[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
Funerals Held For 7 Palestinians Killed by Israel Army Thousands of people attended funerals across Gaza for seven Palestinians killed by Occupation Forces, including two children. The youngest, twelve-year-old Shadi Abdel-Al from Beit Lahiya, was killed by a sniper shot, reportedly from east of Jabaliya. Additionally, over five hundred people were injured by Occupation Forces.
Israeli Forces Attack University Students Rally North of Ramallah, Students Injured
Two university students Tuesday were shot and injured with rubber-coated steel bullets and dozens of others suffocated during clashes that broke out with Israeli forces near Beit El checkpoint, north of Ramallah. Two students were struck with rubber-coated steel bullets in the foot area and dozens of others suffocated due to tear gas inhalation. They were all treated at the scene.
Israeli Forces Detain Eight Palestinians From West Bank Israeli forces Tuesday detained at least eight Palestinians during multiple overnight raids across the West Bank, said Palestine Prisoner’s Society (PPS). Israeli forces raided Meithalun town, south of the northern West Bank city of Jenin, detaining two former prisoners. They also detained a Palestinian after ransacking his family home in Jalqamus village, southeast of Jenin.
IOF Storm Gilboa Prison, Assault Prisoners The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) said on Thursday that a large number of Occupation Forces’ special repression units belonging “Al-Yamam”, had stormed section 3 of the Gilboa prison. In a statement, the organization explained that the incursion led to chaos and tension inside the prison, with attacks on a number of prisoners and tampering with their personal belongings.
Israeli Bulldozers Raze Lands in Southern Gaza Israeli military vehicles entered dozens of meters into the southern besieged Gaza Strip border, on Tuesday. Locals told Ma'an that four Israeli bulldozers entered into eastern Rafah City, coming from an Israeli military post along the Israeli-imposed security fence. The bulldozers and razed and leveled lands in various areas alongside the eastern borders as drones flew overhead. Israeli military incursions inside the besieged Gaza Strip and near the "buffer zone," which lays on both land and sea sides of Gaza, have long been a near-daily occurrence.
Domestic Policy
Palestinian Withdraws From Jerusalem Mayoral Race After Israel Moves to Review his Residency Status After his daring campaign to become the first Palestinian mayoral candidate in Israel’s municipal elections in Jerusalem on October 30, Aziz Abu Sarah, thirty-eight, announced on Tuesday that he has been forced to withdraw due to pressures put on his campaign from Israel and Palestinian factions. Abu Sarah has repeatedly stated that he views both Israeli and Palestinian administrations as having an interest in upholding the status quo, and argues that Palestinians living in Jerusalem should break the boycotting of elections.
Palestine Says US Can't Mediate Israeli-Palestinian Peace Process Al Jazeera’s Mike Hanna reports from the UN headquarters in New York. Pointing out the one hundred twenty-two “in favor” to nine “against” vote to condemn the moving of the US embassy to Jerusalem as an example, Hanna reported on Abbas’s speech at the UN General Assembly.
Palestine, First Arab Country to Join International Cities Association The Association of Palestinian Local Authorities (APLA) signed a partnership and cooperation agreement with the International City Management Association (ICMA) to be the first Arab group to join the organization. Abdullah Anati, of APLA and Mark Otte, of ICMA, signed the agreement on the sidelines of the annual ICMA conference held in Baltimore, in the US.
UNRWA Temporarily Withdraws Part of Its International Staff From Gaza Strip UNRWA today decided to temporarily withdraw part of its staff from Gaza following a series of worrying security incidents affecting its personnel in the Strip. According to a press statement from UNRWA, the Director of Operations and other international staff will remain, and UNRWA operations will continue in Gaza.
Palestinians Hold General Strike Against Israel’s Nationality Law Palestinians on Monday held a general strike in areas all over the West Bank and the occupied 1948 lands, to protest against the racist Jewish national law adopted by the Israeli Knesset with the support of Israel’s extreme right. The Palestinian factions in the West Bank and Jerusalem expressed their support for the strike and announced it in the West Bank and Jerusalem to emphasize the unity of the Palestinian people, the strike affected all life facilities, including schools and universities, transportation, and commercial shops.
Israeli Newspaper Reveals Secret Meetings Held Between Netanyahu and Arab Leaders Israeli newspaper Maariv revealed secret meetings held between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Arab leaders and officials in New York, on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly. Israeli writer Yossi Melman said that Netanyahu not only met Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi, but instead met other Arab leaders who praised his “leadership skills”.
Hamas Delegation Heads to Egypt For talks A statement by the media office of the Rafah border crossing reported the departure of the Hamas delegation, without giving further details. The delegation includes Khalil al-Hayya, Hamas deputy leader in Gaza, and other leading members, a Palestinian source close to Hamas said. In mid-August, Palestinian factions met with Egyptian officials in Cairo to discuss proposals for Hamas-Fatah reconciliation, a ceasefire with Israel, and the implementation of humanitarian projects in Gaza.
Foreign Affairs
Spain ‘Issues Arrest Warrant’ For Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu Over 2010 Gaza Flotilla Attack Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and seven other former and current government officials are at risk of arrest if they set foot in Spain, after a Spanish judge effectively issued an arrest warrant for the group. Spanish national court judge Jose de la Mata ordered the police and civil guard to notify him if Netanyahu and the six other individuals enter the country, as their actions could see a case against them regarding the Freedom Flotilla attack of 2010 reopened.
Real Madrid Football Club Honors Palestine Activist Ahed Tamimi Palestinian activist Ahed Tamimi, whose arrest last year drew international condemnation, has been honored by Spanish football club Real Madrid after she was released from Israeli prison. Tamimi and her father Basim Tamimi were hosted at the side's Santiago Bernabeu stadium in the Spanish capital on Saturday, where she was greeted by former striker Emilio Butragueno and presented with a personalized football jersey. The meeting prompted furious responses from both Israel’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Emmanuel Nahson and Israel’s ambassador to Spain, Daniel Kutner.
Ministerial Meeting on UNRWA Raises $122 Million The Foreign Ministers of Jordan, Sweden, Turkey, Japan and Germany, as well as the High Representative and Vice President of the European Union, hosted a Ministerial Meeting in New York late Thursday to mobilizing financial and political support for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA). The meeting raised a remarkable one hundred twenty-two million dollars, with Kuwait, the European Union, Germany, Norway, France, Belgium, and Ireland committing more funds.
Joint List MK Asks Bernie Sanders to Fight Jewish Nation State Law Palestinian MK Jamal Zahalka and general director of legal rights center Adalah, Hassan Jabareen, “met over the past week with several US congressmen and Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders to draft their support” against the law, a Joint List spokesperson said yesterday.
Settlers and Illegal Settlements
Report: Wide Cooperation Between Israeli Judicial System and Banks in Favor of Settlements The National Bureau for Defending the Land and Resisting Settlement issued a report on the role of Israeli banks in financing settlements, which pointed out that the seven largest banks in Israel support the settlements and participate in the financing, making huge profits. The report added that the banks in Israel provide services that help to support and maintain illegal settlements through the financing of construction in the occupied West Bank.
Israeli Settlers Flood Khan al-Ahmar With Wastewater As Israel threatened to raid and demolish the Bedouin village of Khan al-Ahmar at any moment since the evacuation period ended, Israeli settlers stormed the village and flooded the area with wastewater, on Tuesday afternoon. Locals said that Israeli settlers from the nearby illegal Israeli settlement of Kfar Adummim stormed the village, and were confronted by international and local activists along with residents of Khan al-Ahmar.
Israeli Settlers Raze Palestinian-owned Lands in Nablus Israeli settlers entered, with bulldozers, into the Khirbat Lafjan area east of Aqraba village in southern Nablus in the northern occupied West Bank, on Tuesday. Ghassan Daghlas, an official who monitors settlement activity in the northern West Bank, said that Israeli settlers from the illegal Israeli settlement of Itamar entered with bulldozers and began to raze and levels lands.
Boycott, Divest, and Sanctions Movement
US Court Suspends Arizona anti-BDS Law A US federal court in Arizona on Thursday suspended a state-sponsored law requiring contractors wishing to work with the state not to participate in the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement against Israel. The decision saw a win for the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) which filed a complaint against the State of Arizona in December on behalf of lawyer Mikkel Jordahl.
Activists to Cycle from Boston to NYC to Raise Money for Gaza The Cycling4Gaza (C4G) ride, which will take place from 3-7 October, will depart from Boston on the USA’s east coast and ride the four hundred kilometers south to New York City. The ride aims to raise two hundred thousand dollars which will be donated to Medical Aid for Palestine (MAP) to support the almost two million Palestinians living in the besieged Gaza Strip.
New Israel report exposes role of NGO Monitor in Defaming Rights Activists The “Shrinking Space” report – “NGO Monitor: Defaming human rights organizations that criticize the Israeli occupation” – is the work of a collective of Israeli ex-diplomats, academics, and others, known as the Policy Working Group (PWG), that supports a two-state solution. The new, in-depth report “concludes and argues that NGO Monitor is a government-affiliated organization that selectively targets human rights organizations, relies almost entirely on funding from donors in the US, shirks the transparency it demands of others and disseminates misleading and tendentious information, which it presents as factual in-depth research.” The report also documents connections between the “NGO” and the Israeli government, especially with the Office of the Prime Minister.
Law
Israel Delays Demolition of Khan-al-Ahmar as Thousands of Palestinians Strike Thousands of Palestinians reached Khan al-Ahmar Monday to save the Bedouin village which houses a mere population of one hundred eighty people of the Jahalin tribe, from being demolished by Israeli authorities. Palestinian officials and activists say the mobilization is to stop Israeli forces from demolishing the village after the Monday deadline passes. Palestinians will be joined by foreign diplomats, mostly from European Union member states who have been called to witness the event at the village.
Adalah: 15 Years Since the Or Commission Results, Israel Still Using Snipers to Disperse Crowds Eighteen years since the October 2000 Israeli police murder of thirteen unarmed Palestinian protesters in Israel and the findings of the Or Commission of Inquiry in 2003 into the murders which concluded that: "It should be unequivocally clear that live fire, including by snipers, is not a means for the police to disperse crowds," the Israeli military continues killing unarmed Palestinian civilian protesters with snipers and live fire in the Gaza Strip, with the approval of Israel’s Supreme Court, a human rights group said on Sunday.
Palestinian-French Lawyer Salah Hamouri Freed by Israel Salah Hamouri, a Palestinian-French human rights defender and lawyer, has been freed from an Israeli prison after more than a year of detention without charge or trial. On Saturday evening there were reports that Hamouri had been freed and immediately re-arrested, but on Sunday prisoners’ rights group Addameer, where Hamouri works, confirmed his release.
Environment, Economy, and Other
70% of Jerusalemites’ Shops Were Closed Due to Accumulated Israeli Taxes Director of the Jerusalem Center for Economic and Social Rights, Ziad Hamouri, said that the occupation authorities continue to impose taxes and accumulating debt on Jerusalemite shop owners, with the goal of displacing them. He added that it has already damaged seventy percent of shops and real estate in Jerusalem.
Palestine Circus Festival’s 'United for Freedom' Opens in Ramallah The second edition of the Palestine Circus Festival, entitled "United for Freedom," opened over the weekend in Ramallah, with the participation of about two hundred local and international artists. Palestinian officials, an EU representative, representatives of international and local cultural and artistic organizations, municipalities and public and private institutions, as well as a large crowd, watched the opening ceremony that the Carnival and XY company show, held at Istiklal Park.
Palestinian and Najaf Beduin Tribes Festival in Gaza Taking place within the Great March of Return demonstrations near Gaza City, the festival included folk dances of different groups and continued past sunset. This update from Middle East Monitor is based on uploads to the Getty Images database from Anadolu Agency and photographer Mustafa Hassona.