[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
Injuries Reported As Israel Suppresses Weekly Naval Protest in Gaza Medical sources confirmed that those injured were transferred to the Indonesian Hospital for medical treatment, while a Palestinian driver of a bulldozer, who was among injured protesters, was transferred to the al-Shifa Hospital as he was in a critical condition. Palestinian protesters gathered at the northern borders of the Gaza Strip to take part in protests to break the siege imposed on the Gaza Strip. Israeli war boats opened live fire, rubber-coated steel bullets, and tear-gas bombs to suppress protesters and boats attempting to break the siege.
Palestinian Dies in Gaza After Being Struck in the Face By Tear Gas Canister A Palestinian in Gaza succumbed on Tuesday to wounds he sustained days earlier during a demonstration near the boundary with Israel, the Gaza health ministry reported. Ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qidra identified the slain man as forty-seven-year-old Samir Ghazi al-Nabahin. He added that Nabahin had been struck by a tear gas canister in the face fired by Israeli forces on Friday east of al-Bureij in the central Gaza Strip.
UPDATE: 14 Palestinians Shot, Injured As Israeli Forces Attack Protesters Along Gaza Borders At least fourteen Palestinians were shot and injured with live ammunition, and eleven others suffocated as Israeli forces continued to attack the “Great March of Return” protests at Gaza-Israel border, said sources.
Domestic Policy
Palestinian Government Submits Resignation to Abbas The government of Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah submitted, on Tuesday, its resignation to President Mahmoud Abbas. The Palestinian Cabinet said, in a statement, following its weekly meeting in the central occupied West Bank city of Ramallah that the government “will continue to serve our people wherever they are and shoulder all its responsibilities until a new government is formed.”
Netanyahu to Expel International Observers Out of Hebron Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu announced on Monday evening that Israel will not be renewing the mandate of the Temporary International Presence in Hebron. The Temporary International Presence in Hebron has been monitoring the southern occupied West Bank's city for twenty years; the group's mandate is renewed every six months and the current one expires by the end of January.
Erekat Calls on UN to Deploy Permanent International Presence in Palestine Netanyahu’s decision to expel the international TIPH observer mission prompted Erekat to call on the United Nations to guarantee the safety and protection of the people of Palestine and to deploy a permanent international presence in Palestine until the end of the occupation.
Hamas Rejects Multi-million Qatari Aid Package Following Israeli Interference Hamas has rejected a Qatari aid package for Gaza, saying it would not allow the deliveries to be used as political fodder in the upcoming Israeli elections. Israel blocked the entrance of aid into the blockaded Palestinian enclave earlier this week. Khalil Haya, a Hamas senior official, said he had discussed the situation with Qatari Ambassador Mohammed al-Emadi, describing the way in which the Israelis permitted the aid as an attempt to "blackmail the Palestinian people" and "embarrass Qatar," though he also thanked Qatar for its efforts.
Ex-army Chiefs to Contest Israel Polls on Single List Two former army chiefs, Benny Gantz and Moshe Yaalon, have agreed to run on a single list in Israel’s upcoming parliamentary polls, local media reported Tuesday, Anadolu Agency reports. According to the Jerusalem Post, Gantz is seen as the most viable challenger to incumbent Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in general elections slated for April.
Democratic Front Will Not Participate in PLO’s Government The Political Bureau of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine yesterday ruled out participating in the new Palestinian government to be formed by Palestine Liberation Organization’s factions, Al-Wattan Voice reported.
President Abbas Stops Implementation of the National Security Law President Mahmoud Abbas issued on Monday a decision by law immediately stopping the implementation of the Social Security Law and its amendments. The decision called for the continuation of the dialogue between all concerned parties in order to reach a national consensus on the provisions of the law and the time for its implementation.
Fatah: New Government Will Rule West Bank, Gaza Strip Fatah said on Monday that the new Palestinian Authority’s government, which will exclude Hamas, Islamic Jihad, al-Ahrar, and the Popular Resistance Movement, would rule over the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. This is despite statements by Fatah Revolutionary Council member Mawfaq Matar that no elections would be held in Gaza while Hamas had control over the area besieged by Israel.
Foreign Policy
UNRWA Calls For $1.2 billion in 2019 to Keep Operations at Same Level On Tuesday, the commissioner-general of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East called for a total of 1.2 billion US dollars to fund the agency’s vital core services. He emphasizes the “defense of robust multilateralism” and said that the agency was deeply sorry that so many jobs were lost because of the lack of funds.
Ireland Passes Bill Banning Israeli Settlement Goods The Control of Economic Activity Bill, originally proposed by Senator Frances Black, was passed in the Irish Senate back in January 2018. On Thursday, Irish Member of Parliament Niall Collins, of the Fianna Fail opposition party, introduced the bill in the lower House, where it passed by a margin of seventy-eight votes to forty-five, with three abstentions.
Canada Revokes Jewish Charity’s Tax-deductible Status Over Support For Israeli Military Independent Jewish Voices Canada welcomes news that Beth Oloth Charitable Organization has had its tax-deductible status revoked by the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA). According to Global News, Canadian law deemed Beth Oloth’s activities non-charitable because they increase “the efficiency and effectiveness of the Israel armed forces.”
Qatar Distributes Funds to 94,000 Families in Besieged Gaza Strip Thousands of impoverished Gazans have received one hundred dollars payments from Qatar on Saturday, after the Gulf emirate brought in over nine million dollars in aid funds for the Palestinian territory. The money had on Thursday been refused by Hamas, which governs the besieged strip, saying it would not allow the funds to be used as political fodder in the upcoming Israeli elections.
Egypt Opens Gaza Border Crossing Egyptian authorities on Tuesday opened the Rafah border crossing in the blockaded Gaza Strip. Hundreds of passengers gathered to cross the terminal into the Egyptian territory, according to an Anadolu Agency correspondent.
Netanyahu ‘recognizes’ Venezuela Opposition Leader As ‘president’ Israel announced its recognition of opposition leader Juan Guaidó as president of Venezuela on Sunday, with an anonymous Venezuelan opposition official stating that Guaidó would “embrace Israel.” Guaidó declared himself president on Wednesday, citing a constitutional clause that allows the National Assembly’s president to assume interim power should the president-elect be absent.
Gazans Demonstrate in Support of Venezuela President Dozens of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip on Monday staged a rally in support of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, who is currently facing an attempted coup. Organized by the DFLP, the rally was held outside United Nations offices.
Settlers and Illegal Settlements
UN ‘deeply concerned’ About Settler Attacks on Palestinians Spokesperson for the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Rupert Colville in a press release said the organization was deeply concerned about the protracted and extremely violent attack on Palestinians, specifically the murder of Hamdi Taleb Na’asan in the West Bank al-Mughayyir village.
Israeli Plan to Expel 36,000 Bedouins From Their Villages in Negev Desert Israel’s Minister of Agriculture and Development of the Negev Uri Ariel has completed a massive plan to expel some thirty-six thousand Bedouin Palestinians from their unrecognized villages, according to the Israel Today Hebrew newspaper.
Palestinian Man Shot Dead During Settler Violence in West Bank A Palestinian man has been shot dead, and dozens of others have been wounded in the occupied West Bank during a confrontation with Israeli soldiers and settlers in the village of al-Mugheir, northeast of Ramallah. The thirty-eight-year-old, identified as Hamdi Naasan, was shot in the back and succumbed to his wounds shortly after at a hospital in Ramallah, the health ministry said on Saturday.
Mladenov Says Israel Must End Settler Violence United Nations special coordinator for the Middle East peace process, Nickolay Mladenov, condemned in a tweet on Saturday evening the fatal shooting by Jewish settlers of a Palestinian man in the village of al-Mughayer, northeast of Ramallah. “Today's violence in al-Mughayer is shocking and unacceptable,” he said, adding that “Israel must put an end to settler violence and bring those responsible to justice.”
Boycott, Divest, and Sanction Movement
After Years of Study and Discussion, Jewish Voice for Peace Rejects Zionism For twenty-two years since its founding, Jewish Voice for Peace declined to take a position on Zionism, not wanting to cut itself off from virtually all of the American Jewish Community. Beginning in 2014, after Israel’s horrific Operation Protective Edge in Gaza, Jewish Voice for Peace began a nation-wide discussion that recently culminated in a statement rejecting the ideology as causing “profound trauma for generations” of Palestinians and preventing the Jewish community from “seeing each other–fellow Jews and other fellow human beings–in our full humanity.”
UK Band Boycotts Eurovision to Be Held in Israel An upcoming British band has refused to enter the Eurovision Song Contest due to it being hosted in Israel this year. Confirming their decision on Twitter, the three-girl band The Tuts, prompted a backlash from supporters of Israel.
Democrats Split as US Senate Advances anti-BDS Law The United States Senate voted yesterday to advance legislation that would crackdown on the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions campaign, although Democrats were split twenty-four to nineteen with key abstentions from Cory Booker and potential presidential candidate Kamala Harris. According to Politico, “Democrats, however, remain divided over the legislation, with some claiming it would impede free speech,” echoing the concerns of civil liberties groups, as well as Palestinian-Americans and their allies.
Law
Israel Vows Further Sanctions And Punitive Measures Against Palestinian Prisoners The Palestinian Prisoners’ Society has reported that detainees on Wednesday held a negotiating session with the Israeli Prison Administration in Ofar Prison, demanding an end to ongoing invasions of their room, and other punitive measures against them, but the demands were rejected, with the administration vowed more sanctions, including additional prison terms, and high fines.
Environment, Economy, and Other
Palestinian Genetics Doctor Wins Medical Research Award in Switzerland Lina Osama Quteineh, a doctor in genetics from occupied East Jerusalem, won the second prize in Switzerland for best-published research in organ transplant in 2018. Quteineh’s study was published in the American Journal of Transplantation in June 2018 entitled “Genetic immune and inflammatory markers associated with diabetes in solid organ transplant recipients.”
New report: Israel’s ‘digital occupation’ of Palestine A new report from 7amleh–the Arab Center for the Advancement of Social Media has documented “Israeli control over the Palestinian ICT infrastructure in the West Bank and Gaza and its impact on the digital rights of the Palestinian people”–a form of “digital occupation of the Palestinian telecommunications sector.” According to 7amleh, since Israel’s military occupation of the Palestinian territories began in 1967, the Israeli authorities “took complete control of the ICT infrastructure and sector in the West Bank and Gaza, impeding development and blocking the establishment of an independent network."