ATFP News Roundup October 25, 2016

News:

Palestinian factions in the Gaza Strip denounced remarks made by Israeli DM Liebermanduring a rare interview with Palestinian newspaper al-Quds on Monday, calling the ultra right-wing minister's conditional offer to ease the blockade "blackmail." (Ma'an/Times of Israel/Ha'aretz)

UNRWA said that 242 refugee families in the Gaza Strip received more than $1.7 million in aid for reconstruction and repair works. (Ma'an)

A member of the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of the Hamas movement, was killed in Gaza on Monday after an underground tunnel collapsed on him. (Ma'an/Times of Israel)

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas met with his Turkish counterpart, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, on Monday in an ongoing effort to improve Turkish-Palestinian relations. (Ma'an)

Egyptian authorities closed the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip late on Sunday night after two weeks of discontinuous openings to let travelers in and out of the besieged Palestinian territory. (Ma'an)

Islamic State expanded its attacks on Monday against the army and Kurdish forces across Iraq, trying to relieve pressure on the militant group's defenses around Mosul, its last major urban stronghold in the country. (Reuters)

Turkish artillery fire has already played a role in the effort to drive Islamic State from the Iraqi city of Mosul and four Turkish fighter jets are on standby to take part in air operations, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Monday. (Reuters)

Syrian refugee children have been working in factories in Turkey making clothes for British high street retailer Marks & Spencer and online store ASOS, an investigation by BBC Panorama found. (Reuters)

Lebanon's parliament speaker, Nabih Berri, believes that even if Michel Aoun is elected president next week after a vacancy of more than two years forming a government will take from five to six months, he was quoted as saying in a newspaper on Monday. (Reuters)

The next president faces problems more daunting than any in a generation, as the old order has given way to a kaleidoscopic mix of alliances, rivalries and overlapping crises. (New York Times)

Sheikh Khalifa bin Hamad al-Thani, Former Emir of Qatar, dies at 84. (New York Times)

Commentary:

Ha'aretz says the occupation must end — that’s the flag that must unite Israel's opposition. (Ha'aretz)

Odeh Bisharat says "thank you, B'Tselem, for exposing the skeletons in Israel's closet. (Ha'aretz)

Shlomi Eldar says with new Israeli encroachment in the name of security and restrictions on the importation of chemicals and fertilizers, even more of Gaza's farmers are being forced to abandon their lands despite a near-total lack of other employment options. (Al-Monitor)

Ben Caspit says Russia has extended its presence in the region to such an extent that any IDF jet crossing the Israeli border in the north immediately appears on Russian military radar screens. (Al-Monitor)

Hassan Hassan says ISIS will retreat into the desert, just as it did in 2007. But can we stop it from re-emerging? (New York Times)

Josh Rogin asks if Hillary Clinton will deliver on her promise to ramp up U.S. involvement in Syria. (Washington Post)

Abdul Rahman Al Rashed says the battles of Mosul and Aleppo are just two other wars in a long struggle that will not stabilize without a fair political project. (Al Arabiya)