The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has officially ceased all assistance to Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and Gaza. Since he took office, President Trump has slashed some $500 million in US aid to Palestinians, leaving many organizations and aid programs strapped for cash.
The Israeli campaign trail is heating up as the April 9 elections draw closer. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is facing a fast-growing opposition, Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit has said he plans to decide whether to indict the PM before the election, and Palestinian lawmakers are scrambling to finalize their slates ahead of their primaries.
“We were forced out of our homes by the occupation when I was a boy, and now in my old age they are expelling me again,” 70-year-old Mohammed Sabbagh tells Mondoweiss. He and his extended family are fighting to stay in their home in the occupied East Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah while Israeli settler organizations are attempting to force them out. “It’s another Nakba,” Sabbagh says.
Israeli settlers shot and killed a Palestinian father of four during a raid on the al-Mughayyir village in the central occupied West Bank district of Ramallah on Saturday night. Palestinian officials and local media outlets reported that a group of Israeli settlers raided the village under the protection of armed Israeli soldiers — a common occurrence in areas of the West Bank located close to settlements.
Over a dozen Palestinian activists, along with Israeli and international supporters, blockaded the entrance to Israel’s new ‘Apartheid Road’ in the central occupied West Bank district of Jerusalem on Wednesday morning. The group of activists closed the gates to the newly opened road and formed a human chain, raising banners in Arabic, English, and Hebrew saying “No to Apartheid” and “No to Annexation.”
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Tuesday that the Trump administration will be renewing peace efforts in Israel and Palestine following the upcoming Israeli elections in April. Pompeo went on to say that “we’ve begun to share elements of this across the region,” and that Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and senior advisor, and special representative Jason Greenblatt had been leading the development of the peace plan.
When Israel’s new Route 4370 opened, stark images of the eight meter wall running through the middle of the highway made international headlines. But as the international media buzzed about the new “Apartheid Road”, one reality of the highway’s inauguration was noticeably absent. In the days leading up to the opening of the highway, Israeli authorities delivered over 20 demolition notices to homes in the West Bank town of Anata located along the route. In addition, any families from Anata who own land within 300 meters of either side of the road are now be unable to cultivate or work on their lands, as per Israeli orders. “It is plain and simple, they are using this road as a means of further land confiscation in Anata,” Mohammed Salameh tells Mondoweiss. “Just as they have done in our town for decades.”
As more Palestinians enter the digital sphere, there has been an increase in violations of freedom of expression including hundreds of Palestinians who have been arrested by Israel, the PA, and Hamas for their social media posts. Activists, journalists, and local Palestinian and international rights workers gathered this week at the the Palestine Digital Activism Forum in Ramallah to discuss the constantly changing social media landscape and what it means for digital rights in Israel and Palestine.
The Gaza Strip is famous for its strawberries, which used to be exported all around Israel, Palestine, and the world. But as a result of Israel’s blockade on Gaza, which is entering its 12th year this year, strawberry farming is dying out.
The World Food Programme has announced severe reductions and suspensions in aid for Palestinian beneficiaries in the occupied West Bank and besieged Gaza Strip, due to funding shortages brought on by major US aid cuts over the past year.