Bi-Weekly Brief for January 11, 2021
Israel practices ‘medical apartheid’ as virus rages and Palestinians are denied vaccines
On Jan. 7, the day Israel entered its 3rd lockdown, it received 6 million doses of the Moderna vaccine, with more Pfizer doses arriving on Jan. 10. Some 2 million Israelis have been vaccinated, and Netanyahu has received his second dose. Israel has had at least 491,000 cases and 3,671 deaths, and thousands of Israelis have been fined for breaking lockdown rules. On Jan. 4, newly-elected Rep. Marie Newman (D-IL) tweeted that Israel had “a moral and humanitarian obligation to ensure that both Israelis and Palestinians have access to vaccines” and human rights organizations reiterated that Israel’s duty as occupier required it to supply vaccines to Palestine, with over 165,000 cases (45,674 in Gaza) and 1,707 deaths. Speaking on Democracy Now! as he himself was suffering from Covid-19, Palestinian physician Mustafa Barghouti called the current state of affairs ‘medical apartheid.’ On Jan. 10, human rights groups in Israel asked the Supreme Court to revoke a government decision not to vaccinate some 4,400 Palestinian political prisoners held in Israeli jails where the virus is surging.
Netanyahu condemns invasion of US Capitol while praising Trump
On Jan. 7, after a long delay, Netanyahu called the invasion of the US Capitol ‘disgraceful’ without mentioning Trump. Speaking in Jerusalem alongside US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, he praised Trump as a ‘regional peacemaker’ and warned the US against rejoining the Iran nuclear deal. On Jan. 8, the press reported that Netanyahu had to be rushed to a secure room during a Jan. 2 demonstration outside his house demanding that he resign. His opponents say he is trying to equate Israeli protestors with the mob that stormed the Capitol. With his trial postponed until Feb. 8, he got electioneering mileage out of the spy Jonathan Pollard’s return to Israel in a private jet provided by Sheldon Adelson. Pollard, a hero in Israel, served 30 years in prison for spying on the US for Israel when he was a US Navy analyst.
Israeli state, army, settlers tighten coordination of ethnic cleansing efforts
On Dec. 31, as part of a “campaign against the hostile takeover of Area C,” the Ministry of Settlement Affairs announced it was devoting $6 million to detect ‘illegal construction’ in 62% of the West Bank lived in by up to 300,000 Palestinians. It has set up a telephone hotline for this purpose. Settlers, including the particularly violent ‘hilltop youth’ from at least 70 ‘wildcat’ outposts who have also attacked Israeli forces, have been using drones to surveil Palestinian activities. In the last 2 weeks, rampaging settlers and army home invaders and demolition squads have taken a heavy toll of destruction around the West Bank and left Palestinians feeling ‘defenseless.’ Soldiers stood by as settlers stoned Palestinian cars, physically attacked farmers and destroyed their land, while military suppression of anti-settlement protests has caused dozens of injuries. On Jan. 3, the army using concussion grenades stormed a Palestinian hospital in Tulkarem, its third attack on a hospital in less than a month. “Silence in the Face of Demolition and Pogroms” was the headline of a Haaretz op ed decrying politicians’ silence as settlers work to achieve de facto annexation. On Jan. 7, a 4-year-long legal battle culminated in Issa Amro’s conviction for his nonviolent resistance in Hebron. Amro was recognized by the UN as ‘Human Rights Defender of the Year’ in 2010 and Amnesty has called the charges against him ‘baseless.’ Meanwhile, in Gaza, Israeli forces have fired on farmers and fishing boats on nearly a daily basis.
Water Fact
On Jan. 1, after the area underwent drone surveillance, soldiers tasked to deal with ‘illegal construction’ descended on the village of Khirbet al Rakiz in the South Hebron Hills. In an episode captured on video they seized a small generator found in a cave where Ashraf Amour lived with his family. While attempting to stop the confiscation of the generator, a neighbor, 24-year-old Harun Abu Aram, was shot in the neck from a few feet away, and left paralyzed. The army then fired on the car taking him to hospital and punctured its tire. Before leaving the village, soldiers issued the Amour family with demolition orders in connection with the kitchen water cistern where they store rainwater and the water they buy from tanker trucks. Last November, the house that Harun Abu Aram’s family had finished two weeks earlier was destroyed by the army, forcing them to live in a leaky cave. According to Israeli journalist Amira Hass, “the forces sent in to carry out the demolitions also dismantled the water connection that had been installed by the village’s council,” forcing families to buy water from tankers at a cost of $124 a month “which is well beyond their means.”
Compiled by The Alliance for Water Justice
See this short Alliance-produced video for why US aid to Israel should be conditioned on its human rights record.
Banner design by Paul Normandia of Red Sun Press.