[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
At least Eight Palestinians Were Detained in Israeli Occupation Army Raids in the West Bank Israeli occupation forces detained at least eight Palestinians from various parts of the occupied territories, according to Palestinian security sources and witnesses. Israeli forces detained a Palestinian man after ransacking his house in a raid that triggered confrontations in Qaddoura refugee camp in the center of Ramallah city.
Israeli Occupation Demolishes 42 Palestinian Buildings, Displacing 53 People And Affecting 150 Others - UN The Israeli occupation authorities demolished or seized forty-two Palestinian-owned structures in the period between 22 September and 5 October for the lack of Israeli-issued building permits, displacing fifty-three Palestinians, and otherwise affecting about one hundred fifty people, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in the occupied Palestinian territory said in its biweekly Protection of Civilians Report.
Israel's School Demolition Order Leaves Palestinian Children in Limbo An Israeli court rejected on Thursday an appeal against the demolition of an EU-supported Palestinian school in the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah. The Israeli authorities had issued a demolition order in September against the newly built primary school in an area known as Ras al-Tin, eastern Ramallah. The order to tear down the school had been made under the pretext of it having been built without a permit in the West Bank's Area C.
Israel Soldiers Face Punishment After Training Base Brawl Leaves 21 Injured The Israeli military is to punish soldiers involved in a brawl at a training base on Sunday, as well as their commanders. The incident at the Givanti Infantry Brigade’s Ketziot training base left twenty-one soldiers injured including eight that were hospitalized and reportedly took place while troops from the Shaked Battalion and the Bedouin 585th reconnaissance unit were standing in line to enter the dining hall for lunch.
Domestic Policy
Hamas’s Haniyeh: ‘No mercy’ for Arab States Who Betray Palestinian Cause Speaking to MEE, Ismail Haniyeh decries UAE “normalization” deal with Israel, and hails “positive” talks with Fatah. Haniyeh said Hamas had detected “positive changes” on the ground in the West Bank as a result of reconciliation talks with rival Palestinian faction Fatah aimed at forming a national unity government.
One State or Two states, There is Only One Way Hamada Jaber argues that Palestinian leadership bears responsibility for accumulated diplomatic failures. The public’s confidence cannot be restored without serious intervention, including dissolving the Palestinian Authority and reforming the Palestine Liberation Organization. The leadership now, and without hesitation, has to take this step back and return the political situation as it was before the Madrid Conference and the Oslo Accords.
Foreign Policy
Premier Urges EU to Play an Effective Role in a Future Political Process Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh yesterday urged the European Union to play an effective role in any future political process. “Europe believes in the two-state solution. Recognize the state of Palestine in order for us and you to break the status quo,” he said during an online debate with the European Parliament’s Committee on Foreign Affairs, attended by some eighty parliament members representing different countries and parties in Europe.
Hamas Says Russia is Ready to Host factions’ Meeting The Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement announced on Sunday that Russia is ready to host a meeting for leaders of the Palestinian factions. “During our visit to Moscow,” said Hamas Political Bureau member Mousa Abu Marzouk, “President [Vladimir] Putin’s envoy to the Middle East Mikhail Bogdanov expressed Russia’s readiness to host a meeting for secretaries-general of the Palestinian factions.” According to Abu Marzouk, Bogdanov said that the offer is intended to “reinforce national unity and political partnership and face up to plans to liquidate the Palestinian cause.”
Accept Tax Revenues Collected by Israel or Lose Aid, EU Tells Palestinians The European Union has given the Palestinian Authority an unprecedented ultimatum: accept tax revenues collected by Israel on its behalf or lose European Union aid. The Palestinian Authority has since May refused to accept the taxes collected on its behalf in protest against Israel's planned annexation of parts of the occupied West Bank. It has also severed security and civilian coordination with Israel, which were laid out under the Oslo Accords.
UNSC to Hold Open Session to Discuss President Abbas' Initiative on Peace Conference Palestine's Permanent Observer to the United Nations, Riyad Mansour, said today that the United Nation Security Council is scheduled to hold an open session at the end of this month, for a public debate to discuss President Mahmoud Abbas' initiative on holding an international peace conference.
Qatar to Pay $100m to Gaza in Return For Ceasefire with Israel Israel and Qatar have been discussing the transfer of one hundred million dollars to the besieged Gaza Strip in return for a six-month ceasefire deal between Hamas and the occupation, Israeli media reported. The Times of Israel reported Israeli TV Channel 12 saying if the understandings did not succeed in the coming few weeks, Israel would be preparing for a possible escalation with Gaza.
For Third Consecutive Friday, Israel Prevents Palestinians From Entering Al-Aqsa Mosque The Israeli occupation police have prevented Palestinians from entering al-Aqsa Mosque and performing Friday prayer for the third consecutive week, Anadolu Agency reported. Eyewitnesses disclosed that the Israeli occupation police were deployed at the outer entrances of Jerusalem’s Old City and prevented every Palestinian from entering into the area.
Palestinians Say US Policy Would Be Same or Worse Under Biden If Joe Biden is elected US president, he will not improve US policy for Palestinians. Nearly seventy percent of Palestinians say it will be the same or worse under Biden. Just one in five Palestinians says he will improve matters.
Palestine PM: God Help Us If There Are 4 More Years of US’ Trump Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh yesterday expressed concern if US President Donald Trump were to be re-elected into office in November, according to the Jerusalem Post. “The election is very important. God help us, the EU and the whole world if there are four more years of Trump,” he told European Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee. “Trump has wasted four years of everyone’s time,” he added, referring to the US administration’s so-called Middle East “peace plan.”
Settlers and Illegal Settlements
Settlers Install Menorah Engraved Stone in the Old City of Hebron Israeli settlers on Monday placed a stone inscribed with the Talmudic menorah on the arch of an old building in the Qazzazin market in the old city of Hebron. Witnesses reported that settlers, under the protection of the occupation army, installed a stone inscribed with the Talmudic menorah, at the entrance to the Qazzazin market, in the context of the Judaization operations pursued by the occupation authorities in the town.
Israel to Massively Expand Settlements After UAE Normalization Israel is moving ahead with thousands of new settlement units in the occupied West Bank. This represents a dramatic expansion of Israel’s settler-colonial efforts: The vast majority of the housing units are planned in “isolated” settlements outside the large blocs already eyed for Israeli annexation under President Donald Trump’s so-called “Peace to Prosperity” plan.
Bethlehem: Israel Green-lights Hundreds of Housing Units in settlement The Israeli occupation authorities approved the construction of hundreds of settlement units in “Tzur Hadassah” settlement, which is built on citizens’ lands in Wadi Fukin village, west of Bethlehem. Head of the Wall and Settlement Resistance Commission in Bethlehem, Hassan Brijieh, told WAFA agency that, based on Israeli sources, the occupation approved the construction of five hundred settlement units in the aforementioned settlement, at the expense of the citizens’ lands in Wadi Fukin.
In the South of the West Bank, Israeli Settlers Steal Palestinian Olive Crops, Vandalize Trees Palestinian landowners have been trying to reach their lands for a while but that the army prevented them from getting there telling them that they should obtain a special permit first from the Israeli military government. When the farmers finally were able to reach their lands after getting army permission, they discovered the theft of their crops and the vandalism of the trees.
Boycott, Divest, and Sanction Movement
JCB Faces Government Probe Over Machinery Used to Demolish Palestinian Homes Manufacturing giant JCB is to be investigated by the British government following claims that machinery built by the company is used by the Israel Defense Forces to demolish Palestinian homes and build illegal colonial settlements on occupied Palestinian land. The news comes after Lawyers for Palestinian Human Rights lodged a complaint last year with Britain’s National Contact Point for the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises, situated in the Department of International Trade.
Major UK Pension Fund Body Demanding Answers on Israeli Settlements A UK body representing pension funds worth almost 390 billion dollars is demanding answers on corporate involvement in illegal Israeli settlements. The Local Authority Pension Fund Forum has “started correspondence” with companies cited by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign and the United Nations “as having human rights concerns through their operations in the Israeli settlements” in the occupied West Bank, local councillors were told in a Wolverhampton committee meeting last month.
In a First, British Trade Unions Commit to Challenging Israeli ‘apartheid’ On 15 September, the Annual Congress of the Trade Union Congress representing nearly six million members in the United Kingdom adopted a motion which reaffirmed its solidarity with the struggle of the Palestinian people for the right to self-determination, condemning the occupation and expansionist policies of the Israeli government. The resolution expressed outright opposition to the annexationist ambitions of the Netanyahu government, backed by the United States Administration and called for an end to British government complicity.
Law and Prisons
Prisoner's Wife Joins in Hunger Strike A detainee’s wife today began a hunger strike in solidarity with her husband, who has been hunger-striking for almost seventy days in protest of his administrative detention, according to the Palestinian Prisoner's Society. The PPS said in a press statement that wife of Maher al-Akhras, who has been transferred to Kaplan Medical Center in central Israel after going on hunger strike for seventy-three consecutive days, announced that she has gone on a hunger strike as well in front of the hospital in solidarity with her husband.
Palestinian Leaders Call for Israel to Release Prisoner on 80th Day of Hunger Strike Several Palestinian political figures have raised the alarm over the deteriorating health of Maher al-Akhras, who entered the eightieth day of his hunger strike on Tuesday in protest against his administrative detention—imprisonment without charges or trial—by Israel. On Tuesday, Israel's Supreme Court rejected Akhras's legal petition for release.
Environment, Economy, and Other
UNRWA Launches 'Your Health' Mobile Application The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East announced the release of a new innovative tool called the Your Health with UNRWA mobile application. Featuring an Arabic language interface, the application is now available for download and use by smartphone users among Palestine refugees, and the general public, according to an UNRWA press release.
Liberal Zionist Icon Yitzhak Rabin was a Mass-murderer Until the Very End Even worse than Rabin doing nothing of substance to bring about a lasting peace, he never renounced or abandoned his appetite for murderous violence. His actions in 1948 and the late 1980s were not hardline positions from which he had evolved but an essential part of his character even during the 1993 Oslo negotiations for which he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. In late July of that year, Rabin embarked upon what was arguably the deadliest campaign of his career.
Culture and Art
Tracing My Queer Consciousness From Palestine to the US, And Back Again While an academic work on LGBTQ Palestinians, Sa'ed Atshan's "Queer Palestine and the Empire of Critique," is also deeply personal account of coming of age between homophobia and Israel's occupation.
Israel Founders Were ‘thieves’, Israeli Historian Says Early Zionist-Jewish settlers in Palestine “looted Arab property,” a new book by an Israeli historian has said, adding “authorities turned a blind eye.” In what has been described as the “first-ever comprehensive study” by Israeli historian Adam Raz described “the extent to which Jews looted Arab property” during the Zionist militias’ attack in 1948 on Palestinians and their homes, and explains why Ben-Gurion said “most of the Jews are thieves.”