Monthly highlights. Witnessed said that Israeli forces arrested two Palestinians in East Jerusalem after raiding their home. Palestinian medical sources in Hebron reported that several Palestinians had been injured and one had been detained by Israeli forces during a settler attack on a Palestinian funeral procession in Beit Ummar.
President Obama underscored that while the parties have much work to do in the days and months ahead, the US would support them fully in their efforts to achieve peace. President Obama and Prime Minister Netanyahu agreed to continue the close coordination between the US and Israel on the peace process and other regional issues. President Obama reaffirmed to President Abbas that the US stood ready to support the parties in achieving a just and lasting peace based on the two-State solution, and would continue to work closely with the Palestinian Authority PA to achieve that goal.
John Allen had been sent to the region in order to develop a security plan for a final Israeli-Palestinian agreement. Martin Indyk, the US Special Envoy for Israeli-Palestinian Negotiations, was expected to arrive in the region and begin working on the talks in the second week of August. The Jerusalem Post. According to Yedioth Ahronoth , US Secretary of State John Kerry said, during conversations with members of Congress, that in a future peace deal, Israel will retain 85 per cent of the settlement blocks.
The Minister of Culture of Jordan, Barakat Awajan, and his Palestinian counterpart, Anwar Abu Eisheh, signed a three-year programme for cultural cooperation between the two countries in Ramallah. In response to two High Court petitions demanding a stop to the planned evacuation of eight villages in south Hebron Hills in the West Bank, Israeli authorities stated that the eviction was necessary as the area would be used as a training zone that would save the Israeli Defense Forces IDF time and money.
According to the Al-Aqsa Foundation for Endowment and Heritage, the Palestinian Information Center had reported that the Israeli Government was planning to construct a new settlement of 21 housing units and a synagogue close to the area of the Al-Aqsa Mosque. Palestine News Network. According to Palestinians sources in the Gaza Strip, there was a growing shortage of fuel after Egypt sealed off 80 per cent of the hundreds of tunnels that carried goods from Egypt into Gaza.
