NOTE: Nobody reads this blog. But . . .

Here are links to five reports: from National Public Radio and the Cradle, and to commentary from Middle East Monitor; other published material is accessible by clicking on their names or initials. (Scroll up for today’s WEST BANK, UKRAINE, SYRIA and IRAN, and down for GAZA 8-17-26.) — MCM

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Kushner optimistic about Gaza ceasefire plan after meeting with Netanyahu. Reported by Daniel Estrin and Sacha Pfeiffer | NPR  A marathon meeting between President Trump’s envoy Jared Kushner and Israel’s prime minister ended without firm commitment to the latest U.S. plan for a Gaza ceasefire. Click HERE to listen and, later, read. Click HERE for a related NPR interview and HERE for an Aug. 17 NPR report. Click HERE for report from the Cradle.

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UN reveals only three percent of Gaza’s farmland remains usable. From the Cradle. The UN Food and Agriculture Organization today announced that only three percent of Gaza’s cropland remains “accessible and undamaged” according to satellite image analysis. READ MORE . . .

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Has Hamas ended? by Tamer Ajrami | Middle East Monitor  A partial military defeat does not mean the end of a political movement. READ MORE . . .

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