Bi-Weekly Brief for November 16, 2020
Shortage of tests leads to substantial undercount of Covid-19 cases in Palestine
Dr. Mai Al-Kaila, the PA’s Minister of Health, said a shortage of testing kits means the number of Covid-19 cases in Palestine could be 3 times what is reported (Wafa News, Nov. 14). The reported number is 72,967, of which 10,985 are in Gaza. More than 650 Palestinians have died, among them chief negotiator Saeb Erekat, who passed away on Nov. 10. On that day UNRWA announced it would run out of money in 2 weeks. This is of particular concern in the Gaza Strip, where 70% are refugees. Israel, where cases number over 324,000 with 2,732 deaths, said it had bought enough doses of Pfizer’s forthcoming vaccine to inoculate 4 million Israelis (Times of Israel, Nov. 13).
Netanyahu congratulates Biden as potential differences on Iran loom large
12 hours after Biden was declared President-elect, Netanyahu tweeted congratulations, saying they had enjoyed ‘a long and warm personal relationship for nearly 40 years’ (Times of Israel, Nov. 8). A pre-election poll by the Israeli Democracy Institute showed 70% of Israeli Jews wanted Trump to win. As anti-Netanyahu protests entered their 21st week, thousands marched chanting ‘Trump is gone, now it’s your turn’ (Haaretz, Nov. 12). The press made much of Biden’s ‘love of Israel’ and statement that he would not be moving the US embassy back to Tel Aviv, but worried about his Iran policy.
On Nov. 13, 3 days after officially announcing a $23.37 billion sale of advanced armaments to the UAE to counter ‘increased threats from Iran following historic Abraham Accords,’ Secretary of State Pompeo left for France, Turkey, Georgia, Israel, Qatar and Saudi Arabia, with Iran a likely focus. In Israel he will make an unprecedented visit to the Psagot settlement in the West Bank, whose winery is producing a label in his name.
On US election day Israel destroys an entire Palestinian village in the Jordan Valley
On Nov. 3, 100 Israeli soldiers and bulldozers swooped without warning on the Bedouin village of Khirbet Humsah and destroyed 18 houses, 29 tents, 5 water tanks, sheds, portable toilets and solar panels, leaving 74 people – 41 of them children – without shelter as the winter rains moved in (Haaretz, Nov. 6). US Rep. Ilhan Omar denounced the action as ‘a grave crime – in direct violation of international law’ and the UN termed it the largest demolition in over a decade. Additional homes were razed in Nablus and East Jerusalem, where, in the Silwan neighborhood, 100 houses and a mosque face demolition. Ethnic cleansing and settlement expansion are advancing hand in hand. On Nov. 9, Israel announced a new settlement would be constructed adjacent to the Gaza Strip and on Nov. 15, it published tenders for 1, 357 units between Bethlehem and Jerusalem (Haaretz, Nov.16). Several of the IDF’s more than 100 raids into the West Bank violently targeted anti-settlement protests. Israeli forces shot at Gaza’s farmers and fishermen and launched airstrikes and artillery attacks across the Strip early on Nov. 15 in response to 2 rockets fired from Gaza that IDF officials believe might have been triggered by a lightning storm (Times of Israel, Nov. 15). On a more positive note, administrative detainee Maher al-Akhras ended a 103-day hunger strike on Nov. 6 after officials agreed to release him on Nov. 26 and said his detention order would not be renewed. His 6-year-old daughter fed him his first teaspoon of soup.
Water Fact
During the current olive harvest season, as in previous years, many Palestinian farmers have had to contend with untreated sewage from illegal settlements being dumped on their land, turning it into a ‘wastewater swamp.’ The village of Deir Ballut in the Salfit region has recently had its fields drowned in sewage from three nearby illegal settlements, and there are similar stories around the West Bank. Untreated sewage creates ‘toxic wastelands’ and causes the trees to die.
Compiled by The Alliance for Water Justice in Palestine
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