Steps taken by the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank to stop the spread of the COVID-19 disease, caused by the Coronavirus, give the impression that Palestine is able to function like any other sovereign country desperately fighting to preserve the well-being of its own people. Sadly, however, Palestine remains the exception, as the PA operates fully under a cruel Israeli military occupation that has no regard, whatsoever, for the lives of the Palestinian people. This matters in the case of the COVID-19 as it does in every aspect of Palestinian life. Indeed, for Palestinians, fighting an outbreak of the Coronavirus is not a straightforward matter, even if the dysfunctional PA facilities follow the instructions of the World Health Organisation (WHO) to the letter. more

Join our Israeli Apartheid Week webinars: March 19th 2020, 6:30pm CET: Conversations on Apartheid: from South Africa to Palestine. A talk on racism during Israeli Apartheid Week More information April 2nd 2020, 3pm CET: United against racism with Rebecca Vilkomerson (more info coming soon)  April 6th 2020, 3pm CET: “Race in international law” with Noura Erakat (more info coming soon) Register your event   Worldwide groups in solidarity with Palestine are in the middle of mobilizing and organizing for Israeli Apartheid Week (IAW), that will take place in most countries from the 16th until the 21st of March. Israeli Apartheid Week is an internationally coordinated series of events  that relies on progressive movements, groups and organizations fighting all forms of racism, racial discrimination, marginalization and oppression and promoting Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) in the pursuit of Palestinian freedom, justice and equality. This year, IAW is a call

Until now, the besieged Gaza Strip has stayed free of  the novel coronavirus  spreading across the world. As the Gaza Strip has been under a stringent Israeli-led blockade for nearly 13 years, the spread of the coronavirus - officially known as COVID-19 - has become the topic of discussion for many Palestinians, with  some joking  that the blockade was preventing them from being exposed.But as authorities in the coastal Palestinian enclave gear up to contain any potential outbreak, serious questions have arisen about the risks and implications of such a scenario.  But given its already difficult humanitarian situation and high population density, an outbreak in the Gaza Strip could prove to be catastrophic, health officials have warned.  "If the virus enters Gaza and spreads, it will get out of hand," Gaza Ministry of Health spokesperson Majdi Thuhair told Middle East Eye, as he explained that a severe shortage of resources and personnel would make it near impossible

The authorities in the Gaza Strip on Saturday decided to close all border crossings with Israel and Egypt to passengers in both directions until further notice as part of precautions to protect the non-affected coastal enclave against the coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) . The decision excluded people with life-threatening conditions that need urgent medical treatment outside Gaza. The decision was taken during a meeting between officials from government institutions and some major factions in Gaza The participants in the meeting also agreed on taking other preventative measures to safeguard the population against the global virus. The measures included a decision to retain the closure of schools, universities, kindergartens and other educational institutions until the end of March. more

Two days ago (Friday) a  piece  came out in Haaretz by Hilo Glazer, featuring stories from five anonymous snipers who told how they gunned down unarmed protesters at the March of Return near the Gaza perimeter fence. These accounts are a jaw-dropper, constituting some of the most enraging as well as depressing readings I can recall. The language of the perpetrators of these massacres is testimony to the moral depravity of these young soldiers, who still seem to believe they are fulfilling a sacred duty to defend their country, as well as a damning account of the state and society that supports them and their crimes. more

From Mondoweiss – After about two months of detention, Israeli authorities released Israeli activist Jonathan Pollak on February 20. Pollak was arrested after right-wing group Ad Kan  filed a suit against him  for protesting in the West Bank and allegedly “attacking IDF soldiers”. During his detention, Pollak refused to pay a NIS 500 bail (around $145) set by a Jerusalem judge for, in Pollak’s words, refusing to “recognize the legitimacy of the Israeli system.”... Palestinian journalist Ahmad Al-Bazz interviewed Pollak following his release.

From MEMO – Israeli occupation forces shot sponge-tipped bullets at two Palestinian children in East Jerusalem in two separate incidents this week, reported Haaretz. Both incidents occurred in Issawiya, which has experienced almost a year of violent harassment by Israeli occupation forces. According to Haaretz, 16-year-old Mohamed Atia (pictured) “was shot Monday while standing in his schoolyard and his arm was fractured”. news

From PIC – Dozens of Palestinian citizens were wounded on Friday when Israeli occupation forces (IOF) quelled weekly marches in the West Bank. Local sources said that violent confrontations broke out between Palestinian demonstrators and IOF soldiers in Kafr Qaddum village east of Qalqilya City. The IOF attacked the peaceful protesters with live ammunition, rubber-coated metal bullets and tear gas canisters injuring a number of them. The Palestinian residents of Kafr Qaddum take to the streets every Friday to protest the settlement expansion on their lands and call on the Israeli occupation authorities to open the village's main road which has been closed for about 16 years. more

From Wafa News Agency – JERUSALEM, Friday, March 06, 2020 (WAFA) – The European Union today extended condolences to the families of Palestinians killed in a tragic fire incident in the Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip. The European Union Representative in Palestine  Sven Kühn von Burgsdorff issued a statement extending his sincere condolences to the families of those killed and injured in yesterday's tragic fire incident in Nuseirat refugee camp. “We very much hope that those suffering from injuries will soon fully recover. This incident reminds us all of the sad and deteriorating situation in Gaza,” the statement said. “The European Union continues to stand by the people of Gaza and supports all efforts to improve the living conditions of the population, especially those affected by poverty, illness and injustice,” it added. According to the statement, the European Union Representative visited yesterday Gaza for the first time, and inaugurated the Limb

RAMALLAH, Thursday, March 5, 2020 (WAFA) - Israel today re-arrested a Palestinian man as he was getting ready to leave prison after serving 18 years behind bars for resisting the Israeli occupation, according to local sources. Randy Odeh, 39, from Shufat refugee camp in occupied East Jerusalem, was arrested on 7 March 2002 and sentenced to 18 years in prison. He was supposed to be released today but as he was getting ready to leave the Naqab prison in the south of Israel, he was re-detained. more

From the Electronic Intifada – Abdullah al-Najjar is the last boat maker in Gaza. Fully aware that he plies a vanishing trade, Abdullah, 61, is nonetheless trying to keep it alive in a time-honored way. He is training his son Jamil, 25, so that his skills can be handed on to the next generation. Abdullah himself began learning how to build boats when he was in his early teens. He was taught how to do so by an uncle. “Boat making is almost nonexistent in Gaza today,” said Abdullah. “That is because of the high costs involved, the fact that raw materials are scarce and the restrictions placed on fishers.” Gaza’s maritime traditions have deep roots. In ancient times, a Greek port known as Antidon was  established  near present-day Gaza City. Fishing – particularly for tuna, sardines, shrimp and squid – has long been a key source of livelihood for Palestinians living along the coast. Despite surviving for so long, the traditions are now at grave risk because of Israel’s pol

From Middle East Eye – In 2012, the UN made a prediction that by 2020, Gaza would be unlivable. We explore the reality on the ground as we approach the new year. Subscribe to our channel: http://ow.ly/AVlW30n1OWH

From Wafa News Agency – GAZA, Wednesday, March 4, 2020 (WAFA) – Israeli navy today opened gunfire towards Palestinian fishermen who were sailing off the Gaza shore to the west of the town of Beit Lahia, north of the enclave, reported WAFA correspondent. No injuries were reported, however.   more

From MEMO – What if the Coronavirus reaches the besieged Gaza Strip? While the question carries great urgency for all Palestinians living under Israel’s military occupation, the Gaza situation is particularly complex and extremely worrying. Nearly 50 countries have already  reported  cases of COVID-19 disease, one of several epidemics that are caused by the Coronavirus. If developed countries, such as Italy and South Korea, are  struggling  to contain the deadly virus, one can only imagine what occupied Palestinians would have to face should the virus strike. In fact, according to official Palestinian reports, the Coronavirus has already  reached  Palestine following a visit by a South Korean delegation in the period between February 8 and 15, which included a tour in the major Palestinian cities of Jerusalem, Nablus, Jericho, Hebron, and Bethlehem. more

From PIC – The Israeli occupation forces (IOF) on Tuesday evening kidnaped five Palestinian passengers as they tried to travel officially through the border crossing of Beit Hanoun (Erez) and al-Karama in the north and east of the Gaza Strip. According to Asra Media Office, the IOF kidnaped two citizens from Gaza after they went to the Beit Hanoun crossing on the northern border. The detained passengers, who hold businessman permits, were identified as Abdul-Kareem Abu Sa’ada and Ahmed Subuh. Passengers, mostly businessmen and patients, go to the Beit Hanoun crossing in order to be interviewed by Israeli officers and have their requests for travel approved. more  

From PSC – At the end of last year, we released our groundbreaking research uncovering UK universities’ investments in and institutional ties with companies complicit in Israel’s arms trade and illegal settlement economy. We discovered UK universities invest over an estimated £450million in companies arming Israel and compiled this information in our user-friendly database. On 12th February 2020, the UN released a long-awaited list of 112 companies involved in Israel’s settlement economy. After cross-analysing UK universities’ investments, obtained through Freedom of Information requests, we discovered that 10 UK universities are directly implicated in financial ties with companies listed on the UN’s database. Our online database has now been updated to include this information. The implicated universities we have identified are: University of Manchester, University of Birmingham, University College London, London School of Economics, Imperial College London, University of Glasgo

Ramallah - Ma'an - The Prisoners and Editors Affairs Authority said in a report issued today, Sunday, that the administration of the "Gilboa" prison continues to isolate the prisoner Walid Daqqa (59 years), from the town of Baqa al-Gharbiyyah, in the occupied interior, with extremely harsh detention conditions. The commission explained that the administration of the "Megiddo" detention center punished the prisoner, accuracy, and forced him into the cells, to smuggle the sperm of his wife abroad, who gave birth to a child recently called "Milad", and on 18/2/2020 the prisoner was transferred to the isolation of "Gilboa." She added that the conditions of isolation of the prisoner are very difficult, as all his books and papers were confiscated before his isolation, and the prison administration denied him the cantina and the introduction of a "cooking slab", and the prison administration deliberately extended his isolation every 48

From Mondoweiss – Just imagine the outcry if the New York Times completely ignored the existence of black and Latino voters in its analysis of the U.S. elections. But the paper continues to practice electoral apartheid in its coverage of Israel, which goes to the polls again Monday for the third time in less than a year. Let’s start with a fact: 20 percent of the population of Israel within the 1967 borders are Arab Palestinians. Yet David Halbfinger’s pre-election survey today finds 6 different Jewish Israelis to quote, but not one single Arab. He also treats the repeat elections as a kind of joke: Is this election more ‘Groundhog Day’ or an episode of the ‘Twilight Zone’? A Sartre novel or a Beckett play? His attempt at wit covers up the ugly truth; Israel continues to have one election after another partly because there is so much anti-Arab racism in the country that none of the major Jewish political parties will dare to form even a tacit alliance with the Joint List, which

From Al Jazeera – A ceasefire between the Palestinian Islamic Jihad group and Israel is holding in the Gaza Strip after two days of heavy fighting. Following Egyptian and international mediation, the truce came into effect at 11:30pm (20:30 GMT) on Monday, Ihsan Ataya, a senior Islamic Jihad leader based in Lebanon, said in a press statement. No projectiles were fired from the Gaza Strip overnight, a spokeswoman for the Israeli army confirmed. During two days of fighting, Israeli aircraft pounded dozens of targets in the Gaza Strip while Islamic Jihad bombarded southern Israel with heavy rocket fire. The latest escalation began after Israeli soldiers on Sunday shot dead Mohammed al-Naim, a member of the Islamic Jihad's armed wing, who was allegedly planting an explosive device at the heavily secured Israeli fence east of Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip. more

From The Electronic Intifada – Israel plans to forcibly displace 36,000 Palestinian Bedouins in the Naqab (Negev) region of southern Israel to make way for a military training area and weapons testing facility, according to Adalah, a legal advocacy group for Palestinians in Israel. That’s one quarter of all Palestinian Bedouins living in the Naqab, all citizens of Israel. The plan, which was announced late last month, “overtly discriminates against the Bedouin population, and considers them an obstacle that must be removed from the landscape in order to clear a path for Jewish settlement and ‘development,’” Adalah stated. Israel’s Authority for the Development and Settlement of the Bedouins intends to transfer Bedouins to “poverty-stricken, government-planned townships,” violating both Israeli and international laws. If implemented, Israel will sieze about 65,000 acres of land – an area about one and a half times the size of Washington, DC. One of the plan’s projects is to estab