[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
Minors Among 11 Palestinians Detained By Israeli Forces Israeli forces detained at least eleven Palestinians, including a number of minors, across the occupied West Bank, on predawn Tuesday. According to prisoners’ rights group Addameer, there are 5,440 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons.
Israel Imposes Severe Restrictions on Hebron's Old City Israeli soldiers sealed off military checkpoints set up in Hebron’s Old City near the Ibrahimi Mosque, al-Shahada Street entrance, and Tel Rumeida, preventing Palestinians from crossing the checkpoints leading to their homes. The imposed restrictions come after Israeli forces shot and killed a Palestinian for allegedly attempting to carry out a stabbing attack against Israeli soldiers.
Gaza Youth Dies of Wounds Sustained by Israeli Fire A Palestinian youth was announced dead today due to wounds he sustained during protests on the Gaza border. Musa Mohammed Mousa, twenty-three, from Deir al-Balah town, has passed on Monday evening from wounds he sustained on the first of this month east of al-Bureij in the central Gaza Strip. According to local sources quoting a medical source in Gaza, the young man died of his serious injuries after the Israeli occupation forces shot and wounded him in the back during his participation in marches east of al-Bureij in the central Gaza Strip.
Israeli Police Prevent Call for prayer from Al-Aqsa Mosque and Prayer Outside Its Closed Gates Israeli police prevented call for prayer from al-Aqsa Mosque, Islam’s third holiest site, and attacked Palestinians who gathered outside Bab al-Asbat, one of main gates of al-Aqsa Mosque compound in the Old City of Jerusalem, to perform the evening prayer after police had closed all gates to the mosque and prevented worship inside the Muslim holy compound, said witnesses.
Palestinian Dies From Israeli Army Gunfire in West Bank City A Palestinian who was brought today to hospital in the northern West Bank city of Salfit with critical gun wounds to the heart from a bullet fired by Israeli soldiers has died of his wounds, said the Ministry of Health. Soldiers had raided the city earlier today to seize street camera recordings and clashes broke out with the local residents, said reports. The army opened fire at stone-throwing youths, fatally injuring Mohammad Jamil Shaheen, twenty-three, from Salfit who was shot by a live bullet in the heart.
Palestinian Protester Shot in the Head Near Gaza Border: Ministry Israeli forces have shot and killed a Palestinian man and wounded more than forty as thousands protested near the Gaza Strip's perimeter fence, the enclave's health ministry has said. Tamer Arafat, twenty-three, died from his wounds on Friday during the fiftieth week of demonstrations, said Ashraf al-Qidra, the spokesman for the ministry.
Domestic Policy
Israel’s Premier Says He Allows Money into Gaza to Keep Palestinians Divided Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was reported as saying today that he allows money into Gaza in order to keep the Palestinians divided. The Israeli English-language daily, the Jerusalem Post, quoted a source at a Likud faction meeting saying Netanyahu defended his policy to allow millions of dollars of Qatari funds into Gaza, as part of “a broader strategy to keep Hamas and the Palestinian Authority separate.”
PA to pay 50% of Monthly Payroll to Palestinian Civil Servants The Palestinian minister of finance, Shukri Bishara, said that the Palestinian government will be paying only fifty percent of the monthly payroll of the Palestinian civil servants for the month of February 2019, as a result of Israel’s decision to withhold tax revenues it collects on behalf of the Palestinian Authority.
Hamas: We Are Ready to Hold a Comprehensive Election The Central Elections Commission met today with the head of Hamas political bureau, Mr. Ismael Haniyeh and Hamas leadership in Gaza. During the meeting the CEC discussed the issue of elections and listened to the position of Hamas on this regard. The CEC will also hold meetings later this evening with representatives of factions and Civil Society Organizations on this regard.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas Names Ally As New PM Mahmoud Abbas, the president of the Palestinian Authority, has appointed long-time ally Mohammad Shtayyeh as prime minister, according to officials. Presidential spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeineh said Abbas received Shtayyeh, a member of the central committee of the president's Fatah party, at his office on Sunday and asked him to form a new government, according to Palestinian news agency Wafa.
Israel Election Committee bans Arab-Israeli coalition Israel's Central Elections Committee has disqualified an alliance of Palestinian-Israeli parties from running in next month's election. It follows a petition filed by the prime minister's Likud party and two others, accusing the-now banned parties of supporting violent Palestinian resistance and Hizballah.
Benjamin Netanyahu: Israel is a State 'only of the Jewish people' Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said Israel is "not a state of all its citizens," in a reference to the country's Palestinian Arab population, adding that all citizens, including Arabs, had equal rights. He was responding to criticism from Israeli actor Rotem Sela, who as criticized Netanyahu and the Nation-State Law: "Arabs are also human beings. And also, the Druze, and the gays, and the lesbians and... gasp... leftists."
Hamas Waiting For Israel to Reply to Egypt on Truce The Egyptian security delegation will visit Gaza soon with Israel’s response to Hamas’ demands regarding a truce, a member of the Palestinian group said yesterday. In a press release, Suhail al-Hindi added that Hamas would consider the Israeli reply to its conditions to reach a ceasefire agreement. Hamas, according to al-Hindi, assured the Egyptian delegation that it would hold firm to several humanitarian demands, above all lifting the Israeli siege on Gaza, expanding the fishing zone, solving the electricity crisis, employees’ issues, and alleviating poverty in the impoverished territory.
Foreign Policy
Indonesia to Contribute $1 Million For Palestinian Refugees Indonesia announced on Wednesday a one-million-dollar contribution for Palestinian refugees, which amounts to a five-fold increase of the country’s UNRWA funding, according to a press release by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East. Marsudi said, “Palestine is at the heart of Indonesia’s foreign policy, and in the heart of Indonesian people. I know that UNRWA is facing another difficult year, so I wanted to come to you to show Indonesia’s support, hoping that this will attract increased support by other countries.”
South Africa to Go Ahead with Israel Embassy Downgrade: President Ramaphosa Speaking to the parliament in Cape Town, Ramaphosa said South African International Relations and Cooperation Minister Lindiwe Sisulu was working on implementing a decision by the ruling African National Congress party to lower diplomatic ties with Israel. At the end of a conference in December 2017, the ANC decided to downgrade its diplomatic mission in Tel Aviv to a liaison office in an expression of “practical support” for the oppressed Palestinian people, warning Israel that it should pay the price for its “human rights abuses and violations of international law.”
Despite Difficulties, Afghanistan Contributes $1 Million to UNRWA Afghanistan, a country that has suffered wars and hardship, has become the latest supporter of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees with a one-million-dollar contribution, according to an UNRWA press release.
Settlers and Illegal Settlements
Israeli Court Acquits Israeli Settlers Suspected of Jerusalem Church Arson The prosecution of the Central District Court withdrew indictments against two Israeli settlers, on Monday, for allegedly torching Jerusalem's Dormition Abbey in February 2016, on the basis of “insufficient evidence.” According to Haaretz news outlet, one of the suspects, Yinon Reuveni, twenty-three, was convicted of arson of the Church of the Multiplication of the Loaves and Fishes at Tabgha, on the shores of the Sea of Galilee, in June 2015.
Ashrawi Calls For Release of UN Report on Firms Linked to Israeli Settlements Hanan Ashrawi, Palestinian Liberation Organization Executive Committee member, called for the immediate publication of the database, which links firms to illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, that the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights recently delayed from issuing, on Wednesday.
Israeli Settlers Uproot Olive Trees in North of West Bank; Another Assaults Activist in the South
Israeli settlers uprooted dozens of olive trees in the village of Burin in the north of the occupied West Bank and another settler assaulted a Palestinian activist in the south of the West Bank, according to local sources. Meanwhile, an extremist Jewish settler assaulted an activist in Shuhada Street, in the Israeli occupied section of the Palestinian city of Hebron, while soldiers were watching, said the activist.
AIPAC Annual Conference to Feature Israeli Settler Leader Discussing the Future of the West Bank For the first time in AIPAC’s history, the lobby group has invited a senior leader of the Yesha Council, an umbrella organization of municipal councils of Israeli settlements in the West Bank, to speak at its annual convention in Washington, D.C. this month. According to the Israel Hayom newspaper, AIPAC invited Oded Ravevi, Mayor of the illegal Efrat settlement and the Yesha Council’s foreign envoy, to take part in a panel discussion on “the future of Judea and Samaria.”
Boycott, Divest, and Sanction Movement
Rosa Luxemburg Conference in Vienna Bars BDS Activists On March 2nd, the second Rosa Luxemburg Conference was held in Vienna. A famous quote from the Polish-German philosopher—“If you do not move, you will not feel your chains!”—was the theme of the event. BDS Austria registered on time as a participant and co-sponsor of the conference. But without plausible explanation, the registration for an information table was refused and the fee refunded.
Law
Israel Journalist Facing Trial For Calling Soldiers Who Beat Palestinians ‘animals’ Oshrat Kotler, a journalist with Israel’s Channel 13, is to face trial on charges of incitement, incrimination of suspects, failure to grant a right of reply and more after she called several soldiers accused of beating two Palestinians in custody “human animals”, the Jerusalem Post reported. She now faces trial and will appear at a court hearing, though it is unclear when she will be summoned.
Popular Court in Gaza Indicts PA President For Crimes Against Palestinians Popular court in Gaza indicted on Sunday Palestinian Authority, Fatah and Palestine Liberation Organization’s President Mahmoud Abbas for “crimes he committed against the Palestinians,” Safa news agency reported. The virtual trial was organized by the Popular Movement for National Salvation in partnership with graduates, tribal leaders, and families of prisoners, martyrs and the wounded who had their salaries cut by Abbas.
At Netanyahu’s Request, Israel Attorney General Agrees to Release Corruption Evidence After Election According to a statement by Israel’s Ministry of Justice yesterday, Mandelblit has “decided to accept the request of the prime minister’s attorneys to delay the delivery of investigation materials in the cases related to the prime minister until after the election date [on 9 April],” Haaretz reported. Netanyahu will face a court hearing no later than 10 July, during which he could be charged with several counts of bribery, fraud, and breach of trust.
Environment, Economy, and Other
OFID’s & UNRWA Provide US$ 141.3 mln in Loans to Palestinian Micro-enterprise Sector As of December 2018, and through OFID, the UNRWA Microfinance Department (MD) has cumulatively financed a total of 101,484 loans valued at 141.3 million dollars. This includes 74,218 loans disbursed in the West Bank and 27,266 loans in the Gaza Strip. The grant agreement reinforces OFID’s long-standing commitment to and support of UNRWA, enabling the latter’s Microfinance Department to attain long-term sustainability, and to grow its services in Gaza and the West Bank.
On International Women’s Day, Huge Gap in Labor Participation Rate in Palestine Marking International Women's Day, data by the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics said today that the gap in the participation rate in the labor force and average daily wage between women and men in Palestine remain high.
Palestinians Will Suffer the Impacts of Climate Change More Severely Than Israelis Due to the Occupation The single greatest non-environmental risk facing Palestinians in the West Bank remains the ongoing Israeli occupation, an occupation so pervasive that the United Nations Development Program considers it an environmental threat in its own right. Now in its fifty-second year, the occupation prevents Palestinians from accessing and managing their land and resources, particularly water.