Bi-Weekly Brief for August 11, 2020

Bi-Weekly Brief for August 11, 2020

At a time when the Corona virus crisis has crowded out other news, the Alliance is producing news briefs every two weeks to keep our members informed about the situation in occupied Palestine.

Covid-19 upsurge

Israel’s hospitals are reportedly struggling as its Covid-19 cases have increased by 20,000 over the past 2 weeks to 82,670, with deaths reaching 600 by August 9. In the Occupied Territories there are now over 18,841 cases (78 in Gaza) and at least 110 deaths (1 in Gaza and 77 in Hebron district). DCI-Palestine reports that a 15-year-old Palestinian being held in an Israeli prison has tested positive for the virus.

Israel’s coalition government could be on the brink of collapse

After a month of smaller protests, up to 30,000 Israelis demonstrated on August 8 demanding Netanyahu’s ouster for mismanaging the economy and virus. The Aug. 9 Times of Israel reports support for the far right and centrists is growing, as Netanyahu and his coalition partner Benny Gantz - who declared it wrong for Israel to have a prime minister facing 3 indictments - are at odds over the budget, which Netanyahu refuses to approve. Unless an extension is agreed to, the government will be automatically dissolved if the budget is not approved by August 25.

Whatever happened to annexation?

While Netanyahu in early August said that annexation is still on the table but the White House must back it, Haaretz (Aug. 5) reported that under half of Israelis are in favor of it. Whether or not annexation is made ‘official,’ Israeli forces are reportedly preparing to demolish the entire village of Faraseen near Jenin, where soldiers destroyed a house and water well on August 10, and 8 Palestinian hamlets in the southern Hebron hills to make way for a firing zone.

This is what the Occupation looks like

On July 30, Human Rights Defender Mahmoud Nawajaa, the coordinator of the BDS Committee in the West Bank, was arrested when some 50 soldiers invaded his home near Ramallah. Over a dozen Palestinians were arrested in raids around the time of Eid al-Adha, and a dozen more on August 10. On August 7, 23-year-old Dalia Samudi was shot and killed by soldiers as she was trying to close her window to keep out tear gas during a raid in Jenin. Soldiers then shot at the ambulance that arrived on the scene. Dozens were injured when, on August 8, an anti-annexation march in a village near Qalqiliya was attacked by the army. Settlers set up roadblocks and attacked civilians and torched cars in various locations. In the Gaza Strip, Israel conducted air strikes on August 3rd and 6th, and tank artillery pounded central Gaza on August 9th with more airstrikes the following day, reportedly in response to balloons sent from Gaza carrying incendiary materials.

See Wafa News Agency and Palestine Chronicle

Banner design by Paul Normandia of Red Sun Press

Sweltering in Gaza

“For the past 13 years, more than two million people in the Gaza Strip have suffered constant electricity cuts because of Israel’s suffocating siege that has drastically limited the supply of fuel and seen the only power station here fall into disrepair.

The effect is most acutely felt in the summer heat, when there is insufficient ventilation and cooling facilities to deal with temperatures that are easily in the 30s celsius/high 80s fahrenheit.

People find ways to cope. The beach, especially in the evening, is a favored destination.

The streets also come alive as the sun starts to sink. That is when vendors know they can hope for some sales, even from impoverished customers, as the oppressive heat finally gives way.”

Coping with the scorching sun

It’s when the sun sets, that Palestinians in Gaza can finally find some relief to enjoy their evenings

Sanad Latefa

Raghad, 11, brings water to her home, which is often without its own supply.

 Sanad Latefa

Once evening falls, the beach fills, safe from a scorching afternoon sun

 Sanad Latefa

Water as a Weapon against Palestinians

Israel has been escalating its tactic of removing Palestinians from their land using the deprivation of water as a weapon. Here are three examples, among hundreds, that occurred this week in the occupied West Bank:

• Israeli soldiers invaded the Palestinian village of Farasin (population 200) and handed out 36 immediate demolition orders for all structures and water wells. The village has a 200-year old well and several ancient buildings. 

• Israeli colonists invaded Khirbat Samra Bedouin community and stole three water tanks each with the capacity of 1.5 cubic meters. They also stole sheds, four tents, kitchenware, and five tons of wheat and animal feed, then fled the area. 

• Israeli bulldozers destroyed Palestinian-owned farmlands in Bruqin to extend sewage lines for an illegal Israeli settlement. 

Since the beginning of this year, Israeli soldiers injured 1070 Palestinians, mainly during nonviolent protests against the illegal annexation of their lands, home demolitions, and the isolation of entire villages and towns. Israeli soldiers killed 27 Palestinians, including seven children. (Seventeen were killed in the West Bank, including occupied Jerusalem, and ten in the Gaza Strip.)

In those same six months, Israel abducted about 2330 Palestinians in the West Bank, including Jerusalem, and in the Gaza Strip. Among those abducted are 304 children.

Sources: imemc, imemc, imemc

Design by Paul Normandia of Red Sun Press.

Because they can...

“This is what they have been doing for a month, a group of settlers, several times a week. Yesterday (July 26) they came again,” Alyan says. “I have a cistern from which I drink. The settler routinely undresses and climbs into the cistern in order to swim in it.

“If I gave you a glass of water, and put a finger in it before, would you drink it?” Alyan asks. “My guess is no. So now imagine what I feel. It’s repulsive. It drives me crazy. I’m helpless.”

Read more here about the settler take over of the UNESCO World Heritage site of Battir near Bethlehem.

‘I Want Battir to Go to Hell’: Israeli Settlers Invade Palestinian World Heritage Site

Sixty-year-old Mariam Bader waters her crop on the ancient terraces of the Palestinian West Bank village of Battir, a UNESCO World Heritage Site., Hadas Parush/Flash90