Bi-Weekly Brief for October 19, 2020
Palestinians battered by Covid-19 and moves made by former Arab allies
In Palestine by Oct. 18 there were at least 58,227 cases (4,645 of them in Gaza) and 478 deaths. Among those with Covid-19 are two of Palestine’s most prominent spokespeople, Hanan Ashrawi and Saeb Erekat, who is now on a ventilator in an Israeli hospital. An interview by former US Saudi Ambassador Prince Bandar bin Sultan on al Arabiya TV which was harshly critical of Palestinian leadership – past and present –signals the Saudi demotion of the Palestinian cause in the emerging anti-Iran regional re-alignment. On Oct. 12, the day the Knesset endorsed the UAE’s ‘normalization’ treaty with Israel, a cargo ship from Dubai arrived at Haifa. The following day a Dubai-based company made a bid to buy Israel’s 3rd largest airline.
Israel’s Covid strategy undermined by Haredi defiance and mounting civil unrest
Despite a plunge in cases after a month-long lockdown, the Covid-19 death toll keeps rising – it passed the milestone of 2,000 on October 12 and has now reached at least 2,202 deaths out of 302,911 who have been infected. The Haredim (ultra Orthodox), only 12% of Israel’s population, have been ignoring lockdown restrictions and account for 40% of new cases. With some restrictions relaxed on Oct. 18 but schools expected to stay shut, the Haredim defied the government by opening their boys’ schools. Netanyahu, whose coalition includes ultra-Orthodox parties, appears powerless to stop them. Claiming the lockdown had ruined their business, some shopkeepers have burned their wares (Times of Israel, Oct. 15). With the expiry of limits on the size of demonstrations, tens of thousands have again taken to the streets demanding Netanyahu’s resignation. Haaretz (Oct. 17) reported that counter-protestors have used pepper spray and small explosives against the marchers and denounced them as “traitors” and “leftists.”
Green light given to settlement building as UN human rights agency denied visas
After the UN human rights agency last Feb. released the names of 112 companies that work in illegal Israeli settlements, its foreign staff were forced to leave the country. Middle East Eye (Oct. 15) has revealed that no visas have been granted to the agency since then. Meanwhile, according to Arutz Sheva (Oct. 14), more than 5,000 new settler homes have been approved for the West Bank. With the onset of the olive harvest, settlers have attacked Palestinian farmers and burned their olive trees, adding to the estimated 800,000 trees vandalized or uprooted since 1967.
As Israel consolidates de facto annexation, IDF raids accelerate in the West Bank
According to the Palestinian Center for Human Rights, Israeli soldiers made 127 incursions into the West Bank in a single week (October 8-14), raiding homes, making over 100 arrests, suppressing demonstrations, and demolishing buildings. On Oct. 5, the IDF killed 24-year-old Sameer Ahmed Hamidi at a checkpoint near Tulkarem. On Oct. 11, 53 people were hurt, at least 10 by live fire, when the army entered Amari refugee camp. Meanwhile Maher al-Akhras, a 49-year-old father of 6, is near death after an 85-day hunger strike to protest being detained without charges being filed since late July. Dozens of other prisoners are hunger-striking in solidarity and to protest the leaders of the prisoners’ movement being placed in solitary confinement.
Water Fact
On nearly a daily basis during the Oct. 5 – 19 period, Israeli gunboats have fired on Palestinian fishing boats within 3 or 4 nautical miles from Gaza’s shore, damaging vessels and causing panic. After Palestinians were promised a fishing zone of up to 20 nautical miles (37 kms.) by the Oslo Accords, the Israeli navy issued arbitrary restrictions of 6-9 nautical miles when it imposed its blockade on Gaza in 2007. There used to be 10,000 registered fishermen in Gaza. There are now fewer than 4,000.
Compiled by The Alliance for Water Justice in Palestine
Banner design by Paul Normandia of Red Sun Press