Bi-Weekly Brief for November 16, 2020

Bi-Weekly Brief for November 16, 2020

Shortage of tests leads to substantial undercount of Covid-19 cases in Palestine

Dr. Mai Al-Kaila, the PA’s Minister of Health, said a shortage of testing kits means the number of Covid-19 cases in Palestine could be 3 times what is reported (Wafa News, Nov. 14). The reported number is 72,967, of which 10,985 are in Gaza. More than 650 Palestinians have died, among them chief negotiator Saeb Erekat, who passed away on Nov. 10. On that day UNRWA announced it would run out of money in 2 weeks. This is of particular concern in the Gaza Strip, where 70% are refugees. Israel, where cases number over 324,000 with 2,732 deaths, said it had bought enough doses of Pfizer’s forthcoming vaccine to inoculate 4 million Israelis (Times of Israel, Nov. 13).

Netanyahu congratulates Biden as potential differences on Iran loom large

12 hours after Biden was declared President-elect, Netanyahu tweeted congratulations, saying they had enjoyed ‘a long and warm personal relationship for nearly 40 years’ (Times of Israel, Nov. 8). A pre-election poll by the Israeli Democracy Institute showed 70% of Israeli Jews wanted Trump to win. As anti-Netanyahu protests entered their 21st week, thousands marched chanting ‘Trump is gone, now it’s your turn’ (Haaretz, Nov. 12). The press made much of Biden’s ‘love of Israel’ and statement that he would not be moving the US embassy back to Tel Aviv, but worried about his Iran policy.

On Nov. 13, 3 days after officially announcing a $23.37 billion sale of advanced armaments to the UAE to counter ‘increased threats from Iran following historic Abraham Accords,’ Secretary of State Pompeo left for France, Turkey, Georgia, Israel, Qatar and Saudi Arabia, with Iran a likely focus. In Israel he will make an unprecedented visit to the Psagot settlement in the West Bank, whose winery is producing a label in his name.

On US election day Israel destroys an entire Palestinian village in the Jordan Valley

On Nov. 3, 100 Israeli soldiers and bulldozers swooped without warning on the Bedouin village of Khirbet Humsah and destroyed 18 houses, 29 tents, 5 water tanks, sheds, portable toilets and solar panels, leaving 74 people – 41 of them children – without shelter as the winter rains moved in (Haaretz, Nov. 6). US Rep. Ilhan Omar denounced the action as ‘a grave crime – in direct violation of international law’ and the UN termed it the largest demolition in over a decade. Additional homes were razed in Nablus and East Jerusalem, where, in the Silwan neighborhood, 100 houses and a mosque face demolition. Ethnic cleansing and settlement expansion are advancing hand in hand. On Nov. 9, Israel announced a new settlement would be constructed adjacent to the Gaza Strip and on Nov. 15, it published tenders for 1, 357 units between Bethlehem and Jerusalem (Haaretz, Nov.16). Several of the IDF’s more than 100 raids into the West Bank violently targeted anti-settlement protests. Israeli forces shot at Gaza’s farmers and fishermen and launched airstrikes and artillery attacks across the Strip early on Nov. 15 in response to 2 rockets fired from Gaza that IDF officials believe might have been triggered by a lightning storm (Times of Israel, Nov. 15). On a more positive note, administrative detainee Maher al-Akhras ended a 103-day hunger strike on Nov. 6 after officials agreed to release him on Nov. 26 and said his detention order would not be renewed. His 6-year-old daughter fed him his first teaspoon of soup.

Water Fact

During the current olive harvest season, as in previous years, many Palestinian farmers have had to contend with untreated sewage from illegal settlements being dumped on their land, turning it into a ‘wastewater swamp.’ The village of Deir Ballut in the Salfit region has recently had its fields drowned in sewage from three nearby illegal settlements, and there are similar stories around the West Bank. Untreated sewage creates ‘toxic wastelands’ and causes the trees to die.

Compiled by The Alliance for Water Justice in Palestine

Banner designed by Paul Normandia of Red Sun Press

Just One Time

Friends,

The Alliance for Water Justice in Palestine asks for financial support just once a year.

This year we responded to the escalating brutality that Israel inflicts on Palestinians by deepening our organizing and expanding the reach and the content of our message: access to water should never be used as a weapon.

We work through advocacy and education—locally, nationally, and internationally. In the coming year we plan to build connections with U.S. communities facing water injustice to form collaborative relationships.

We plan to become involved in the Nationwide Water Shutoff Moratorium’s campaign to protect people against water shut-offs for failure to pay water bills during the pandemic. Water is a human right!

Here’s some of what we’ve been doing in the past year:

We sent out weekly Water Facts for four years; we now send bi-weekly Briefs with a water fact and a critical summary of the current impact of the Occupation on Palestinians and U.S. complicity, providing a historical context. We are also exposing the heightened difficulties of daily life in Palestine during the global health crisis. An estimated 4,500 people receive the Briefs via email, Twitter, Facebook, and our website.

Our social media presence has grown in numbers and influence. We have 2,700 Twitter followers and over 800 Facebook friends. More than 2,000 people have visited our website this year, 65% from the U.S. and the rest from 85 different countries. Our website blog is updated weekly.

The Alliance educated the Massachusetts congressional delegation about the role of water in Israel’s annexation plans. As a member of JAG (Joint Advocacy Taskforce), we urged our delegation to oppose the annexation and to condition U.S. military aid on it. With other Palestine solidarity groups, we created a statewide network currently named MA Against Annexation. Nearly two dozen groups have already joined this campaign.

We held numerous standouts in Boston and vicinity, participated in international Palestinian rights visibility campaigns, protested with university students against an anti-Palestinian-rights speaker, co-organized a public event about water discrimination with local and Indigenous groups (canceled due to the coronavirus), and accepted many requests for co-sponsorship of events and statements.

Although we are an all-volunteer organization, we rely on donations to pay for updating our website, tweeting, and for the design and production of leaflets, signs and banners.

We thank you for your consideration of this annual request and for your steadfast commitment to Palestinian freedom.

The Alliance

Donations are 100% tax-deductible. You can give here through the website.

Designed by Paul Normandia at Red Sun Press

An Update from our Friends at 1for3

Dear Friends,

On behalf of the entire 1for3 team, I want to pass on my hope that you and your loved ones are safe and well.

I am writing to update you on the Community Hydroponic Garden in the UN-run Aida refugee camp.

The challenges related to COVID-19, and the worsening political situation in Palestine, have not delayed the start of the garden project. Recently, our partners, the Lajee Center, signed a contract to begin construction with a local Palestinian NGO. The Union of Agricultural Worker Committees (UAWC) is an organization with unique expertise in constructing urban-garden spaces like the Community Hydroponic Garden. Their knowledge and skills will manage the construction and operation of the Community Hydroponic Garden, and will help ensure that it serves as many families as possible. Taking this important step has brought a great deal of excitement to the communities of Aida and Azza camps during this difficult time.

Building the Community Hydroponic Garden in the UN-run Aida refugee camp will have a wide positive impact on the local population. Over 100 families will benefit from the produce they help to grow in the garden. This means that approximately 800 people will directly benefit from fresh and healthy food. The construction of the garden will entail hiring local trades people including electricians, masons, plumbers, architects, and construction workers.

The project will support the Palestinian economy in other ways. Materials used to build the garden will be purchased locally. This will include metal and poly sheeting, water pumps, water tubing, hydroponic basins, and setting up the solar electricity power source. Direct employment of people will support many families. Hires will include three builders, an agricultural engineer, other tradespeople, and two-full time employees to run the finished garden.

I am happy to provide more information about the Community Hydroponic Garden and look forward to hearing from you.

Nidal Al-Azraq, Executive Director, 1for3

Bi-Weekly Brief for November 1, 2020

Bi-Weekly Brief for November 1, 2020

Covid-19 cases subside in Israel; 1/3 of daily cases in Palestine are now from Gaza

Israel, which had 314,778 cases and 2553 deaths on Nov. 1, is gradually re-opening after registering its lowest number of daily infections since June. Palestine cases now total more than 64,237 with 545 deaths, and 6730 cases in the Gaza Strip. Some Israelis protested Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat being treated in Hadassah hospital where he is on life support. One sign read ‘let him die’ (Washington Post, Oct. 22).

US and Israel rush to construct new regional order before US election

While protests demanding Netanyahu step down continue to draw tens of thousands and Trump lags behind in the polls, both leaders have sought political support by touting the benefits of ‘normalization.’ On Oct. 20, the US, Israel and the UAE set up a $3 billion regional investment fund. Three days later, Trump announced a ‘peace deal’ between Sudan and Israel after Sudan agreed to pay $335 million to victims of the 1998 embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania and designate Hezbollah as a terror group. In return, Sudan was removed from the State Department’s state terror list. On Oct. 29, the day Pentagon head Mark Esper visited Israel to assure it that the US would protect its ‘qualitative military edge’ by selling it advanced stealth F-22 Raptor aircraft and precision-guided bombs, the White House notified Congress it intended to sell 50 F-35 jets to the UAE, despite its record of bombing civilians in Yemen (Haaretz, Oct. 29).

Trump Administration hands Israel other perks that defy international law

Setting aside the State Department’s 1978 legal opinion that settlements violated international law, on Oct. 28 US Ambassador David Friedman announced at Ariel University (the settlement-based brainchild of Sheldon Adelson, Trump’s chief funder) that lucrative US-Israeli scientific projects could be carried out in settlements (Haaretz, Oct. 28). To underscore that Jerusalem is part of Israel, Secretary of State Pompeo on Oct. 29 said US citizens born in Jerusalem can now list Israel as the country of their birth. Pompeo has also called Amnesty, Human Rights Watch and Oxfam ‘anti-Semitic’ and declared that the US would end aid for their activities (Times of Israel, Oct. 22).

With unchecked brutality soldiers and settlers assert mastery of Palestinian land

According to the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights, the IDF made some 200 incursions into the West Bank in the last 2 weeks to crush protests, conduct night raids on homes, make arrests, destroy buildings (including a supermarket in Qalqilya), and drive farmers from their land as they harvested olives. In Gaza, where unemployment has reached 70% with the Covid lockdown, Israeli forces shot at agricultural lands and fishing boats, and there were 2 airstrikes. On Oct. 24, 16-year-old Amer Snobar was beaten to death by soldiers northeast of Ramallah while helping a 17-year-old friend move his broken down car (see this account by Defense for Children International-Palestine). On Oct. 30, soldiers injured dozens protesting land confiscation in Beit Dajan near Nablus, where a new settler outpost was being constructed. Haaretz (Oct. 24) reported more than 20 attacks on farmers during the first 9 days of the olive harvest. Oct. 31 marked the 97th day of the water-only hunger strike by Maher al-Akhras to protest being detained without charge. He is in critical condition in an Israeli hospital.

Water Fact

On Oct. 26, the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights reported that the Israeli army had approved plans to seize land just north of the West Bank village of Battir. A few miles from Bethlehem, Battir is known for its Roman-era terraces, ancient complex of irrigation channels fed by groundwater and springs, and traditional equitable water distribution system benefiting the village’s farming families. When, in 2014, its landscape and irrigation system were being threatened by an extension of Israel’s separation Wall, Battir got a reprieve by being listed as both a UNESCO World Heritage site and a World Heritage in Danger site. It is now being threatened anew by escalating settlement activities. In 2019, settlers established the illegal outpost of Neve Ori two kilometers from the village. Since then, settlers have repeatedly encroached on Battir’s land, which they claim belongs to them, and farmers and other residents are being attacked by the army as caravans are set in place and settlement roads are paved.

Compiled by The Alliance for Water Justice in Palestine

Banner design by Paul Normandia of Red Sun Press