[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 Forcibly Evict Muslim Worshipers From Al-Aqsa Eyewitnesses told Ma'an that heavily armed Israeli forces and police stormed the compound following the end of Muslim Tarawih prayers and forced out dozens of worshipers who have remained in al-Aqsa out of the compound.
Israel Reduces Gaza's Permitted Fishing Zone, Attacks Fishermen Israeli authorities have decided to drastically reduce the permitted fishing zone off Gaza’s coast by over half from twelve to five nautical miles "until further notice," on Thursday. Head of the Palestinian Fishermen Union in Gaza, Zakariya Bakr, said that the Israeli Forces prevented the fishermen from retrieving their equipment at seven miles, opening heavy fire at the civilian boats.
Israeli Forces Raid, Destroy Contents of Shop in Hebron’s Old Town, Assault And Injure Elderly Israeli forces raided a shop in the old town of Hebron, destroyed its contents, said the shop owner, Ghassan Abu Hadid. An eighty-three-year-old elder who was present at the shop at the time of the raid was physically assaulted and inured. The elderly sustained bruises and cuts in his face and hands.
Six Palestinians Detained By The Israeli Army in West Bank Raids The Israeli army detained last night and early this morning six Palestinians during raids at their homes in the West Bank, said the Palestinian Prisoner Society. It is said that two are from the Ramallah area, two from Hebron, one from Silat al-Harthieyeh near Jenin, and one from Tayasir.
Syria Says Missiles Fired From Israeli-held Territory at Damascus Syrian air defenses have targeted projectiles coming from "occupied territory," a reference to Israel and the Palestinian territories, and brought some of them down, Syrian state television reported. This comes after three Syrian government soldiers were wounded by Israeli raids in Hama last month.
Israel Government Admits Journalists Beaten By Soldiers Were Not ‘rioters’ The Israeli government has retracted its claim that two journalists “led a riot” in Nabi Saleh in 2015, “and that their beating by soldiers was therefore justified,” reported Haaretz. The incident occurred on 24 April 2015, as Israeli occupation forces violently suppressed a Palestinian demonstration in Nabi Saleh, a village in the West Bank. The soldiers beat a pair of journalists and had initially claimed they “worked in concert” with “rioters,” but now the army spokesperson stated that soldiers’ conduct was “not in keeping with the commanders’ instructions.”
Domestic Policy
PM Shtayyeh: Only a Political Solution Could End the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict Reacting to the US-sponsored economic conference to be held in Bahrain at the end of next month to promote the so-called “Deal of the Century,” Prime Minister Shtayyeh said his government was not consulted at all in the planning of the conference. He emphasized that the economic issue should be seen as “an outcome of the political solution because the Palestinian people and leadership are not looking only to improve living conditions under occupation.”
Meretz Facing Internal Pressure to Become Jewish-Arab Party Top members of the Zionist left-wing Meretz party are trying to transform their party into one based on full Jewish-Arab partnership, just a month after it passed the election threshold thanks in large part to increased support from the Arab vote. There are proposals to either join the Hadash-Ta’al unity list or to transition into a party with Arab and Jewish co-chairs in the party institutions.
Foreign Policy
UNRWA Condemns the Killing of 10 Civilians in the Palestine Refugee Camp of Neirab in Aleppo Several rockets hit the densely populated Neirab Palestinian refugee camp in Aleppo on Tuesday night, killing at least ten and wounding more than thirty. Three of those dead are children in the UNRWA school system.
FM to UK Parliament: Two-state Solution Could Reach Point of No Return Palestinian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates, Riyad al-Malki, told the UK Parliament that the two-state solution could come to an end if Israel remained uncommitted to the international resolutions, on Thursday.
Palestinians Rally in Support of Venezuelan Leader Maduro Participants, who included political and religious figures, raised the Palestinian and Venezuelan flags as well as pictures of presidents Mahmoud Abbas and Maduro, while holding banners denouncing the US sanctions against Palestine and Venezuela.
Rights Groups Urge International Community to Stand Against Israel-US Annexation Strategy Seven human rights organization today called on the international community to immediately act to put a stop to Israeli-American plans to annex Palestinian territory, making the case that United Nations member states are legally obligated to urgently address issues related to this crisis.
Israel Officials to Travel to Bahrain For ‘peace’ Conference Speaking to Israel’s Channel 13 yesterday, a senior Israeli official revealed that the United States has invited Israeli delegates to attend the meeting, which is to be held in Bahraini capital Manama on 25 and 26 June. Bahrain, despite declaring its opposition to the Israeli occupation, has taken steps to normalize relations with Israel–a move for which it was heavily criticized.
'This is not a peace plan': Palestinians Shun Bahrain Conference The Palestinian leadership has not been consulted about a US-led conference in Bahrain next month in support of Washington's Middle East peace plan, Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh said. Palestinian officials said the 25-26 June meeting would not address the core political issues of the conflict: final borders, the status of Jerusalem, or the fate of Palestinian refugees.
Settlers and Illegal Settlements
Qalqilia: Palestinian Citizen Run Over And Killed By Settler While on his way to work, Hassan Abdel-Hafis Barham, forty-five, from Qalqiliya, was killed after being run over by an Israeli vehicle at the junction of the Karni Shomron illegal settlement. He was transferred to Nablus hospital and pronounced dead on arrival.
Settlers Torch Palestinian Farmlands South of Nablus Ghassan Daghlas, an official who monitors settlement activities in the northern West Bank, told WAFA that a number of Israeli settlers set fire to the villagers’ farmlands in the southern part of the village, destroying their crops. In addition to burning down the Nablus farmlands, the settlers attacked the Palestinian villagers by throwing stones, which led to further confrontations.
Israeli Settlers And Army Intensify Attacks Against Palestinian Shepherds Israeli Occupation Forces and settlers have intensified their attacks against Palestinian shepherds in the northern Jordan Valley region of the West Bank, according to human rights organization B’Tselem. “The settlers threaten shepherds, chase them, physically assault them, drive headlong into the flocks to scatter the sheep, and even run over or steal sheep,” B’Tselem reported, attacks the NGO described as “now virtually a daily occurrence.”
Netanyahu Reaffirms West Bank Annexation, Despite Ex-security Officials’ Petition Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has doubled down on his commitment to annexing the occupied West Bank, after almost three hundred former security officials signed a petition urging him to reconsider. Netanyahu’s promise was almost universally condemned, with the United Kingdom, Turkey, and the Palestine Liberation Organization slamming the announcement.
Boycott, Divest, and Sanction Movement
Germany to Condemn BDS Movement As 'anti-Semitic' The German Bundestag (parliament) is set to pass a non-binding resolution, on Friday, condemning the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement as anti-Semitic and urges the government not to fund groups or activities that question Israel’s right to exist and to defend itself.
Crisis at the Whitney: ‘no safe space for profiteers of state violence’ Warren B. Kanders, the vice chairmen of the board of trustees, has amassed a seven hundred million dollars fortune as the CEO and majority owner of Safariland Group, a manufacturer of law enforcement gear. His company owns Defense Technology, which makes tear gas that has been deployed against unarmed civilians in Ferguson, Baltimore, Standing Rock, Puerto Rico, the U.S.-Mexico border, and in Israel/Palestine.
'P is for Palestine' Event in Highland Park Shelved ... For Now Author Golbarg Bashi was scheduled to read her alphabet-based Palestinian culture book on 19 May at the Highland Park Public Library, but pro-Israel residents took issue and the event has been postponed until a Board of Trustees meeting can discuss the event.
Canada Court Hears Lawsuit Challenging Israel Settlement Wine Labels A Canadian court is hearing a lawsuit against a decision to allow wines made and manufactured in Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank to be labeled “Product of Israel.” David Kattenburg, a Jewish-Canadian activist based in Winnipeg, has applied to the Federal Court of Canada for an order “declaring unlawful” the Canadian Food Inspection Agency’s directive.
Law
Israel to Return 65 Boats to Gaza Fishermen Following Petition to Israeli Supreme Court Following a petition to the Israeli Supreme Court filed by three human rights organizations, Israel submitted a preliminary response where it declared that it intends to return sixty-five fishing boats confiscated from Gaza fishermen.
Two Prisoners Remain On Hunger Strike For 49 Days Two Palestinians from the south of the West Bank held in administrative detention in Israel have been on hunger for forty-nine days to protest their indefinite detention, the Palestinian Prisoner Society said today. It said Odeh Hroub and Hasan Awawi are having serious health deterioration as a result of their long strike.
Court Overturns Palestinian's Incitement Conviction Over Poem An Israeli court partially overturned the conviction of Palestinian poet Dareen Tatour on Thursday, ruling that a poem she wrote, which landed her in prison last year, does not constitute an incitement to violence. Meanwhile, the court let stand her conviction over two other social media posts, which included support for Islamic Jihad, a proscribed group, and a photo that was captioned “I am the next martyr.”
Environment, Economy, and Other
Bank of Palestine Group Announces Q1 2019 Preliminary Financial Results Net Profit declined by 13.2 percent due to economic stagnation in the market as pressures on the macroeconomy continue in the West Bank and Gaza. GDP Growth is at 0.3 percent almost flat and is expected to decrease after the temporary public sector salaries disruption in the West Bank as a result of the tax revenue impasse between the Palestinian government and the government of Israel.
‘NYT’ Coverage of Trump Peace Plan News Quotes 5 pro-Israel Voices, 0 Palestinians In their coverage of phase one of the Trump plan, an economic “workshop” in Bahrain that Palestinians were not included in planning, the New York Times quotes no Palestinians but quotes five pro-Israel American voices. They also published four justifications of Israeli killings of Palestinian demonstrators in the Great March of Return in just several months.
Young Jews Who Don’t Like Israel Are Not ‘healthy’ — Leading Hillel Director At a conference for the American Zionist Movement in New York, Andrew Getraer, executive director of Hillel at Rutgers, said that “We want students to have a positive relationship to the state of Israel, because if they do not, they are not going to be healthy as Jews.”
Madonna Sparks Flag Controversy At 'non-political' Eurovision At the close of her second number, two backing dancers each wearing a respective flag from Israel and Palestine, walked arm in arm, in an act that was perceived as a political statement on the ongoing conflict between Israel and Palestine. She defended her decision, issuing a statement earlier in the week saying that she would always speak up to defend human rights, and that she hoped to see "a new path toward peace."
Palestinian Business Leaders Reject Trump’s Economic Overture Palestinian businessmen have a message for the White House: Keep your money. Although Palestinian political leadership was not consulted on the Bahrain conference, several Palestinian business leaders were invited, though they dismissed it as insulting and counterproductive.