Bi-Weekly Brief for January 25, 2021
Israelis get vaccinated while Palestinians still await vaccines and Covid cases soar
Israel has been lauded for its vaccination drive reaching a quarter of its citizens. Its Covid-19 numbers are approaching 600,000 cases, with 4,419 deaths. On Jan. 18, it surpassed 10,000 new daily infections for the first time since the pandemic began. After the variant was detected in Israel, new restrictions were imposed, with the airport being shut for 6 days from Jan. 26. Ultra-Orthodox have fought pitched battles with police trying to enforce restrictions, injuring several of them. Israel continues to face criticism – recently from US Reps. Joaquin Castro and Jamaal Bowman - for denying vaccines to Palestinians. It reportedly gave 100 doses to the PA (which PA officials denied receiving) and belatedly vaccinated some Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails. The oldest Palestinian political prisoner, 82-year-old Fouad Al-Shobak, and hundreds of other jailed Palestinians have been infected with Covid-19 and 45-year-old Deeb Saasa died shortly after being vaccinated. The PA reported an anticipated shipment of 5,000 Russian Sputnik V doseswill be delayed until mid Feb. because of ‘technical issues.’ Cases in Palestine have topped 155,000 (50,000 of them in Gaza) with 1,925 deaths.
What can Palestinians expect from the Biden administration?
On Jan. 19, days after the Israeli human rights group B’Tselem issued a report declaring Israel to be an ‘apartheid regime’ from ‘the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea,’ there was a Senate confirmation hearing for Antony Blinken, Biden’s Secretary of State. He applauded ‘normalization,’ said that the US embassy would remain in Jerusalem which the US considered Israel’s capital, confirmed the US commitment to Israel as ‘sacrosanct’ and declared that both he and the president were ‘resolutely opposed’ to BDS and in favor of ‘2 states’ in order to secure Israel’s future as a ‘Jewish, democratic state.’ It remains to be seen whether the appointment of Rima Dudin, an attorney of Palestinian descent, as deputy chief of staff for the White House office of legislative affairs will have any impact on its pro-Israel policy.
Hours before Biden’s inauguration Israel announces building of 2,500 new settler units
On Jan. 20, tenders were issued for a further 2,112 settler units in the West Bank and 460 in East Jerusalem. The Israeli group Peace Now called the government’s action a “mad scramble to promote as much settlement activity as possible” before Biden takes over. It reported that 12,000 settlement homes were approved or constructed in 2020, the highest number since it started keeping statistics in 2012. 27,000 were approved during Trump’s term in office.
Netanyahu courts Arab voters as Palestinians strive again to form a unity government
Fresh from mourning the Jan. 11th death of his patron Sheldon Adelson who will be buried in Israel, the prime minister was met with protests when he went to Nazareth to invoke a ‘new era in relations between Jews and Arabs’ as part of his effort to get enough votes to win Parliamentary immunity from prosecution. Seeking a new era in his relationship with Washington, Mahmoud Abbas announced that there would be elections for the legislative council in May and for president in July. One source reported on Jan. 23 that Fatah and Hamas have reached a draft agreement for a national unity government.
Palestinians continue to live – and die – under conditions of relentless brutality
The Gaza Strip was subjected to artillery fire and missile strikes on Jan. 13, 14, 18, 19 and 20, with Israel claiming it was either retaliating for gunshots fired at army bulldozers that were inside Gaza ‘combing’ Israel’s self-declared ‘buffer zone,’ or retaliating for projectiles fired from Gaza that fell into the sea. On Jan. 12 and 16, Israel’s navy fired on Gazan fishing boats. The army conducted 17 raids across the West Bank in the single night of Jan. 13, arresting dozens. Some were later released by being dumped at an intersection still handcuffed and blindfolded. Demolition orders have been issued and demolitions carried out on nearly a daily basis. Settlers continued to stone Palestinian cars, homes and uproot olive trees – UNWRA reported that 4,164 Palestinian olive trees were destroyed during 2020 alone. On Jan. 17, settlers attacked and injured 10-year-old Hala Alkut as she was crossing the street in Adama, near Nablus. Four days later, some 20 settlers forced a car to stop near the village of Burqa, and then kicked and smashed it with stones, injuring a child who was going to a family celebration of his 3rd birthday. On Jan. 23, settlers and soldiers used dogs, sound grenades and tear gas to attack journalists and Palestinian activists protesting settlements in the Yatta area. On Jan 24, 48-year-old Fouad Sebti Joudeh died after suffocating from tear gas fired at workers as they tried to cross Israel’s apartheid wall without a permit.
Water Fact
On Jan. 21, without prior notice, Israeli forces opened water dams and pumped large quantities of rainwater onto Palestinian farmland along the eastern side of the Gaza Strip, submerging vegetables and causing thousands of dollars of damage. A year ago, on January 13, 2020, Israel destroyed crops worth $500,000 and drowned chickens and beehives when they flooded 4 square kilometers of Gaza’s farmland. 70% of Gaza’s residents are food insecure.
Compiled by The Alliance for Water Justice
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