[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.]
Occupation Forces
Israel Arrests Siblings of Alleged Settlement Shooter Israel is implementing collective punishment against the family of a Palestinian suspected of opening fire in a settlement industrial plant on Sunday, killing two Israelis and seriously injuring a third. Occupation forces raided the home of the suspected assailant, Ashraf Walid Naawla, twenty-three, who remains at large, in the Shweika village of the northern West Bank early Monday.
Israeli Forces Injure 2 Palestinians in Naval March A Ma'an reporter said that Palestinian youths, who participated in the naval march, set fire to tires to blur the vision of Israeli snipers, while Israeli forces opened fire and fired tear-gas bombs towards the youths. Two Palestinians were injured; however, their medical condition remained unknown.
Israeli Airstrike Over Medical Point in Southern Gaza Israeli warplanes carried out an airstrike targeting a medical point in the southern besieged Gaza Strip, on Thursday evening. Spokesperson of the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza, Ashraf al-Qidra, said that Israeli forces targeted a medical point in southern Gaza by firing a missile towards it. Al-Qidra confirmed that no injuries occurred, only material damage.
Israel Confiscates 2,036 Acres of Palestinian Land in West Bank Israeli occupation authorities yesterday, issued a confiscation order against 8,242 dunums (2,036 acres) of al-Zawiya village’s lands in the Salfit district of the West Bank for alleged military purposes, Alghad TV reported. The land is located in the west part of the village where illegal Israeli settlements are built on Palestinian land, including outposts that are not unauthorized by the Israeli authorities.
Israeli Forces Demolish Structures, Seize Solar Panels in Southern Hebron Hills Israeli forces Tuesday demolished two residential structures and seized solar panels from Khirbet al-Halawa hamlet in Masafer Yatta, south of Hebron, said a local activist.
Ratib Jabour, who monitors settlement construction in southern Hebron, said that Israeli forces, escorting bulldozers, raided al-Halawa hamlet, where they demolished two residential structures and seized EU-funded solar panels.
Domestic Policy
Jerusalem to Remove UNRWA to 'end lie of Palestine refugees' Nir Barkat on Thursday said schools, clinics, and sports centres, among other services operated by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) in East Jerusalem, will be transferred to Israeli authorities. The municipality did not provide an exact timeline, but it said schools serving 1800 students would be closed by the end of the current school year.
Netanyahu Bans Publication of Archive Materials on Deir Yassin Massacre Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to sign an order extending the secrecy of the information stored in the security services’ archives from seventy to ninety years, including the Deir Yassin massacre carried out by Zionist gangs in the Nakba.
Netanyahu Says Army Prepping For Possible Military Campaign Against Gaza Benjamin Netanyahu has reportedly informed his cabinet that the army is preparing for a possible military campaign against the blockaded Gaza Strip in case the situation was not improved, according to Israeli media. “If the reality of civil distress in Gaza is diminished, that is desirable, but that is not certain to happen, and so we are preparing militarily—that is not an empty statement,” Netanyahu said.
Israel Justice Minister Supports Total Annexation of Area C Israel’s Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked supports the total annexation of “Area C” of the occupied West Bank, she said in an interview published yesterday. Speaking to the Atlantic, Shaked said that she supports the total annexation of “Area C”–which amounts to some sixty percent of the occupied West Bank–and that in doing so Israel would absorb o Palestinians as citizens.
Netanyahu: ‘Infiltrators’ Don’t Have Same Right to Enter As Jews Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu renewed his attacks on non-Jewish “infiltrators” yesterday evening, speaking at a Likud conference in Tel Aviv. According to Arutz Sheva, Netanyahu linked the new Jewish nation-state law to the issue of non-Jewish African migrants (“infiltrators”) and efforts made by his government to prevent their entry.
Israel’s Bennett Wants ‘shoot to kill’ Policy in Gaza Israel’s Education Minister Naftali Bennett said yesterday that he would impose a “shoot to kill” policy in Gaza, including against Palestinian children. Bennett made the comment that Israel should “shoot to kill” to Israel’s Army Radio. When he was asked if he would also instruct the Israeli army to adopt a shoot to kill policy against Palestinian children, to which he replied: “They are not children—they are terrorists. We are fooling ourselves,” the Times of Israel reported.
PLO Official: Disengagement From Israel Will Come in Strides Disengagement from Israel will come in strides until there is a total separation in the relationship with the Occupying Power, member of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) Ahmad Majdalani said on Monday. He said the executive committee was tasked with drawing out a plan to gradually redefine the relationship with Israel until there is full disengagement in light of Israel’s failure to implement its part of the signed 1993 Oslo Accords.
Foreign Affairs
Israel MK Called ‘war-monger’ And ‘devil’ At EU Parliament Chairman of Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee at the Israeli Knesset Avi Dichter was at the EU Parliament, Israeli media said, to speak about the two Israeli Jewish settlers who were killed in the occupied West Bank last week. However, he encountered a “severe wave of criticism.” Portuguese MEP Ana Gomes said that she was “disgusted” by Dichter, who she views as a “war-monger” who supported the racist nation-state bill and is “not interested in peace.”
US Ambassador to UN Nikki Haley Resigns US President Donald Trump announced today that he has accepted the resignation of UN Ambassador Nikki Haley, who will be leaving at the end of the year. Voted the most popular US politician, Haley has long been a strong supporter of Israel and regularly slams the United Nations for its support for Palestinian rights. Withdrawing the United States from the UN Human Rights Council in June she accused the body of “chronic bias against Israel.”
A New Wave of Democrats Tests the Party’s Blanket Support for Israel A cluster of activist Democrats—most of them young, most of them cruising toward House seats this fall—has dared to breach what has been an almost inviolable orthodoxy in both political parties, strong support for Israel, raising the specter of a crack in the Democratic Party that some have argued Republicans could use to attract Jewish supporters.
Settlers and Illegal Settlements
Israeli Settlers Seize Historical Building in Jerusalem Israeli settlers took over a historical Palestinian building in the Aqbat Darwish neighborhood of Jerusalem's Old City, in the central occupied West Bank, early Thursday morning. Official Palestinian Authority owned Wafa News Agency reported that residents of the area were shocked by Israeli settler seizing the building in the early morning hours of Thursday.
Settlers Destroy 40 Olive Trees in Village Near Ramallah Israeli settlers on Sunday morning have cut and destroyed about forty olive trees in the town of Turmusaya, north of Ramallah, in the West Bank. According to local sources, farmers who went to their lands today found out that over forty olive trees in their own lands near the settlement outpost “Adi Aad” have been cut down and destroyed.
Settlers Attack School in North of West Bank Jewish settlers attacked on Wednesday a high school for boys in the northern West Bank village of Urif while soldiers present in the area did not intervene, according to Ghassan Daghlas, who monitors Israeli settlement activities in the north of the West Bank. He told WAFA that settlers from the illegal settlement of Yitzhar threw stones at the high school as students were attending to classes.
Boycott, Divest, and Sanctions Movement
Israeli Minister Says US Student Will Be Released If She Condemns BDS Israeli minister of Strategic Affairs, Gilad Erdan on Tuesday said he would reconsider his office’s stance on denying entry to an American student over alleged links to the boycott, divestment, and sanctions movement if she publicly condemned a boycott of Israel. Last week, Lara al-Qasem was barred from entering the country despite obtaining a student visa from the Israeli consulate in Miami, because Israeli authorities claim she supported and took part in campaigns boycotting Israel.
UEFA Bans Israel From Broadcasting Games to Illegal Settlements The Union of European Football Associations has banned Israel’s public broadcaster from airing its games to illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem. Israel’s Public Broadcasting Corporation, known as Kan, won the rights to broadcast preliminary World Cup and European Championship games after it bid 5.8 million dollars for the privilege last year. However, the UEFA contract states that Kan “may only broadcast the matches inside the so-called Green Line, and not in what UEFA defined as the Palestinian territories,” the Times of Israel reported.
Law
Two Palestinian Prisoners Continue Open Hunger Strike Hussam associations for Palestinian Prisoners and Ex-Prisoners on Tuesday said that two Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails are currently on hunger strike, demanding their release. Despite their deteriorating health, the association said that the two prisoners, Imran al-Khatib, sixty, from southern Gaza and Khader Adnan, forty, from Jenin continue their open ended hunger strike as a form of protest against Israeli detention.
Israel Looking into Releasing 300 Palestinian Prisoners Due to “over-crowded” Prisons Israel is expected to free three hundred Palestinian prisoner after the Knesset passes a bill in the upcoming fall session that is meant to ease overcrowded prisons conditions, Haaretz reported on Saturday. According to Haaretz, the three hundred prisoners are among about one thousand prisoners to be released on the day the law goes into force, 20 December.
Israel Land Authority Officials Arrested For Corruption Two senior officials in Israel’s Land Authority were arrested this morning for corruption and trading insider information. Israel Police said in a statement that the pair is suspected of bribery, fraud, breach of trust, and other offenses, according to the Times of Israel.
Israeli Prosecutor: Detention Until End of Trial For Facebook Incitement For Arabs Only
Israeli prosecutor revealed in court on Sunday that the state has only ever sought detention until the end of court proceedings for Arab suspects in online incitement offenses–but never for Jewish suspects, according to a press release by Adalah–The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel. A follow-up hearing was held yesterday in Haifa Magistrate's Court on the state's request for detention until the end of proceedings for Raja Eghbaria, member of the High Follow-Up Committee for Palestinian Arab citizens of Israel and leader of the Abnaa al-Balad political movement.
Environment, Economy, and Other
Qatari-funded Fuel Enters Gaza The first truckload of Qatari-funded fuel, of three shipments (truckloads), entered the besieged Gaza Strip on Tuesday afternoon via the Kerem Shalom border crossing. Three shipments of Qatari-funded fuel were allowed entry to the Gaza Strip by the Israeli authorities for Gaza's only power plant.
Gaza “laboratory” Boosts Profits of Israel’s War Industry After exploring the vast surveillance regime along the US-Mexico border and finding Israeli systems installed at every turn, the authors Todd Miller and Gabriel Schivone were drawn to investigate Israel as the largest homeland security industry in the world. Israel’s arms industry is twice the size of its US counterpart in exports per capita and employs a percentage of the national workforce double that of the United States or France, two of the top global arms exporters.
Palestine Knock-out Gritty Bangladesh in Gold Cup Bangladesh put up yet another brave display against a much stronger and more physical Palestine side but ultimately lost the semifinal of Bangabandhu Gold Cup 2018 by 2-0 on Wednesday. With the win amid the drizzling in a rain-soaked Bir Shrestha Ruhul Amin Stadium in Cox’s Bazar, Palestine reached the final to face Tajikistan on Friday in Dhaka.