[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
Israel Re-arrests Prominent Palestinian Legislator Khalida Jarrar Khalida Jarrar, a fifity-six-year-old member of the Palestinian Legislative Council, was arrested at 3 am local time at her home in the central occupied West Bank city of Ramallah, located ten kilometers north of Jerusalem, and taken to an unknown area, local media reported on Thursday.
Israeli Forces Injure About 80 Gazans The Gazan Health Ministry said seventy-seven people were injured by the Israeli troops during the eightieth Friday of protests in the east of the enclave. Ashraf al-Qedra, a spokesman for the ministry, noted that thirty-one of the wounded suffered gunshot wounds.
IOF Demolish Part of a School Wall in Jenin, Confiscate Its Canteen The Israeli Occupation Forces demolished part of the wall of the “Tahaddi (Challenge) 17 School” on Monday and seized a container used by the school as a canteen, in the village of Dahr al-Maleh, which is isolated behind the apartheid wall southwest of Jenin.
Israeli Forces Shoot And Injure a Palestinian in North of West Bank Younis Moayad Abu Sada, from the village of Allar, north of Tulkarm, was shot and injured near an army-run gate in the separation barrier southwest of Jenin. He was rushed to a nearby hospital for treatment. He is reportedly in a “stable” condition.
Israeli Police Attack Rally in Support of Prisoners on Hunger Strike Sources said Israeli police attacked demonstrators with tear gas canisters and stun grenades in an attempt to disperse them. A youth was detained after being brutally attacked by police. Five Palestinians have been on an open-ended hunger strike demanding an end to their unending administrative detention, which Israel uses to incarcerate Palestinian activists based on secret evidence for six months at a time. The detention period can be renewed indefinitely.
Israeli Military Vehicles Breach Northern Gaza Border And Raze Land Israeli military vehicles infiltrated today the Gaza border and reached dozens of meters into Palestinian land east of Jabalya in the north of the Gaza Strip, according to WAFA correspondent. He said the military vehicles razed agricultural land and erected sand barricades along the border amidst intermittent shooting.
Israeli Sniper Gets Community Service Over Killing of Gaza Boy An Israeli soldier has been sentenced to a month of the military’s equivalent of community service and his rank downgraded for firing his weapon toward an unarmed boy during protests in Gaza last year. The child, Uthman Rami Hillis, fourteen, died east of Gaza City on 13 July 2018 after he was hit in the chest with a live bullet that exited through his back.
Domestic Policy
Shtayyeh Says Gradual Disengagement From The Occupation In Process Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh said today that his government was applying a model of gradual disengagement from the Israeli occupation in all fields. Speaking during a popular resistance event in al-Far’aa refugee camp, near the town of Tubas in the West Bank, Shtayyeh said this engagement will be based on boosting domestic production and halting all imports from Israel.
After Meeting Factions in Gaza, CEC Chairman Says Elections Are Close Hanna Nasser, chairman of the Central Election Commission (CEC), said today after meeting with the factions in the Gaza Strip that he feels the general elections are very close. "Today we were happy to have met with the leaders of the Palestinian factions and we have agreed on a number of issues related to the elections and the national situation," Nasser said at a press conference shortly after the meeting.
Israel: Gantz Meets Netanyahu For Coalition Government Talks Sunday's meeting was their first round of direct talks since President Reuven Rivlin on Wednesday tasked former military chief Benny Gantz with trying to form a government. With Blue and White controlling thirty-three seats in parliament and Likud holding thirty-two, the two parties together have enough support to form a government. While both men support the idea of a unity deal, they have disagreed over who should lead it.
Hamas Calls For National Conference to Establish Election Rules The Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement called on Tuesday for a comprehensive national conference to establish election rules. Hamas said that it is ready to take part in elections but needs “clear directions.”
Foreign Policy
Presidential Hopeful Sanders Says US Aid Should Go to Gaza Instead of Israel US presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders has said that some of the three billion dollars that Washington gives to Israel in military aid every year should be given to the Palestinians as humanitarian aid for the Gaza Strip. Democrat Senator Sanders made his comment at the national conference of J Street in Washington DC.
Settlers and Illegal Settlements
Report: CWRC Thwarts Israeli Attempt to Seize 37 Dunums of Land Head of the Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission, Walid Assaf, said on Thursday that the commission managed to thwart an attempt by the Israeli occupation authorities to seize lands in Salfit.
Israeli Settlers Attack Palestinian Olive Harvesters, Steal Their Crops Israeli settlers attacked today Palestinian olive harvesters in the northern West Bank village of Yasouf, east of Salfit, and stole their crops, according to the head of Yasouf village council Khaled Ibieh. He told WAFA that settlers from Tapouch settlement, illegally built on Yasouf land, attacked eight Palestinian families while picking the olives and stole the harvest.
Settlers Flood Sewage into Palestinian Groves Near Nablus Ghassan Daghlas, who monitors settlement activities in the area, told WAFA that farmers from Deir al-Hatab were shocked to find that their groves were flooded with sewage by settlers from the nearby illegal settlement of Elon More.
Boycott, Divest, and Sanction Movement
Norway’s Capital Oslo is Banning Israeli Settlement Goods And Services Oslo’s newly installed city council is banning Israeli settlement goods and services from public procurements. The ban on goods from Israel’s illegal settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory is a part of the newly adopted platform for 2019 – 2023 approved by Oslo’s recently elected city council, led by the Socialist Left (SV), Labor, and Green parties.
BDS Activists Take to Streets to Call for Puma Boycott, Denounce Israeli Occupation The Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement against Israel has mobilized activists in twenty countries calling for a boycott of German sportswear manufacturer Puma due to its sponsorship of the Israel Football Association. Female Palestinian football player Aya Khattab voiced her support for the #BoycottPuma movement.
Duke Students Protest Tzipi Livni, Former Israeli Foreign Minister Accused of War Crimes Students at Duke University in North Carolina repeatedly interrupted an event last Wednesday featuring Tzipi Livni, the former Israeli foreign minister who was subject to an arrest warrant issued by the United Kingdom and criminal complaints in two more European countries for her alleged role in war crimes committed during the 2008-09 Cast Lead invasion of Gaza.
UMass Amherst Faculty Respond to Chancellor Statement Attacking BDS Panel On October 21 UMass Amherst Chancellor Kumble Subbaswamy issued a statement that, while “allowing” a pro-Palestine event to happen, was extremely critical of it. In support of the students hosting the event, several faculty members wrote an open letter and sent it out for signatures, garnering 121 signatures so far, though that number might yet increase.
New Swedish Foreign Minister: ‘BDS Legitimate Not Anti-Semitic movement’ Sweden’s new foreign minister, Ann Linde, said the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement is not anti-Semitic, but rather a legitimate and non-violent movement. In an interview with Swedish television, Linde indicated that she does not support boycotts, or boycotting trade and cooperation with Israel. However, she asserted that “boycotts are a legitimate political means as part of a non-violent political struggle for human rights, democracy, freedom of expression, and ending the occupation.”
Law
Prisoner Labadi Rushed to Hospital on 37th Day of Hunger Strike Lawyer Ruslan Mahajneh said that Hiba al-Labadi was rushed back to Bani Tzion hospital after her health deteriorated, as she continued her hunger strike for thirty-seven days. Four more prisoners continue their hunger strike to protest their continued administrative detention without trial or charge.
Facebook Sues Israel Cyber Espionage Firm For Hacking WhatsApp Facebook Inc on Tuesday sued Israeli cyber surveillance firm NSO Group, alleging it hacked users of its messaging platform WhatsApp earlier this year. The hacking spree targeted journalists, diplomats, human rights activists, political dissidents, senior government officials, and others, Facebook said in its lawsuit, filed in US District Court in San Francisco.
Palestinian Detainee Ends 89 Days of Hunger Strike Palestinian hunger striking detainee, Tareq Qaadan, ended today his hunger strike which lasted for eighty-nine days, in protest of his detention without a charge or trial. The Detainees and Ex-Detainees Commission said Qaadan’s decision to end his hunger strike came after he reached an agreement with the Israeli authorities not to renew his four-month administrative detention.
Amnesty International: Legally-sanctioned Torture of Palestinian Detainee Left Him in Critical Condition The legally sanctioned torture of Palestinian detainee Samir Arbeed during interrogation by officers from Shin Bet, Israel’s security agency, further exposes the complicity of Israel’s authorities, including its judiciary, in the systematic violation of the human right to be free from torture, said Amnesty International today.
‘Whitewash’: Israel Closes Investigations Into Three Palestinians Killed in 2018 The Israeli military has closed the case files of three Palestinians who were killed by its forces in 2018, prompting backlash from rights groups like B’Tselem who initially investigated the killings. “Nevertheless, and even though the incidents should not have had fatal consequences–not even by the standards of military regulations–the very fact that investigations were undertaken has once again created an illusion of a functioning accountability apparatus,” B’Tselem said in a press release on Monday.
Environment, Economy, and Other
Virtual Reality App Gives Users Access to Everyday Life in Palestine The app, called Palestine VR, is available on Android and iOS and was developed by the Palestine Institute for Public Diplomacy, a non-governmental organization that shares the story of Palestine with the world.
Israel Still Preventing Exit of Processed Foods For Sale From Gaza Israeli authorities are still preventing the exit of processed foods for sale outside of the occupied Gaza Strip, reported freedom of movement NGO Gisha yesterday. Since June 2007, in the context of an ongoing, crippling blockade, Israel has effectively banned the exit of processed foods from the Gaza Strip for sale in the occupied West Bank, Israel, and abroad.