Bi-Weekly Brief for September 20, 2021
A one page digest of Israel’s ongoing dispossession of Palestinian land and livelihoods, and Palestinian resistance.
The new Israeli coalition government embraces settlers and the ethnic cleansing of Negev
Defense Minister Benny Gantz made it clear to Mahmoud Abbas that Israel will not be removing any settlements from the West Bank, according to a recent report. Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, a settler leader, has promised not to annex West Bank territory, but in a meeting with the settlers’ Yesha Council on Sept. 9 he agreed to cooperate on settlement growth. There has been a threefold increase over this past year in US citizens migrating to Israel who move into settlements. On Sept. 2, the Bedouin village of Al-Araqeeb in the Negev was destroyed for the 192nd time since July 2010.
Defying spirited resistance, Evaytar models way avowedly ‘illegal’ outposts can become ‘legal’
On Sept. 17, the IDF bulldozed Palestinian land and injured dozens of protestors from Beita and other villages near Nablus demonstrating against Evaytar, an Israel-acknowledged ‘illegal’ outpost on village lands on Mt. Sabih. Since settlers set up Evaytar in early May, near daily demonstrations by ‘Defenders of the Mountain’ conducting what The Nation calls a “fiercely creative” struggle have been brutally suppressed. At least 7 Palestinians have been killed and over 3,000 wounded. In early July, Israel said it would put a military base on the mountain and the outpost buildings could stay if settlers withdrew while it performed a survey to see if the area could be ‘legally’ claimed by the State. Before they left, settlers erected a large Star of David with the text “we will return.” Since then villagers have been barred from accessing their land and the protests and repression go on.
Dispossession is ongoing in East Jerusalem as Time Magazine highlights struggle in Sheikh Jarrah
More residents of Silwan and Beit Hanina have been forced to self-demolish their homes while on Sept. 5, Israeli forces bulldozed the Martyrs Cemetery adjacent to the al-Youssoufia Cemetery at al-Asbat Gate that the Nature Authority plans to turn into a ‘Biblical garden.’ Time Magazine included Muna El-Kurd and her twin brother Mohammed from Sheikh Jarrah among ‘The 100 Most Influential People of 2021’ for “helping to prompt an international shift in rhetoric in regard to Israel and Palestine.”
Rallies take place across Palestine in solidarity with escaped prisoners
The dramatic escape by 6 Palestinian prisoners who tunneled their way out of a maximum security prison on Sept. 6 re-kindled the ‘unity’ demonstrations across Palestine and within Israel’s Palestinian communities protesting Israel’s aggression in East Jerusalem and Gaza last May. They culminated in a ‘Day of Rage’ on Sept. 10. All 6 escapees had been re-captured by Sept. 19.
Gaza in ferment as siege strangles possibility of re-building and recovery
Rolling protests have taken place, often at night, along the border fence in Gaza since August 21, to denounce Israel’s refusal to allow the entry of materials to repair the massive damage inflicted by its May military onslaught and to demand an end to the blockade. The IDF has fired live ammunition at protestors, killing at least 3 (one a 12-year-old) and wounding hundreds. One Israeli sniper has been killed. At the end of August Israel announced it was easing some restrictions on Gaza, but demonstrations have continued, with Israeli war planes responding to Palestinian incendiary balloons.
Water Fact
The Israeli group Combatants for Peace and the Palestinian Masafer Yatta Committee south of Hebron have joined forces in a ‘Water is a Right’ campaign aimed at raising international awareness about Israel’s depriving Palestinians in Area C of water to drive then off their land. On Sept. 17, Israeli forces attacked and injured 5 Combatant for Peace activists and a journalist and arrested 7 others who were in a convoy taking water to a farming family in Al-Tiwani village in Masafer Yatta.
Compiled by The Alliance for Water Justice in Palestine