Bi-Weekly Brief for November 1, 2020
Covid-19 cases subside in Israel; 1/3 of daily cases in Palestine are now from Gaza
Israel, which had 314,778 cases and 2553 deaths on Nov. 1, is gradually re-opening after registering its lowest number of daily infections since June. Palestine cases now total more than 64,237 with 545 deaths, and 6730 cases in the Gaza Strip. Some Israelis protested Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat being treated in Hadassah hospital where he is on life support. One sign read ‘let him die’ (Washington Post, Oct. 22).
US and Israel rush to construct new regional order before US election
While protests demanding Netanyahu step down continue to draw tens of thousands and Trump lags behind in the polls, both leaders have sought political support by touting the benefits of ‘normalization.’ On Oct. 20, the US, Israel and the UAE set up a $3 billion regional investment fund. Three days later, Trump announced a ‘peace deal’ between Sudan and Israel after Sudan agreed to pay $335 million to victims of the 1998 embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania and designate Hezbollah as a terror group. In return, Sudan was removed from the State Department’s state terror list. On Oct. 29, the day Pentagon head Mark Esper visited Israel to assure it that the US would protect its ‘qualitative military edge’ by selling it advanced stealth F-22 Raptor aircraft and precision-guided bombs, the White House notified Congress it intended to sell 50 F-35 jets to the UAE, despite its record of bombing civilians in Yemen (Haaretz, Oct. 29).
Trump Administration hands Israel other perks that defy international law
Setting aside the State Department’s 1978 legal opinion that settlements violated international law, on Oct. 28 US Ambassador David Friedman announced at Ariel University (the settlement-based brainchild of Sheldon Adelson, Trump’s chief funder) that lucrative US-Israeli scientific projects could be carried out in settlements (Haaretz, Oct. 28). To underscore that Jerusalem is part of Israel, Secretary of State Pompeo on Oct. 29 said US citizens born in Jerusalem can now list Israel as the country of their birth. Pompeo has also called Amnesty, Human Rights Watch and Oxfam ‘anti-Semitic’ and declared that the US would end aid for their activities (Times of Israel, Oct. 22).
With unchecked brutality soldiers and settlers assert mastery of Palestinian land
According to the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights, the IDF made some 200 incursions into the West Bank in the last 2 weeks to crush protests, conduct night raids on homes, make arrests, destroy buildings (including a supermarket in Qalqilya), and drive farmers from their land as they harvested olives. In Gaza, where unemployment has reached 70% with the Covid lockdown, Israeli forces shot at agricultural lands and fishing boats, and there were 2 airstrikes. On Oct. 24, 16-year-old Amer Snobar was beaten to death by soldiers northeast of Ramallah while helping a 17-year-old friend move his broken down car (see this account by Defense for Children International-Palestine). On Oct. 30, soldiers injured dozens protesting land confiscation in Beit Dajan near Nablus, where a new settler outpost was being constructed. Haaretz (Oct. 24) reported more than 20 attacks on farmers during the first 9 days of the olive harvest. Oct. 31 marked the 97th day of the water-only hunger strike by Maher al-Akhras to protest being detained without charge. He is in critical condition in an Israeli hospital.
Water Fact
On Oct. 26, the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights reported that the Israeli army had approved plans to seize land just north of the West Bank village of Battir. A few miles from Bethlehem, Battir is known for its Roman-era terraces, ancient complex of irrigation channels fed by groundwater and springs, and traditional equitable water distribution system benefiting the village’s farming families. When, in 2014, its landscape and irrigation system were being threatened by an extension of Israel’s separation Wall, Battir got a reprieve by being listed as both a UNESCO World Heritage site and a World Heritage in Danger site. It is now being threatened anew by escalating settlement activities. In 2019, settlers established the illegal outpost of Neve Ori two kilometers from the village. Since then, settlers have repeatedly encroached on Battir’s land, which they claim belongs to them, and farmers and other residents are being attacked by the army as caravans are set in place and settlement roads are paved.
Compiled by The Alliance for Water Justice in Palestine
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