[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
On Eve of Land Day: Israel Occupies More Than 85% of Palestinian Land The president of the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, Ola Awad, released figures on the eve of Land Day that show Israel occupies more than eighty-five percent of the total area of historic Palestine. Awad also highlighted the Israeli control of Area C, which prevents Palestinian access to about sixty percent of the West Bank.
7 Palestinian Journalists Among Injured in Gaza Protests The coordinator of the Journalist Support Committee in Palestine, Saleh al-Masri, confirmed that Israeli forces carried out a number of violations against journalists and reporters, who were covering Saturday’s events during The Great March of Return protests. Al-Masri said that seven Palestinian journalists were targeted and injured by Israeli forces.
Israeli Bulldozers Raze Lands, Navy Attacks Fishermen in Gaza Locals told Ma'an that five large D-9 Israeli military bulldozers entered dozens of meters into Palestinian lands, coming from the Israeli security border fence heading south. Meanwhile, Israeli naval forces opened heavy fire towards Palestinian fishing boats off Gaza’s coast, within the permitted fishing zone, forcing the fishermen to head back to shore.
Israeli Forces Kill Palestinian, 23, in West Bank Raid Mohammed Edwan, twenty-three, was shot dead by occupation soldiers near the Qalandiya refugee camp, north of occupied East Jerusalem, the Palestinian health ministry said on Tuesday. Edwan was reportedly shot from close range while in his vehicle, with Israeli soldiers shooting and injuring three others during the raid.
Israel Introduces New Crowd Dispersal Weapon Against Palestinians Israel’s occupation army has introduced a new crowd-dispersal weapon to be used against Palestinian protesters in the Gaza Strip, Israeli media reported on Sunday. According to Wallah, the weapon uses radio waves to make loud bomb-like sounds. Apparently non-lethal, the weapon was developed in Israel. Soldiers using it on the first anniversary of the Great March of Return protests said that “it was very effective.”
Million-person March Sets Off in Gaza on Land Day Two Palestinians, including a minor, were killed and at least two hundred seven were injured among thousands of Palestinians who marched to the eastern borders of the besieged Gaza Strip, on Saturday, in commemoration of Land Day and as "The Great March of Return" protests mark one year.
Domestic Policy
PLO Official Warns of Annexing area C in West Bank with US Green Light Member of the PLO’s Executive Committee Tayseer Khaled warned that Israel may be readying itself to annex Area C in the West Bank, aiming to liquidate Palestinian rights after US recognition of Israeli control over the illegally-occupied Syrian Golan Heights.
For the Second Month in a Row, Government to Pay Only 50% of Salaries of Public Employees For the second month in a row, the Palestinian government is going to pay tomorrow only fifty percent of the March salary of public employees, the Ministry of Finance announced today. Despite the Israeli withholding of funds from the Palestinian Authority, the government has said it will continue full payments to prisoners and families of those wounded or killed by Israeli occupation forces.
Israel's Far-right PM Candidate Seeks to Annex Gaza, West Bank The prime ministerial candidate for the far-right Zehut Party, Moshe Feiglin, has advocated the full annexation of the occupied West Bank and besieged Gaza Strip. Feiglin also asserted that all Palestinians should be deported to surrounding Arab states, openly advocating for ethnic cleansing.
Israel Expands Gaza Fishing Zone As Part of Ceasefire Agreement The Egyptian-brokered deal includes expanding the fishing limit along the Mediterranean coast from approximately eleven kilometers to twenty-eight kilometers for the first time in years, with the purpose of boosting Gaza's economy that is heavily reliant on fishing.
Fake Social Media Accounts Boost Netanyahu, Watchdog Says Noam Rotem and Yuval Adam, two researchers from the Big Bots Project, said in a report on Monday that they have uncovered hundreds of accounts promoting Netanyahu's Likud party and attacking his opponents. No direct connection has been found between the network and Netanyahu or the Likud, according to the report.
Hundreds of Israelis Protest Gaza Blockade Outside IDF Headquarters Hundreds of Israelis demonstrated in solidarity with Gaza protesters Saturday evening outside Israeli military headquarters in central Tel Aviv, marking Land Day and one year since the beginning of the Great March of Return protests. The protesters waved Palestinian flags and held signs in support of the Palestinian right of return while chanting against the eleven-year blockade of the strip.
Foreign Policy
Israel General: Israel Was Behind Coup Against Egypt’s Morsi Israel worked to overthrow Egypt’s first democratically elected President, Mohamed Morsi, and to orchestrate a coup against him in 2013, Israeli army Brigadier General, Aryeh Eldad, wrote in a local paper. According to Eldad’s column in the Maariv paper, it seems that Morsi was targeted for his membership in the Muslim Brotherhood as well as to protect the Camp David agreement.
President of Tunisia: A Just Settlement Can Only Be Achieved Through Two-state Solution With Jerusalem As Capital of Palestine President of Tunisia, Beji Caid Essebsi, stressed in his opening speech at the thirtieth Arab Summit in Tunis that a just settlement can only be achieved through a two-state solution. He called to intensify efforts and Arab coordination in order to put an end to all decisions and measures aimed at harming the Palestinian cause, in addition to addressing all that would prejudice the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people.
Leader of the Brazilian Opposition Declares Solidarity With Palestine Brazil’s opposition leader in the Senate, Rondolfo Rodríguez, has rejected the visit of his country’s president to Israel. He also pointed out that his visit to the Palestinian embassy is a message of solidarity of the Brazilian people with the Palestinian people. He said many members of the Senate and House of Representatives, including in the government coalition, are opposed to the Brazilian president's position on the Palestinian cause and close relations with Israel.
Palestine, Golan Heights Take Center Stage at Arab League Summit With the declaration of the Arab League’s commitment to Palestinian statehood and the rejection of the US recognition of Israel’s illegal occupation of the Syrian Golan Heights, the Arab League did not announce any further action on the issue. Mouin Rabbani, co-editor of Jadaliyya, told Al-Jazeera that solidarity with Palestine has been demoted to “secondary or even tertiary status” in the league.
After Gaza Slaughter, Buttigieg Praised Israeli Security Responses As ‘moving’ and Faulted Democrats for Easy Judgment South Bend Mayor and rising Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg traveled to Israel in May on a trip sponsored by the American Jewish Committee. His comments about the trip at a meeting with AJC after returning are now known. At the time Israel was killing Palestinian protesters at the Gaza fence– sixty on one day within days of Buttigieg’s visit, getting global attention — yet Buttigieg repeatedly praised Israel’s security arrangements as “moving” and “clear-eyed”, said the United States could learn something from them, and blamed Palestinians and Hamas for the “misery” in Gaza.
Demotion of NY Pol Who Slurred Palestinians is a Wakeup Call for Democrats Nationwide On 1 April, New York Council member Kalman Yeger, who represents an Orthodox Jewish section of Brooklyn, lost his seat after repeatedly asserting that Palestinians and Palestine do not exist. City Council Speaker Corey Johnson demoted Yeger, saying the Immigration Committee “is supposed to welcome and support immigrants in our city.”
Cory Booker Says There’s No ‘greater moral vandalism’ Than Abandoning Israel (and he’ll cut off his hand first) On 30 March, the Intercept published a secret recording of Senator and presidential hopeful Cory Booker meeting at the AIPAC policy conference in Washington. Repeatedly invoking the late Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Booker made comments ranging from conflating anti-Semitism with anti-Zionism and bragging about lobbying Black congress members not to boycott Netanyahu’s speech to saying he would cut off his right hand before abandoning Israel and how important the Israel anti-Boycott Act is.
Settlers and Illegal Settlements
Al-Marsad Rejects New Illegal Settlement Plan for the Occupied Syrian Golan On Monday, it was reported that the Israeli Ministry of Construction and Housing has developed a plan to transfer 250,000 illegal settlers into the occupied Golan by 2048. Al-Marsad–Arab Human Rights Centre in Golan Heights (“Al-Marsad”) denounced reports of a new Israeli government plan to transfer illegal settlers into the occupied Syrian Golan.
Jewish Settlers Chop Hundreds of Trees in Palestinian Land Near Ramallah Abdul Dayem Ajaj told WAFA that settlers chopped down 150 almond trees and four hundred grape vines he had planted in his land over five years ago. He said the settlers had also spray painted racist anti-Palestinian slogans on a water tank he had in his land.
Israel to Approve 4,500 New Settlement Units in West Bank The Israeli government is expected to approve construction of 4,500 new illegal settlement units in the occupied West Bank next week. According to a report yesterday by the Israeli Broadcasting Authority, the expected approvals may be postponed until after Israel’s general election–which is slated for 9 April – if an ongoing dispute between the finance and defense ministries is not first resolved.
Boycott, Divest, and Sanction Movement
UK Band Slovo Release Song Highlighting Israeli Apartheid And Calling For a Boycott of the Eurovision Song Contest The UK-based band Slovo have released a new song which calls for a boycott of the Eurovision Song Contest final which will be held in Tel Aviv on 18th May. Entitled “Not My Kinda Party,” the song refers to Israel as an apartheid regime, and lists aspects of the government’s policies including “illegal settlements” and “kids in prison.”
170 Sweden Artists Boycott Eurovision Song Contest Some 171 Swedish artists and celebrities have signed an open letter urging for the boycott of the Eurovision Song Contest which is scheduled to be held in Israel next month. In January, over sixty international NGOs called for a boycott of Eurovision, writing in an open letter published by a Portuguese newspaper that “as with the fight against apartheid in South Africa, it is only through effective and sustained international pressure that Israel will be compelled to fulfil its obligations under international law and respect the human rights of the Palestinians.”
Law
Israeli Suppression Forces Search Section 4 of Rimon Prison Israeli suppression forces raided section 4 of the Israeli Rimon prison, on predawn Tuesday, and searched Palestinian prisoners’ belongings. Israeli Prison Services also imposed strict restrictions on prisoners in sections one and four, in addition to preventing them from going out to the prison’s yard.
Palestine Inmates Banned From Performing Friday Prayers The Israeli authorities have banned Palestinian Muslim prison inmates from performing Friday prayers, the Palestinian Prisoners Association asserted on Friday, Anadolu Agency reports. In a statement, the association said the Israeli Prison Service had informed Palestinian detainees in all Israeli detention facilities that they were no longer permitted to perform Friday prayers.
Report: 95% of Palestinian Children Detained By Israel Were Tortured The Palestinian Ministry of Information issued a new report documented that up to ninety-five percent of Palestinian children arrested by Israeli authorities had been beaten, kicked, or interrogated without a lawyer. The report said the arrests are part of an intensive Israeli campaign targeting school children especially at checkpoints erected inside the occupied city of Jerusalem and at all entrances to Palestinian villages, towns, and camps in the West Bank.
Israel Police to Begin Criminal Investigation Into Likud Campaign Funding Supreme Court Justice Hanan Melcer, who heads Israel’s Central Elections Committee–the body which oversees the country’s election process–today ordered Israel Police to open a criminal probe into Likud’s financing of the “Zazim Yamina” or “Moving Rightwards” campaign. Despite presenting itself as a non-partisan campaign unaffiliated with any political party, this week it was revealed that Zazim Yamina could have received up to fifteen million shekels in funding from Likud.
Environment, Economy, and Other
Woman Throws Tomato at Netanyahu At Tel Aviv Market An eighteen-year-old Israeli woman threw a tomato at Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, on Tuesday, during a campaign visit in Tel Aviv. She missed and was taken into custody for questioning but was granted conditional release. The Likud party accused Benny Gantz and the Blue and White Party of being responsible for the incident.