[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
IOF Demolish al-Araqib Bedouin Village for the 177th Time Israeli Occupation authorities have demolished the tents of al-Araqib Bedouin village for the 177th time, while residents are still deprived of recognition and threatened with displacement in the Negev region. The Israeli authorities have continued to demolish al-Araqib village since 2000, in their repeated attempts to push the villagers to frustration and despair and displace them from their lands.
Four Palestinians Killed After Israeli Airstrike on Gaza The Israeli military’s jet fighters have struck several positions in the eastern part of the besieged Gaza Strip, killing four and injuring at least one other Palestinian. The four Palestinians killed on Monday, 24 August, have been identified as Iyad Jamal al-Jedi, Muataz Amir al-Mubid, Yahya Fareed al-Mubid, and Yaaqoub Zaydieh.
IOF Demolished Another Home in Jerusalem this Morning Israeli Occupation Forces on Tuesday morning, 25 August, demolished the home of a Palestinian citizen in the Ein al-Lawza neighborhood in Silwan town, south of occupied Jerusalem. Eyewitnesses reported that large Israeli Occupation Forces were largely deployed in the neighborhood in preparation for the demolition and that the Israeli soldiers brought special equipment to demolish the one-story house, located in a narrow neighborhood.
Israeli Army Orders Removal of Palestinian Flagpole for ‘Security Reasons’ The Palestinian village of Sebastia in the occupied West Bank temporarily removed a newly installed flagpole on Monday morning after the Israeli army issued an order demanding its removal “for security reasons.” The military notice, signed by the Israeli army commander in the West Bank, was hung on the flagpole structure last Friday even before a Palestinian flag was flown. The flagpole, which was installed on 13 August, is part of a UNESCO-supervised rehabilitation project conducted in Sebastia’s public plaza, adjacent to the village’s famed archeological site.
Palestinian Child Shot by Israel Dies in Detention A Palestinian boy who was shot and detained by Israeli Occupation Forces in the central West Bank on Wednesday died of his injuries. The family of Muhammad Matar was informed on Thursday that the sixteen-year-old had been killed. Israel has not transferred the teen’s body to his family, Defense for Children International Palestine stated on Friday. Israeli forces have killed four Palestinian children so far, this year and a fifth child died of injuries sustained during protests along Gaza’s boundary with Israel in 2019.
Better to Launch Balloons than to Die in Silence In recent weeks, the tension between Palestinians in Gaza and Israeli Occupation Forces has increased. Israel has used the launching of incendiary balloons by Palestinian youths as a pretext to bomb Gaza once again. The release of the balloons is a gesture of protest against how the Israeli Occupation has procrastinated in abiding by its previous agreements with the Palestinian resistance. Under those agreements, Israel had committed to easing the siege on Gaza.
Domestic Policy
Gaza’s Health Sector at Risk as Israel’s Week-long Airstrikes Continue Israel has been bombing Gaza for eight days straight, all as part of what Israel says is a response to incendiary balloons sent from Gaza into Israeli territory. Local Palestinian media has reported several instances over the past week during which Israeli air strikes have caused damage to residential and non-Hamas affiliated structures, and in some cases, injury to civilians.
Israel Cuts Fuel, Gaza Goes Dark The Gaza Strip’s only power plant shut down on Tuesday, 18 August, after Israel stopped the transfer of fuel to the territory. The halting of fuel transfers is among a series of collective punishment measures Israel has imposed on Gaza. Israel has also bombed Gaza on an almost a daily basis over the past week. Two million Palestinians in Gaza have been under a lethal Israeli siege for the past thirteen years.
Gaza Hospitals Suffer from Electricity Crises Due to Israeli Blockade Prolonged power outages are disrupting medical services in Gaza bringing the blockaded coastal enclave closer to a humanitarian disaster. Power outages currently last for up to twenty hours a day in the coastal sliver under the crippling Israeli blockade forcing hospitals to rely on electricity backup generators as their main source of power. Gaza’s sole power generating plant stopped working on Tuesday after Israel refused to allow fuel into the blockaded coastal strip.
OPINION: How Israel Wages War on Palestinian History Israel’s archives are being hurriedly sealed up precisely to prevent any danger that records might confirm long sidelined and discounted Palestinian history. The archives have, for example, confirmed some of the large-scale massacres of Palestinian civilians carried out in 1948–the year Israel was established by dispossessing Palestinians of their homeland.
Gaza in Lockdown after First Covid-19 Community Transmission A full lockdown has been imposed on the besieged Gaza Strip after authorities confirmed the first coronavirus cases spread through the community, raising fears of a potentially devastating outbreak in the impoverished Palestinian territory. Until now, all the cases reported in the coastal enclave, home to two million Palestinians, were linked to quarantine facilities for residents returning from abroad. On Monday, the health ministry said four people from the same family tested positive in central Gaza and investigations were under way to track the source of the infection.
Foreign Policy
Anti-normalization Groups Set up in UAE to Counter Israel Peace Deal Protestors in the United Arab Emirates against the normalization of relations with Israel founded an association which opposes any economic, sports, security and political deals the Gulf country signs with the occupation state. In a statement, founders of the association described United Arab Emirates attempts to normalize relations with Israel as “betrayal” and added that the steps “legitimizes Israel’s occupation of Palestinian lands.”
Biden’s Party Just Crushed Palestinian Human Rights. But it Won’t Hold Kamala Harris is an AIPAC-style Israel supporter who famously was dumbfounded when the New York Times asked her about problems with Israel’s human rights record… Joe Biden has been visiting Israel for nearly fifty years and counts every Israeli prime minister including Netanyahu as a dear friend, and he went out of his way to stomp on Palestinian activist Linda Sarsour. Palestine is just not a progressive issue; the Democrats will have you believe.
Liberal Zionist/Muslim Panel at DNC Skirts Israel Palestine Question to Avoid ‘Circular Firing Squad’ The Democratic convention held a panel on the “shared” struggle of Muslims and Jews last Thursday that observed the party’s red lines–Let’s not talk about Israel. It featured two liberal Zionists alongside two Muslims, and the subject of Palestinian human rights came up only fleetingly. The focus was the urgency of defeating Trump and of battling white nationalism, antisemitism, and Islamophobia.
Pro-Israel Kamala Harris Pledges not to Condition US Aid to Israel on Human Rights Senator Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee for vice president, has eased the concerns of pro-Israel Jewish donors to her party, by pledging not to condition aid to Israel on its human rights record if Joe Biden is elected President. Vowing to put Israel first, Harris added: “I pledge to you the Biden-Harris administration will sustain our unbreakable commitment to Israel’s security, including the unprecedented military and intelligence cooperation pioneered during the Obama-Biden administration and the guarantee that Israel will always maintain its qualitative military edge.”
Settlers and Illegal Settlements
Thousands of Palestinian Homes in Occupied Al-Quds Face Demolition Threat: PA Official A senior Palestinian official says thousands of Palestinian-owned houses in occupied Jerusalem are facing the threat of demolition by Israeli Authorities. The Palestinian Authority’s deputy governor of Jerusalem, Abdullah Siam, told the Arabic-language Voice of Palestine radio station that Israeli courts are considering the demolition of some eighteen thousand Palestinian homes. Israeli officials have issued nearly six hundred fifty demolition orders against Palestinian-owned structures in Jerusalem since the beginning of the current year.
Israeli Settlers Set Up outpost near Hebron to Expand Illegal Settlement Illegal Israeli settlers in the occupied Palestinian territories have set up an illegal outpost in the village of Birin, east of Hebron, in order to “expand” an illegal settlement, Wafa news agency has reported. The villagers voiced their concerns that the planned land seizure is part of the wider Israeli measures designed to displace them and grab their land to make room for the expansion of the nearby illegal colonial settlement of Bani Haiver.
Nablus: Settlers Set Bulldozer on Fire Israeli settlers on Thursday set fire to a bulldozer in the village of Asira al-Qibliya, south of Nablus. The official in charge of the settlement file in the northern West Bank, Ghassan Daghlas, told the official agency that settlers from “Yitzhar” illegal settlement set fire to a bulldozer in the village of Asira al-Qibliya, owned by villagers. Settlers also sprayed racist slogans on the site.
Boycott, Divest, and Sanction Movement
Palestinians Call for Boycott of UAE in Protest of Normalization with Israel Palestinians have responded with a resounding “no” to the new peace agreement between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, signed last week under the auspices of the Trump administration. Palestinians have taken to the streets across the occupied West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Gaza Strip to denounce the deal, which they have described as the ultimate “betrayal” and a “stab in the back.”
New York Lawmakers Denounce DSA as Anti-Semitic after Group Challenges Junkets to Israel At the Democratic Socialists of America convention in 2017, the group endorsed the BDS movement by an overwhelming majority. That resolution asserted that “socialists have a responsibility to side with the oppressed and are committed to their unconditional liberation.” DSA was immediately condemned by groups like The Jewish Community Relations Council of New York, which organizes trips to Israel for city council members.
Law and Prisons
Israel-UAE Deal: Jordanian Artist Arrested Over Cartoon Jordanian authorities have detained cartoonist Emad Hajjaj, after he published a caricature critical of the Israel-United Arab Emirates normalization deal. His cartoon depicted Abu Dhabi's Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan—often referred to as the de-facto ruler of United Arab Emirates—holding a dove bearing the Israeli flag. The dove is spitting in the Gulf leader's face, while Arabic text refers to Israel's opposition to the sale of US F-35 aircrafts to the Emirates.
Saudi to Resume Trials of Jordanian, Palestinian Political Prisoners Saudi Arabia will resume the trials of more than sixty Palestinian and Jordanian political prisoners who are being held in detention in the country. Khidr Mashayekh added that the defendants have been in custody since 2019 on the charge of “receiving financial support for the Palestine cause.”
Environment, Economy, and Other
OPINION: Uphold Palestinian Struggle in All its Forms Any meaningful defense of the Palestinian people must clearly uphold the right to resist colonialism by all means, including armed struggle–and support efforts to remove Palestinian resistance groups from lists of “terrorist organizations.” Political and media campaigns for the Palestinian cause must work consciously to uphold the legitimacy of and normalize the armed resistance.
OPINION: The Palestinian’s Ultimate Guide to Crossing an Israeli Checkpoint What has become common knowledge among Palestinians is how to cross these bypass checkpoints in the most efficient way possible. The trick, put simply, is to approach the crossing as a “non-Arab.” So as not to trouble our oppressors, here is a ten-step guide to help Palestinians avoid racial profiling at checkpoints—and perhaps get to places on time.
OPINION: Once Taboo, LGBTQ Rights Take Center Stage in Palestinian Society For a long time now, queer Palestinians have been living under two different and overlapping systems of identity erasures. One is by Israelis who have continuously denied our existence as Palestinians, claiming there is “no such thing as the Palestinian people.” The second is by Palestinians who have for the most part denied our existence as homosexuals, bisexuals, transgender, queers, and so on; when one of us stands up and insists on their existence, then we are labeled either as diseased, heretics, a deviation from nature or the products of western influences. But what was once taboo has now turned into a topic of intense debate in Palestinian society, compelling even the political elites to break their protracted silence and take a stance.
Culture and Art
Palestine and Patriarchy – the Dual Awakening of Susan Abulhawa’s New Novel Susan Abulhawa’s new book, Against a Loveless World, is a powerful feminist contribution to Palestinian writing that tells us that the sexual liberation struggle, and the decolonizing of patriarchal power, are not separate from national liberation. The revolutionary Palestinian hero of Abulhawa’s novel is both a woman and a one-time sex worker whose revolutionary consciousness emerges not from the barrel of a gun but within an inferno of colonial sexism, patriarchy, homophobia, and male violence.
From Science to Classical Music, Israel Clamps Down on Palestinian Culture The last months have seen Israel crack down on cultural figures and intellectuals in the occupied territories. Not unique in themselves, each of these cases is part of a wider phenomenon of arrests and detentions of Palestinian academics, scientists, and cultural figures conducted by Israel for decades. Taken together, these practices can be viewed as part of a wider effort by the Israeli government to weaken Palestinian society by suppressing and undermining its knowledge producers, with the unstated objective of ensuring that only one state and society—a Jewish, Zionist one—thrives in Israel-Palestine.
Gaza’s 11-Year Old Rapper Abdel-Rahman al-Shantti is also known as MCA Abdul and has a growing global online audience. At only eleven years old, he raps about war and the difficulties of growing up in Gaza. He is struck up friendships with rappers and DJs around the world and has even received airplay in Ireland. Shantti says he wants to show the world how difficult life in Gaza has become under a crippling Israeli blockade, but he remains positive.