This is a roundup of news related to Palestine with a particular focus on grassroots action and peaceful civil disobedience in the Occupied Territories and within the borders of Israel proper.
We use the name Filasṭīn, since that is the pronunciation preferred by Arabic speakers (irrespective of faith) for their homeland.
The big news on the I/P front this week is the proclamation by Mahmoud Abbas in a speech to the UN general assembly that the Palestinians are withdrawing from the Oslo accords, though this is not clear. Asher Schechter in Haaretz notes that the world is ignoring Palestine and Obama's speech at the UN did not mention Israel or Palestine once. Meanwhile, the Israeli government plans to legalize four settlement outposts, with buildings and farms, some built on private Palestinian lands, and others on Palestinian public lands. Haaretz's editorial board rails against this decision and in the context of Abbas's claim that Israel has violated Oslo says Netanyahu's Cabinet Proves: Abbas Was Right. +972mag has an elegy for Abbas and Oslo. Abbas returned to Palestine and said the PA would begin implementing new policies towards Israel, but it's not clear what they will be.
85% of Palestinians believe Israel's long-term plan is to annex the West Bank and either expel them or keep them as a permanent underclass. Israel's newly appointed ambassador to the UN, Danny Danon, openly advocates this. Tensions over the stalled peace process and over clashes at al-Aqsa/Temple Mount have likely contributed to an increase in violence and terrorism across Jerusalem and the West Bank, much of it apparently spontaneous rather than organized.
The area around the temple mount remained the scene of confrontations between Palestinians, Israeli forces and Jewish visitors. Some believe this could spark a third intifada, but David Rosenberg argues in Haaretz that the sorry state of the Palestinian economy is more likely to be the primary cause. 57% of Palestinians in a recent poll said they supported an armed intifada.
A young Jewish couple was killed in a shooting attack in the West Bank on their way home to a settlement near Nablus. Their four young children who were in the car were unhurt. Some Palestinian factions praised the attack. Armed settlers attacked Palestinians in the West Bank in apparent retaliation. Four IDF batallions have been deployed to hunt for the perpetrators. At the funeral, Netanyahu promised terrorism would not stall settlement building and Israel is accelerating construction in the Golan with the explicit aim of annexation.
Two ultra-orthodox men were stabbed to death and others injured (including a toddler) by an 18 year old Palestinian man in Jerusalem. In the wake of this incident, a number of violent reprisal attacks on Palestinians have been reported, along with demonstrations by right-wing groups chanting "Death to Arabs". There are worries that West Bank escalations will be particularly violent if the PA stops coordinating with Israeli security forces. A forceful crackdown by Israeli security forces in the West Bank has been met with violent resistance by Palestinians and there are reports that over a 100 Palestinians were wounded in clashes across the West Bank.
A B'Tselem investigation criticized the IDF for killing 18 year old Hadil al-Hashlamun at a checkpoint and withholding surveillance footage. Yesh Din criticized an official commission for failing to set deadlines and practical steps to improve IDF investigations of war crimes.
The former chief rabbi of Israel said homosexuality was an abomination, unnatural and abnormal. Two Israeli NGOs have petitioned the high court to imprison Rabbi Yosef Elitzur (co-author of the King's Torah) based on a complaint about an incendiary article published in 2009 which the Israeli authorities have not acted upon. A group of extremist rabbis associated with the hilltop youth movement have taken to calling themselves the 'Nascent Sanhedrin'. David Sheen reports on a "trial" led by this group in Jerusalem to denounce Pope Francis and others for their insufficient support of Israel. The proceedings included advocacy for the conquest of Turkey, Iraq and Iran and execution of all male residents who do not follow Jewish laws.
A Haaretz investigation confirms what many suspected, that Palestinian minors throwing stones get much harsher sentences than Jewish stone-throwers whose sentences are often reduced or suspended.
I'm going to close with
one death that is part of the much larger tragedy that is the collapse of Syria. The Lebanese artist Yazan Halwani
created a remarkable mural in Germany, to commemorate a
12 year old Syrian refugee who sold roses in West Beirut and was killed during a brief visit to his home in Syria.
This is a roundup of news related to Palestine with a particular focus on grassroots action and peaceful civil disobedience in the Occupied Territories and within the borders of Israel proper. The goal is to provide a bi-weekly update on the non-violent resistance movement.
Diplomatic negotiations and actions by armed resistance groups are covered quite widely by the mainstream press and in other diaries on DKos so they will rarely be included.
We use the name Filasṭīn, since this is the pronunciation used by Arabic speakers (irrespective of faith) for their homeland. The more familiar Palestine is the Hellenic or Roman variant. Filasṭīn refers to the geographic entity roughly encompassing Israel and Palestine. It is a likely cognate of "Philistine", the name used in the Hebrew bible to describe a rival of the Jewish kingdom of that era.
Prior Diaries:
XXIV) Sep 27, 2015: 17,641 nights into the occupation, 51% of West Bank opposes two-state solution
XXIII) September 20, 2015: The best hope for change on the West Bank? Keep those cameras rolling
XXII) August 23, 2015: Palestinian Christians and Priests clash with Israeli police over separation wall
XXI) August 16, 2015: Jimmy Carter: "Zero chance of the two-state solution"
XX) August 9, 2015: Father of toddler dies of injuries sustained in arson attack
XIX) August 2, 2015: Palestinian infant dies in arson attack, nine prior attacks went unprosecuted by Israel.
XVIII) July 26, 2015: Filastin: "Do you know what Obama coffee is?"
XVII) July 19, 2015: Israeli military judge says a Palestinian can defend his home, too
XVI) July 12, 2015: Citizen Odeh: The Arab leader who feels the Jews' pain
XV) July 5, 2015: Israel losing Democrats, "can't claim bipartisan US support," top pollster warns
XIV) June 28, 2015: Israel's Deputy Interior Minister: I'll seek to revoke Arab MKs' citizenship
XIII) June 21, 2015: Prisoner's hunger strike enters 48th day; Vandals torch Church of Loaves and Fish
XII) June 14, 2015: Soldiers remove Palestinians from pool in Area A so Settlers can bathe undisturbed
XI) June 7, 2015: French Telecom Executive's Remarks on Israel Incite Furor.
X) May 31, 2015: Online database "exposes" pro-Palestinian college students to "damage their careers".