Palestine Update 627
WATCH: Israeli Soldier Assaults Palestinian Activist Issa Amro during Interview with The New Yorker
An Israeli soldier assaulted Palestinian activist Issa Amro on Monday as he was speaking to an American journalist in the occupied West Bank city of Hebron (Al-Khalil), The New Arab reported. In a video posted on Twitter by Lawrence Wright of The New Yorker magazine, the soldier grabs Issa Amro by his jacket and neck and throws him to the ground. He then lands a kick to Amro’s backside before being pulled away by another soldier.
“In response, the Palestinian began recording and cursing the soldier. A verbal confrontation followed, which soon became a physical confrontation, during which the soldier hit the Palestinian,” it said in a statement. However, in a Twitter response, Wright said: “The IDF (Israel Defense Forces) misrepresented what led to this. The soldier initiated the encounter; Amro did not curse him, only asked to call his commander. Nothing to justify the violent assault that
The Israeli army reportedly jailed the soldier for 10 days in a move that far-right Israeli Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir labeled as a “disgrace.”… I fully support the soldier, who did not remain silent. Soldiers deserve to be backed up, not jailed,” Ben-Gvir tweeted.
Read/view in Palestine Chronicle
Israel to Deploy Army Reserve Companies to Speed up Home Demolitions in Occupied East Jerusalem
Israeli authorities may deploy three army reserve companies in order to speed up the demolition of Palestinian homes in Occupied East Jerusalem, Israeli media reported. The decision is expected to be approved in the coming days. The move comes after far-right Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir asked Police Chief Yakov Shabtai to accelerate the demolitions.
According to the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, Shabtai initially refused, saying that the police department was understaffed, due to the ‘deteriorating security situation’ in Jerusalem. However, according to KAN, following Ben-Gvir’s persistence, the Israeli police chief finally agreed. In the month of January alone, Israel demolished 39 Palestinian homes, structures, and businesses in Occupied East Jerusalem, displacing over 50 people, according to the United Nations.
Read more in Palestine Chronicle
A Jew in Germany is fined for supporting Palestinian rights
A Jewish person is going to court in Germany this week to challenge a conviction for illegally attending a demonstration in support of Palestinian rights on last year’s Nakba Day.
Observed by Palestinians each year on 15 May, Nakba Day commemorates the ethnic cleansing of Palestine in 1948, when 800,000 Palestinians were expelled or fled from their homes during the assault by the British-backed Zionist colonial militias that established Israel. The person, who has chosen not to publicly reveal their identity, is appealing a fine of almost $400. Supporters will be attending Thursday’s trial and rallying outside the courthouse in Berlin.
Altogether, more than two dozen individuals were fined about $9,000 on similar charges. The individual in court this week is an activist with the Jewish Bund, a group that identifies with the historical anti-Zionist and socialist movement of the same name. Many others will also be challenging their fines in court at later dates and are asking for public support. “The event marks a serious escalation in the Berlin government’s attempts to punish and criminalize solidarity with Palestine. It is also reflective of a wider assault on the basic democratic rights of assembly and free speech,” organizers of the fight back say.
Read more in Electronic Intifada
Israel approves law to revoke Arab attackers’ citizenship
Israel’s parliament on Wednesday overwhelmingly approved a law to strip Arabs convicted in nationalistic attacks of their Israeli citizenship or residency and deport them if they have accepted stipends from the Palestinian Authority.
The decision, which could potentially affect hundreds of Palestinian citizens and residents of Israel, was condemned as racist by Arab lawmakers as well as Palestinian officials in the occupied West Bank. The internationally recognized Palestinian Authority has long provided stipends to the families of Palestinians killed or imprisoned for attacks on Israelis.
Prisoners are widely seen as heroes in Palestinian society, and the PA considers these payments as a form of welfare to needy families. But Israel says they reward violence and serve as an incentive for others to carry out attacks. Roughly 4,700 Palestinians are imprisoned by Israel for alleged security offenses, according to Israeli rights group HaMoked. Of those, roughly 360 are Israeli citizens or residents of east Jerusalem, which was captured by Israel in the 1967 Mideast war and subsequently annexed.
Though Israel considers all of Jerusalem to be its undivided capital, its annexation of the eastern part of the city is not internationally recognized. Most Palestinians in Jerusalem have Israeli residency rights, which allow them to work and travel freely and provide access to Israeli social services, but not full citizenship, which would allow them to vote.
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Israeli sniper’s head shot kills Palestinian child
There has been no let-up in Israeli violence against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank this week as a second Palestinian child was killed by Israeli forces. As dawn broke on Tuesday, an Israeli undercover unit entered al-Faraa refugee camp in the northern West Bank in a car with Palestinian Authority license plates. While cordoning off a house in the neighborhood, Israeli snipers positioned themselves on the roof of another building. Several children were standing about 80 meters from the cordoned-off house when Mahmoud Majed al-Aydi started walking towards another house about 100 meters away from where snipers were stationed, according to the Palestinian Center for Human Rights, which investigated the killing.
An Israeli soldier opened fire on the 17-year-old, shooting him in the head. He was declared dead hours later. Defense for Children International-Palestine (DCIP), another human rights group that also conducted a field investigation, confirmed that “an Israeli sniper stationed on top of a building about 100 meters (328 feet) away shot Mahmoud in the left side of his head with a live bullet.”
The Israeli army claims that “a suspect approached the forces with a bomb,” but there’s no evidence to support this. The teenager was carrying a small oxygen cylinder, according to the Palestinian Center for Human Rights, which also interviewed eyewitnesses. It is also doubtful that the teen could have posed any imminent threat to the invading soldiers from such a distance. The Israeli incursion sparked confrontations between unarmed Palestinians and Israeli occupation forces, according to DCIP.
Read more in Electronic Intifada
350 children among thousands of Gaza cancer patients suffering from Israel blockade: rights group
“Children with cancer in Gaza face a difficult and long journey with treatment, as a result of the practices of the Israeli occupation and due to the repercussions of [Palestinian] political division,” PCHR said in the statement released to mark Childhood Cancer Day. It warned that 9,000 cancer patients in Gaza – including 350 children – suffer from “catastrophic conditions due to the chronic shortage of medicines and treatment protocols.” Gaza, which has reeled from an illegal blockade ongoing for nearly 16 years, suffers from high rates of food insecurity, unsuitable drinking water, inadequate medical services and high rates of unemployment. PCHR added that Israel “continues to impose restrictions on the supply of new medical devices and laboratory equipment needed to conduct cancer patients’ examinations, in addition to the shortage of specialised medical staff.”
Israel blocked 272 out of 1,000 permit requests submitted last year from Gaza residents to travel outside for treatment, which resulted in the death of three children, the human rights group said. It was not clear if the permits were to travel elsewhere in Israel or the occupied Palestinian territories or to travel abroad. Gaza’s residents need Israeli permission to travel outside the territory.
PCHR also placed blame for the situation on Palestinian political factions. “The continuation of the Palestinian political division contributed to a further deterioration in the level of health services provided by hospitals and medical centres for cancer patients in Gaza.”
Read more from The New Arab
16 February 2023
Source: nakbaliberation.com