Eurovision 2019: ASIE: The App.

My coverage of the 2019 Eurovision Song Contest already seems to have developed an introductory section. Along with a list of required reading.

Both of which can be found here; https://watchitdie.blogspot.com/2019/05/eurovision-2019-and-so-it-ends.html

The Eurovision Song Contest is the gala event of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU).

The EBU is a professional association of 73 television and radio broadcasters from 57 nations. Founded in 1950 its mission is to further technological advancement in the field of Information Communications Technology (ICT).

It's almost hard to believe but back in 1950 broadcast television was the absolute cutting edge of ICT technology.

The Coronation of Britain's Queen Elizabeth II in 1953 was one of the first, big televised events. It was what prompted, only Britain's richer, households to go out an buy their very first televisions.

When England hosted and won the 1966 World Cup it was the first time that football matches were shown on television, in colour. At least by that upstart Independent TV (ITV) network. The BBC were still stuck in black & white.

The first satellite, Sputnik-1, wasn't launched until 1957. So at the founding of the EBU you certainly didn't have satellite TV.

One of the first challenges the EBU set itself was to see if it could use ICT technology to broadcast a live program across all of the EBU area.

Even then that included what is traditionally considered Europe. Along with the Middle-East, nations such as Israel and Lebanon and North-Africa, nations such as Egypt and Morocco.

By 1956 the EBU had finally developed the ICT technology to do this. The just had one remaining problem. They needed a program to broadcast.

So someone happened upon the idea of broadcasting a Song Contest. Things escalated from there.

Even today a major part of both the EBU and the Eurovision Song Contest is advancing ICT technology.

So behind-the-scenes there is this massive, almost competition within a competition, of nations showing off the new ICT technology they've developed in the past year. Then sharing it with all the other nations as a condition of their EBU membership.

At the 2018 Song Contest the big, exciting new piece of technology was Augmented Reality.

This is still so new that its not really well defined. However the term generally refers to any live viewing that is augmented by computer generated sensory stimuli. Be that sight, sound, touch or smell. Most commonly though it refers to images.

Augmented Reality is something like the filters you use on Snapchat. Or the cell phone game; "Pokemon Go."

So lots of the nations at the 2018 Song Contest used Augmented Reality as part of their entry.

Norway's entry featured the singer, Alexander Rybak playing a host of Augmented Reality instruments on stage. On TV this of course looked spectacular. However viewed live it looked like a man waving his arms about like a complete lunatic.

A lot of Augmented Reality was also used at this year's Song Contest. For example Estonia's Victor Crone seemed to have this magic guitar which kept disappearing and reappearing. An effect achieved through Augmented Reality.

Generally though my brain was a bit too busy this year to concern itself with all that.

When the EBU was founded broadcast television was the cutting edge of ICT technology. These days all anyone seems to talk about is how broadcast television is dead.

Gone are the days of a broadcast network airing a set number of shows across a set number of channels at set times. Either using traditional aerials, digital aerials or satellites.

Nowadays much more of what would traditionally be considered television content is accessed via Internet Streaming.

This allows people to choose what programs they want to watch and when they want to watch them. It also allows them to access content from not just TV networks but specialised, Internet only services like Netflix, Amazon Prime and YouTube.

It's an occupational hazard that I'm quite paranoid about the negative aspects of technology. So I actually own several Smart phones. Which sit in drawers gathering dust as I continue to proudly use a flip phone. Which has amazing battery life, I may add.

Internet TV has become so common now that even I've been forced to join the revolution. The First-Semi Final of the 2018 Song Contest was the first I watched using Internet TV.

Specifically I used a piece of a equipment made by a company called "Roku." This little box functions rather like a wi-fi modem for a TV. Along with Apple TV it is one of the most commonly available ones on the market and seems similar to your typical Smart TV.

The big difference is that you can unplug a Roku box. Keeping it separate from your TV, satellite decoder, digital aerial, DVD etc. If you think having hackers "Brick" your cell phone is expensive and annoying wait until it happens to your Smart TV, let alone your domestic electricity and central heating supply.

Another major attraction of the Roku box is that in the UK they are marketed in partnership with; "Now TV." A subsidiary of the Sky TV corporation. Meaning you can buy in Sky Sports, Premier League football, on a daily, weekly or monthly pay-as-you-go basis.

So technically I didn't live stream the First-Semi Final of the 2018 Song Contest. I live streamed a football match and watched Eurovision on catch up. Israel, as hosts of the 2019 Song Contest, seem to have decided it's better to clash with Ramadan and Nakba Day than the end of the European football season.

Using the Internet on a Roku box is a very different experience to using the Internet on a traditional PC.

If I want to use the Internet on a PC I open up a program called a web browser.

Within that browser I can open up one window with Twitter in it. Next to it I can open up another window with the Eurovision.tv website in it.

Next to that I can open another window with Wikipedia in it. Next to the that I can open up another window with Wikimapia in it.

Next to that I can open up another window with Google's YouTube in it. And so on.

On that browser I could also open up another window with Facebook in it. However I'm not an idiot. I know about Q-Tel, the CIA backed venture capital firm which created Facebook as a way to farm data from across the World.

On a Roku box there is no web browser. For each service you have to use a specific program known as an; "App." You can only open one App at a time and you can only use the App's on sale in the Roku market place.

So on a Roku box I'm unable to access any part of the Song Contest directly from the EBU, through the Eurovision.tv website. Instead I have to use the YouTube App to access the Song Contest through the Eurovision YouTube channel.

This move away from browsers and websites is very much the direction big tech companies are moving the Internet in. For the simple reason that it allows them to squeeze even more money out of users by trapping them in what are known as; "Ecosystems."

A prime example of this is the Amazon Fire tablet I commonly use. This is sold at a massive loss by Amazon. They do this because they view the tablet as a way of making sure users spend money at other parts of the Amazon ecosystem.

The operating system on the Fire tablet is Google's Android. However it is a specially adapted version of Android that only really works for Amazon services.

So if you want to buy an App for a Fire tablet you can't just go to the Android App store. Instead you have to go to the Amazon App market. Likewise if you want to buy an ebook to read on your Fire tablet you can only buy it from Amazon.

Fire tablets do have a web browser. However even this is deceptive.

What appears to be the address bar at the top of the browser page is in fact not an address bar. It is the search bar for Microsoft's "Bing" search engine.

So even if you type in the exact address of the website you want to visit the browser won't take you there. It will take you to the Bing results page.

The reason this happens is that Microsoft pay Amazon a lot of money make it happen. The reason websites appear at the top of Bing's search results is because those companies pay Microsoft a lot of money to make it happen.

In case you haven't worked out where all this money comes from? It comes from you.

You are not the customer. You are the product. The livestock. What certain sections of the Internet would claim certain sections of Israeli society would call the; "Goyim."

On the version of the Fire tablet I use there are a number of simple workarounds you can use to avoid all this. However to use them you first have to know you have to use them, by understanding what is happening.

Amazon though are not best pleased with the customers who use those loopholes and are keen to close them.

These artificial ecosystems are of course great for the profits of the big tech companies who create them. However they seem to be quite destructive for society as whole.

You may have noticed that I'm naturally quite an argumentative person. So if anyone thinks I'm being anti-Semitic when I call Israel an extremely argumentative country I strongly suggest they bring it up with me on Twitter.

My argumentative nature doesn't just apply to people on, or off, the Internet. I often seek out articles and opinion pieces written by people who hold a completely different points of view to my own. Then argue with them as I read them, silently and in my head.

I often find this simply boosts my ego and confirms my point of view. By allowing me to go through their point of view and tear it to pieces. Occasionally though there is an argument I can't dismiss. This often teaches me something and forces me to adjust my point of view accordingly.

Particularly social media companies like Twitter and, particularly Facebook, heavily segregate the ecosystems they create. So people are only ever presented with the points of view they already agree with.

I think one of the worst decisions Twitter ever made was to change their; "Trends" feature.

It used to show you what was being most talked (Tweeted) about either globally, in your country or in your city. Now the default shows you what's being most talked about in your network/ecosystem/silo. The people you follow on Twitter.

I immediately turned that feature off. I already know what the people in my network are talking about. I'm following them.

As always segregation breeds division. Only listening to your point of view has a way of making you arrogantly think your point of view is the only valid one.

Increasingly these days it seems that on the rare occasions that people are presented with a different point of view it makes them very angry. They demand the people with the different point of view be silenced and destroyed.

This is something we've particularly seen in Britain as part of the Brexit debate. Those who support Brexit only ever talk to people who also support Brexit. Those who want to Remain in the EU only ever talk to people who also support Remain.

When someone who supports Brexit is forced to talk to someone who supports Remain it always seems to lead to anger, aggression and violence.

Some have compared it to Britain being on the brink of civil war. Although Britain has had about seven civil wars. We're not quite there yet.

Although the one that only ended about 20 years ago continues to be a bit of a worry.

You also see this problem a lot in American politics.

People who support President Trump only ever talk to people who also support President Trump. People who think Special Counsel Mueller should have impeached Trump only ever talk to people who also think Trump should be impeached. The results seem very shouty.

The art form of the Song Contest is really forcing the thing you want to talk about into the conversation.

It should be very easy to use this digital segregation as an allegory for the Israel/Palestine Conflict. That wall Israel has built along the West Bank is certainly segregationist. As are the "Peace Walls" from "The Troubles" in Northern Ireland which inspired it.

The rise of Internet Apps is not just providing new ways for people to access programs. It is also affecting the way that people watch traditional broadcast TV.

The Eurovision Song Contest is really the place to bring up any issues or discussions about any sort of TV program. I remember last year complaining that on their Now TV library Sky TV don't include subtitles for deaf viewers. Immediately afterwards Sky did start adding subtitles to their Now TV library.

The type of TV program the Song Contest is most interested in though are obviously other TV song contests. Shows like "X-Factor," "The Voice," "{Insert Name of Country} Idol." For quite a few of the contestants this year appearing at Eurovision is part of their prize for winning one of those reality TV shows.

Many of these TV shows now have an accompanying App you can download.

There is of course a very positive side to this. It allows fans to join something of a community with other fans. A place where they can catch up on all the backstage gossip about how their favourite, or most hated, contestant is doing in the time between the show being broadcast.

There is though the darker side. Where the production company behind the TV show are using the App as a way to make money out of the fans.

A lot of this is overt, through what are known as; "In App Purchases."

For example I think the App for the UK version of X-Factor allows you to vote 5 times for free. You can then buy more votes through the App much like how you can would by a day pass for Sky Sports or top up the credit on your cell phone.

The App will also help you access the online store. Where you can but concert tickets, albums and other merchandise.

As is often the case with technology Asian nations such as China, Japan and the Republic of Korea (RoK/South) have taken this to a whole new level.

Their Apps and social media companies allow you to buy digital gifts, like emojis, to send to your favourite popstar/Reality TV contestant. These things are not just totally pointless, they don't even physically exist.

There is also the more sinister, hidden ways that Apps make money from their uses. Not just the Apps that accompany TV shows but Apps general.

If you actually read the terms & conditions for most Apps you will find that by downloading them you are giving all the information on your device (phone, tablet, etc) to the company which makes the App.

This is not just your contact list or any pictures or video you may have saved. It also includes anything the device can pick up with its microphones and cameras. Which you have often given permission to have remotely operated.

The company making the App then sells that information on. Covertly recorded conversations between real people are a valuable resources when it comes to developing Artificial Intelligence (AI) systems.

If you're using something like an Amazon Fire tablet this is particularly risky. As part of Amazon's ecosystem to get the full functionality out of a Fire you have to sync it with your Amazon account. Which, in turn, is synced with your bank account.

So while I'm happy to use an Amazon Fire tablet, with limited functionality, there is no way in hell I'm letting my elderly father near one. He can put up with reduced battery life in return for increased security controls.

Any electronic device I download an App to is first stripped of any personal information. Or where personal information is required fake information is given. To the point I often forget what my actual date of birth is.

As a result all the suggested adverts I get shown are based entirely on my search history.

Due to the war in Syria my search history is a bit strange. Meaning I'm constantly being bombarded with adverts for weapons systems like the F-35 jet or Chinook helicopters. It is bizarre what you can buy online these days.

Although I did recently buy a rowing machine I'd researched online. Then I researched testosterone boosting supplements as part of the Caster Semenya story. My suggested ads at the moment are very tedious indeed.

The EBU and the Song Contest does just serve to further ICT technology. It also provides a forum for the ethical and social issues surrounding them to be discussed and examined.

So the Eurovision Song Contest has its own accompanying App. Including things like voting functionality, an online store, Augmented Reality filters and special emojis.

This year the EBU have been very keen for people to download it and make it the main technological theme of 2019.

I seem to have irritated some people by refusing to download that App and participate in that discussions. I found Twitter hashtags to be perfectly functional rather than the national flag emojis included in the App.

Not so much downloading the Eurovision App but using it as part of the discussion would have required a lot of extra work on my part.

This year I spent about 10 days researching just the acts that would appear on stage. If I downloaded the App I would have had to spent another week or so completely taking the App to pieces to see how it worked.

Due to existing commitments in some of Israel's neighbours I really couldn't justify that time. In fact those commitments mean I will probably have to limit my coverage this year. I certainly can't justify dragging it out until July.

If the 2019 Song Contest were happening in somewhere like Portugal, where the 2018 Song Contest was held, I could probably have got away with downloading the App and just winging it. The mistakes being part of the fun.

However this year's contest was held in Israel. Which is an extremely technologically advanced country.

The reasons why Israel is so technologically advanced are deeply tied up with its compulsory military service and its entire defence strategy. That is the sort of area where mistakes are rarely considered amusing.

In that vein rather than trying to rush through it now I will have to pick it up properly tomorrow.

If you want an example of the non-linear thinking required at the Song Contest. I bet I can get from the App to Israel winning the 1978 contest in fewer than five moves.

19:15 on 20/5/19 (UK date).

Edited at around 18:25 on 21/5/19 (UK date) to copy & paste from another window;

Particularly amongst Americans. Particularly those who were around in the 1960's and 1970's there is this romantic view of Israel as this plucky little country. Bravely standing up to the big bullies which surround it.

I don't want to contribute to that. Particularly as these days its certainly not true.

The armed wings of both Fatah who control the West Bank and Hamas who control Gaza are very small military forces. They barely even qualify as military forces in the conventional warfare sense of the term.

Although if US National Security Adviser John Bolton does want to invade Iran. Well, he's going to have to send at lot more than 120,000 US troops to do it on his behalf. A fact US President Trump seems well aware of.

What is true though is that Israel is quite a small country. In terms of population the entire country is only about 80% of the size of the city I live in.

As quite a small country Israel actually has quite a small military. The Israeli Air Force (IAF) only has 34,000 active duty personnel. By comparison China's Air Force (PLA-AF) has 398,000 active duty personnel.

To compensate for its small size the Israeli military has become a World leader in gathering intelligence to alert them to threats. They then use this information to surgically apply a small amount of force to destroy threats while they're still small. Not allowing them to grow into big threats.

I appreciate people will probably disagree with me when I say that Israel is famous for only using small amounts of force. However I don't think those people quite appreciate just how far, in terms of violence, war can go.

Delegations for the Eurovision Song Contest actually began arriving in Israel on the weekend of May 4th (4/5/19). This was 'celebrated' by a short but pretty intense bout of fighting between Israel and Palestinian militants in Gaza. Some 700 rockets were fired from Gaza into Israel and around 300 airstrikes were carried out by Israel in Gaza.

During this bout of fighting Israel took the opportunity to show off its use of small amounts of surgical force. They used an airstrike to assassinate Hamas commander Hamed Hamdan al-Khodari while he was travelling in a car in Gaza City. On Sunday, May 5th (5/5/19).

Israel claimed that Khodari was in charge of funnelling money from Iran to Hamas. Seeming to fit in with John Bolton's worldview. But at the same time Israel was making clear that it was another Palestinian group, Islamic Jihad, who were responsible for most of the problems in Gaza. Seeming to very much challenge John Bolton's worldview.

The vehicle Khodari was travelling in was a mid-sized saloon, travelling at around 30-40km/h. For some reason Israel won't let me have the exact details but I suspect it was struck by a Hellfire missile travelling around 1,600 km/h. That missile was probably fired from an F-16 jet several kilometres away, also travelling at around 1,600km/h.

To hit a target of that size, travelling at those speeds is extremely difficult to do. However the Israelis managed to hit that target, and only that target. As it was intended to do the explosion killed everybody in the vehicle. It did not though injure, let alone kill anyone in the surrounding area.

Once you've got past the moral question of deciding that Khodari was a combatant and therefore someone Israel was allowed to kill that is actually extremely impressive.

In comparison the rockets being fired into Israel were mostly variants of either Katyusha or Grad rockets. Insofar as these are aimed they're aimed at a target roughly the size of a football pitch.

These rockets designed as part of a Multiple Launch Rocket System (MLRS). The idea being you fire half dozen of these rockets into that football pitch sized target in the space of about three seconds. Killing everything in the football pitch sized target.

What militants in Gaza tend to do is fire one of them at a time, into a target the size of southern Israel. Although around 700 were fired over that weekend they were being fired from many different launch sites, in many different directions.

Although I wouldn't want one landing on my house when they're used like that Katyusha and Grad rockets aren't particularly effective as a weapon. Meaning that normally the rocket fire into Israel fire is more of a very, very serious police matter than an out-and-out military one.

Another good example of Israel using intelligence to surgically eliminate a threat is the assassination of Yahya Ayyash. The chief bombmaker for and leader of Hamas' armed wing in the West Bank. He was killed in January 1996.

His assassination however began in October 1995. Israel's domestic security bureau, the Shin Bet, blackmailed one of Ayyash's childhood friends into giving him a cell phone they had supplied. Supposedly so they could listen in to his phone calls.

The Shin Bet then waited for several months until Ayyash used to phone. Confirming it was him using the phone Shin Bet then remotely detonated a small amount of high explosive they'd hidden in the phone. This killed Ayyash instantly, but didn't injure anyone else. Even the other people in the room with him.

Again you have to get past the moral question of deciding Ayyash was a combatant and therefore someone Israel was allowed to kill. Once you do though it's very hard not to be impressed by the way Israel carried out the killing.

One of the most significant victories for Israeli intelligence was the 1973 Yom Kippur War. This saw Egypt and Syria launch a joint attack on Israel.

It was supposed to be a surprise attack. Timed to coincide with the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur. The thinking being that the Israeli military would be weakened by having many of its troops home on leave.

However it wasn't a surprise attack. Israel knew about it in advance.

Several months previously Israel had launched a covert Special Operations Forces (SOF) mission deep into Egypt. In order to physically tap into the cables carrying the communications of the Egyptian military.

Knowing the attack was coming the Israelis were able to prepare and quickly won the war.

It was this defeat the forced the Arab nations into the negotiation process which became the Camp David Accords. Which were signed in September 1978. Just five months after Israel won the Eurovision Song Contest for the first time. In April 1978.

I'm not saying the Eurovision Song Contest single handedly secured the Camp David Accords.

However the pressure of hosting the 1979 Eurovision Song Contest certainly made it much harder for Israel to walk away from the negotiations.

At around 18:40 on 21/5/19 (UK date) I have a lot more to add. Here and in a part two of just this App matter. That will have wait until I clear the Brext theme before the EU elections.

Edited at around 17:00 on 28/5/19 (UK date) to copy & paste from another tab;

This type of intelligence gathering has always relied on cutting edge technology. The first, real, computer was developed by Alan Turing. As a way to break the Nazi Enigma code during the Second World War.

So the Israeli military has always had a large, first signals intelligence, then cyberwarfare division. Israel also has compulsory military service. Meaning that with very few exceptions every Israeli has to serve in the military at some point.

What branch of the military Israelis serve in depends on what skills they have. The 2018 Song Contest winner Netta is clearly good at singing. So she was sent to serve with the band of the Israeli Navy. The actress Gal Gadot is very charming, So she was sent to serve in the public relations department.

If you are quite good at maths, or a bit handy with computers the Israeli military will immediately send you to their cyberwarfare division. There they will train you and make you amongst some of the best in the World.

When Israelis leave the military they not only have all this training and specialist knowledge they also have a large networks of contacts.

So if you have a brilliant idea for a new product or App one of your old army buddies will probably be able to put you in touch with someone who works in venture capital. Who will help you turn your idea into a profitable business.

As developed economies are becoming more dependent of technology governments are becoming increasingly focused on so-called; "Tech Incubators." Environments and networks which can help new ideas quickly develop into profitable businesses. By putting innovators easily in contact with finance experts, marketing experts, programmers and low cost server space.

A example of this is Britain's East London Tech City. Often known as; "Silicon Roundabout." A combination of national and local government strategy has seen major tech companies and leading universities set up shop is a small area around the Old Street Roundabout in the Shoreditch area of London. Just in case you didn't already think that Shoreditch was the absolute worst.

Almost accidentally the IDF has created a massive tech incubator for Israel. With very little further effort or spending required on behalf of the Israeli government.

As a result the Israeli economy has an extremely large and dynamic tech sector. The orientation video the host broadcaster Kan described Israel as a; "Start Up Nation."

Due to its roots in the military Israel's tech economy tends to focus on the security sector.

You may remember that in 2015 there was an Islamist attack in San Bernadino, California, US.

The FBI were unable to break the encryption on the attacker's iPhone. Leading to a dispute between the FBI and Apple over whether Apple could be compelled to decrypt the phone. In the end the FBI just gave the phone to the Israeli start-up Cellebrite who cracked the encryption in all of about five minutes.

Amongst enthusiasts of the darker side of technology there is another famous Israeli tech company called NSO Group Technologies. It was founded by three former members of the IDF's Unit 8200. The SOF unit which tapped the Egyptian military's communications ahead of the 1974 Yom Kippur War.

NSO Group Technologies is particularly famous for a piece of spyware called; "Pegasus."

Pegasus allows the user to create what's known as a; "Mirror" of the target's cellphone. Essentially a real time copy of the device. This not only allows you to see all files, including audio and video, saved on the device it allows you to see what the device is doing as it happens.

Not just phone calls being made and emails written but also complex location data. Sensors in a modern iPhone not only allows it to pinpoint you on a GPS grid. It is also able to tell whether the phone is being held in your hand, in your pocket or placed in a bag. Along with whether you're sitting down, standing up, walking or travelling in a vehicle.

When they were first introduced the early, analogue cellphones were actually quite hard to eavesdrop on. Unless you were in direct line-of-sight with the device as it was being used. Which rather defeats the purpose of electronic surveillance.

What you would need to do was physically steal the target's cellphone. Replacing it with an identical cellphone which you had modified with the surveillance equipment built in.

Things got a lot easier with the introduction of digital cellphones. These saw all communications - calls, sms, emails etc - routed through a central computer belonging to the network operator. So all you needed to do was hack into that computer. From there you could access all of the cell phone's on the operator's network.

Things got more complicated with the introduction of the mobile Internet and Apps like WhatsApp, Telegram etc. These encrypt communications on the sender's device and then decrypt them on the receiver's device. As a result all the data being sent through the network operators central computer is encrypted and, in theory, unreadable.

This means that you have to remotely put software onto either the target's device. To create a mirror allowing you to see messages being written before they're encrypted or read after they've been decrypted.

What is so special about NSO's Pegasus is how effective it is at loading itself onto the target's device. Rather than having to rely on the target clicking an infected link to download the software it can load itself simply by dialling the device. Often without the user's knowledge. Meaning that to target a device you simply need to know the phone number.

Recently there has been growing concern about to whom private companies like NSO Group Technologies have been prepared to sell software like Pegasus to. Advanced technology which would normally only be the preserve of nation states.

Back in October 2018 Turkey and Qatar accused Saudi Arabia of killing Muslim Brotherhood activist Jamal Khashoggi. As part of Qatar and Turkey's feud with Saudi Arabia over the Muslim Brotherhood.

At one point they accused Saudi Arabia of using Pegasus to track Khashoggi. There is no greater insult you can level against an Arab or Muslim state than colluding with a Jew, let alone an Israeli.

Just as the 2019 Eurovision Song Contest was beginning Facebook confirmed that the encryption on its WhatsApp messenger could be completely defeated by NSO Group Technologies Pegasus spyware. Putting the topic up for discussion.

Pegasus also happens to the name for the regional military alliance Saudi Arabia has been trying to build against Iran. This is sometimes described as; "An Arab NATO."

It was efforts to build that Pegasus which saw the Sudan of Omar al-Bashir break off ties with Iran to establish ties with Saudi Arabia. When this was suggested as a possible route for Syria under Bashar al-Assad back into the international community it saw Qatar, Turkey and the Muslim Brotherhood overthrow Omar al-Bashir.

The main issued raised by the WhatsApp/Pegasus story though were concerns about security cooperation between the Palestinian Authority and Israel.

As I mentioned in the required reading section Palestine is divided into two areas. Gaza which is controlled by Hamas and the West Bank which is controlled by Fatah.

Officially both of these areas of Palestine are semi-autonomous regions of Israel. They're supposed to be controlled by the Palestinian Authority. Made up of whichever political party the people of Palestine elect.

It is Israel's job to collect the tax revenues for Palestine. This money is then handed over to the Palestinian Authority to be disbursed throughout both Gaza and the West Bank. However as part of a power struggle the Fatah controlled Palestinian Authority has long refused to hand Hamas controlled Gaza its share of the money.

In February 2019 the situation started getting even worse than that.

The Palestinian Authority pays death benefits to the relatives of militants killed in the struggle with Israel. In February 2019 Israel announced that it would be withholding the amount used to pay these death benefits from the Palestinian tax revenues it hands over to the Palestinian Authority.

In response the Palestinian Authority refused to accept any Palestinian tax revenues collected by Israel. That accounts for about 65% of the Palestinian Authority's entire budget.

As a result there are now serious concerns that the West Bank will follow Gaza into complete economic collapse. People are worried that if that happens security personnel working for the Palestinian Authority will no longer be able to work with Israel to prevent attacks.

Worse than that going unpaid the Palestinian Authority's security personnel may follow the example of Israeli companies like NSO Group Technologies. Selling intelligence, and more crucially, weapons to people who probably shouldn't have them.

17:10 on 28/5/19 (UK date).