Updates on Palestine: June 27th 2021
On the 15th, Israel returned to bombing Gaza during the ceasefire. Two days after, they bombed Gaza again, leaving more than 100.000 people without homes.
Israel has been blackmailing Hamas and other Palestinian leaderships in Gaza, saying they will only let Palestine resume fishing, reopen its borders and let Qatar financially aid them in exchange for political prisoners.
Israel has imposed stricter import restrictions on Palestine, including the import of raw materials, whatβs directly affecting Palestineβs industry and leaving hundreds on job insecurity. Note that Gazaβs borders are all tightly controlled by either Israel or Egypt in a blockade (hence why itβs called an open air prison)
Because of the 14 year old blockade, Israel doesnβt let construction goods in Gaza under the guise it can be used for military purposes. Over 100.000 displaced Palestinians have no material to reconstruct their homes and have to repurpose debris, while some of them are uncertain to rebuild at all under the political climate
A timeline of Nizar Banatβs murder and protests
June 24th: Nizar Banat, an outspoken critic of the Palestinian Authority, had his home raided by PA security forces at 3:30 AM, was taken to an unknown location and killed. The body was hidden from the family. Preliminary autopsies say the cause of death was unnatural and he took blows to the head
Still about Banatβs murder, his home is in an part of the West Bank occupied by Israel, meaning that the PA couldnβt coordinate the attack without help of the Israeli government
To understand better who Banat was and the relationship of Palestinians with the PA, hereβs an article
Palestinians came together to protest and were met with heavy backlash, being teargassed, beaten with sticks and brutalized by plainclothes officers
Trigger warning for police brutality: hereβs two videos showing the protestors being repressed by the police
June 25th: Dozens of Palestinians turn up to Banatβs funeral to protest and are heavily repressed.
The PA brings an unconscious Palestinian to the ER of the Palestinian Medical Complex and closes off the building for other injured
Three lawyers were arrested by the PA
June 26th: Hundreds of protesters gathered in Ramallah demanding that the PAβs president resign. Once again they were heavily repressed
Seven Palestinian journalists were brutally beaten by PA officers in plainclothes and uniform alike. Their names are: Shatha Hammad, Saja Al-Alami, Mohammed Ghafri, Najlaa Zeitoon, Fayhaa Khanfar
Hereβs a graphic video of a PA officer in plainclothes brutalizing Najlaa Zeitoon
Hereβs a graphic video of the PA dragging an injured protestor down a street
June 27th: PA cuts off internet access in Ramallah.
PA police attacked a group of twenty women trying to keep each other safe. Right now, Palestinian youth are protesting, without knowing if a plainclothes officer or Fatah loyalist will brutalize them with no way of communicating
Israel is building a new settlement in Beita, on the West Bank (I want it to be very clear itβs not Israeli land either by 1948 or 1967 accords, itβs an invasion even to the most liberal person)
Beita has been raided by settlers for weeks now, with deaths, including children, and injured. IOF has been shooting and stopping ambulances coming to aid.
Beita heavily depends on its olive groves, and over 100 olive saplings were burned and older trees chopped down
Residents have come together in something they call night confusion units, where they honk horns, burn tyres and use laser lights to bother settlers. This is whatβs being compared to the Charlottesville nazis by zionists.
Sheikh Jarrah residents are still being beaten and brutalized for months now. Settlers have thrown stones at palestinians and pepper sprayed four children, leaving 20 hurt, all with cover of the IOF.
Israelis have started fires in Sheikh Jarrah
Hereβs a graphic video of the IOF choking a resident and beating another (26/06)
The IOF has been abducting people in Sheikh Jarrah by the dozens. Today, they arrested two members of the Abdulatif family, including a 16 year old and two women of the El Qasem family, after making sexual comments to humiliate them
Theyβve also detained Bashar Yaish, a resident from Sheikh Jarrah, for no reason, being released hours later. It canβt be more clear theyre doing this to break palestiniansβ spirits.
Mohammed El Kurd was almost arrested again, while other residents have been arrested for recording the streets of Sheikh Jarrah, under charges of βTiktokβ
Todayβs the last day before the demolition of Silwan. Over 1500 palestinians have been threatened by the Israeli government to either destroy their own homes or pay the government to destroy it for them
The Bustan neighborhood will be demolished to make space for a biblical park. This thread by Mohammed El Kurd of how this is a systemic excuse to displace palestinians
Theyβve renamed Silwan with a hebrew name in anticipation, attempting to erase them
Not only are the people of Beita, Silwan, Sheikh Jarrah, Gaza and so on being made homeless, theyβre made homeless in a place where they canβt build homes elsewhere and are being systemically repressed, starved and driven out. Be angry and amplify Palestinian voices. Follow Palestinians like Mohammed El Kurd, Linah Al Saafin, Mariam Barghouti and Al Shabaka and share their voices. To quote @/princessmlokhia on twitter, they will demolish these homes if they believe they can do so quietly.
Also found this petition to support Huda, a pakistani student who was harrassed for calling students to learn about Palestine. Feel free to add more