Haaretz reported yesterday that Prime Minister Netanyahu and Defence Minister Moshe Yaalon agreed to divert $18m from Israel’s defence budget to expand the Beit El settlement. This decision has sparked criticism from within Israel, with former Finance Minister Yair Lapid claiming that while ‘the residents of Gaza vicinity communities were left without the protection of IDF troops’ PM Netanyahu ‘is busy winking at the right.’

Fathom editors interviewed two contrasting voices on the topic of settlements and the two-state solution. Fathom assistant editor Lorin Bell-Cross interviewed Dani Dayan, Jewish Home party candidate in the upcoming Israeli election and Chief Foreign Envoy of the Yesha Council, an umbrella organisation which represents Jewish settlements in the West Bank. Fathom editor Prof. Alan Johnson spoke with Lior Amihai head of Peace Now’s Settlement Watch project, which monitors the building of settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

Our Voice of the Week is of Prof. Cary Nelson, co-editor along with Gabriel Noah Brahm of The Case Against Academic Boycotts of Israel, speaking at the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS) on ‘Why the Boycott Movement Threatens Israeli Security’.

Our Image of the Week is of Palestinian pipers taking part in a celebration parade in Jerusalem to mark the Prophet Mohammed’s birthday on 3 January 2015. Photo by Muath Al Khatib/Flash90.

Settlements and the Two-State Solution: Lorin Bell-Cross interviews Dani Dayan

by Dani Dayan