January 2021
A regime of Jewish supremacy from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea: This is apartheid
B’tselem 12/01/2021
More than 14 million people, roughly half of them Jews and the other half Palestinians, live
between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea under a single rule. The common
perception in public, political, legal and media discourse is that two separate regimes operate
side by side in this area, separated by the Green Line. One regime, inside the borders of the
sovereign State of Israel, is a permanent democracy with a population of about nine million,
all Israeli citizens. The other regime, in the territories Israel took over in 1967, whose final
status is supposed to be determined in future negotiations, is a temporary military occupation
imposed on some five million Palestinian subjects.
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Not even allowed to live in a cave
EI 04/01/2021
Israel’s Civil Administration, the bureaucratic arm of its military occupation, ordered the demolition of Ahmad Amarneh’s small home in the village as he was building it. Amarneh then moved to one of the village’s historic caves, “because it does not require an Israeli permit, or so I thought,” he told The Electronic Intifada. In July, Israeli occupation forces ordered Amarneh to leave the cave.
Israel’s 2020 demolition spree
Tamara Nassar EI 05/01/2021
While people around the world were told to stay home due to the pandemic, Israel made more Palestinians homeless in 2020 than it has in years. Israel demolished and confiscated more than 850 Palestinian structures throughout the year, displacing 1,000 people. More than half of those displaced were children.
Israel targeted almost any kind of structure Palestinians need for sustainable life, including homes, agricultural buildings, infrastructure and water sanitation facilities.
Palestinian paralysed, self-defense claimed
Maureen Clare-Murphy EI 08/01/2021
The Israeli military cleared itself of wrongdoing in the shooting and grave injury of a Palestinian man in the southern West Bank last week, claiming soldiers acted in self-defense. The perfunctory investigation closed less than a week later exemplifies the culture of impunity long decried by human rights organizations seeking war crimes investigations at the International Criminal Court. The military claimed that the man who was shot, Harun Abu Aram, was “hit by a stray bullet fired when a Palestinian tried to seize a commander’s weapon,” as the Tel Aviv daily Haaretz reported.
Vaccine Equality?
Yumna Patel Mondoweiss 14/01/2021
Israeli authorities are failing to provide essential information on the vaccine in Arabic, to establish vaccine centers in Palestinian neighborhoods in East Jerusalem, and to provide sufficient vaccines in Bedouin clinics in the Negev. These failures are “not a coincidence”, rights groups say.
Israel’s vaccination program is morally indefensible
Omar Karmi EI 15/01/2021
Israel’s exclusion of five million people from its COVID-19 vaccine program continues to raise protest. This week, the UN called on Israel to ensure “swift and equitable access” to the vaccine for Palestinians who live under its occupation. Since Israel began its vaccine rollout, Palestinian, Israeli and international human rights organizations have protested that the country is failing in its obligations as an occupying power by not offering the vaccine to the Palestinians of occupied territory.It is a policy, said Amnesty International on 6 January, that exposes Israel’s “institutional discrimination.”
Trump’s achievements on Israel
Philip Weiss Mondoweiss 21/01/21
Secretary of State Blinken spent a lot of time affirming Donald Trump’s policies in Israel! Notably in his very respectful exchanges with Senator Ted Cruz, who you’d think Blinken might treat with some crust because he tried to deny Biden’s victory.
Cruz: A final question because my time has expired, Do you agree that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel and do you commit that the United States will keep our embassy there?
Blinken: Yes and Yes.
Tear gas attack – Palestinian woman miscarries
IMEMC 21/01/21
A Palestinian woman who was seven months pregnant suffered a miscarriage last Thursday after Israeli forces repeatedly fired tear gas toward her home in Mughayir village, east of Ramallah, Areej Abu Alya, 37, was hospitalized for several days with severe bleeding following the firing of over a hundred tear gas canisters by the Israeli military in front of and around her home over the course of the previous week.
Her home is located in an area scheduled by Israeli authorities for forced takeover, and Palestinian residents protest the Israeli military’s actions on an almost-daily basis.
According to Iyad Abu Alya, Areej’s husband, “We live in a very dangerous area. Tear gas canisters are scattered around the house and inside, and I can no longer collect them immediately to throw them out of our children’s reach.”
Palestinian clinic demolished
Yumna Patel Mondoweiss 26/01/2021
The coronavirus is still raging in Palestine, with hundreds of new cases of the virus being reported every day, and a rising death count to boot.
In the past 24 hours, the Palestinian Ministry of Health (MOH) reported 660 new cases of the coronavirus, and 10 COVID-19 related deaths in the occupied West Bank, Gaza, and East Jerusalem. Despite reports for weeks from Palestinian officials that COVID-19 vaccine doses could be arriving any day now, Palestinian citizens have still yet to see those promises materialize. And as Israel continues to deny responsibility for inoculating the Palestinian population in the occupied Palestinian territory, the prospect of getting a vaccine any time soon still seems far out of reach. All the while, Israel has continued its campaign of home demolitions in the West Bank, targeting homes, agricultural structures, and even clinics.
Israeli justice – the case of Muhannad Abu Ghosh
Yoav Haifawi Mondoweiss 27/01/2021
Haifa is supposed to be the most “progressive” place under Israel’s apartheid. It is supposed to give an example of “coexistence” between Arab and Jews under Zionist rule . . . . Shortly after being detained he was brought to the Haifa court where his detention was remanded for a whole week. He has not been arraigned or charged with any crime. He was prevented by a special decree from meeting a lawyer, a measure regularly used against Palestinian activists who are interrogated by the Shabak. While his lawyer was not informed where he is presently being detained, I have good reasons to believe that he is in the Shabak section in Jelemeh – where harsh conditions and the usage of all kinds of psychological and physical torture are the standard.
Facebook to censor anti-Zionist content??
Yumna Patel Mondoweiss 28/01/2021
“Importantly, this move will prohibit Palestinians from sharing their daily experiences and histories with the world, be it a photo of the keys to their grandparent’s house lost when attacked by Zionist militias in 1948, or a livestream of Zionist settlers attacking their olive trees in 2021. And it would prevent Jewish users from discussing their relationships to Zionist political ideology.”
Child with rare autoimmune disease imprisoned without charge
29/01/2021 IMEMC
Israeli forces arrested Amal Nakhleh 17, from his home around 3:30 a.m. on January 21, 2021, in the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah, according to information collected by DCIP. His detention was promptly extended for 72 hours by an Israeli military court judge at Israel’s Ofer military court, then, on January 25, the six-month administrative detention order against him was issued and accepted. He is currently detained at Israel’s Megiddo prison, located inside Israel, north of the occupied West Bank. Amal suffers from myasthenia gravis, a rare chronic autoimmune, neuromuscular disease that causes muscle weakness, including in the muscles used for breathing and swallowing. His treatment requires ongoing medical treatment and that he takes medication regularly and without interruption.
“Israeli authorities must either file charges against Palestinian children or release them,” said Ayed Abu Eqtaish, Accountability Program director at Defense for Children International – Palestine
Cancer patient accompanier arrested at Erez Crossing
28/01/2021 IMEMC
Monday morning, 25 January 2021, the Israeli authorities at Erez Crossing arrested Walaa Mohammed Refaie, 35, despite having approved his request to accompany his wife to al-Makassed Hospital in Jerusalem. Refaie’s wife, 32-year-old Walaa Ayoub (Refaie), is a cancer patient who was granted an exit permit after receiving a referral to the hospital for treatment.
British recruit involved in killing of Palestinian teen
Tamara Nassar EI 26/01/21
Israeli occupation forces fatally shot a Palestinian teenager on Tuesday. The Israeli army claimed Atallah Muhammad Harb Rayan was attempting a stabbing attack when he was killed at a junction near the Barkan settlement near the occupied West Bank town of Salfit. Rayan was from the town of Qarawat Bani Hassan near Salfit. He was 17 years old, Defense for Children International Palestine confirmed. He is the first Palestinian child Israel has killed this year.
One of the soldiers involved in the incident is reportedly a British citizen. “L.” – as she was identified by the Israeli army and media – said she “knocked him back with my weapon,” and that “he went back and forth between me and my commander, trying to stab us.” The Jerusalem Post identified “L.” as a lone soldier from London in the Israeli army. The publication appears to name “L.” as Lian Harush in the caption of the main image in the article – the same picture of “L.” posted by the Israeli army.
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