The fighting may have stopped for now, but Israel's military occupation of the West Bank — now in its second half-century — never stops piling up dry kindling, awaiting the next spark. (THREAD)

nytimes.com/2021/05/22/us/… We listened to the stories of ordinary Palestinians and what they must cope with when the world isn't paying attention.

Like a family forced to demolish the only home they've ever known, because Israel wants to erase their entire neighborhood from views of the Old City.

2nd thread of leftovers from this interview w/ @USAmbIsrael begins here. /25

nyti.ms/3bxH5sC On the Temple Mount/Haram al-Sharif:
Trump peace plan held a contradiction: The status quo — Muslim prayer only, other faiths can visit but not pray — should “continue uninterrupted” and be “preserved”; but “people of every faith should be permitted to pray” there. /26

Thx to @USAmbIsrael David Friedman for his time: Intvu ran > 2 hours. Lots of important/interesting stuff didn’t make it into piece. But for students of the conflict, it’s worth setting down some of that here. This will take 2 threads. Here goes 1st. /1
nyti.ms/3bxH5sC Straining credulity, he insisted there’d been no pressure campaign vs. the Palestinians. “I would call it minimal accountability, not maximum pressure,” he said — “holding them accountable to sort of basic norms of conduct.” /2

A footnote-thread to this story: nyti.ms/3hqdgKj

In Feb. 2018, Israeli media reported that an Israeli motorist who strayed into Abu Dis, a Palestinian town near Jerusalem, was nearly lynched, his car torched, until he was rescued by soldiers and border police. 1/ The reports noted that Palestinian police officers had protected the man before Israeli forces arrived, and that two of them were injured.

Conspicuously missing from the reports: how the Palestinian cops were hurt. 2/

This may be hard to watch, but it's important: Corona patients are mostly dying alone, but in Israel, several hospitals have begun allowing short visits under strict controls. On Sunday, Rinat Zita-Dishlo visited her mother, Batsheva Zita, 74, at Tel Aviv's Sourasky Medical Ctr. “You are not alone," she said in Hebrew. "Mom, my life, my beauty — fight, be strong. We’re here for you. Always." (Video provided by the hospital.)

THREAD: Bnei Brak's 210k ultra-Orthodox live 8-12 to a 700-sq-ft avg apartment. Their lives revolve around crowded, ritual group activity: prayer 3x a day, study in yeshivas. They shun the mass media and don't trust government. The coronavirus was tailor-made to clobber them. 1/ But a strange thing happened, just as the virus was getting out of control: The mayor, quarantined himself, reached out for help to soldiers, of all people. And the soldiers were thrilled to be of service. 2/

More BONUS TRACKS from our very illuminating interview w/@USAmbIsrael David Friedman: nyti.ms/2wJIoiK

Noting there hadn’t been a parade of other nations setting up embassies in Jerusalem, I asked whether it was leadership or folly, if nobody is following... His answer: “Give it time,” said he’d had “advanced discussions” with other countries thinking about following suit.

1/15 You know you’re close to Israel’s fence with Gaza when you see plumes of smoke billowing from farmland. Something here doesn’t belong. Patches of sunflowers and hay bales alternate with vast stretches of scorched earth.