June 15: Corona Virus Update in Palestine

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.
 
Brief for June 15, 2020
After Israel initiated a partial re-opening there was spike in Covid-19 cases, now totaling more than 19,000 and 300 deaths. In the West Bank/East Jerusalem there have been at least 573 cases and 2 deaths, and in Gaza 72 cases and 1 death.  
 
The Palestine Authority
Signaling that it is serious about breaking ties with Israel, the PA on June 3 said it would no longer accept the tax revenues amounting to 60% of its budget that Israel collects on Palestinian goods.  On June 9 Prime Minister Shtayyeh said the PA has given the Quartet (US, Russia, UN, EU) the PA’s response to the Trump plan.  It calls for a demilitarized state with East Jerusalem as its capital and minor modifications to the 1967 borders. He said that Palestine will declare its ‘independence’ if annexation goes ahead and the PLO will rescind its recognition of Israel.
 
Annexation  
The Times of Israel (June 10) reported that Netanyahu will start by annexing 3 settlement blocks (Ariel, Ma’ale Adumim & Etzion bloc) instead of the Jordan Valley. Settler leaders are pressuring Netanyahu to annex the entire West Bank, while on June 7 over 1,000 anti-annexation protestors staged a rally in Tel Aviv that Bernie Sanders addressed by videoconference.  According to Haaretz (June 11), AIPAC told Members of Congress they can criticize annexation but “doing anything to weaken this vital relationship would be a mistake” – a reference to cutting aid. As the EU, Jordan, Egypt, and Gulf countries voice their opposition, Israel appears to be preparing for annexation by constructing new roads across the West Bank. 
 
Occupation practices
In the first 10 days of June the Israeli army raided the West Bank and East Jerusalem at least 130 times, making hundreds of arrests.  Tear gas, sound bombs, and rubber bullets were used against June 5th protests marking the 53rdanniversary of the occupation and at other demonstrations drawing parallels with the killing of George Floyd.  The army destroyed at least a dozen houses and irrigation networks while settlers bulldozed Palestinian land, punctured the tires of a dozen cars near Nablus and daubed homes with racist slurs.  In blockaded Gaza, where the poverty rate has soared to 53%, the army shot at farmers along the eastern border and Israeli gunboats attacked fishermen near Rafah.
 
See these sources: Palestine Chronicle and Palestine Centre for Human Rights

Israeli Army Causes More Destruction to Palestinian Water Supply in the Jordan Valley

Israeli Tanks Destroy Water Pipe in Jordan Valley during Military Exercise

An Israeli military drill in the occupied Jordan Valley. (Photo: via MEMO)

The steady and escalating cruelty of the occupation

"Although the Jordan River provides Israel with an estimated 450 million cubic metres of water per year, Palestinians in the Jordan Valley are denied access to and supply of its water.

Suleiman says, in 1976 Israel made an agreement with farmers stipulating that water should not be extracted from the village wells 'in exchange for the Israeli authorities giving them water at a reduced price'.

'After the villagers implemented the agreement and stopped using their water wells, the occupation authorities gradually began to reduce the amount of water granted to them putting their cultivation at risk.' ”

Israel is forcing out Palestine’s watermelon farmers before it takes their land

Farmer Sleiman Sawafta at his watermelon field. Bardala village June 2020. [Fareed Taamallah]

General view of Jordan valley [Fareed Taamallah]

Interview with two activists: "Defunding the Police in the US is Palestine Work"

Sandra Tamari: "This is a moment for radical solidarity. It is a time to be humble as Palestine organizers to understand the fight for justice is a multi-front battle. Our call right now is to lift up the Black struggle against injustice. In doing that, we are not saying that Palestinian concerns about Israeli state violence or annexation are less important. Instead we are recognizing the four centuries of pain and trauma Blacks in the United States have faced and understand that when Black people are free, all of us are free. When Black people in the U.S. win, Palestine wins. We are both fighting against state-sanctioned, systematic racism that is upheld by violence. Our collective liberation is what’s at stake."

Khury Petersen-Smith: "Recognizing what is unique about the situation for Black people in the US, and that for Palestinians, doesn’t do anything to undermine our solidarity. It can make it much stronger."

Read more about the critical importance of foregrounding the struggle for Black liberation here:

‘Defunding the police in the United States is Palestine work’: a discussion on solidarity with Sandra Tamari and Khury Petersen-Smith

PALESTINIANS IN HOUSTON, TEXAS JOINED A MASS MOBILIZATION FOR BLACK LIBERATION ON TUESDAY, 2 JUNE 2020. (PHOTO: PALESTINIAN YOUTH MOVEMENT.)