestinian man is stabbed [13] by a group of "religious" Israelis in West Jerusalem. (Ma'an)
More details emerge about a "price tag" attack Monday [14] by Jewish extremists on Palestinian citizens of Israel. (Xinhua)
The PA policeman is killed [15] by unknown assailants near Bethlehem. (Ma'an)
Palestinians see a worrying rise in "honor killings." [16] (Reuters)
More women in Gaza are learning karate [17]. (The Media Line)
Palestinians complain their "most fertile meadow" [18] is at risk due to corruption. (Ma'an)
10 years on, Palestinians put a patriotic spin on the siege [19] of the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem. (Times of Israel)
The U.S. Congress increases funding [20] for Israel's missile defense programs. (YNet)
A human rights lawyer [21] is now among four people recently kidnapped [22] by Islamist extremists in Syria [23]. (New York Times/Washington Post/Foreign Policy)
Egypt frees detained Syrian [24] and Palestinian [25] refugees. (Xinhua/Ma'an)
Israel passes a law allowing the detention of African migrants for up to a year [26] without any process. (New York Times)
A former Israeli military chief [27] reportedly says the country prefers Pres. Assad over Islamist rebels [28]. (Jerusalem Post/Times of Israel)
Western Muslim radicals fighting in Syria are using social media to attract more recruits [29]. (AFP)
Lebanon is increasingly worried [30] Syrian refugees will be staying indefinitely [31]. (New York Times/NOW)
Syrian refugees are being hit hard [32] by winter snowstorms. (Reuters)
Wounded and disabled Syrian refugees [33] are the hardest hit. (The Media Line)
The UN says the EU must do more [34] to help Syrian refugees. (Reuters)
The US is suspending [35] its non-lethal aid program in northern Syria. (Reuters)
Hillel reprimands its Swarthmore chapter [36] over a recent vote in favor of free speech. (JTA)
13 Sunnis and 12 Shiites are killed [37] in another spate of attacks in Iraq. (New York Times)
Egypt says it will hold its constitutional referendum in January [38]. (Asharq Al Awsat)
The US may have underestimated the amount of sanctions relief [39] Iran will receive under the interim nuclear agreement. (Ha'aretz)
Sec. Hagel tours [40] a low-profile US base in Qatar, as the two countries sign a new defense accord [41]. (AP/Reuters)
The US says it is "not expecting a Gulf union soon." [42] (The National)
The GCC steps closer to an EU-style union [43], and creates a joint military command [44]. (The National/AP)
Commentary:
Ron Kampeas [45] says Israel and the US seem to be closer on a framework agreement for peace, but the Palestinians perhaps not. (JTA)
Ben Caspit [46] calls Kerry the "evangelist of Israeli security and Palestinian peace." (Al Monitor)
Osama Al Sharif [47] says Mandela's legacy to Palestinians is the belief in their own freedom. (Jordan Times)
Susan Collin Marks [48] says Mandela's example can show the way forward in the Arab world. (The Daily Star)
Ha'aretz [49] says Netanyahu's absence at Mandela's funeral is a symbol of Israel's growing isolation because of the occupation. (Ha'aretz)
The Forward [50] agrees skipping Mandela's funeral is Israel enforcing its own international isolation. (The Forward)
Ali Ibrahim [51] says Mandela showed that politicians don't have the luxury of revenge. (Asharq Al Awsat)
Aluf Benn [52] recalls how apartheid era South Africa saved Israel's defense industry. (Ha'aretz)
Amir Oren [53] and Avi Shilon [54] separately recalls and contextualizes Israel's alliance with apartheid-era South Africa. (Ha'aretz)
Amira Hass [55] says senseless acts of violence like the recent killing of a Palestinian teenager are the likely trigger for a third intifada. (Ha'aretz)
Jonathan Cook [56] says as Bedouin villages are destroyed, so too are hopes for Palestinian peace deal. (The National)
Ben Sales [57] looks at the unlikely coalition opposing forced mass Bedouin relocation in Israel. (JTA)
Dan Diker [58] says a plausible alternative to a two-state solution is a three-way confederation with Jordan. (Jerusalem Post)
The Gulf News [59] says Hamas shouldn't look to Iran for support. (Gulf News)
Bradley Burston [60] says it's becoming difficult for Jewish Americans to love and Israel with warped values. (Ha'aretz)
Melanie Ward [61] says nothing that happens in occupied Hebron makes any rational sense. (Ha'aretz)
Rami Khouri [62] praises the American Studies Association support for boycotting Israel, but The Forward [63] calls it hypocritical. (The Daily Star/The Forward)
Graham Liddell interviews Palestinian filmmaker Mais Darwazah [64]. (Ma'an)
Nasser Chararah [65] notes that Hezbollah is escalating its rhetoric against Saudi Arabia. (Al Monitor)
Anthony Cordesman [66] says more Gulf cooperation is needed to protect vulnerable assets. (The National)