Protests meets repression

Protests meets repression

The prisoners
In a startling report from Middle East Eye, Israeli reactions to the Palestinian prisoners’ strike have bordered on the ‘dangerous and racist’. There have been statements from Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman who, in addition to calling for the execution of prisoners, said that prisoners should be left to die of hunger. In other statements, the prisoners were described as poisonous cockroaches who should be exterminated with gas and for whom extermination camps should be set up. Four days into the strike, Israeli settlers set up barbecues near Ofer prison to provoke the prisoners who, at that point, had gone without food or drink for the equivalent of 12 meals.

The ‘Dignity Strike’ presses for improvements to political prisoners’ conditions: adequate healthcare, regular family visits, access to telephones, and the end of solitary confinement and “administrative detention” which is used to detain people for long periods without trial.

To pre-empt the impact of the strike, Israeli Prisons Service relocated prisoners and harassed them no end. Visits by their lawyers have been suspended and very little information from inside the prisons is made known. Regardless, grassroots solidarity is huge and early this week the hashtag #Dignity_Strike had reached over 12 million tweets.

Refugees forever?
There is another unending and somewhat forgotten tragedy that multiplies the suffering of the Palestinians.  Nothing concrete has been done for the Palestinian refugees, who have been living in refugee camps for almost 50 years. Israel has managed to shift the focus from prisoners and refugees to Syria and other issues that are not the core of the Question of peace and justice in the Middle East. Our article on this is an important reminder of their plight.

Brash settlers
The behaviour of Settlers never ceases to astonish the civilized world. Earlier this week, around 8,000 Israeli Jewish settlers, protected by Israeli forces, raided the village of Kifil Haris in the central West Bank city of Salfit and performed Talmudic rituals in an attempt to provoke the local Muslim population according to a report from Quds Press.

Gaza – the catastrophe
Elsewhere in Gaza, the situation continues to slip into chaos. With constant fuel shortages and insufficient infrastructure, the “humanitarian crisis” deepens. This has prompted even the World Bank (normally a sedate source) to issue a report ahead of an international donor conference next week which asserts that foreign aid alone cannot rescue the stagnant Palestinian economy without practical changes and Israeli cooperation.

International solidarity
International solidarity is growing in increments, although far more is needed.  A delegation of Pax Christi International met with the EU External Action to raise the voices of Palestinians. It follows Pax Christi’s online petition of February in which Pax Christi petitioned the EU High Representative to push the EU to take a stronger stance towards the Israeli government in condemning the legalization of illegal settlements on Palestinian lands as incompatible with the human rights clause of the EU-Israel Association Agreement. Pax Christi had also asked for the EU to take economic measures until Israel complies with International law.

Meanwhile, there is an off-field battle between FIFA, its member countries and Israel. An intense campaign seeks to expel Israeli clubs from Israeli settlements in Palestinian territories from FIFA. More than one hundred sports and human rights associations representing millions of people across the globe have called on FIFA to demand that the Israeli Football Association immediately exclude teams based in illegal settlements. The demand is for FIFA to suspend the association if it refuses to comply. The Israeli government is using its embassies to push for removing the issue of settlement clubs from the Congress’ agenda altogether. The result of the vote by FIFA will be known on May 21, 2017. We urge readers to join the campaign as suggested in the news items that follow.
The news that follows in this Update offers greater details.
In solidarity

Ranjan Solomon

A delegation of Pax Christi International met with the EU External Action Service (EEAS), the office of EU High Representative Federica Mogherini, to raise the voices of Palestinians.This meeting was a follow-up action to our online petition of February in which Pax Christi petitioned the EU High Representative to push the EU to take a stronger stance towards the Israeli government in condemning the legalization of illegal settlements on Palestinian lands as incompatible with the human rights clause of the EU-Israel Association Agreement. Also, we asked for the EU to take economic measures until Israel respects International law.

Much has been said but nothing concrete has been done for the Palestinian refugees, who have been living in refugee camps for almost 50 years. Now, overshadowed by the Syrian refugee crisis, the tragedy might not come to a conclusion anytime soon

8,000 Israeli Jewish settlers, protected by Israeli forces, raided the village of Kifil Haris in the central West Bank city of Salfit and performed Talmudic rituals in an attempt to provoke the local Muslim population, Quds Press reported.Among these settlers there were 250 who have recently migrated from France and were planning to settle in the West Bank. Immigration and settlements on Palestinian land is recognised as illegal under international law. Quds Press reported that Jewish settlers habitually raid Islamic holy sites, including mosques and the tombs of Muslim scholars or prophets, and perform rituals as if they were Jewish religious sites in order to justify Israeli control over swathes in the occupied West Bank.

World Bank Constant fuel shortages and insufficient infrastructure have brought about a “humanitarian crisis” for Palestinians in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip, the World Bank said. In a report ahead of an international donor conference next week, it said that foreign aid alone cannot rescue the stagnant Palestinian economy without practical changes and Israeli cooperation. The report is to be presented at a May 4 meeting in Brussels of the Ad Hoc Liaison Committee, which coordinates international donor support for the Palestinians.

Gaza’s sole electricity plant frequently runs out of fuel for its generators and rations power supplies to as little as four hours per day. “During summer and winter peaks the scarce electricity supply is increasingly rationed to four hours during daytime.” This has created a humanitarian crisis for Gaza’s two million people.” The shortages hit hospitals, clinics, water supply and other vital services, as well as household needs, she said.

Israel has resorted to three main strategies to suppress Palestinian calls for justice and human rights, including the Right of Return for refugees. One is dedicated to rewriting history; another attempts to distract from present realities altogether; and a third aims to reclaim the Palestinian narrative as essentially an Israeli version