[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 Kill 2 Palestinian Minors, Injure 17 Others in Gaza Israeli forces killed two Palestinian minors and injured seventeen others on Friday during “The Great March of Return” protests along the eastern Gaza border. The Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza confirmed that Hassan Iyad Shalbi, thirteen, and Hamza Muhammad Rashdi Ishteiwi, seventeen, were shot and killed by Israeli forces, while seventeen others suffered various injuries.
Israel Orders Demolition of Five Buildings in Issawiya Staff members of the Israeli municipality of Jerusalem delivered demolition notices to Palestinian-owned buildings in the Issawiya neighborhood, in occupied East Jerusalem, on Wednesday. Israel uses the pretext of building without a permit to carry out demolitions of Palestinian-owned homes on a regular basis.
Israel Orders 300 Palestinians to Evacuate Homes in Tubas Israeli Forces ordered, on Tuesday, for fifty Palestinian families in the northern Jordan Valley to evacuate their homes on Wednesday to make way for active Israeli military training. Mutaz Bisharat, a Palestinian official who monitors settlement activity in the Jordan Valley/Tubas district, said that about three hundred Palestinians will be homeless in the cold weather as a result of the order.
Domestic Policy
Palestinians Reject Invitation to Attend US Mideast Meeting in Poland Palestinian officials have been invited to a US conference on the Middle East hosted by Poland next week, a senior US official said on Friday, but top Palestinian officials said they would not attend, Reuters reports. The senior administration official told reporters White House senior adviser Jared Kushner would discuss plans for peace between the Palestinians and Israelis at the event.
Hamas: Warsaw Conference Participants Are ‘traitors’ Hamas has labeled anyone participating in the US-led Warsaw conference “traitors,” accusing them of stabbing the Palestinian cause in the back. “Everything which comes to us from the United States aims to liquidate the Palestinian cause, stirs clashes in the region and serves the Zionist and American agendas,” said senior Hamas leader Yahya Musa.
Hamas, Islamic Jihad Refuse to Sign Final Statement After Russia Meeting Hamas and Islamic Jihad on Tuesday refused to sign the final statement of the Moscow meetings. An Islamic Jihad representative explained the decision by saying, “we refused to sign the paper because it reiterates that the [Palestine Liberation Organization] PLO is the legal and sole representative of the Palestinians, without noting its reformation.”
After Israel Boots International Observers, Palestinians Create Local Monitors in Hebron Palestinian activists in the southern occupied West Bank city of Hebron have established their own local observer group in the wake of Israel’s expulsion of the Temporary International Presence in Hebron from the city. On Sunday, the group’s first day of work in the city, a group of Israeli settlers escorted by armed Israeli forces harassed and assaulted the group’s staff members as they escorted a group of Palestinian children to school.
Netanyahu Vows to Freeze Palestinian Authority Funds Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday promised to freeze money transfers to the Palestinian Authority. The announcement came in response to the killing of an Israeli woman by a Palestinian and comes as several right-wing rivals of the premier called for the move.
Foreign Policy
Netherlands Recognize Gaza, West Bank As Official Palestinian Birthplaces Palestinians living in the Netherlands will be allowed to register the Gaza Strip and the West Bank as their official place of birth, Dutch State Secretary Raymond Knops told the House of Representatives in The Hague. The new category will be available to Palestinians born after 15 May 1948, the Nakba Day, the day the British Mandate was officially terminated, and Israel became a recognized state.
President Abbas Calls on African Union to Support an International Peace Conference President Mahmoud Abbas called on the African Union and its member states to support the idea of an international peace conference and to participate in it and to send observers to the general elections that will be held soon in Palestine. He emphasized that the struggle against colonialism, racism and injustice and the affirmation of the right of peoples to self-determination are common issues between Palestine and the peoples of the African continent, stressing his rejection of any American intervention in the affairs of any country, as it’s happening now in Venezuela.
Saudi King Reaffirms Support for Palestinian State Saudi King Salman has said his kingdom is “permanently” committed to an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital before a US-led conference on Middle East peace and security. The pledge comes as the United States is expected to offer hints of its proposals for peace between Israel and the Palestinians at a conference in Poland's capital, Warsaw.
Venezuela’s Guaido Says He Is Working To Restore Ties With Israel Venezuela’s self-declared leader Juan Guaido said he was working to restore ties with Israel that Caracas cut off a decade ago in solidarity with the Palestinians. Israel is among US-aligned powers that rallied to Guaido after he declared himself Venezuela’s leader last month in a power struggle with socialist President Nicolas Maduro, under whom the country has had economic troubles.
Fox News: Trump’s “Deal of the Century” is Ready The Trump administration has completed its “Deal of the Century,” or what it called the Middle East Peace Plan, a framework for a final status agreement between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, Fox News reported Sunday, citing two senior administration officials.
Ilhan Omar's 'Benjamins' Tweet Storm: 'Criticizing AIPAC is not anti-Semitic' When Somali-American Representative Ilhan Omar wrote in a tweet on Sunday night that members of the US government were being influenced by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, or AIPAC, to support the state of Israel, a volley of criticism and outrage followed. Pro-Israel advocates and politicians from both the Republican and Democratic parties accused Omar of anti-Semitism, arguing that her comments alluded to an age-old caricature of "Jewish money" and "Jewish control" of governments.
Settlers and Illegal Settlements
Israeli Ministers Sign Petition to Settle 2 Million Jews in West Bank Dozens of Israeli ministers and senior officials from the Likud party and other right-wing parties, including Gilad Erdan, Ayelet Shaked, and Naftali Bennett, have signed a petition to settle two million Jews across the occupied West Bank.
Israeli Settlers Attack, Wound Palestinian Shepherd According to human rights activist Aref Daraghmeh, settlers from Rotem settlement, which is located on the Palestinians’ land in al-Farisiyya town, chased down the Palestinian shepherd and assaulted him, leaving his with bruises all over his body. Medical sources said the young man’s condition was stable and he was taken to Tubas hospital.
Boycott, Divest, and Sanction Movement
Israeli Firms Face UN Blacklist For Settlement Business A number of Israeli and international companies are facing the risk of being included on a United Nations blacklist for doing business in Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank. The companies that may be included are Bezeq telecommunications, Teva Pharmaceuticals, and Coca Cola.
US Congresswomen Openly Endorse BDS The first two Middle East Congresswomen, Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib, have openly endorsed the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement. Michigan congresswoman Tlaib said on Saturday that she wanted to highlight “issues such as racism and Israel’s violations of the Palestinians’ human rights.”
UK Band Boycotts Eurovision to Be Held in Israel An up-and-coming British band has refused to enter the Eurovision Song Contest due to it being hosted in Israel this year. Confirming their decision on Twitter, the three-girl band The Tuts, prompted a backlash from supporters of Israel. But the band was also praised for being aware of the human rights abuses committed by Israel and conscious of the impact their participation would have on normalizing the occupation.
France Energy Giant Attacked by Israel Over ‘boycott’ French energy giant Total has come under sharp rebuke from Israel over the company’s investment stance. Total–one of the seven “Supermajor” global oil companies–backed away from investment in Israel for “complex” reasons. Total’s decision was denounced as an attempt to “boycott” Israel and prompted outrage.
Maryland Software Engineer Sues Gov. Larry Hogan Over anti-BDS Law A Maryland software engineer and former state delegate Syed “Saqib” Ali, is suing his state’s governor for signing an executive order into law which targets and penalizes supporters of the boycott, divestment, and sanctions movement. Due to an executive order known as “Prohibiting Discriminatory Boycotts of Israel in State Procurement,” the state requires people to denounce BDS in order to get state contracts.
Law
Palestinian Prisoner Dies in Israeli Custody After Medical Negligence According to the Palestinian Prisoners and Former Prisoners’ Affairs Committee, Fares Baroud, fifty-one, from al-Shati refugee camp, died shortly after he was transferred from the Israeli Rimon prison, in southern Israel, to an Israeli hospital for intensive care following deterioration in his health.
Rights Groups Take Israeli Denial of Compensation to Gazans Harmed By Army to Supreme Court Israeli military forces shot and permanently paralyzed Palestinian high school student Attiya Nabaheen on his fifteenth birthday in the front yard of his family home in the Gaza Strip on 16 November 2014. Nabaheen was returning from school. He was not armed and was not involved in any violence. An initial case filed by Adalah–The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel and al-Mezan Center for Human rights was thrown out by Israel’s Beersheba District Court, ruling that Israel is not liable for damages because Palestinians in Gaza are not entitled to seek compensation from Israel as they live in an “enemy entity.”
Environment, Economy, and Other
Islamic-Christian Committee Denounces Destruction of Ancient Cemetery in Jerusalem The Islamic-Christian Committee to Defend Jerusalem and the Holy Sites denounced Israel’s decision to raze the remaining part of an ancient Palestinian Islamic cemetery in Jerusalem.
Two Palestinians Suffocate to Death in Egypt Border Tunnel Two Palestinians were killed overnight in a tunnel between the Gaza Strip and Egypt, the Hamas-run interior ministry said Monday. Witnesses said Egypt pumped gas into the tunnel. The two killed Palestinians were on a mission to rescue three workers who had called for help after the toxic gas was pumped into the tunnel, according to spokesman Iyad al-Bozum.
Palestinian Battling Cancer is Denied Exit From Gaza for Treatment Ahlam Abu Musa was diagnosed with bone cancer last May. The twenty-year-old from Shaboura refugee camp in Rafah, south of the Gaza Strip, has since tried to obtain an exit permit to receive treatment at al-Makassed Hospital in East Jerusalem, but the Israeli army has denied her multiple requests. According to Dr. Jamal Abu Hilal, the orthopedist treating Ahlam, the cancer is spreading rapidly, and it needs to be monitored carefully.