Palestine Media Roundup (6-11 July)

WATCH: Israeli Forces Demolish Palestinian School near Jerusalem Israeli bulldozers today demolished a school that was still in the construction stage near the occupied city of Jerusalem, according to the Palestinian news agency WAFA.According to eyewitnesses, the school, located in the al-Salam neighborhood in Shu’fat refugee camp, was demolished despite attempts by the owner of the building to get a permit from the Israeli municipality of West Jerusalem but was kept on hold until it was eventually demolished.

 

Report: $570 Million Physical, Economical Losses in Gaza The eleven days of hostilities in May 2021 in Gaza resulted in the loss of over 260 people, including 66 children and 41 women, and exacerbated previous traumas in particular among children. The human toll was aggravated by overall damage and losses to the social, infrastructure, and productive and financial sectors.A Rapid Damage and Needs Assessment (RDNA) reveals up to US$380 million in physical damage and US$190 million in economic losses. Recovery needs have been estimated up to US$485 million during the first 24 months.

 

The violence against Palestinians in Gaza doesn’t stop when the bombs stop falling Adalah Justice Project’s Sumaya Awad talks with Jehad Abusalim about Gaza, the Palestinian Authority, and the US movement for Palestine in the wake of the latest Israeli aggression on Gaza. Jehad is a PhD candidate at the History and Hebrew and Judaic Studies joint program at New York University where he studies Arab intellectual writings on Zionism from the first half of the twentieth century. Jehad is also the Education and Policy Associate of the Palestine Activism Program at the American Friends Service Committee.

 

Israel bulldozes lands belonging to endowment department near Al-Aqsa Mosque Bulldozers belonging to the Israel Nature and Parks Authority stormed land owned by the Islamic Endowments in Al-Suwaneh neighbourhood, in the centre of occupied Jerusalem, yesterday and began bulldozing it.

Israel destroys house of prisoner, leave mother and 3 kids homeless Israeli occupation forces this morning destroyed the house of Palestinian prisoner Muntaser Shalaby, in the village of Turmus Ayya in the northwest of Ramallah. Eyewitnesses said a large number of Israeli occupation troops raided the village at night and an Israeli army engineering unit planted explosives in the house. Following the demolition, scores of Palestinians protested against the presence and actions of occupation forces in the village.

Israel expels former Palestinian prisoners from occupied Jerusalem The Israeli occupation forces have handed four former Palestinian prisoners expulsion orders from the city of Jerusalem for terms of between three and six months. The orders also ban the individuals from having any contact with a number of people and activists. The four Palestinians are Nasser Al-Hadmi, Salim Al-Jubeh, Majed Al-Jubeh, and Yaqoub Abu Assab. All four are alleged to be Hamas activists. According to the expulsion orders, they are said to "pose a threat" to the occupation state.

UN: Israel demolished, seized 421 Palestinian homes since start of 2021 Israeli occupation authorities have demolished 421 Palestinian homes since the beginning of 2021, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) has revealed in its recent report. "So far in 2021, the Israeli authorities have demolished, seized or forced people to demolish at least 421 Palestinian-owned structures, including 130 donor-funded [in the West Bank]," the report conveyed.

Palestine: occupation soldiers close down agricultural union Israeli occupation forces raided the headquarters of the Union of Agricultural Work Committees (UAWC) in the occupied West Bank city of Al-Bireh this morning. A military order was issued, forcing the office to close for six months. According to the UAWC, heavily-armed Israeli soldiers broke down the door before confiscating computers and memory drives. The union is one of the largest organisations providing assistance to Palestinian farmers. The soldiers involved in the raid apparently said that the closure was due to "security concerns".

PA Detains 21 Palestinian Activists in Ramallah Palestinian Authority (PA)’s security services yesterday detained 21 Palestinian protesters who arrived in Al-Manara Square to protest against the murder of Palestinian activist Nizar Banat. Eyewitnesses said that 21 activists were detained as soon as they arrived at Al-Manara Square, including ten women.

PA Releases Palestinian Journalist Alaa Al-Rimawi after 3 Days of Hunger Strike The Palestinian Public Prosecution today released journalist Alaa Al-Rimawi after detaining him for three days. Al-Rimawi’s lawyer, Gandhi Al-Rubei, said that the Public Prosecution “closed Al-Rimawi’s file, and he will not be tried.” Al-Rimawi runs the J-Media network and works as a correspondent for the Qatari TV channel Al Jazeera Mubasher.

Israel court deems 'racist' Nation-State Law constitutional Israel's Supreme Court yesterday refused a host of petitions against the country's Nation-State Law, local media has reported. Ten of the 11 judges favoured denying the petitions against the law, deeming it constitutional. Only the one Arab judge on the bench – Justice George Karra – objected. The Nation-State Law states that Israel does not belong to all its citizens, but is the "the Nation-State of the Jewish people".

Palestine Authority must legislate against domestic violence, rights groups say Palestinian women's rights organisations criticised the Palestinian Authority for not drafting laws that could have prevented the deaths of 58 women who were murdered in incidents of domestic violence over the last two years, Palestinian Media Watch reported.Violence against women in Palestine has been on the rise for the past decade. According to the Women's Center for Legal Aid and Counselling, an independent Palestinian NGO, 21 Palestinian women were murdered in 2019 and 37 in 2020, an increase of 176 per cent.

As protests grow, the PA turns its repression on Palestinian journalists Since the killing of outspoken government critic Nizar Banat on June 24 under the custody of Palestinian Authority security forces, who violently arrested him in his relatives’ home near Hebron, thousands of Palestinians have taken to the streets across the occupied West Bank to protest against the PA, viewing the government as corrupt and authoritarian. Palestinian journalists, including Elwan, said that Palestinian security forces and loyalists to President Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah party attacked them while they were covering the demonstrations and repeatedly tried to seize their phones and equipment. In some cases, journalists were beaten and harassed by undercover agents, employing tactics used by Israeli forces against Palestinians.

UN Official, Michael Lynk, Decries ‘War Crimes’ in Occupied Palestine Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank amount to a war crime, a UN official said today, calling on countries to make clear to Israel that its “illegal occupation” cannot be cost-free, Reuters reported. Michael Lynk, UN special rapporteur on human rights in the occupied Palestinian territories, was addressing a session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, boycotted by Israel which does not recognize his mandate or cooperate with him.

Biden Wants Israel to Cease Palestinian Home Demolition The administration of US President Joe Biden has said that it will ‘prioritize’ halting Israel’s policy of punitive home demolitions in what appeared to be its first confrontation with the new government of Prime Minister Naftali Bennett.“We attach a good deal of priority to this,” US State Department spokesman Ned Price told reporters in Washington on Thursday.

‘Democratic Majority for Israel’ doesn’t think there’s a Democratic majority for Israel –and neither does Shontel Brown Nina Turner is leading in the Democratic race for the open House seat in Ohio. The primary election is August 3, and polls show the former Sanders spokesperson and state senator up by “double digits,” says the Hill. Turner has the endorsement of the Plain Dealer and the Cleveland mayor, per news reports, as well as the backing of several members of the progressive “Squad” in Congress. The Democratic Party establishment is plainly afraid that Turner will take the seat once held by Marcia Fudge (now Biden’s HUD secretary) and grow the ranks of the Squad in Congress. So it has lined up behind Shontel Brown, a county councilperson and former Democratic Party chair. Brown has the endorsement of Hillary Clinton and House Majority Whip James Clyburn. And Israel is at the core of the establishment concerns. Not that they want you to know that.

World has failed to protect Palestinians from Israel's violations, rights group says Hamas officials met with a Geneva Council for International Affairs and Development (GCIAD) delegation in Istanbul to discuss the current situation in Palestine and international efforts to support justice and the rule of law in Palestine. During the meeting, GCIAD President Dr. Nurhayati Ali Assegaf highlighted the concern about the continued suffering of Gaza's population, stressed the need to boost aid for Palestine and urge the Israeli authorities to end their illegal siege on Gaza and to fully cooperate with the ICC war crimes probe.

Abbas to visit Turkey at Erdogan's invitation Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has invited his Palestinian counterpart Mahmoud Abbas to visit Turkey where the two are expected to discuss mutual relations. The meeting will be held in the capital, Ankara. The humanitarian situation in Palestine and the latest developments in the Israel-Palestine conflict will also be topics of discussion. The ongoing Israeli attacks in the occupied West Bank and Jerusalem, are on the agenda, with particular focus on the expulsions in Silwan and Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhoods and Al-Aqsa Mosque.
 
Abbas meets US Congress delegation, applauded Biden's support for Palestinians Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas yesterday discussed the peace process and the latest developments in the occupied territories with a delegation from the US Congress, Wafa reported. The Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the United States House of Representatives, Gregory Meeks, headed the delegation which included 11 members representing the Democratic and Republican parties. They met with Abbas at the headquarters of the presidency in Ramallah, in the central occupied West Bank.

US restores assistance to UNRWA The Biden administration announced on Sunday that it will restart funding for the United Nations Relief and Works Fund for Palestine refugees (UNRWA) and other assistance cut by former President Donald Trump. The US will provide $235 million in aid to the Palestinians via UNRWA. The package, including humanitarian, economic and development assistance, was detailed by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken as part of an effort to repair American ties with the Palestinians that all but collapsed during Trump's tenure.

‘Beita is undefeatable’: Inside the struggle to save this Palestinian village from Israeli settlers In early May, a group of Israeli settlers arrived with caravans and set up an illegal outpost on the top of Jabal Sabih on the outskirts of Beita, in the northern occupied West Bank.Since then, every single day for more than two months, protests in the village have been nonstop, and the Israeli response has been severe.

Palestine calls on Red Cross to intervene and save prisoner's life Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad Al-Maliki yesterday called on the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to urgently intervene to save the life of detainee Al-Ghadanfar Abu Atwan, who has been on hunger strike for 65 days. In an urgent request addressed to the president of the ICRC in Geneva, Peter Maurer, the minister called on the International body to "assume its legal responsibilities and intervene quickly to save Abu Atwan's life."

The challenge, and opportunity, of boycott campaigns in the occupied lands of Palestine – Mondoweiss The Palestinian National Economic Week (NEW) campaign, called “Buy from your hometown”, was launched in the wake of the latest uprising in Palestine. Through lectures, tours, and farmer’s markets in addition to selling posters and stickers promoting the boycott of Israel, NEW aimed at raising Palestinians’ consciousness of how economic policies strengthen colonial systems, and the importance of boycott in resisting and corroding colonial-economic structures.It called on Palestinians to boycott Israeli products and promoted the importance of substituting Palestinian alternatives, for the sake of Palestinian empowerment and capacity-building.

Over 600 scholars and artists call for the dismantling of the apartheid regime in historic Palestine – Mondoweiss Over 600 scholars, artists and intellectuals from more than 45 countries have signed the following declaration calling for the dismantling of the apartheid regime set up on the territory of historic Palestine and the establishment of a democratic constitutional arrangement that grants all its inhabitants equal rights and duties. The signatories include many distinguished figures, including the Nobel Peace Prize laureates Adolfo Pérez Esquivel and Mairead Maguire, academics with legal expertise Monique Chemillier-Gendreau and Richard Falk, scholars Étienne Balibar, Hagit Borer, Ivar Ekeland, Suad Joseph, Jacques Rancière, Roshdi Rashed and Gayatri Spivak, health researcher Sir Iain Chalmers, composer Brian Eno, musician Roger Waters, author Ahdaf Soueif, economist and former Assistant Secretary-General of the UN Sir Richard Jolly, South African politician and veteran anti-apartheid leader Ronnie Kasrils and Canadian peace activist and former national leader of the Green Party of Canada Joan Russow.

Gaza's next generation of physicians struggle to graduate – Mondoweiss Assel is one of 73 medical students (from a class of 123) who have worked since 2015 to become physicians but will not be able to graduate until they can pay their remaining tuition fees. To help them, the Medical Students Union at the Islamic University of Gaza has launched a crowdfunding campaign with a goal of raising $30,000 in the first phase.

Palestinian leader Ahmed Jibril laid to rest in Syria Palestinians turned out in Damascus today to mourn Ahmed Jibril, whose Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine – General Command fought Israel in the 1970s and 1980s, Reuters reports.Relatives and members of factions joined a convoy taking his body to the city's Al-Othman Mosque and then on to the cemetery at the Palestinian refugee camp of Yarmouk.

Palestinians in Israel chant 'Jerusalem is red line' during flag march Hundreds of Palestinians in Israel took part in a Palestine Flag March organised on Friday in the city of Umm Al-Fahm in Israel, Arab48.com reported. The Palestine Flag March was organised by young Palestinians and sponsored by Palestinian factions and public figures in Israel. The Palestinian flag was raised during the march by Palestinians wearing the Palestinian keffiyeh chanting anti-Israeli occupation slogans. Among the chanted slogans was: "Jerusalem is a red line." The march came in response to the Israeli Flag March organised annually on 15 June, and in protest against the continuous Israeli aggression in Sheikh Jarrah, Silwan and Al-Aqsa Mosque. 

 

Jewishness as property under Israeli law – Mondoweiss The law has become a central point of contention in the public discourse over Sheikh Jarrah. In response to Palestinian claims of ethnic cleansing, Israeli propaganda has continuously attempted to depict the pending expulsions of Palestinian residents of Sheikh Jarrah as a “real estate dispute,” emphasizing that the case is still pending in the Israeli Supreme Court. But claims over land and housing–that is, “real estate disputes”–are at the core of the Israeli project of settler-colonization and the Palestinian struggle against it. Israeli courts–including the Supreme Court–are not neutral arbiters of these disputes, but rather protagonists in a national-colonial project that distributes value, pain, and resources based on ethno-national lines.

 

Palestinian cast refuses to take part in Cannes Film Festival over inclusion as 'Israeli film' The cast of 'Let There Be Morning', a film directed by Israeli Eran Kolirin, is boycotting the Cannes Film Festival, despite the film being set to premiere there tomorrow. The actors, who are Palestinian citizens of Israel, explained in a collective statement on social media that they will be taking a political act of absence in protest of Israel's cultural erasure of the Palestinians. "We cannot ignore the contradiction of the film's entry into Cannes under the label of an "Israeli film" when Israel continues to carry its decades-long colonial campaign of ethnic cleansing, expulsion, and apartheid against us—the Palestinian people," the cast said in a statement.