West Bank Dispatch: Israel renews aggression on Nablus

Key Developments (July 18 – 20)

• Israeli forces killed one Palestinian and injured dozens of others during an army and settler incursion into the northern West Bank city of Nablus on Thursday. According to Palestinian media, a large number of Israeli forces raided the city to escort buses of Israeli settlers to Joseph’s Tomb in order to perform prayers at the site. The presence of the settlers and soldiers sparked confrontations with local youth, who threw rocks and homemade explosives toward the soldiers. The Israeli army claimed that a number of armed Palestinians also fired towards the soldiers. Israeli forces shot and killed 19-year-old  Bader al-Masri, and injured three others with live ammunition, including two in critical condition, the Palestinian Ministry of Health said. According to Wafa news agency, the Palestinian Red Crescent treated at least 30 Palestinians, including a 12-day-old baby, for tear gas inhalation. The Joseph’s Tomb shrine, which is revered by Muslims, Christians, and Jews, is a flashpoint in Nablus and the frequent site of violent confrontations due to the provocative nature of the settler and army incursions into the city. 
• Israeli authorities renewed the administrative detention order of a cancer-stricken Palestinian prisoner just a few days before his current imprisonment was set to expire. Abdul Baset Mutan, 48, a resident of the Nablus-area village of Burqa, was set to be released on July 23, a year after his initial arrest in July 2022. According to the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society (PPS), Mutan, who has colon cancer, was ordered to be imprisoned for another six months of administrative detention, a widely-condemned policy used by Israel to imprison Palestinians indefinitely without charge or trial. PPS added that Israeli forces arrested Mutan in July 2022 just three months after he was released from administrative detention. Mutan, a father of four, has spent nine years in Israeli prison, the majority of which has been under administrative detention. 
• Israeli forces detained at least 21 Palestinians between Tuesday and Thursday during raids across the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Raids were reported in the Ramallah, Bethlehem, Tulkarem, Jericho, and Nablus districts. Among those detained was reportedly the son of the Palestinian Authority’s governor in Jericho, Wafa reported. 

Mondoweiss highlights

• “Abu Mazen visit whitewashes PA role in Jenin slaughter, but Palestinians remain wary,” by Mariam Barghouti
• “Video: Fighters in Jenin protest PA crackdown on armed resistance,” by Ahmad al-Bazz

Important figures

• More than 190 Palestinians have been killed by Israel since the start of the year. 26 Israelis have been killed during the same time period.
• Israeli forces have conducted at least 1,800 search and arrest raids in the West Bank this year.