Bi-Weekly Brief for February 22, 2021
Israel secretly supplies Syria with vaccines while tightly controlling supply to Palestine
With nearly 54,000 cases of Covid-19 detected in the Gaza Strip (out of some 195,000 total Palestinian cases), Deputy Health Minister Yousuf Abu Al-Rish estimated that 40% of the population could be infected. After a two-day delay while the Knesset debated whether to allow Sputnik V vaccines to enter the Gaza Strip, Israel permitted the entry of up to 2,000 doses on Feb. 17. Some 20,000 Sputnik V doses donated by the UAE entered Gaza on Feb. 21 through the Rafah crossing, steering clear of Israeli involvement. The West Bank has received 2,000 Moderna doses from Israel (5,000 had been promised) and 10,000 Sputnik V doses from Russia. Israel, praised for having the highest per capita vaccination rate in the world, has more than enough vaccines to meet national demand, and will soon receive more Pfizer and Moderna shipments. While rejecting its responsibility under Article 56 of the 4th Geneva Convention to supply vaccines to the occupied population, Israel secretly agreed to purchase hundreds of thousands of Sputnik V doses worth more than $1 million to be transferred to the Assad government in Syria in exchange for the return of a female settler who had crossed the Syrian border on Feb. 2. The Israeli government, which has lifted many lockdown restrictions, is debating whether to vaccinate the 100,000 Palestinians who work in Israel on a daily basis.
Biden finally calls Netanyahu and the two countries tighten their military embrace
On Feb. 17, President Biden telephoned the 12th foreign leader he had called since taking office – Benjamin Netanyahu. Israel had reportedly felt snubbed by the nearly 4-week-long delay in hearing from Biden. After the call it was announced that Israel and the US would collaborate on a new Arrow 4 air defense system. The Israeli Defense Force is in the process of using $9.4 billion in US military aid to purchase advanced US fighter jets, helicopters and munitions, mostly from Lockheed Martin and Boeing. Meanwhile, satellite images reveal that Israel is undertaking a major expansion of its Dimona nuclear weapons facility in the Negev desert.
Netanyahu’s election campaign mainstreams Kahanist far right
In hopes of overcoming the razor-thin lead held by the anti-Netanyahu bloc, the prime minister is collaborating with two far right groups, the Religious Zionism Alliance and Jewish Power, with politics similar to Meir Kahane’s Kach party that was banned in 1994. They are poised to gain the critical 5 seats that could secure a governing coalition for Netanyahu in the March 23rd election. Netanyahu, who appeared in court on Feb. 8, is using his corruption case to secure his base by claiming he is being prosecuted by a ‘deep state’ cabal of leftists.
Palestinian elections unlikely to go smoothly – or happen at all
The Palestinian Central Elections Committee announced that 93% of the eligible population has registered to vote in the legislative elections scheduled for May 22. But a Fatah official has said that elections won’t take place if East Jerusalem – home to 350,000 Palestinians – is not included, and Israel fears allowing such a vote will undermine its claim to the city. With presidential elections scheduled for July 31, the unity of the Fatah party is being threatened by potential challenges to Mahmoud Abbas’ authoritarian rule.
British barrister elected to be chief prosecutor at the International Criminal Court
Beginning on June 16, barrister Karim Khan will replace Fatou Bensouda and take charge of the investigation of Israel and Hamas for war crimes. Israel is meanwhile preparing a law that would bar any cooperation with the ICC investigation.
KKL-JNF wants to openly purchase land in the West Bank for settlement expansion
On Feb. 14, acting on a secret Sept. 2019 legal opinion, the Keren Kayemet LeIsrael-Jewish National Fund (a partner of JNF-US) proposed openly purchasing private land in the West Bank. The JNF has for years operated unofficially in the occupied territories through subsidiaries. Yossi Alpher of Americans for Peace Now warned that by openly aiding settlement expansion the JNF could expose Americans on its board to prosecution by the ICC.
Olive tree selected to be Israel’s ‘National Tree’
Last month, the JNF announced that the olive tree had been chosen in its national survey to be Israel’s National Tree. Israeli soldiers and settlers have uprooted between 800,000 and a million Palestinian olive trees since the 1967 occupation began. On Feb. 21, settlers chopped down dozens of olive trees belonging to a resident of al-Wajala village near Bethlehem.
Palestinians struggle to sustain themselves on diet of death and destruction
The 2-week toll includes the death of a 67-year-old woman who suffered a heart attack on Feb. 17 during a violent army raid on her house in Abu Njeim village; the death of Bilal Shehada Bawatna who, on Feb. 12, was run down by a speeding settler car while on a nature walk in the northern Jordan Valley; the dozen wounded by live gunfire during demonstrations in Beit Dajan village (Feb. 12) and Kufur Qaddoum (Feb. 13); the blowing up of the Mohammed Kabha family home in Toura village following his arrest on suspicion of killing a settler; the destruction on Feb. 22 of an apartment building in East Jerusalem, displacing 4 families including 12 children; and the delivery of dozens of home demolition orders in the Jordan Valley and Jerusalem neighborhoods. Israeli military vehicles and 3 bulldozers entered the Gaza Strip on Feb. 15 to destroy agricultural land while shooting in the air and firing smoke canisters. Gaza’s farmers and fishing boats were fired at on several occasions and on Feb. 20, soldiers attacked a sewage tanker driving east of Khan Younis. It remains unclear what impact the huge oil spill affecting Israel’s coastline will have on Gaza’s already badly polluted beaches. On Feb. 18 and 19, Israeli forces repeated what they had done in January, and opened floodgates swollen with winter rains near the eastern border of Gaza. Their action destroyed 124 acres of crops east of Shuj’aiyyeh and inundated fields near Beit Hanoun in northern Gaza.
Water Fact
On Feb. 8, the Israeli army destroyed 3 water wells in al-Mughayyir northeast of Ramallah. The family of Fadel Ibrahim Hamed Abu ‘Alia had depended on the wells for all their daily needs and for supplying water to their sheep. The previous year settlers had poisoned their sheep, killing 16 of them, and built a road through the family’s land to their outpost, Adi Ad. On Feb. 10, the army moved into the central Jordan Valley north of Jericho and destroyed 3 rainwater collection pools used by Palestinians to irrigate their crops. On the same day soldiers demolished a water pool used for irrigation near Marj Na’jah village, north of Jericho.
Compiled by The Alliance for Water Justice in Palestine
SAVE THE DATE: March 22.
The Alliance for Water Justice in Palestine is hosting ‘Water, Health and Human Rights: Marking World Water Day, from the US to Palestine’, 7 – 8:30 PM EST. Keynote: Rep. Rashida Tlaib. It will be live screened on our Facebook page and a Zoom link will be available soon.
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