October 2022
Palestinians killed in escalation of violence Maureen Clare Murphy EI 05/10/2022
A United Nations human rights expert said on Thursday that she was “extremely alarmed by the escalation of violence” in the West Bank, where Israeli forces have killed five Palestinians since the beginning of October. . . . . Settlers blocked roads and threw stones at Palestinian drivers attempting to drive in and out of Nablus and Ramallah, major West Bank cities under nominal Palestinian Authority control, in the lead-up to Yom Kippur, a Jewish holiday. . . Both Nablus and Jenin, another city in the northern West Bank, have re-emerged as centers of armed resistance to the Israeli military occupation. In recent months, Israel and the Palestinian Authority have stepped up their attacks in these areas amid concerns among Israeli leaders that they are slipping out of the occupation’s control.
Gaza’s looming mental health crisis Sewar Elejla Mondoweiss 06/10/2022
Some Gazans may — I repeat, may — get used to losing their houses, struggling for food and clean water, and dealing with all the bitterness that comes from living under siege for 15 years. But one thing they can’t get used to is losing their loved ones. They cannot tolerate seeing their kids killed in the blink of an eye, or suffer from injuries, permanent disability, and constant psychological trauma. Since the Second Intifada of 2000, at least 2,200 Palestinian children were killed by the Israeli military, of whom around 83 were killed in the last two years in the Gaza Strip. During the May 2014 war, according to UNICEF, 444 children were injured and 30,000 were displaced. This war alone created more than 1,500 new orphans.
ICC asked to take action Maureen Clare Murphy EI 07/10/2022
A prominent Israeli human rights group is calling on Karim Khan, the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, to urgently intervene to prevent the expulsion of Palestinians from a rural area of the West Bank. In a letter delivered on Monday, B’Tselem requested Khan’s “urgent intervention to prevent Israel from continuing to carry out this policy” and to clarify that forcible transfer constitutes a war crime under the Rome Statute, the founding treaty of the International Criminal Court. . . . Ariel Sharon, then Israel’s agriculture minister, admitted in 1981 that the area was declared a firing zone for the purpose of displacing Palestinians from their land so it may be seized by Israel.
Israeli wave of extra-judicial assassinations – 3 minors shot dead
Mariam Barghouti Mondoweiss 09/10/2022 On October 7, Israeli military forces shot and killed 16-year-old Adel Ibrahim Daoud in the city of Qalqilya, north of Ramallah. Hours later, the military invaded al-Gharbiyya 11 km northwest of Ramallah, killing 17-year-old Mahdi Ladadweh. . . In a coordinated military invasion, Jenin refugee camp was assaulted under the pretext of arresting a wanted Palestinian resistance fighter, Mohammad Abu Zeina. The invasion resulted in the killing of Mohammad El-Sous, 18, and Ahmad Daraghmeh, 16. Eleven others were injured, including 3 in critical condition, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.
Fathi Khazem – a symbol of Palestinian resistance Ahmed Abu Artema Mondoweiss 10/10/2022 On September 28, a unit of the Israeli army’s special forces murdered Abdul Rahman Khazem, the son of a prominent Palestinian man who is wanted by the Israelis, Fathi Khazem. The murder of Abdul Rahman in Jenin refugee camp appears to be a revenge operation against his father, who has been pursued by the occupation forces since April 2022. Fathi Khazem’s name emerged in April after his son Raad carried out an operation in Tel Aviv that resulted in the killing and injury of a number of Israelis.
In the few hours that followed the killing of his son Raad, Fathi “Abu Raad” Khazem went out to receive the crowds of mourners, addressing them loudly and in defiance of the Israeli occupation, declaring his determination to continue resisting Israel until the liberation of Palestine.
Jaffa the next Sheikh Jarrah Jessica Buxbaum Mondoweiss 13/10/2022
The historic Ajami neighborhood in Jaffa has become a battleground between the Israel Lands Authority (ILA) and the area’s veteran Palestinian residents. About 1,400 families have been served eviction orders from Amidar, a public housing company which in the past has said it’s simply doing ILA’s bidding.
About 120,000 Palestinians lived in Jaffa before the establishment of the Israeli state in 1948. Roughly 3,200 Palestinians remain in Jaffa’s Ajami district today as a result of the Nakba. Under Israeli law, the properties left behind by Palestinians fleeing the Nakba are considered absentee or abandoned and fell under ILA ownership.
12-year-old Palestinian succumbs to wounds Yumna Patel Mondoweiss 12/10/22
Mahmoud Mohammad Khalil Samoudi, 12, was shot in the abdomen on September 28th during an Israeli army incursion on the Jenin Refugee Camp. According to Defense for Children International – Palestine (DCIP), at around 10am on September 28th, Samoudi joined a group of boys and youth who were throwing stones and Molotov cocktails at Israeli army vehicles in the al-Zahra neighborhood next to the camp. . . . He was the 44th Palestinian child to be killed this year according to DCIP, 27 of whom were killed by Israeli military ans settler violence in the West Bank.
’24 hours of hell’ Yumna Patel Mondoweiss 14/10/2022
Huwwara has been under near constant attack since Thursday afternoon, when groups of armed settlers began attacking several points in the town, primarily on the main road, vandalizing dozens of storefronts and vehicles. The settlers also burned olive trees, and attacked several homes, a local amusement park, and cafe on the outskirts of the town. “What’s happening right now in Huwwara is terrifying, and it’s a sign of what’s to come in the rest of the West Bank as the settlers continue
A full-scale revolt? Ali Abunimah & MC Murphy EI 14/10/2022
Events in the occupied West Bank over the past week indicate that the Palestinian liberation struggle, and Israel’s efforts to repress it with with brutal violence, have entered a new phase.
In this looming scenario, the formerly extremist fringe settlers see themselves represented at the top levels of Israeli government, emboldened and beyond the restraint of the army.
Meanwhile, the Palestinian Authority is proving increasingly ineffective at quelling armed resistance and teetering on what some Israeli analysts fear is the verge of collapse.
The PA exists to serve as an enforcement arm of the Israeli occupation and its presence would not be missed by many Palestinians except for those who are currently on its payroll.
Restrictions on foreign travel into West Bank Y Patel + M Arria Mondoweiss 20/10/2022 A draconian set of rules and restrictions on the entry of foreigners into the occupied West Bank are set to go into effect today, despite months of condemnations by rights groups and legal efforts to stop the restrictions from being enforced.
Entitled the “Procedure for entry and residence of foreigners in the Judea and Samaria area,” the 90-pages of restrictions engineered by Israel’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), seeks to severely restrict the ability of foreigners, including those of Palestinian origin living abroad, to enter the West Bank for the purpose of business, education, humanitarian work, and even visiting family.
Two sides of the same coin Jonathan Ofir Mondoweiss 26/10/2022
A drama over the far-right Jewish Power Israeli politician Itamar Ben Gvir has been unfolding in the past few days in Israel, and it involves clothes. The local franchisee of the Zara fashion brand, Joey Schwebel, hosted Ben Gvir for an election campaign event, and Palestinian citizens of Israel were enraged. Many, including the mayor of the southern Bedouin town of Rahat, filmed themselves burning Zara clothes and called for a boycott of Zara due to its connection to fascists. . . . the bottom line is, that Israel is what is known in political science as “racial democracy”, securing a master-race majority demographic engineering.
UK related articles
Israel lobby’s dominance of Labour Asa Winstanley EI 31/10/2022
Secret minutes obtained by The Electronic Intifada show just how strongly the UK’s main opposition party has been captured by the pro-Israel lobby. Shadow minister Steve Reed gave a series of extraordinary pledges during a 2 December 2020 meeting with prominent Israel lobby donor Trevor Chinn. Chinn and five other Israel lobby representatives took part in the secret meeting, along with Reed and two of his staff. The minutes conclude that the lobbyists had established “a regular channel of communication” with Reed and his office.
The minutes were written by Reed’s aide Owain Mumford, who emailed them to Ellie Robinson, an aide to Labour leader Keir Starmer, as well as to senior party officials Andrew Whyte and Alex Barros-Curtis.
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