Latest Palestinian territories government News

FILE - In this March 7, 2019, file photo, settlers jump on a trampoline as an Israeli solider stands guard in the Israeli controlled part of the West Bank city of Hebron. Israel's premier human rights group has begun describing both Israel and its control of the Palestinian territories as a single

Israel moves to rein in rights group over 'apartheid' use

Jan. 18, 2021 8:13 AM EST

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Israel's education minister says he is banning groups that call Israel an “apartheid state” from lecturing at schools — a move that targets one of the country's leading human rights groups after it began describing both Israel and its control of the Palestinian...

Israelis receive the second Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, in Netanya, Israel, Tuesday, Jan. 12, 2021. Israel has struck a deal with Pfizer, promising to share vast troves of medical data with the drugmaker in exchange for the continued flow of its COVID-19 vaccine. Critics say the deal is raising major ethical concerns, including possible privacy violations and a deepening of the global divide between wealthy countries and poorer populations, including Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and Gaza, who face long waits to be inoculated. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)

Israel trades Pfizer doses for medical data in vaccine blitz

Jan. 18, 2021 1:30 AM EST

JERUSALEM (AP) — After sprinting ahead in the race to inoculate its population against the coronavirus, Israel has struck a deal with Pfizer, promising to share vast troves of medical data with the international drug giant in exchange for the continued flow of its hard-to-get vaccine. Proponents say the...

FILE - In this Feb. 11, 2020 file photo, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas speaks during a Security Council meeting at United Nations headquarters. Abbas has announced that the first presidential and parliamentary elections since 2006 will be held later in 2021. The voting is seen as a key step in mending a rift between Abbas’ Fatah party that rules the West Bank and the Islamic militant group Hamas that controls the Gaza Strip. ( (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File)

Palestinian president briefs Egypt, Jordan on election plan

Jan. 17, 2021 12:36 PM EST

RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) — Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Sunday hosted the Egyptian and Jordanian intelligence chiefs to brief them on plans to hold the first Palestinian elections in 14 years. Abbas issued a decree on Friday announcing plans for parliamentary elections in May and a presidential...

FILE - In this Feb. 11, 2020 file photo, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas speaks during a Security Council meeting at United Nations headquarters. Abbas has announced that the first presidential and parliamentary elections since 2006 will be held later in 2021. The voting is seen as a key step in mending a rift between Abbas’ Fatah party that rules the West Bank and the Islamic militant group Hamas that controls the Gaza Strip. ( (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File)

Explainer: Road to Palestinian vote full of obstacles

Jan. 16, 2021 12:02 PM EST

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has announced that the first presidential and parliamentary elections since 2006 will be held later this year. But the road to the vote — key to advancing Palestinian statehood and mending a rift between Abbas' Fatah party and the...

FILE - In this May 19, 2020 file photo, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas heads a leadership meeting at his headquarters in the West Bank city of Ramallah. Abbas has issued a decree setting parliamentary and presidential elections for later this year, Friday, Jan. 15, 2021. It would be the first vote of its kind since 2006, when the Islamic militant group Hamas won a landslide victory. (Alaa Badarneh/Pool Photo via AP, File)

Abbas decrees first Palestinian elections in 15 years

Jan. 15, 2021 3:15 PM EST

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Friday decreed parliamentary and presidential elections for later this year in what would be the first vote of its kind since 2006, when the Islamic militant group Hamas won a landslide victory. Elections would pose a major risk for Abbas'...

A woman wearing a face mask to protect against coronavirus walks at a train station in Moscow, Russia, Monday, Jan. 11, 2021. (AP Photo/Pavel Golovkin)

The Latest: New Zealand visitors must show negative test

Jan. 11, 2021 11:57 PM EST

WELLINGTON, New Zealand — New Zealand will soon require that travelers from most countries show negative coronavirus tests before they leave for New Zealand. COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins says New Zealand is in a fortunate position to have stamped out community spread of the virus, but takes...

Palestinians say Israeli gunshot in the neck paralyzed man

Jan. 2, 2021 5:50 AM EST

RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) — The Palestinian Health Ministry said Saturday a youth is suffering from paralysis a day after he was shot in the neck by Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank. The man, Haron Abu Aram, 24, was left quadriplegic, the ministry said. Witnesses said the incident was triggered when...

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivers a statement at the Israeli Knesset, or Parliament, in Jerusalem, Tuesday, Dec. 22, 2020. Netanyahu said,

Israel heads to new elections as government collapses

Dec. 22, 2020 5:36 PM EST

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel’s divided government collapsed early Wednesday, triggering the country’s fourth election in under two years and bringing an unprecedented threat to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's lengthy grip on power. Netanyahu, who is used to labeling his opponents as weak...

A Palestinian vendor stands in front of his shop near the Church of the Nativity, traditionally believed to be the birthplace of Jesus Christ, in the West Bank City of Bethlehem, Monday, Nov. 23, 2020. Normally packed with tourists from around the world at this time of year, Bethlehem resembles a ghost town – with hotels, restaurants and souvenir shops shuttered by the pandemic. (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed)

Lockdown looms over Christmas in Bethlehem

Dec. 17, 2020 2:33 PM EST

RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) — The mayor of Bethlehem on Thursday said Christmas celebrations in the birthplace of Jesus will be limited to just a handful of people this year as Palestinian officials announced a strict new lockdown across the West Bank due to a soaring coronavirus outbreak. In an interview,...

FILE - In this Dec. 9, 2020, file photo, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, right, and Health Minister Yuli Edelstein, center, attend the arrival of over 100,000 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine at Ben Gurion Airport near Tel Aviv, Israel. Israel plans to begin vaccinating millions of its citizens against COVID-19 this month after Netanyahu personally reached out to the head of the Pfizer pharmaceuticals company. The timetable is very different for the Palestinians, who live under Israeli military rule but have no idea when vaccinations will arrive as they largely fend for themselves in the face of an intense worldwide competition for scarce supplies. (Abir Sultan/Pool Photo via AP, File )

Palestinians left waiting as Israel is set to deploy vaccine

Dec. 17, 2020 1:38 PM EST

RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) — Israel will begin rolling out a major coronavirus vaccination campaign next week after the prime minister reached out personally to the head of a major drug company. Millions of Palestinians living under Israeli control will have to wait much longer. Worldwide, rich nations are...

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