Palestine Update 601
The Electronic Intifada has narrated how events in the occupied West Bank show how the intensifying Palestinian liberation struggle is being met with Israel’s repressive and vicious violence. Clearly the Palestinian struggle has entered a new political space. The same source also describes how previously extremist fringe settlers now see themselves being advocated for and supported at the highest levels of the Israeli government. They have been “emboldened and (are almost) beyond the restraint of the army”. The Palestinian Authority is now ineffectual beyond recognition. Rather, it is viewed as an obedient servant to its Israel masters. Palestinians question its raison d’être because it serves no tangible purpose for the Palestinian people. Electronic Intifada also points out how “in a situation of complete Israeli impunity, and only empty gestures by international parties towards a nonexistent peace process, the grim statistic of more than 100 Palestinians killed in the West Bank so far this year foretells the even worse violence likely to come”.
In a further report from Middle East Eye: “Flare-ups were reported across the occupied West Bank, with confrontations between Palestinians and Israeli troops accompanied by attacks by Jewish settlers. In the Shuafat camp, which Israeli troops have locked down for five days following a deadly shooting at a nearby checkpoint, violence continued till the early hours of the morning. These were sparked by Israeli troops storming homes belonging to the Tamimi family, a member of which is suspected by Israel of killing an Israeli soldier at the checkpoint. Three Tamimis were arrested. Israeli forces fired tear gas inside the homes, with several people inside suffering injuries from choking…Residents of Shuafat said their civil obedience action and protests will continue until Israeli forces end all restrictive measures against them. “The occupation army is imposing a policy of collective revenge against the camp’s residents, and this has cost us a lot financially and psychologically.” Meanwhile, settler attacks escalated on Palestinian villages located near Israeli settlements across the West Bank. Settlers attacked poultry farms and torched three of them, which led to the deaths of 30,000 birds. They also destroyed olive trees in the area, leading to confrontations with residents. There were also settler-soldier assaults Palestinian houses and gun fights erupted overnight. All of these acts of extreme oppression are not going unchallenged. “Hundreds of Palestinians confronted Israeli security forces across occupied East Jerusalem overnight as Israeli soldiers, using tear gas and stun grenades, made several arrests. The IOF siege on Shoafat united the Arab part of the city. Armed resistance against Israeli incursions is mostly concentrated in Jenin and Nablus. But Palestinians on the ground say that could quickly change”.
Meanwhile, in a ground-breaking agreement, Hamas, Fatah and 12 other Palestinian groups have agreed to hold legislative and presidential elections within one year. Fingers crossed! Fairly often, such agreements have been broken and nullified from the colonial entity and internal frictions and interests.
Meanwhile, a report from the Palestinian Prisoners Society reported that thirty Palestinian administrative detainees in the Israeli occupation prisons are still on an open-ended hunger strike for the 15th day in protest of their unfair detention without charges or trial. 28 of the 30 hunger-striking detainees have been placed in solitary confinement in the Israeli prison of Ofer ever since they started the hunger strike. The group asserts that if Israel executes more administrative detention orders, more prisoners will be expected to join the strike.
Please disseminate the news in this newsletter widely. It is vital because it explains a deepening and firm resistance against a brutal military assault on civil rights. On behalf of MLN Palestine Updates
Ranjan Solomon
17 October 2022
Source: palestineupdates.com