[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
Human Rights Watch Calls on Israel to Release Body of Slain Palestinian Held For Over 10 Weeks Israeli authorities have held the body of a Palestinian man, Ahmad Erekat, for more than ten weeks after Israeli soldiers killed him seemingly without justification at a checkpoint, in violation of international humanitarian law, Human Rights Watch said today.
How Israel Lit Match for Deadly Fire Israel evacuated its illegal settlements in Gaza in 2005, but kept Palestinians in Gaza under tight control, exercising dominion over air, land, and sea. When in 2007, Hamas ousted Fatah forces unwilling to abide by the parliamentary election result, Israel simply locked the door. The resulting blockade and hardships suffered as a result in Gaza have been well documented.
Israel to Demolish Mosque in Occupied Jerusalem An Israeli occupation court yesterday ordered that al-Qa’qa’ Mosque in Jerusalem’s Silwan neighborhood be demolished because it was built without planning permission, Anadolu reported. The court gave Palestinians twenty-one days to challenge the order or the Islamic site will be demolished. Anadolu said the mosque is 110 square meters over two floors and was built in 2012.
Domestic Policy
Unified Palestinian Leadership for Popular Resistance Launches Its anti-Normalization Program The Unified Palestinian National Leadership for Popular Resistance launched its first program of action. It said in its first communique that following the decisions of the meeting of the leaders of the Palestinian factions held in Ramallah and Beirut on 3 September, the unified leadership was formed with a goal to launch “a comprehensive popular struggle that begins and will not end with the completion of the national independence of the State of Palestine and Jerusalem as its capital.”
PM: We will not take Israeli blackmail over our tax revenue dues Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammed Shtayyeh said on Monday that the Palestinian Authority is trying to get its tax revenue dues from Israel, without being submitted to any “Israeli blackmail.” “The tax revenue dues are the money of the Palestinian people, and we are trying to obtain them without Israel’s blackmail,” Shtayyeh told the weekly cabinet meeting held in Ramallah.
Palestinians Rally in West Bank Cities Against Arab Normalization Agreements with Israel On Tuesday, 15 September, hundreds of Palestinians rallied in several West Bank cities against the signing of normalization agreements with Israel by the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain planned for later today in Washington. Palestinians demonstrated in Nablus, Jenin, Tulkarm and Hebron, hoisting the Palestinian flag and holding signs that denounce the agreements and Arab normalization of relations with Israel.
Foreign Policy
Palestinians: Bahrain-Israel Normalization Deal is a Betrayal of Jerusalem The Palestinian leadership strongly rejects and condemns the American-Bahraini-Israeli tripartite declaration on the normalization of relations between the occupying state of Israel and the Kingdom of Bahrain, and considers it a betrayal of Jerusalem, al-Aqsa, and the Palestinian cause. According to Wafa Offical news agency, this step is a token of support for legitimizing the ugly crimes of the Israeli occupation against the Palestinian people, at a time when the occupying state is consolidating its takeover and annexation of the Palestinian land by military force.
Pro-Israel Groups Use Trump’s Bahrain Announcement to Attack Palestinians The deal Trump announced Friday between Israel and Bahrain, following on Trump’s deal to normalize relations between Israel and the United Arab Emirates announced last month, is a gesture of power politics. And it has been cheered by many powerful players, including lead organizations of the Israel lobby that claim it transforms the Middle East.
Israel-UAE deal: The two-(police)-state solution Before the normalisation agreement between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, the two countries had a history of cooperation on surveillance activities. In 2016, award-winning Emirati human rights defender Ahmed Mansoor—who is now serving a ten-year prison sentence in the United Arab Emirates for such unspeakable crimes as insulting the “status and prestige of the UAE and its symbols,” including its leaders—was the victim of a hacking attempt by NSO Group, an Israel-based cyber warfare firm.
Israel Ties that Bind: What is the US Giving Gulf Arab States? Analysts say normalization deals between the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Israel are unprecedented steps with unknown ramifications. The agreement ends the United Arab Emirates' economic boycott of Israel and allows the possibility of advanced US weaponry sales to the Emirates.
How the Saudi-UAE Axis Helped Israel Defeat Palestinians And Encourage Normalization at the Arab League The Saudi-Emirati alliance is at the heart of attempts to delegitimize the Palestinian cause and normalize Arab ties with Israel, including at the Arab League, writes Muhammad Shehada.
84% of Canadians Think the ICC Should Investigate Israeli Officials Over Alleged War Crimes A new survey conducted by EKOS Research Associates shows that an overwhelming majority of Canadians would support International Criminal Court investigation of Israel. The poll, which was co-sponsored by Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East, Independent Jewish Voices Canada, and the United Network for Justice and Peace in Palestine-Israel, found that eighty-four percent of Canadians think the ICC should investigate alleged war crimes committed by Israeli officials.
EU Supports UNRWA to Prevent Spread of Covid-19 The European Union has donated five hundred thousand euros in humanitarian aid to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East to step up hygiene and sanitation measures. This vital donation will contribute to the Agency’s efforts to contain the COVID-19 pandemic in the West Bank, including in East Jerusalem.
Settlers and Illegal Settlements
Israel Allocates Additional Resources to Facilitate ‘Jewish Settler Immigration’ to Palestine Army Minister Benny Gantz is heading to approve the construction of five thousand new settlement units in various areas of the West Bank and that the new settlement units will be established in large settlement blocs and isolated settlements. He also intends to push construction plans in the major settlement such as “Beit El, Shilo, Nikodim, and Har Bracha.”
Israel Settler Receives 3 Life Terms for Killing Dawabsheh Family An Israeli court has sentenced a Jewish settler to three life terms following the killing of a Palestinian couple and their baby in an arson attack in 2015. The Israeli central court in Lod sentenced Ben-Uliel to three consecutive life terms yesterday for the murder of eighteen-month-old Ali Dawabsheh and his parents Saad and Riham in the village of Duma. He was handed a further twenty years for the attempted murder of Ahmed Dawabsheh the couple’s then four-year-old son, who survived the blaze with severe burns.
Israel Approves 1,000 Settlement Units in Occupied West Bank Israeli authorities approved 980 settlement units in the illegal Efrat settlement in occupied Bethlehem, reported Wafa news agency. Hasan Brijiyeh, a local anti-settlement, and anti-apartheid activist told Wafa that Israel announced its approval of the construction of 980 new settlement units.
Boycott, Divest, and Sanction Movement
Stepping Up Direct Action For Palestine Over the last month we have seen sustained direct action by members of the new UK group Palestine Action against the sites of Israel’s largest weapons company Elbit Systems, notably the London office at 77 Kingsway in Central London. After just a month, Israel’s Minister of Strategic Affairs Orit Farkash HaCohen has already expressed alarm about these actions to the British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab, even bringing up the direct concern of Israeli arms companies like Elbit Systems continuing to do business in London. We know direct action works and we know what the Palestinians are facing, so we have no excuses.
TUC Calls for Israel Sanctions to “End Apartheid” The British Trades Union Congress has condemned Israel’s annexation plan, calling it “another significant step in the creation of a system of apartheid” in the West Bank. Passed on Tuesday, the motion is thought to be the first time the British trade union umbrella body has described Israeli policies as apartheid. The TUC motion calls for the United Kingdom to “take firm and decisive measures, including sanctions” against Israel to stop annexation, end the occupation and respect the right of Palestinian refugees to return.
Nas Daily: BDS Movement Calls for Boycott of Influencer’s New Project The Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement has called for a boycott of Palestinian-Israeli blogger Nas Daily and his search for eighty new Arab content creators, claiming that the influencer's training program is a cover for normalization with Israel. Nuseir Yassin, better known by his Facebook name Nas Daily, has amassed nearly eight million followers on Facebook, over two million on Instagram and 1.6 million on YouTube since he started creating one-minute video clips in 2016.
Law and Prisons
Israel Knew Slain Man Smeared As “terrorist” Was Innocent Human rights groups are demanding an urgent Israeli high court hearing about the killing of a Bedouin citizen by police in 2017. Recent Israeli media reports suggest new evidence concerning Yaqoub Abu al-Qiyan’s death and a conflict of interest on the part of the Israeli state attorney who closed the investigation into his slaying in 2018. The petition to the high court–filed on behalf of the Abu al-Qiyan family by Adalah and the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel–calls for the reopening of an investigation of the slaying and criminal indictments of those responsible.
On My Current Administrative Detention The following letter is being circulated by Scientists for Palestine. “I’m writing this letter as I await the Israeli military occupation court to review the Israeli military commander’s decision to put me under administrative detention for four months. This order overruled a court decision to release me on bail, while I await yet another trial for exercising my internationally protected right of expressing my opinion on my social media. And my next appearance before the military judge/court will be a closed session, showing that even Israeli authorities are ashamed of these proceedings.”
PA Accused of being 'a police state' Over Its Detention of Palestinian Film Director Abdel-Rahman Thaher, a thirty-eighty-year-old filmmaker has been held in Palestinian Authority detention cells since 19 August, when he was arrested by the preventive security apparatus. The Palestinian Authority has carried out thirty political arrests, thirty-three summons for interrogation and nine raids since August.
Israeli Court Hands Three Life Sentences to Settler in Dawabsheh Arson Case Amiram Ben-Uliel was found guilty of killing three Palestinians, including an eighteen-month-old child, in 2015 in the West Bank village of Duma. In its ruling in May, the court had acquitted Ben-Uliel of belonging to a terrorist organisation, a move the Dawabsheh family described as offensive.
7 Prisoners in Ofer Contracted Covid-19 The prison administration of “Ofer” prison informed the prisoners that seven new prisoners had been infected with the coronavirus in sections fourteen and seventeen, which are the so-called “al-Mabar” sections, where newly arrested detainees are being held. The Palestinian Prisoners’ Society said that the danger is escalating to the fate of the prisoners, who today face the danger of the prison and the danger of the epidemic, adding that the factor that increases the level of danger is that the narrative related to prisoners’ injuries is confined to the narrative of the prison administration, which continues to use the epidemic as a tool of repression and abuse against prisoners.
Environment, Economy, and Other
Covid-19 Devastates The Shattered Economy of the oPt COVID-19 has compounded the dire economic conditions in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, which were moving from bad to worse before the pandemic, according to the latest UNCTAD report on its assistance to the Palestinian people.
REPORT: Palestine: 121,000 People Lost Their Jobs in 2nd Quarter of 2020 The labor market is considered the most affected sector during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic since the beginning of March 2020, as the Palestinian government has taken several measures in addition to an emergency plan to limit the outbreak of the pandemic
Palestinian Date Farmers, Merchants Fear Losses Amid Recession Caused by Covid-19 Pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic has made life difficult for export-reliant dates farmers in the West Bank, who fear that they might be unable to export products amid the decrease in demand. Khader Zawahreh, a leading investor in the dates business, said that the global markets are currently experiencing a recession amid the coronavirus pandemic, which led to a decline in the global purchasing power.
Israel’s Climate Justice Movement Has a Colonialism Problem Climate justice movements worldwide consider anti-racism and ending oppression integral to their struggle. Yet the Israeli climate movement often remains silent when it comes to fighting neoliberalism, racism, oppression, and the occupation and its profound ecological damage to this land and the people who live on it.
Culture and Art
Cry, the beloved country: a review of Gil Mualem-Doron’s recent works "Cry, the beloved country," a showcase of Gil Mualem-Doron’s work from 2013 onward, is a critical look at the Israeli government’s practices and the consequences on both the Palestinian and Israeli people.
Coronavirus: Palestinian graffiti artist tells Gazans to mask up Palestinian artist paints graffiti to raise the awareness of public on coronavirus.
Baba, What Does My Name Mean? A Journey to Palestine Most people would agree that it is important for parents to instill a sense of national and cultural identity in their children in order to preserve their heritage for future generations, especially for those from immigrant or refugee families. The Palestinian diaspora and others living in the western world is no exception. There are not many English-language children’s books related to Palestine; perhaps the most notable in recent times was P is for Palestine: A Palestine Alphabet Book, which was shortlisted for the Palestine Book Awards in 2018. It caused some controversy by not shying away from the realities of the illegal Israeli occupation of Palestinian land. Yet the debut book by Rifk Ebeid (who is of Palestinian descent), Baba, What does my name mean? A Journey to Palestine goes beyond the letters of the alphabet and is therefore geared to a slightly older age, making it an ideal story for bedtime.