Palestinians say that while Trump has been one of, if not the worst, US presidents ever when it comes to Palestine, they don’t really expect things to get much better under Biden.
As the world was engulfed in the unfolding US elections on November 3rd, Israel quietly demolished an entire Bedouin enclave in the northern Jordan Valley, leaving more than 70 Palestinians homeless just as temperatures started to drop in the occupied West Bank.
With 24 hours to go until the US election on November 3rd, a group of Israeli settlers held a prayer rally for US president Donald Trump in the occupied West Bank city of Hebron.
For many Palestinians, the olive harvest isn’t just about picking olive it’s symbolic of their culture, their tradition, and the Palestinian ties to this land.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US ambassador David Friedman announced amendments to US accords, sought by Trump’s biggest backer, Sheldon Adelson, that will allow US taxpayer money to be spent in Israeli settlements. Adelson seems to want to get as much out of Trump in what time remains.
“If you’re looking for a key sign of what occupation is about, it’s what’s happening in the olive groves,” human rights monitor Ghassan Daghlas tells Mondoweiss.
While Emirati citizens will be allowed into Israel without visas, Palestinians living inside the opT must undergo a painstaking process to obtain a permit to enter Israel for anything from work, health and humanitarian emergencies, to a simple visit to religious and cultural sites in Jerusalem.
Saeb Erekat, 65, Secretary-General of the PLO, is reportedly in critical condition after contracting COVID-19 earlier this month. Israeli Knesset members condemned the decision to admit Erekat to Hadassah hospital in Jerusalem, saying that Israel should have demanded Palestinian political concessions in exchange for his treatment.
The Netanyahu government has advanced plans for 4,948 new settlement units in the West Bank, signalling an end to the pretense that Israel halted its annexation plans in exchange for normalization with Arab countries. Analysts suggest the slate of approvals are part of a larger effort to take advantage of US support while Donald Trump is still in power.