Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gave an interview with Army Radio Tuesday in which he said, among other things, “In any peace agreement we [Israel] will have to maintain military control of all the territory west of the Jordan River. This is the truth and I will continue saying this truth.” The interview came amidst speculation about plans for the resumption of negotiations following the recent visit to Israel of US President Donald Trump.

The leader of Britain’s Labour Party, Jeremy Corbyn, issued a statement on Tuesday furiously denying that he honored Atef Bseiso, a Palestinian terrorist who participated in the massacre of Israeli athletes and coaches during the 1972 Munich Olympics by laying a wreath at his grave in Tunisia during a visit in 2014. However, the reports of the visit were based on Corbyn’s own account of the incident in the Morning Star newspaper, as quoted in a story this week published by the Sunday Times.

Israel is watching closely as Shi’ite militias supported and controlled by Iran continue to battle Islamic State (IS) terror militia units in eastern Syria, gaining control of territory close to the Israeli border. Jordanian officials have also expressed concern about the developments.

As part of ongoing efforts to demonstrate to potential enemies that attacking the Jewish State would be futile, the Defense Ministry carried out a successful test of a new experimental rocket propulsion system in Central Israel on Monday, with some analysts speculating that it was designed for a Jericho 3 long-range ballistic missile, which foreign intelligence sources believe is capable of carrying a nuclear payload. The test was observed by thousands of ordinary citizens who promptly posted pictures of it on social media.

The government approved two bills this week to spend NIS 177 million on upgrading waste and sewage infrastructure in the eastern neighborhoods of Jerusalem and another to fund efforts to change the curriculum in eastern Jerusalem schools from a Palestinian to an Israeli one. “The aim is to improve the quality of life and the environment of the residents of Arab neighborhoods of Jerusalem and to strengthen the integration of east Jerusalem residents into Israeli society and economy, thus strengthening the economic and social resilience of the entire capital,” the Education Ministry said.

The Palestinian security prisoners’ hunger strike was meant to instigate a mass intifada, which in turn was meant to have the world see jailed Fatah leader Marwan Barghouti, the strike’s leader, as the individual with whom they would have to negotiate. But the instigators failed to account for the political schism plaguing the Palestinians, which is why the majority of Hamas prisoners opted not to take part.