[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 Navy Fires Mortar Shells at Palestinian Fishermen in Gaza Despite fishermen operating within the permitted fishing zone that Thursday morning, Israeli naval forces opened fire towards Palestinian fishing boats off the coast of the northwestern besieged Gaza Strip.
Israel Using Lethal Gases Against March of Return Protesters: Gaza Health Ministry Spokesperson for the Ministry of Health Dr. Ashraf al-Qidra states that the Israeli military has used various types of live bullets in addition to unconventional gas bombs that have caused serious or permanent injury, indicating that Israel is attempting to kill or maim demonstrators.
Israel to Impose General Closure on West Bank During Election Israeli occupation authorities said on Sunday they will impose a general closure of the West Bank and of all border crossings with the Gaza Strip on the election day on 9 April. Accordingly, West Bank and Gaza crossings with Israel will be sealed and entry to Israel for all Israeli-issued permit holders will be banned, except for humanitarian and medical cases.
Domestic Policy
Israeli Police Find Over 1,000 Hidden Cameras in Arab Polling Stations Hebrew-language news outlets reported that Israeli police deployed to polling stations found and confiscated thirteen hundred hidden cameras being used by election observers from the Likud political party in Arab-majority areas such as Sakhnin, Majd al-Krum, Nazareth, Tamra, and Jiser al-Zarqa. Despite these attempts to harass Palestinian voters, the police allowed the right-wing election observers to continue working.
Israel Elections: Netanyahu Set to Win As Rival Concedes With more than ninety-nine percent of votes counted, Netanyahu's Likud party was set to lead a right-wing bloc after his main rival, Benny Gantz of the Blue and White Party, conceded. Although Likud and Blue and White were set to win a similar number of seats, Gantz conceded because of a number of right-wing parties declaring support for Netanyahu and giving Likud a parliamentary majority.
Israel Election: Right-wing Parties Back Netanyahu, Bennett And Shaked Face Extinction Despite a large right-wing victory in the election, with Likud and other right-wing parties forming a coalition government, the New Right Party seems to be left out. Education Minister Naftali Bennett and Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked bragged that they could rival Likud, but now appear to have not even reached the 3.25 percent minimum threshold.
Netanyahu Doubles Down: ‘Palestinian sovereignty…is dead’ Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Israeli media in an interview yesterday that he intends to annex West Bank settlements, “if possible, with American support.” According to the Jerusalem Post, Netanyahu told Arutz 7 that he intended to “apply Israeli law to the communities in Judea and Samaria [the West Bank]” during “the next term.”
Israel Election: NGO to Bus Palestinian Bedouin Voters to Polling Stations The left-wing “Zazim” group, in coordination with the Regional Council of Unrecognised Villages of the Negev, has crowdfunded tens of thousands of shekels to pay for a fleet of minibuses which will drive Palestinian Bedouin to polling stations during Israel’s general election.
PLO Officials: 'Israelis voted no to peace, yes to apartheid' Palestine Liberation Organization officials responded to the results of the Israeli legislative elections that Israelis have voted “no to peace and yes to apartheid,” on Wednesday. Hanan Ashrawi, PLO Executive Committee Member, said in a statement that after Israeli voters have chosen their representatives, “regrettably, Israelis overwhelmingly voted for candidates that are unequivocally committed to entrenching the status quo of oppression, occupation, annexation, and dispossession in Palestine and escalating the assault on Palestinian national and human rights.”
Foreign Policy
Oman Calls on Arabs to Ease Israel's 'fears for its future' The remarks on Saturday by Yusuf bin Alawi bin Abdullah, the minister responsible for foreign affairs in Oman, came on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum hosted by Jordan. Abdullah later stated that this does not mean recognizing Israel’s right to exist. Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi rejected Abdullah’s remarks, saying, “the issue is that there is an occupation…if [Israel] say they are not comfortable, that is not my problem…the problem is not with Arabs giving assurances.”
German Police Raid Aid Organizations For Alleged Links to Hamas German police raided charities alleged to provide support to the Palestinian Hamas movement in the Gaza Strip. Around ninety properties in ten states were searched in raids carried out across Germany today. The interior ministry said that the main targets of the raids were WorldWide Resistance-Help and Ansaar International.
Lebanon, France, Germany Discuss Demarcation of Israel’s Northern Border Lebanese Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates Gebran Bassil yesterday met with French Ambassador to Lebanon Bruno Foucher and German Ambassador to Lebanon George Berglin to discuss the demarcation of its borders with Israel. Tension has recently escalated between Lebanon and Israel over land and maritime borders demarcation after the discovery of large oil and gas fields in the Mediterranean Sea.
US Presidential Candidate: Israel’s Netanyahu is a Racist US presidential hopeful Beto O’Rourke, who declared that “the US-Israel relationship is one of the most important relationships that we have on the planet,” has slammed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and called him a racist just days before the Israeli general election.
Settlers and Illegal Settlements
Airbnb Reverses Decision on Delisting Israeli Settlements in West Bank Home-renting company, Airbnb, confirmed it would not implement a planned delisting of Israeli settlements, which are considered illegal under international law, in the occupied West Bank and would “donate proceeds from any of these bookings to international humanitarian aid organizations,” on Tuesday.
Israel to Seize Hundreds of Dunams in Jordan Valley Mutaz Bisharat, a Palestinian official who monitors settlement activity in the Jordan Valley/Tubas district, told Ma'an that the Israeli Civil Administration staff distributed notices to Palestinian residents of Tubas, Tayasir, and Tamoun regarding seizure of their lands.
Palestinian Youth Run Over By Settler A Palestinian youth from Nahhalin town, west of Bethlehem, was seriously wounded after being run over by a settler on the sixtieth bypass road between Jerusalem and the settlement of Gush Etzion. The young man, Hamza Shehdeh Najara, was transferred to a hospital but there is no information on if the settler will be apprehended.
Palestinian Injured After Israeli Settlers Raid Ramallah-district Village A Palestinian sustained an injury to the head on Monday after Israeli settlers raided Jibiya village, north of Ramallah city, in the middle of the night and hurled stones at villagers.
Report: Israeli Settlements Used As a Winning Card in the Knesset Elections The National Bureau for Defending Land and Resisting Settlements in its latest weekly report said that the Israeli Knesset elections came to an end, and the Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu has done his best to remain in power using all possible means including his success to normalize relationship with some Arab countries, and raising the slogan of “borderless settlement.”
Palestinian Poll: Majority Rejects Deal of the Century And Calls For Comprehensive Elections An opinion poll conducted by the Jerusalem Center for Media and Communication in cooperation with the Friedrich Ebert Foundation showed that the majority of Palestinians rejected the deal of the Century and supported the holding of comprehensive Palestinian elections.
Boycott, Divest, and Sanction Movement
Madonna Urged to Cancel Eurovision Appearance in Israel Pro-Palestinian groups and organizations such as Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel and Jewish Voice For Peace called on US pop singer Madonna to cancel her performance at the 2019 Eurovision Song Contest in Israel in May.
Student and Community Groups Condemn Racist Harassment Campaign Against Palestinian Rights Advocates at Emory University In an open letter, student and community groups condemned the harassment of Students for Justice in Palestine at Emory through intimidation campaigns, frivolous legal actions, threats of violence and death threats, cases of stalking, calling the police on students who were doing nothing wrong, and mocking the death of civilians.
Business Groups Pressure Ireland to Drop Ban on Israeli Settlement Goods Ireland’s elected representatives are coming under pressure from corporate lobbyists to drop a proposed ban on goods from Israel’s settlements in the occupied West Bank. A briefing paper submitted to members of the Oireachtas–the Irish parliament–warns there may be a hostile response from the US if the Occupied Territories Bill becomes law.
Trump Brags He Blew Off Calls From World Leaders to Give Adelsons The Greatest Gift: Jerusalem Donald Trump yesterday bragged that he had blown off calls from world leaders before announcing that he was moving the US Embassy to Jerusalem in December 2017. Moving the embassy, he said, pleased his largest donors, Sheldon, and Miriam Adelson: “the most important thing I think that has ever happened in their life.”
Law
Over 100 Palestinian Prisoners Commence Open Hunger Strike One hundred twenty Palestinian prisoners commenced an open hunger strike following the failure of talks with the Israel Prison Services over the deteriorating situation in Israeli prisons, on Tuesday. Palestinian prisoners demanded that the IPS remove all electronic jamming devices recently in several prisons, which are believed to have an impact on their health, including dizziness, headaches, and links to cancer, in addition to allowing visitation by families of Gaza prisoners, installing public phones in the prisons, ending solitary conferment, ending raids of cells and assaults, and improving medical service.