A Family Fenced In
Stories from the West Bank, Germany, Brazil, the US and the heart of the European Union. President Trump’s plan for peace in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories would allow Israel to apply its sovereignty to all the Jewish settlements as well as swathes of strategic land in the West Bank. The Palestinian leadership has rejected the plan outright saying it would create a "Swiss cheese state". Our Middle East Correspondent Tom Bateman spent time on two sides of a fence that separates an Israeli settlement from a Palestinian family with its own checkpoint. Regional elections take place tomorrow in Hamburg at one of the most worrying times in recent Germany history. After this week’s right-wing terror attack in Hanau, near Frankfurt, John Kampfner says many are wondering whether the security forces and indeed the constitution are strong enough to cope. Carnival in Brazil is one of the world's biggest, brashest parties. Millions will flock to the streets this week to dance, strut their stuff and watch the parades. But under Brazil’s far-right president, Jair Bolsonaro, there has been increase in police raids in poor neighbourhoods adding a tinge of bitterness to the party spirit. The average American made ten trips to a library in 2019, about twice as many times as they went to the movies. The Front Row presenter Kirsty Lang recently moved to the home of American cinema and was surprised to find that Los Angeles has a much loved and well-funded library system. Shortly after Britain voted to leave the EU, the Polish chair of the European parliament’s constitutional affairs committee, was categorical. “If we don’t have the UK, we don’t have English”, she told a news conference. But perhaps it’s not that clear cut says Kevin Connolly.