Daniel Estrin

Days after Israeli troops fatally shot a Palestinian photojournalist covering protests on the Gaza border, Israel's defense minister alleged the photographer had served as a high-ranking member of the military wing of the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas since 2011.

But State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said the photojournalist had passed a U.S. government vetting process for his media company to receive a U.S. aid agency grant. The U.S. does vetting to ensure grant recipients have no ties to militant organizations or activities.

While Palestinian protesters burned tires and Israeli soldiers shot volleys of tear gas on the Gaza-Israel border Wednesday, a bearded young man in a blue tweed jacket sat in a nearby barley field with a chessboard, mulling strategy.

He and a friend were practicing checkmate maneuvers. But as Palestinians gear up for another Friday of large and potentially bloody demonstrations on the Gaza border, they were also considering bigger questions of strategy: What are Palestinians trying to achieve?

On Friday, Palestinians in Gaza held their biggest demonstration against Israel in years.

On Saturday, a war of incrimination erupted about what exactly had happened.

Tens of thousands of Palestinians rallied at the Gaza border, demanding to return to lands in what is today Israel. In clashes, 15 demonstrators were killed by Israeli fire, and one was killed by tank fire before demonstrations began when Israel said he approached the border fence.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu discussed his Oval Office meeting with President Trump, offering praise for the U.S. leader's knowledge about Iran, but dodging questions over investigations Netanyahu faces back home.

The prime minister does not grant many interviews to reporters based in Israel — except to those reporters who travel with him abroad.

Take $3,500 and a one-way ticket to Africa by April, or face forced deportation or jail.

This is Israel's new plan for thousands of East African migrants, mostly from Eritrea and Sudan, who crossed the Sinai Desert into Israel over the last decade.

Israeli police believe billionaire Hollywood producer Arnon Milchan bribed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with expensive cigars and pink champagne in exchange for a series of favors, among other corruption allegations police unveiled this week.

Netanyahu denied he did Milchan a single favor — except for one.

"The visa," Netanyahu said.

The trial opened Tuesday in an Israeli military court for 17-year-old Ahed Tamimi. She is accused of assaulting Israeli soldiers outside her home in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

For many Palestinians, Tamimi is a symbol of resistance to a half-century military occupation that stands in the way of Palestinian independence and shows no sign of ending.

For many Israelis, Tamimi is a provocateur who goads soldiers on video and champions rock-throwing, influenced by relatives who have been involved in protests and attacks against Israelis.

The Palestinian Authority government is facing allegations that it is collaborating with the CIA to spy on the phone conversations of senior Palestinian figures, including adversaries and allies of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.

The Associated Press reported on Tuesday that a former Palestinian intelligence chief and the head of the West Bank bar association are suing the Palestinian Authority, convinced they were among those targeted.

A stormy tape recording has surfaced of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's wife screaming at an aide nearly a decade ago, the second such embarrassing leak to hit the Netanyahu family this month.

The Israeli military is speeding up construction of its first underground border wall.

The 40-mile-long wall will run the length of Israel's border with the Gaza Strip to counter tunnels that Palestinian militants have dug into Israeli territory.

Dozens of tunnels, reportedly running dozens of miles long, have been constructed in attempts to infiltrate Israeli territory and carry out attacks, according to the Israeli military.

"This is now a significant game changer," said Israeli military spokesman Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus.

When Vice President Pence reverently placed his hand on the Western Wall in Jerusalem, some female journalists were fuming.

Gender segregation rules at the Jewish prayer site meant they were stuck behind a scrum of male colleagues, struggling to get a good view of Pence.

"All my photos have a man's shoulder in them," said Tal Schneider, diplomatic and political correspondent for the Israeli newspaper Globes. "I have Mike, with a shoulder and a bald spot ... of someone with a better view than me."

Vice President Pence says the United States will open an embassy in Jerusalem by the end of 2019 — much more quickly than initially promised.

Pence announced the new timetable in a speech before the Knesset, Israel's parliament, drawing a standing ovation from Israeli lawmakers and accelerating one of the Trump administration's most contentious foreign policy decisions to date.