President Joe Biden will meet with Afghan counterpart, President Ashraf Ghani, at the White House, as the two countries prepare for US troop withdrawal from Afghanistan. And, Australia's largest city goes into partial lockdown over a spike in the COVID-19 delta variant in Sydney. Also, Palestinians are protesting the death of popular activist Nizar Banat while in Palestinian Authority custody.
"We pay the Palestinians HUNDRED OF MILLIONS OF DOLLARS a year and get no appreciation or respect," Trump tweeted. "With the Palestinians no longer willing to talk peace, why should we make any of these massive future payments to them?"
The Islamist group Hamas urged Palestinians on Thursday to abandon peace efforts and launch a new uprising against Israel in response to US President Donald Trump's recognition of Jerusalem as its capital.
After a violent attack on a West Jerusalem synagogue that killed four worshippers on Tuesday, Israelis are on edge. But Palestinians are also worried about how Israel will retaliate for this attack and others that have rocked Jerusalem in recent weeks.
Two Palestinian men armed with meat cleavers and firearms killed four worshippers at a synagogue in West Jersualem on Tuesday. While it was the deadliest attack of its kind in the city since 2008, it was also yet another sign of rising violence between Israelis and Palestinians.
The rare closing of Jerusalem's Temple Mount — or Noble Sanctuary to Muslims — lasted only a day. But anger over the closure and the shooting of a Palestinian suspecting of killing a Jewish activist became a "day of rage," with Palestinians scuffling with Israeli security forces in the city and across the West Bank.
Israel and Hamas fought to a stand-still in Gaza in their latest conflict. Neither side won, but neither side was defeated either. And, in the end, Israel may regret that the whole conflict may lead to a stronger Palestine.
The situation in Gaza is open-ended, with only the Israelis knowing when they will have achieved their objectives and end their ground invasion. But, regardless, the current situation presents the best opportunity in years for Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to assert himself.
In the Arab world, the Holocaust is usually viewed with suspicion. But, recently, some Palestinians have started to accept the Holocaust as a grave crime against the Jewish population of Europe. And on Monday, the Palestinian leader joined that group.
The Palestinian Territories have been divided for years, with more extreme Hamas governing the Gaza Strip and more moderate Fatah ruling in the West Bank. But Wednesday, the two sides agreed to a power-sharing agreement. But it may be another setback for peace with Israel.
Israel and the Palestinians are blaming each other for dragging US-sponsored peace talks to the brink of collapse. After spending eight months trying to keep the two sides at the negotiating table, Secretary of State, John Kerry appears to be frustrated. "The leaders have to lead," Kerry said on Thursday. Host Marco Werman gets the latest from The World's Matthew Bell.