Israeli soldiers, stationed on military towers across the border fence from Gaza, fired dozens of live rounds and gas bombs at protesters, who were marching near the border fence. One Palestinian was killed, Aa‘ed Khamis Jom‘a, and ten were injured. The army also used drones.
Ynet News reports Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pledged robust support to the settler movement at a Knesset event commemorating the 1967 war, “Speaking at a ceremony Tuesday commemorating the Six Day War and settlement in the West Bank, Netanyahu referred to the two most pressing issues for settlers—the building taking place today and the possibility that they could be evacuated from their homes as part of an agreement with the Palestinians. “No one will be uprooted from their home, I’m doing everything to protect the settlement enterprise,” said Netanyahu, adding, “We decided to build in all parts of Judea and Samaria and we are building both inside and outside the settlements.”
On June 1, Israeli soldiers shot 16-year-old Nuf Uqab Abd al-Jabar Infiaat after she stabbed a soldier outside an illegal Israeli settlement in the West Bank. Settlers then taunted her as a “b**ch” as she lay bleeding in the road. She was buried yesterday in her village near Jenin.
The Palestinian Authority cabinet announced yesterday it will hold local elections in Gaza, despite the territory being ruled by Hamas who already stated it will boycott the elections. If municipalities do not participate in voting, the West Bank government may appoint winners of the race.
AFP reports Israel’s cabinet passed a plan for cable cars to run over East Jerusalem, “Israel’s government on Sunday approved plans to install a cable car to Jerusalem’s Old City, a project likely to anger Palestinians and much of the international community.”
Ma’an News Agency reports, “Three Palestinian security guards of the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in the Old City of occupied East Jerusalem were assaulted and detained by Israeli police on Wednesday, as hundreds of right-wing Israelis and settlers took to the holy site in celebration of ‘Jerusalem Day.'”
![Former presidential candidate and governor of Arkansas, Mike Huckabee, leads a prayer for at least 4,000 right-wing Israelis, settlers, and members of Knesset in a 2 a.m. service at Joseph's Tomb in the West Bank near Nablus, Sunday. The convoy of Israelis sparked clashes with Palestinians. Huckabee called for Jewish access to religious sites inside of the occupied Palestinian territory, "[I]t’s my prayer, as I come here with you, that the holy sites that you and that I embrace will be accessible, and that we will not have to come in the dead of night in order to pray and seek the Lord’s face."](https://mondoweiss.net/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/huckabee.jpg "Clashes erupt as Mike Huckabee leads 2 a.m. rush of 4,000 right-wing Israelis to pray in West Bank")
Former governor Mike Huckabee is filmed leading thousands of right-wing Israelis in prayer at Joseph’s Tomb outside of Nablus in the early morning hours, prompting clashes between the Israeli military and Palestinians. Ma’an News Agency reports, “Clashes erupted between local Palestinians and Israeli soldiers who escorted some 4,000 right-wing Israelis to Joseph’s Tomb east of Nablus in the northern occupied West Bank overnight Sunday, when at least two Palestinians were detained and several others suffered from tear gas inhalation. Among the group of Israelis who arrived to the site under armed protection was Mike Huckabee, former US governor of the state of Arkansas.”
Ma‘an News reports: “Following a deadly shooting carried out by an Israeli settler near the Huwwara village in the occupied West Bank district of Nablus, an Israeli settler distributed candy to passing Israeli vehicles south of Nablus on Thursday in celebration of the settler killing a 23-year-old Palestinian earlier in the day. An Israeli settler killed Muataz Hussein Hilal Bani Shamsa and injured Palestinian journalist Majdi Eshtayya after exiting his car and indiscriminately shooting live ammunition on a crowd of Palestinians during clashes that erupted with Israeli forces following a march held in solidarity with a mass Palestinian hunger strike”
Ma’an News Agency reports, “The Palestinian Central Elections Commission (CEC) reported that Fatah, the ruling party of the Palestinian Authority (PA), maintained a majority of local council seats, despite independent lists having scored a higher number of votes. While approximately 65 percents of seats up for grabs during Saturday’s election went to registered or independent lists in 145 municipalities, another 181 villages and towns mainly saw Fatah lists run unopposed. As anti-PA sentiment has continued to grow over the past year, a number of political factions, including Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), decided to boycott the elections.”
Israeli forces detained at least 14 Palestinians during predawn raids across the occupied West Bank on Sunday, including renowned Palestinian writer and political scientist Ahmad Qatamish, who has spent several years in Israeli prisons, most recently a two and a half year stint under administrative detention.