[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. You may send your own recommendations for inclusion in each roundup to Palestine@jadaliyya.com.]
The Occupation Forces
Israeli Bulldozers Demolish Caravan in West Bank Village Israeli bulldozers demolished a Palestinian-owned caravan, on Wednesday, in the Fasayil village in the central occupied West Bank district of Jericho. According to Aref Daraghmeh, who monitors settlement activity in the area, Israeli bulldozers demolished a caravan belonging to Abed al-Hadi Abyat under the pretext of being built without the difficult-to-obtain Israeli permits.
Israeli Army Opens Fire at Gazan Youths Near Border The Israeli army opened fire at a group of Palestinian youths, on Tuesday, for allegedly attempting to “infiltrate” the security fence along the Israeli-Gaza border. According to Hebrew-language news outlets, the Israeli army opened fire at the youths, however, no injuries were reported from the shooting.
IOF Carry Out Raids, Arrest And Confiscations All Over West Bank Israeli occupation forces on Wednesday morning launched a campaign of arrest and arrest in the West Bank, where they arrested ten citizens, including minors. IOF arrested three citizens from Teqou’a town southeast of Bethlehem, including a fifteen-year-old and an eighteen-year-old.
Gaza Boy, 14, Dies of Bullet Wounds from Friday Border Clashes The Palestinian Ministry of Health confirmed that Abd a-Rauf Ismail Salehah was shot in the head by Israeli live bullets in eastern Jabaliya during last Friday’s protests. The fourteen-year-old boy was taken to the hospital for treatment and was pronounced dead on Monday. He is the second fatality reported from Friday’s border clashes.
Israel 'aimed to tap Hamas communications' in Botched Mission Hamas, the Palestinian group which governs Gaza said on Saturday that the November 11 special forces operation, which Israel said was an intelligence-gathering mission, turned deadly when the undercover soldiers were spotted near Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip.
Palestinian Woman Shot Dead by Israeli Army During Gaza Protests Israeli troops shot dead a Palestinian woman on Friday and injured at least twenty-five others, including a journalist and a paramedic, during the Great March of Return protests in eastern of Gaza Strip near the border fence with Israel. Gaza Ministry of Health spokesman Ashraf al-Qudra told AFP the woman, who was not identified, was shot in the head east of Gaza City. Israeli forces used live fire and rubber coated steel bullets as they fired on protesters near the fence. The Gaza ministry later identified the woman as forty-three-years-old Amal Mustafa Abu Sultan al-Tramsi.
Israel Killing of Palestine Children in Gaza Protests Amounts to ‘war crimes’ Israeli forces have killed Palestinian children during protests in the occupied Gaza Strip in “conduct amounting to war crimes”, according to a report submitted to a United Nations inquiry by Defense for Children International-Palestine and the City University of New York School of Law. The fifty-seven-page report was given to investigators working as part of the United Nations Commission of Inquiry on the 2018 protests in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, established during a special session of the UN Human Rights Council in May 2018.
Domestic Policy
Palestinian Private Sector Employees Strike Demanding Abolition of Social Security Law Employees of the Palestinian private sector in the West Bank observed a general strike on Tuesday as thousands staged a sit-in protest outside the Social Security Corporation headquarters in al-Bireh calling for scrapping the controversial Social Security Law.
Palestinian Authority Comes Under Fire For Censorship at Digital Activism Forum In the Ramallah municipality’s Baladi theatre hall, heated discussions unfolded on Wednesday surrounding Palestinian rights in the digital realm and the role of various authorities in restricting freedom of expression.
PA Reinforces Relations with Syria’s Assad The Palestinian Radio and TV Corporation opened its office in Syrian capital Damascus yesterday, reinforcing relations between the Palestinian Authority and the regime of Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad.
We are Ready to Occupy Gaza Strip, Says Israeli Minister Israel’s Minister of Internal Security said on Monday that plans to occupy the Gaza Strip are on the table for the Cabinet to consider, Quds Net News has reported. However, Gilad Erdan told Israeli military radio that the country prefers calm and the possibility of reaching a deal that guarantees security for all Israelis.
Foreign Policy
Abbas Vows to Protect Interest of Group of 77 And China President Mahmoud Abbas assumed presidency of the Group of 77 and China at the United Nations headquarter in New York to and vowed on Tuesday to protect the interest of the Group.
Malaysia: We Will Not Back Down from Ban on Israeli Athletes Malaysian Foreign Minister Saifuddin Ben Abdullah has said his country will not back down from its decision to ban Israeli athletes from entering the country for an international swimming tournament. In a statement to the Associated Press, Ben Abdullah reiterated that his country would not host any other event in which Israel would participate in order to “highlight our firm position on the Palestinian issue.”
Syrian Rights Group in the Occupied Golan Heights Complains Israel to a UN Committee Al-Marsad, the only human rights group in the occupied Golan, said in a press release that it submitted the report after the United Nations committee that discusses Israel’s failure to uphold its obligations under the committee’s covenant has called for additional information from civil society organizations regarding Israel’s implementation of the articles of its covenant in the occupied territory.
World Food Programme Cuts Aid for Palestinians The World Food Programme has suspended or reduced aid for some of its Palestinian beneficiaries in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip due to funding shortages, an official has said. Some twenty-seven thousand Palestinians are no longer receiving aid through the United Nations program since January 1 said Stephen Kearney, the organization’s director for the Occupied Palestinian territory.
‘Assad Regime Tortured, Electrocuted And R*ped Palestinian Detainees’ The Action Group for the Palestinians of Syria said on Saturday that the regime of President Bashar Al-Assad has committed various violations against Palestinian refugees detained in its prisons, including “torture, electrocution, and rape.” According to a report published on the group’s website, as many as thirty-five Palestinian female refugees have died of torture in the Syrian regime’s prisons and detention centers.
Settlers and Illegal Settlements
Israeli Settlers Destroy 1000 Tree Saplings in West Bank Village On Sunday, a group of Israeli settlers destroyed about one thousand saplings in Burqa village, west of the northern occupied West Bank district of Nablus. Ghassan Daghlas, an official who monitors settlement activity in the northern West Bank, told Ma'an that Israeli settlers from the illegal settlement of Homish stormed an area east of Burqa village and destroyed hundreds of tree saplings.
Israel Opens 'apartheid road' in Occupied West Bank A newly-opened highway in the occupied West Bank has been hailed by Israelis but condemned by Palestinians, who are calling it "Apartheid Road". It's the first operational section of an eastern ring road around Jerusalem that could deny Palestinians access to parts of the West Bank and threaten a future Palestinian state.
Israeli Settlers Block Western Entrance to Bethlehem-area Town Israeli settlers Monday evening blocked the western entrance to the town of Taqou, southeast of Bethlehem, in the southern West Bank, said a local official. Mayor of Taqou, Taysir Abu Mifreh, told WAFA around fifty settlers, under the protection of Israeli forces, gathered at the western entrance to the town of Taqou, prevented Palestinians from passing and caused a state of panic among residents.
US Urged to ‘rescind’ 1978 Opinion on Illegality of Israeli Settlements The United States government is being urged to rescind a 1978 opinion on the illegality of Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory, reported The Jerusalem Post. According to the report, the Zionist Organization of America has “embarked on a renewed campaign this week to pressure the Trump administration on the matter”, claiming that “termination of this opinion is long overdue”.
Boycott, Divest, and Sanction Movement
US Academics Stand With Rights Activist Angela Davis Targeted for Her pro-Palestine Views Over five hundred fifty academics from across the United States have signed onto the Jewish Voice for Peace Academic Letter in Support of Angela Davis, a renowned academic and human rights activist, condemning the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute for cancelling the Fred Shuttlesworth Human Rights Award intended for Professor Davis because of her pro-Palestine views.
Tunisians Launch BDS Campaign Al Habib Belhadi of Tunisians for Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel said at a speech that all democratic and civil society organizations in Tunisia should join the BDS movement.
Law
Israeli Activist Who Slapped Ahed Tamimi's Prosecutor Wants a Political Trial A few minutes before an Israeli military court sentenced teenager Ahed Tamimi to eight months in prison, an Israeli activist, Yifat Doron, approached the military prosecutor, shouted “who are you to judge her?” and slapped the lieutenant colonel across the head. Ahed is Palestinian. Yifat is Israeli. Ahed was put into Israel’s military court system. Yifat —despite slapping a military officer in the occupied West Bank, just like Ahed — was charged in a civilian court inside Israel.
IDF Admits Teen Didn't Commit Crime, Locks Him up For Facebook Post Anyway The Israeli army arrested Anwar Makhtoob, an eighteen-year-old Palestinian, over several old Facebook posts two weeks ago. The military prosecutor readily admitted that there wasn’t even a suspicion that he had committed a crime, but instead of releasing him, as one might expect, the prosecution and the judge decided to keep him in prison, so that he could be put in administrative detention.
Israel’s Military Courts Fines Palestinians $16m in Three Years Israel’s military courts have imposed fines topping sixty million shekels on West Bank Palestinians from 2015 to 2017, “even though the great majority of the offenses don’t involve the harming of people or property”, reported Haaretz.
PA Investigators Threatened to r*pe me, Alleges Former Prisoner A Palestinian mother who was released from a Palestinian Authority prison last week has told a press conference that the investigators there threatened to rape her. Suha Jbara’s defense team organized the media event to allow her to speak about the severe torture to which she was subjected during her detention by the Palestinian Authority’s security agencies. It was while she was in Jericho Prison, the most notorious run by the PA, that the investigators threatened to rape her and her sisters, she explained.
Environment, Economy, and Other
Fuel Crisis Threatens Lives of Hundreds of Patients in Gaza Health ministry officials in the Gaza Strip have warned that the serious fuel shortage for hospitals and health centers threatens the lives of hundreds of patients in the besieged enclave. Ministry spokesman Ashraf Al-Qudra said that the amount of fuel in stock will only be enough to keep power on in the hospitals for two to five days. It would have run out in November, he added, if the ministry hadn’t taken emergency steps to save fuel.
Israel May Need to Invade Iran, Concludes Tel Aviv Think Tank Israel may need to invade Iran to stop its entrenchment in Syria, an assessment by the Institute for National Security in Tel Aviv has concluded. The independent think tank affiliated with Tel Aviv University looked at a range of scenarios in a report in which it concluded that the most serious threat facing Israel in 2019 would be an all-out war in the north against Hezbollah and Iranian forces. It cited Trump’s recent decision to withdraw troops from Syria to emphasize that Israel may need to go it alone and invade Iran.