“India has donated solar powered study lamps to Palestinian elementary school children from a marginalised Bedouin community to spread the principles of self-sufficiency and raise awareness towards the adverse effects of climate change. The lamps were donated as part of the 150th Gandhi Jayanti Students Solar Ambassador Workshop to internationally spread the principles of self-sufficiency and to raise awareness towards the adverse effects of climate change.”

“The United States Congress has rejected a request from the White House for $175m in funds that would go towards pushing the Trump administration's Middle East "peace plan". In a bipartisan decision on Monday, lawmakers rejected having funds be set aside in the government's 2020 budget. In a section devoted to the Middle East, a Congressional document stated: "The agreement does not provide $175,000,000 for a Diplomatic Progress Fund, as proposed in the House report.””

“Few opportunities await Gaza's youth after they graduate from university. Unemployment among university graduates aged 19-29 years old in the besieged coastal enclave was just shy of 80 percent last year, according to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics. But civil engineering graduates Tamer Abo Motlaq, 26, Usama Qudaih, 24, and Khaled Abo Motlaq, 24 were determined not to add to the grim statistic.”

“Christians in the Gaza Strip will not be allowed to visit holy cities such as Bethlehem and Jerusalem to celebrate Christmas this year, Israeli authorities said on Thursday. Only some 100 Gazan Christians will be granted permits to travel abroad but none will be allowed to go to Israel and the West Bank, home to many sites holy to Christians, a spokeswoman for Israel's military liaison to the Palestinians said.”

“Israel has announced a controversial plan to construct a new settlement in the heart of the West Bank city of al-Khalil (Hebron) that will purportedly accommodate as many settlers as are currently housed in the city. Israel’s Minister for Military Affairs Naftali Bennett announced the decision on Sunday, saying he had ordered officials to notify the al-Khalil municipality of the decision to build the new Israeli settlement, which is planned to be constructed in a wholesale market complex.”