[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 Army Imposes Closure on West Bank And Gaza The Israeli Occupation Army tonight imposes a complete closure on Palestinian territories, including West Bank and Gaza, on the occasion of the Rosh Hashanah. The closure will last until Tuesday/Wednesday midnight, and includes the Gaza and West Bank crossings.
Israeli Announces Completing 70% of the Gaza Wall Hebrew media sources announced today that the Israeli occupation forces have completed forty-three out of the sixty-kilometer wall along the border with the Gaza Strip, equivalent to seventy percent of the total project which was described as the largest engineering projects. The wall is meant to “eliminate the tunnels” of the Palestinian resistance.
Palestinian Detainee Hospitalized After Israeli Interrogation A Palestinian detainee has been hospitalized in a critical condition after he had "undergone severe torture" in Israeli custody, his lawyer has said. Israeli media has reported that an investigation has been opened into possible wrongdoing by Israeli security officers. According to Israeli media, the Shin Bet was given legal permission to use "extraordinary measures" during Arbeed's interrogation because he was a suspect in a bombing.
Children, Elderly Patients Among Those Denied Permits to Leave Gaza for Treatment in West Bank Out of 219 Gaza patient applications for treatment in the West Bank that were denied in August, forty were children and thirty-five were those aged sixty or older, according to the World Health Organization. Moreover, out of 365 applications that were denied, one hundred were for children and forty-eight for the elderly.
Palestinian Activists Removed From Dead Sea Site By Force The activists from the popular resistance movement were protesting statements by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in which he declared his intention to annex the occupied Jordan Valley and the northern Dead Sea.
In Gaza, 86 Palestinians Injured, One Slain, in 76th Friday Protest On the seventy-sixth Friday of the Great March of Return, a Palestinian civilian was killed and eighty-six civilians were injured as a result of the Israeli military’s continued use of excessive force against the peaceful protests along the Gaza Strip’s eastern border; twenty-two children, four female paramedics, five male paramedics and two persons with disabilities were among those injured this Friday, 27 September 2019.
Domestic Policy
Palestinians Mark ‘day of rage’ Over Torture of Detainee in Israel Custody Palestinian protesters have marked a “day of rage” over the brutal torture of a Palestinian detainee during interrogation by Israel’s domestic spy service Shin Bet, in what Amnesty International has slammed as “a reprehensible crime.”
AQU And Marmara University Sign Important Cooperation Agreement President of al-Quds University Professor Imad Abu Kishek and the President of Marmara University Professor Erol Ozvar have signed an agreement for joint collaboration. Under the agreement, both universities will launch a peer-reviewed journal that focuses on the Jerusalem issue and will organize an annual joint academic conference, as well as cooperation in the field of medicine and exchange programs.
Government Ready to Hold Elections Once a Presidential Decree is Issued - Premier Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh said today that his government is ready to hold general elections in Palestine once a presidential decree is issued on this matter. He stressed that President Abbas will ask the president of the Central Election Commission, Hanna Nasser, to go to the Gaza Strip to begin consultation on elections.
‘You can’t liberate land but not women’: Thousands of Palestinians Protest Violence Against Women On Thursday, thousands of Palestinians protested for women’s rights in twelve locations across Palestine/Israel and the diaspora following recent high-profile cases of gender-based violence against women in Palestinian society. “You cannot divide the concept of freedom. Fighting for women’s rights stems from the same concept as fighting Israeli colonization,” Lema Nazeeh, one of the organizers in Ramallah, told Mondoweiss.
No Progress in Likud-Blue And White Government Talks A four-hour meeting between the Likud and Blue and White parties has ended on Friday afternoon, without reaching a deal on a coalition government, Arab48.com reported. Teams from both parties have agreed to resume their talks next week, on the basis of the plan initiated by Israel’s president, Reuven Rivlin, stipulating a rotation of leadership.
Senior Hamas Delegation Visits Orthodox Church in Gaza A senior delegation from the Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement, Hamas, visited the Church of Saint Porphyrius in Gaza on Thursday. Hamas officials explained that their visit was intended to discuss social relations, tolerance and fraternal relations between Muslim and Christian Palestinians.
Foreign Policy
European Parliament Vetoes Bid to Stop Funding UNRWA The European Parliament’s Budget Committee on Tuesday vetoed a proposal presented by the Christian Democrats to suspend the European Union funding to the UNRWA due to alleged “corruption and mismanagement” of the agency’s international aid.
Jordan Denies Requesting Israeli Intervention in Black September Events Jordan’s interior minister and former intelligence chief, Lieutenant Nadhir Ahmad al-Rasheed, denied that the late King Hussein had requested Israeli air support in the events of Black September 1970.
Settlers and Illegal Settlements
Israeli Settlers Steal Olive Harvest Near Nablus Israeli settlers attacked today Palestinian farmers while working in their own farms near the village of Deir Sharaf, to the west of Nablus City in the northern occupied West Bank, according to local sources. Ghassan Daghlas, who monitors settlements in the area, told WAFA that settlers broke into Palestinian farms to try and chase off Palestinian farmers and stole a large amount of olives.
Boycott, Divest, and Sanction Movement
Florida County Unanimously Passes anti-BDS Resolution After Israeli Official Tells Commission the Movement ‘stands for anti-semitism’ On 24 September, Florida’s Broward County unanimously passed a resolution condemning the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement after an Israeli official denounced it in front of the county’s commission. Before the vote took place, Commissioner Steve Gellar asked Lior Haiat to address the commission.
Portland Trail Blazers Sever Ties with Company That Supplies IDF With Rifle Scopes After Campaign By Activists Portland Trail Blazers president and CEO Chris McGowan has announced that the National Basketball Association team will no longer partner with a rifle scope manufacturer that has a contract with Israeli military.
Anglican Church of Southern Africa Votes to Join BDS The highest and most prominent decision-making body of the Anglican Church of Southern Africa yesterday voted to join and support the international Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement against the Israeli occupation.
Law
Netanyahu’s pre-indictment Hearings to Start Today The pre-indictment hearings that begin on 2 October, which will last four days in total at the prime minister’s request, span three different cases labeled cases 1000, 2000 and 4000. Ten to twelve of Netanyahu’s defense lawyers will face approximately twenty Justice Ministry officials in order to defend the prime minister against the intention of Attorney General Avichai Mendelblit to indict him for fraud, breach in trust and, in one case, bribery.
Female Palestine Prisoner Held in Stress Positions in Israel Jails Palestinian prisoner, Heba al-Labadi is on the eighth day of hunger strike after being sentenced to administrative detention for five months without charge or trial. Abducted by Israeli soldiers on 20 August, al-Labadi, who holds Jordanian citizen, was arrested at the Allenby Bridge.
Environment, Economy, and Other
Gaza’s Only Pharmaceutical Factory Operates at Just 20% Capacity The only pharmaceutical factory in the Israeli-occupied Gaza Strip is “struggling to survive” and operating at just twenty percent of its capacity, reported Xinhua. According to company chair Marwan al-Astal, products are sold “with low profit margin in order to help alleviate the dire economic conditions faced by the people in Gaza,” adding that “the Israeli blockade and the economic crisis which it brought could terminate our business.”