Bi-Weekly Brief for February 28, 2022
A one page digest of Israel’s ongoing dispossession of Palestinian land and livelihoods, and Palestinian resistance.
They may not see eye to eye on major issues but the US-Israel friendship is ‘eternal’ Pelosi says
The US and Israel are not in synch on Iran and Ukraine, and Israel’s Prime Minister Bennett has said the ‘2 states solution’ affirmed by Speaker of the House Pelosi during her Feb. 16th visit to the Knesset would be ‘a terrible mistake.’ Still, Pelosi called US support for Israel ‘iron clad’ and declared the establishment of the State of Israel ‘the greatest political achievement of the 20th century.’ On Feb. 17, Bennett thanked her for pushing for another $1 billion in Iron Dome funding for Israel. Last year Israel refused to allow the US to sell Ukraine the Iron Dome system and Patriot missiles, fearing Russia’s displeasure. On Feb. 23, shortly before the invasion, Israel’s Foreign Ministry expressed support for Ukraine’s territorial integrity without mentioning Russia by name and a few hours later, Russia’s UN envoy said it did not recognize Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights. Bennett did not mention Russia by name during his Feb. 24th public remarks inviting the 100,000-strong Ukrainian Jewish community to come to Israel. Nor did a report of Bennett’s Feb. 25thphone call with Ukraine’s Jewish President Volodymyr Zelensky mention Russia, perhaps out of fear that “Putin will move to curb Israel’s Syrian operations” such as its Feb. 24th missile attack on Damascus that killed 3 Syrian soldiers. After refusing the US request that it endorse the Feb. 25 UN Security Council resolution condemning Russia, Israel appeared poised to accept a forthcoming US-backed UN General Assembly resolution.
Sheikh Jarrah family is given a ‘small respite’ in hopes of avoiding another Ramadan uprising
Brutally suppressed protests followed the Feb. 13th erection of an encampment by Kahanist Knesset member Itamar Ben-Gvir outside the Sheikh Jarrah house of the Salem family that is facing expulsion after living there since 1951. After the US, the EU and the UN all called on Israel to stop settler provocations in Jerusalem, and with the ‘unity uprising’ of last May in mind, the Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court agreed to postpone the eviction of the Salem family and other Jerusalem evictions, at least until after Ramadan which begins in early April. There was no respite for the Abu Sneineh family which, on Feb. 27, was forced to self-demolish their Jerusalem home for the second time since 2015.
More young people gunned down by trigger-happy soldiers who now have new layer of protection
Late last year the Israel amended its open-fire policy to codify a practice it has frequently used over the years – unleashing lethal fire against Palestinian stone-throwers even when they pose no direct threat or are fleeing the scene. On Feb. 14, the army killed 17-year-old Muhammad Akram Abu Salah with a bullet to the head and injured others protesting a house demolition near Jenin. The next day, soldiers killed Nehad Amin al-Barghouti at the entrance to Nabi Saleh village, reportedly seeing him as a ‘potential threat.’ On Feb. 18, 12-year-old Rayan Yousef Hamayel was shot in the head and seriously wounded during a protest at the Evyatar outpost, despite being 100 meters away from the soldiers. On the same day, soldiers used live fire against the weekly Kufur Qaddoum procession, shooting a child among others. On Feb. 22, the army killed14-year-old Mohammed Shehadeh in al-Khader village near Bethlehem, saying he had thrown a Molotov cocktail. Meanwhile in the Gaza Strip, soldiers in watchtowers fired live ammunition at farmers and shepherds on Feb. 18, Feb. 26 and Feb. 27. Farmers again came under fire and tanks and armored bulldozers destroyed agricultural lands in Gaza on Feb. 28.
Water Fact
Al Haq and other human rights organizations have submitted a report to the UN that includes a section on ‘Water-Apartheid’ describing the many methods used by Israel to dispossess Palestinian farmers, among them the declaration of certain areas to be ‘closed military zones’: “The Israeli military declared 30,000 dunums of the Jordan River Valley – some of the most fertile agricultural land in the West Bank – to be a closed military zone. Those areas were used for the expansion of settlements for which new wells were drilled by Mekorot inside the settlements.” Israel seized control of West Bank water resources in 1967 and in 1982 transferred the Palestinian water infrastructure to the Israeli National Water Company Mekorot “which practices Jewish-only privilege over the country’s water resources” (pp.14-18).
Compiled by The Alliance for Water Justice in Palestine
The Alliance for Water Justice in Palestine and 1for3.org are organizing a webinar as a lead up to World Water Day. PARCHED IN PALESTINE: RESISTING WATER APARTHEID will take place on Saturday, March 19, from 1:00 – 2:30 PM Eastern Daylight time. It will feature speakers from Palestine and visual material highlighting Palestinian struggles to stay on the land. Register: https://bit.ly/3M69wOo
Banner by Paul Normandia of Red Sun Press