[This is a roundup of news articles and other materials circulating on Palestine and reflects a wide variety of opinions. It does not reflect the views of the Palestine Page co-editors or of Jadaliyya. You may send your own recommendations for inclusion in each roundup to Palestine@jadaliyya.com.]
The Occupation Forces
Israeli forces Detain 10 Palestinians in West Bank
According to the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society, Israeli occupying forces detained at least ten individuals across the occupied West Bank in predawn raids. The individuals were identified as Iyad and Muhammad Khalayla, Ahmad al-Zighari, Muhammad al-Khmour, Ali Mahmoud Dar Salah, Khaldun al-Deek, Bahaa Nasr, Mahmoud Kamal al-Ayya, Mutaz Abu Zaid, and Ahmad Maher Hashash.
IOF Wound 189 Palestinian Civilians on the 22 Friday Great March of Return
On Friday 24 Augusth 2018, using excessive lethal force against the peaceful protesters in eastern Gaza Strip for the twenty-second Friday in a row, Israeli forces wounded 189 civilians, including seventeen children, two women, and three paramedics, after hitting them with live bullets and direct tear gas canisters. Five of those wounded sustained serious wounds.
68 Palestinian Workers Arrested For Working Without “permits”
An Israeli border police shot and wounded a Palestinian worker while apprehending sixty-eight Palestinians attempting to cross the border. The Palestinians were trying to cross the border in the Hebron area to go to work when they were arrested on the pretext of not having permits.
Israeli Forces Detain WAFA Photographer Near Ramallah
Israeli forces detained on Tuesday WAFA photographer Baha Nasr and others, among them the head of a local village council, after residents of the village of Ras Karkar, to the west of Ramallah, tried to prevent settlers from taking over their land to open a road to the area settlements, according to local sources.
Domestic Politics
Palestinian Factions, Except Fatah, Urge Reconciliation
Several Palestinian political factions on Tuesday called for the immediate implementation of past reconciliation agreements between Fatah and Hamas and the end of “provocative rhetoric that encourages the inter-Palestinian rift.” The statement was signed by a set of diverse political parties that enjoy a fair amount of support, though Fatah refused to sign on.
Netanyahu Urges US to Recognize Israel’s Right to Golan
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu today said that he would not back down on his demand that the United States recognize Israel’s right to the occupied Golan Heights. Netanyahu’s remarks come one day after US National Security Adviser John Bolton told Reuters that the US administration was “not considering the possibility” of recognizing Israel’s right to the Syrian area.
Elor Azaria Says He Has 'no remorse whatsoever' For Killing Wounded Palestinian
Speaking to right-wing Israeli newspaper Israel Hayom—which will publish the full interview on Friday—twenty-two-year-old Elor Azaria said that he did not regret his actions in March 2016, when he shot dead twenty-one-year-old Palestinian Abd al-Fattah Yusri al-Sharif in the Israeli-occupied West Bank city of Hebron. Upon being released after serving just half of an eighteen-month sentence, Azaria received a “hero’s welcome.”
Israel Promises 'Revolution' for East Jerusalem Schools. Palestinians Say It's 'Brainwashing'
After fifty years of neglect, the Israeli government is investing unprecedented sums in East Jerusalem, though many are calling the plan “Israelization.” The two billion shekel plan includes plans to put Israeli teachers in Palestinian schools and massively increase Hebrew education. After criticism of the plan’s Israelization objectives, the Israeli Jerusalem municipal government stated that “only twenty to twenty-five percent” of the budgets are for Israelization.
Foreign Policy
US to Announce Rejection of Palestinian Right of Return
According to Hebrew-language news outlets, the US administration is expected to announce its new policy early September, which would effectively cancel the right of return for Palestinians. The United States will start enforcing its new policy by recognizing the existence of only half a million Palestinian refugees, out of the UNRWA estimated total of 5.3 million Palestinian refugees.
Japan to Donate $5.4 Million to UNRWA
UNRWA currently faces a budget deficit of 270 million dollars, which would force the agency to suspend its activities by the end of September, which could cause serious aftershocks, affecting the region as a whole. UNRWA confirmed that the Japanese government announced it would provide assistance by the end of the week, in the amount of 5.4 million dollars, which will be made official on Tuesday morning.
Bosnian President Izetbegovic Arrives on a State Visit to Palestine
This is the second visit to Palestine for the Bosnian leader in eighteen months. It came as part of efforts to strengthen bilateral relations and to sign several cooperation agreements that would boost relations between the two countries.
Palestine Football Chief Rajoub Banned Over Messi Comments
The president of the Palestinian Football Association has been banned by FIFA after he urged fans to burn Lionel Messi shirts and pictures earlier this year. The comments made by Jibril Rajoub were part of a campaign to prevent a “friendly” between Argentina and Israel in Jerusalem, which Argentina later canceled.
In the context of mounting media frenzy over Corbyn, Tory complainants argued the remark breached the members’ code of conduct and brought parliament into disrepute. Mr. Corbyn nonetheless stood behind the comments, insisting that he was referring to a specific group of “pro-Israel activists” and had not used the term Zionist as a “euphemism” for the Jewish community.
Settlers and Illegal Settlements
EU, UK Condemn Israel's Approval of New Settlement Units
The European Union and United Kingdom released statements last week condemning Israeli authorities’ plans for over two thousand settlement units in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem. The statements identified settlement construction as illegal and an obstacle to peace, while the EU statement specifically reaffirmed commitment to a negotiated two-state solution.
2 Palestinians 'Brutally' Attacked by Israeli Settlers
Suleiman Idris Qanna, twenty, and Yahiya Naim Qanna, twenty-three, were attacked on Thursday by heavily armed settlers near the Zaatara checkpoint in the northern occupied West Bank district of Nablus. After suffering fractures, lacerations, and contusions, Yahiya and Suleiman were reported to be in moderate condition at Rafidiya Hospital.
Lieberman: Wherever There is an Operation, We Will Build a Settlement
Making reference to the demolition of a martyr’s home, the Israeli minister of the army, Avigdor Lieberman, said in a statement that Israel will continue settlement construction in any case of anti-Israel operations in the West Bank.
Palestinians Confront Thousands of Jewish Settlers at Joseph’s Tomb in Nablus
Israeli media reported that about three thousand settlers accompanied by the Israeli Construction and Housing Minister Yoav Galant and head of Settlements Council in the West Bank Yossi Dagan broke into Joseph’s Tomb with heavy military protection. Nablus residents confronted the group, which resulted in three injured youths and many more suffering ill effects from the tear gas fired at them by Israeli forces.
Boycott, Divest, and Sanctions Movement
Canary Mission: Mystery Website Demonizing Pro-Palestine Students Exposed
The identities of the people behind Canary Mission have been unknown since the blacklist became active in 2015. But last week, the Grayzone Project revealed that American lawyer Howard Sterling is the owner of the domain and Electronic Intifada identified real estate investor Adam Milstein as the key financier. Many have expressed hope that these discoveries may result in some accountability for the website which seeks to blackmail, frighten, and assassinate the character of BDS activists.
On Friday 24 August, the Israeli anti-Zionist group “Return” demonstrated from the Eastern side of the Gaza fence in solidarity with the weekly Great March of Return in Gaza, which took place for the twenty-second Friday in a row. Roughly ten Return activists were quickly forcibly removed from the area, but got to a hill where they waved multiple Palestinian flags and were seen by demonstrators on the other side of the fence.
Law
Israel Draft Law to Imprison Any Holders of Palestinian Flag
After protests against the Nation-State Law, a Likud MK, Anat Barko, has suggested a bill to punish anyone who flies the Palestinian flag inside Israel with one year in prison. Barko has said that the bill, which will be introduced in the winter session, enjoys broad Likud support.
Activists Prevent Demolition And Removal of Palestinian Homes
The Israeli Supreme Court on Monday overturned a decision to demolish homes near Bethlehem following an activist campaign. A representative from the Bethlehem chapter of the Wall and Settlement Resistance Committee said that it was not their first victory, but that the court also overruled the planned evacuation of a settler from the region.
Palestinian Khater Moved to New Prison Day Before Hearing
Israeli Prison Services yesterday transferred Palestinian writer, Lama Khater, from the Ashkelon prison to the Hasharon prison, after detaining her for thirty-four days. According to her lawyer, Khater has been subjected to harsh interrogation techniques, lasting up to twenty hours a day. Her sentence was extended for the seventh htime last week.
Israel Places 35 Palestinian Detainees in Custody Without Trial
Israeli authorities recently issued administrative detention orders against thirty-five Palestinian detainees, placing them in jail without a charge or trial, according to Palestinian Prisoner’s Society (PPS).
Israel’s High Court overturned on Sunday evening the security cabinet’s previous decision to prevent five Palestinian women, mostly cancer patients, from Gaza from receiving life-saving treatment in occupied East Jerusalem on the basis that the women had relatives that were active in the Hamas movement. The court stated that denying them passage was “illegal and effectively constituted a punitive death sentence for reasons entirely out of their control.”
Israeli Attorney Files FOIA Request to Determine Govt Role in anti-Corbyn Campaign
Years of media scrutiny surrounding UK Labor and its leader, Jeremy Corbyn, over accusations of alleged anti-Semitism have boiled to frenzy in recent months. Last week, Israeli lawyer Eitay Mack filed a FOIA request to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Strategic Affairs to determine what role, if any, these ministries play in influencing criticism of pro-Palestine activists and Corbyn in the United Kingdom.