[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
IOF Detain Seven Palestinians in West Bank Raids The Palestinian Prisoner Society said in a report on the daily arrests by the Israeli army that soldiers detained Faris Ramzi Wazani, sixteen, from, the town of Izzariyeh, eighteen-year-old Usama Nathir Hamed, from the Ramallah-area town of Silwad, two men, twenty-two and twenty-four years old, from Bethlehem, a fifty-year-old man from Kufr al-Labbad, and a twenty-six-year-old man from Azzoun.
Israel Places Six Palestinians in Jerusalem Under British Mandate-era Curfew A WAFA correspondent reported that Israel invoked a British Palestine Mandate-era emergency act in order to impose a nighttime curfew on six youths from Issawiya for periods ranging from two months to four months.
Israel Confiscates Sole Medical Vehicle Serving 1,500 Palestinians Israeli Occupation Forces have confiscated the only vehicle available to a medical team serving the needs of one thousand five hundred Palestinians in an isolated region of the southern West Bank, reported Haaretz.
Domestic Policy
Israel Plans to Replace UN-run Palestinian Schools in Occupied Jerusalem with Its Own The so-called Jerusalem Municipal Council approved earlier this week the plan, which will target schools run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East to replace them with new ones that follow the Israeli education curriculum.
Israel Defense Minister Wants Palestinians Crossing Gaza Fence Detained as ‘illegal combatants’ Israel’s Defense Minister Naftali Bennett has told security officials that he wants to treat Palestinians who cross through the Gaza Strip perimeter fence as “illegal combatants,” reported Haaretz. The move would mean such Palestinians can be detained without charge “indefinitely.”
Israel: Banks Freeze Accounts of Prisoners’ Families Banks in Israel have frozen the accounts of the families of forty Palestinian prisoners who are Israeli citizens, Shehab news agency reported on Tuesday. The move was apparently ordered by far-right Defense Minister Naftali Bennett.
PLO official: Israel Obstructing Palestine Elections Secretary-General of the Palestine Liberation Organization Executive Committee Saeb Erekat said that Israel is obstructing the Palestinian elections by not allowing to have them take place in the occupied city of Jerusalem
Waqf Calls on Israel to Immediately Halt all Work Carried Out at al-Aqsa Mosque The Islamic Jerusalem Endowments council in a press statement called on the Israeli authorities to immediately halt all work carried out at al-Aqsa mosque and to remove all equipment installed on the walls of the mosque. A group of Israeli workers today resumed work on the southern wall of al-Aqsa mosque in the Umayyad palaces area, alleging undergoing restoration works on the mosque.
Settlers and Illegal Settlements
Netanyahu Vows More Settlements, Annexation to Win Upcoming Elections Netanyahu stated that he would achieve more historical accomplishments in the coming years if he wins the upcoming elections. He put forward a plan of six-point that includes setting final borders for the occupying state, pushing the United States to recognize Israeli sovereignty over the Jordan Valley and the northern Dead Sea, and exerting pressure on the United States to recognize Israeli sovereignty over all settlements in the West Bank without exception.
Israeli gov’t to Discuss Annexation of the Jordan Valley Committee members are working on a draft government resolution or bill that will be presented to the Knesset for “official annexation” of the Jordan Valley. The committee is chaired by Ronen Peretz, director general of the Prime Minister’s Office, as well as other representatives from Israel’s government and military.
Israel Approves More Than 1,900 New Settler Homes: NGO Israel has approved the construction of nearly two thousand new settler homes on occupied Palestinian territories, an anti-settlement watchdog group said on Monday. Peace Now said that nearly eight hundred housing units received the final approvals needed for construction to begin.
Israel Police Disguised as Palestinians Attacked by Jewish Settlers Israeli police officers impersonating Palestinian technicians were attacked by two teenagers in the illegal Jewish settlement of Bat Ayin in Gush Etzion located in the occupied West Bank on Tuesday. Both of the suspects have been arrested and questioned.
Boycott, Divest, and Sanction Movement
Report: BDS Concludes 2019 with Remarkable Achievements The National Bureau for Defending Land and Resisting Settlements stated in its latest periodic report about the BDS Movement that the efforts had remarkable successes, especially in Europe, despite increasing pressures.
Court Lifts ban on Arizona’s Controversial anti-BDS Law The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has lifted a ban on Arizona’s anti-BDS law. The decision effectively ends a lawsuit launched to challenge the law on First Amendment grounds. This change was due to Governor Doug Ducey amending the law to no longer apply to those who filed the lawsuit, precluding their involvement.
Pro-Palestinian Art Appears on Old Pecos Trail Wall A Navajo artist, going only by “Remy,” who claimed he produced the pro-Palestinian graffiti that appeared Sunday on an east-side wall said his intention was to create a comparison between the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the plight of Native Americans during periods of colonialism and conquest. The owner of the wall, Guthrie Miller, said he intends to allow the art to stay.
Law
IPS Assault Prisoners in Megiddo Prison Israeli Prison Forces on Tuesday night stormed section four of the Megiddo jail and brutally assaulted Palestinian prisoners. According to the Palestinian Prisoner Society, the forces’ raid on section four lasted for several hours before they transferred twenty prisoners to other temporary cells.
Foreign Ministry to Refer Israeli Crackdown on al-Issawiya to ICC The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates announced today its intention to report the ongoing Israeli crackdown on the occupied East Jerusalem neighborhood of al-Issawiya to the International Criminal Court.
Israeli Court Rejects Appeal For Release of Hunger-striking Prisoner Ahmad Zahran The Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs Commission said that the Israeli military court of Ofer rejected an appeal submitted for the release of prisoner Ahmad, Zahran, who has been on an open-ended hunger strike for 107 consecutive days in protest of his detention without charge or trial.
Israeli anti-occupation Activist Jonathan Pollak Arrested Over ‘outrageous’ Assault Charges Pollak was arrested for his continued refusal to appear before an Israeli court over charges against him of attacking Israeli soldiers, an accusation which Pollak and fellow activists vehemently deny. The charges were brought against Pollak by right-wing Israeli group Ad Kan, who has been pressuring Israeli authorities for months to arrest the activist.
Israel’s Supreme Court Dismisses Petition Against Settlement Built on Private Palestinian Land Israel’s highest court yesterday dismissed a petition brought by Palestinian landowners, thus effectively greenlighting the state’s master plan for a major settlement in the occupied West Bank. The Palestinian petitioners, from Ein Yabrud and Silwad, had argued that a construction plan covering roughly one-third of Ofra’s area should have been dismissed “due to its inclusion of nearly a dozen acres of land that had been registered to residents of their respective towns.”
Father of Captive Abu-Ghosh: ‘We did not recognize her due to atrocity of torture’ The father of captive Mais Abu-Ghosh, a student of Birzeit University and from Qalandiya refugee camp, north of occupied Jerusalem, divulged that his daughter was subjected to harsh investigation and torture at al-Maskubiya Investigation Centre, since her arrest on 29 August. The occupation, however, prevented them from publishing any details about this, and threatened the lawyers with withdrawal of their legal licenses if they informed the family or the media about the detainee’s torture.
Environment, Economy, and Other
Israel Army Chief Censor in Talks to Join Notorious Spyware Firm NSO According to Globes, Brigadier General Ariella Ben Avraham is “negotiating” to join NSO Group as soon as possible; currently scheduled to be discharged from the military in June, Ben Avraham has “asked to bring her release forward.” NSO Group has been embroiled in a number of scandals where their “software has allegedly been used to spy on journalists and opponents of unsavory regimes.”