With little surprise, I learned of the recent refusal of Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon to meet with members of the U.S. Congress, whose institution provides Israel with the economic wherewithal to occupy the West Bank. Through astonishing ineptness, rather than principled policy, Israel is risking the anger of its bankroller. 

Israel has imposed a full closure of the occupied Palestinian territory of West Bank, announcing that no one will be allowed in or out for 48 hours. Ehud Barak, the Israeli defence minister, made the move amid reports of possible protests by Palestinians around the al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem after Friday prayers. 

"I thought they would kill me. I became very scared and wet my pants. I could not shout or say anything because I was too afraid… He pushed me towards the small corridor in front of the bathrooms. He began shouting at me and speaking a language I did not understand… There were two bags in front of me. I grabbed the first one as he stood one and a half meters away. I opened the bag as he pointed his weapon directly at me." 

The UN's top humanitarian official, John Holmes, has criticised Israel for linking the 2006 capture of an Israeli soldier to its blockade of Gaza. Mr Holmes also said Israeli actions in East Jerusalem and the West Bank, including expanding settlements, was counter to the peace process. He urged a relaxation of the blockade, warning Gaza was "de-developing". It came as Israel ordered the army to seal off the West Bank for 48 hours until midnight on Saturday. 

The archbishop of Canterbury has waded into the row over Israeli plans to build hundreds of homes on occupied territory, saying the proposals left him feeling "baffled and angry". Rowan Williams told an audience in London that although he believed the Israeli state had a right to exist, he had yet to hear a legal defence of settlement construction. All settlements on occupied territory are illegal under international law. 

A day after Vice President Joe Biden ended a fence-mending trip marred by the Israel settlement issue, tension hung over the embattled city of Jerusalem both in the streets and in government offices. Israeli police in the capital went on high alert for violent demonstrations after Friday prayers in East Jerusalem – and the military enforced a total closure on Palestinians in the West Bank. Claimed by Palestinians as their future capital, it is increasingly emerging as the front line between competing Israeli and Palestinian visions for statehood.