[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.]
The Occupation Forces
Israeli Police Shoot, Injure Deaf and Mute Palestinian Man at Checkpoint Israeli police shot and wounded a deaf and mute Palestinian at a checkpoint between Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank on Monday morning, 17 August. The Palestinian Authority's official Wafa news agency reported that witnesses saw Israeli security guards open fire at the man as he walked the car lane of Qalandiya checkpoint, injuring him in the leg.
Israeli Police Kill Young Palestinian Over Alleged Stabbing Attack The Israeli occupation police have shot dead a seventeen-year-old Palestinian in the occupied Old City of Jerusalem for his role in an alleged stabbing attack in which two Israelis were injured. The police say the Palestinian boy moderately wounded a Border Police officer before being shot dead by other officers at the scene.
Palestinian Worker Shot and Injured by Israeli Fire A Palestinian worker was shot and injured on Sunday, 16 August, by the Israeli Occupation Forces at the gate of the annexation wall, west of the town of Far’on, south of Tulkarm, while on his way to work inside the 1948 borders. Sources at the Thabet Thabet Governmental Hospital stated that Suheir Dawood Obeit, thirty-five, was hit by a bullet in the foot, and his condition is stable.
Israeli Bulldozers Demolish Building in Jerusalem Neighborhood On Tuesday, 18 August, Israeli bulldozers demolished a residential building in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Jabal al-Mukabber, according to a WAFA correspondent. He reported that Israeli police escorted three bulldozers into al-Sal‘a area in the neighborhood, and cordoned off a four-storey building under construction, before the heavy machines razed it.
Cave-dwelling Palestinian Family Forced to Demolish Own Home Israeli occupation authorities have forced a Palestinian family to demolish their home built inside a cave in the northern part of the occupied West Bank, the first building in its kind to receive a demolition notice from Israel. The owner said when he was convinced he might never obtain the “license,” he decided to build his home inside a cave in the foothills overlooking Farasin, thinking that the Israeli regime could not possibly argue that the cave, as an ancient and natural formation, was illegally built.
Domestic Policy
Israeli Tanks Attack Hamas Targets in Gaza Strip The Israeli army says its tanks have attacked Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip in response to Palestinian rockets and airborne firebombs launched into southern Israel. The Palestinian territory has been under an Israeli blockade since 2007. Israel cites security threats from Hamas for its land and naval blockade.
Israel Launches Airstrikes Against Hamas Targets Near Rafah Crossing in Gaza The Israeli Occupation aircraft have carried out air strikes in the Gaza Strip, hitting Hamas targets and infrastructure. The strikes landed near the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt before dawn Tuesday, 18 August, according to Palestinian media reports. The Israeli military claims the attack was carried out in response to incendiary balloons sent from the Gaza Strip into the occupied territories throughout the day.
Israel Bans Fishing off Gaza Coast The Israeli Occupation Forces on 16 August completely closed the Gaza Strip’s fishing zone due to the alleged breach of the security truce. The Committee for Documenting Violations Against Fishermen said that the Israeli navy opened fire on Palestinian fishing boats and pumped water at them, forcing fishermen to return to shore without warning.
Gaza’s Lone Power Plant Shuts Down Amid Tensions with Israel Gaza's lone power plant has shut down, less than a week after Israel suspended fuel shipments to the Palestinian enclave over the launching of incendiary balloons that caused brush fires in southern Israel. Gaza, run by Hamas, relies on Israel for most of its energy needs. Its population of two million currently receives about six hours of electricity followed by a ten-hour power cut.
Foreign Policy
Israel, UAE Reach US-brokered Agreement to Establish Full Diplomatic Ties Israel and the United Arab Emirates have reached a deal that will lead to full normalization of diplomatic relations between the two sides, in an agreement that US President Donald Trump apparently helped broker. Under the agreement announced on Thursday, 13 August, Israel has allegedly agreed to suspend applying its own rule to further areas in the occupied West Bank and the strategic Jordan Valley that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had pledged to annex.
UAE, Israel Normalize Ties: All the Latest Updates Israel and the United Arab Emirates agree to normalize relations in a deal brokered by US President Donald Trump.
OPINION: The UAE Makes Peace with Israel’s war on the Palestinians After years of informal normalization, the United Arab Emirates has finally reached a formal “peace agreement” with Israel that paves the way for a strategic relationship between the two countries under the auspices of the Trump Administration.
Rep. Betty McCollum Introduces Bill that would Block US Funding from being Used to Annex Palestinian Land Rep. Betty McCollum (D-MN) has introduced legislation that condemns the Israeli government’s proposed annexation of the West Bank and blocks any US aid that would potentially be used to fund it. The Israeli Annexation Non-Recognition Act is endorsed by over thirty progressive organizations and is cosponsored by six other Democratic House members: Representatives Rashida Tlaib (MI), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (NY), Ayanna Pressley (MA), Ilhan Omar (MN), Mark Pocan (WI), and Andre Carson (IN).
OPINION: Annexation Shouldn’t be the Threshold for Conditioning Aid to Israel By hinging US leverage on de jure annexation, Democrats are giving Israel the green light to proceed with other crimes against Palestinians.
Pakistan will not Recognize Israel: PM KhanPakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan has said his country will not recognize Israel until there is a Palestinian state acceptable to the Palestinians. In an interview with local broadcaster Dunya News, Khan said on Tuesday, 18 August, Islamabad would not follow suit in recognizing Israel as a state, in a thinly veiled reference to the United Arab Emirates which struck a United States-brokered deal last week to normalize ties with Israel.
Settlers and Illegal Settlements
Israel Preparing Infrastructures for Annexation Plan in Greater Jerusalem The Israeli prime minister, Netanyahu, announced during a press conference that the agreement between Israel and the United Arab Emirates does not involve any change in the annexation plan, through which the occupation seeks to impose its sovereignty over lands in the occupied West Bank. The Supervising Committee revealed Settlement building in the E1 area, northeast of Jerusalem, that tenders will be announced to start building one thousand settlement units within weeks.
Israeli Settler Rams, Kills Palestinian Young Man A Palestinian young man was killed on Saturday, 15 August, after being deliberately rammed by an Israeli illegal settler in the West Bank. Local sources said Uqab Darawsheh was rammed near Jbarah military checkpoint in southern Tulkarm.
Settler’s Violence: More Burning of Trees, Vandalism, Thuggery in West Bank Israeli settlers set fire to olive trees as well as crops fields in the village of Jeet in the south-west of Nablus today, 12 August. Meanwhile, another group of Israeli settlers closed the road between Nablus and Qalqilya and attacked and threw stones at Palestinian vehicles.
Palestinians, Resisting Takeover of their Land, Clash with Israeli Occupation Soldiers; Injuries Reported On Wednesday, 19 August, Israeli forces clamped down on anti-settlement protest to the southeast of Tulkarm city, causing several protestors to suffocate from teargas inhalation, according to a WAFA correspondent.
Boycott, Divest, and Sanction Movement
BDS Coordinator Mahmoud Nawajaa is Free! Palestinian human rights defender and BDS coordinator Mahmoud Nawajaa was released by an Israeli military court, after nineteen days of illegal detention without charges. Since his arrest on 30 July, the Israeli internal security Shin Bet has failed to present any formal charges against him. Mahmoud Nawajaa’s arrest came at a time when Palestinian civil society is calling for effective international accountability measures, including lawful and targeted sanctions, to prevent Israel’s planned de jure annexation and to stop its apartheid regime and ongoing, de facto annexation.
Law & Prisons
Israel Detains Eight Palestinians from the West Bank On Tuesday, 18 August, Israeli forces detained eight Palestinians from various parts of the West Bank, said the Palestine Prisoner’s Society. PPS confirmed in a press release that Israeli forces rounded up two Palestinians, including a seventeen-year-old, after ransacking their families’ houses in Zububa village, west of Jenin city.
Israel Places Sheikh Raed Salah inn Solitary Confinement Israeli prison services sent Sheikh Raed Salah to solitary confinement in Ashkelon Prison, Palestinian sources in Israel told Quds Press yesterday, 18 August. Salah, the leader of the northern branch of the Islamic Movement in Israel, was detained by Israeli forces in August 2017 and indicted for incitement following his criticism of the erection of metal detectors at Jerusalem’s al-Aqsa Mosque compound.
Environment, Economy, and Other
OPINION: The Salt of the Sea, for the First Time in Jaffa Depriving people of the simplest right—to see the sea—is a crime of the Israeli occupation. An entire generation in Palestine grew up not knowing what the sea means. Palestinian poet Dareen Tatour describes the scene of hundreds of Palestinians from the West Bank visiting the beach in Jaffa and interviews some on their experiences.
Gaza Boy, 11, Voices Pain Through Rap Gaza rapper Abdulrahman al-Shanti may only be eleven years old but his rhymes on war and hardship in the Palestinian enclave have reached thousands of people, conveying in English what he calls “a message of peace and humanity.” A video of al-Shanti rapping outside of his school in Gaza City, surrounded by classmates wearing matching uniforms, has garnered hundreds of thousands of views on social media and was even shared by the popular British rapper Lowkey.
Netanyahu Calls UAE an ‘Advanced Democracy’, then Deletes Comment Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the United Arab Emirates an “advanced democracy” in a video he posted on Twitter on Monday, before promptly deleting it upon realizing his mistake. The comment ascribing democratic values to the United Arab Emirates–a hereditary monarchy in which freedom of speech and expression is routinely suppressed and dissidents are detained–was seen as amusing and wildly inaccurate by many.