Gaza’s youngest voters hope Palestinian elections will move forward, amid reports saying the vote will be delayed due to disarray within the ruling Fatah party and a dispute with Israel around Jerusalem. “We are waiting for the elections to happen and want the local and international community to respect the results, to refute the argument of not having a unified Palestinian government,” Hind Judah tells Mondoweiss. The current division, she said, prevents “establishing the Palestinian state.”
Palestinian Christians and their supporters are urging Pope Francis and the World Council of Churches to intervene in more than a dozen evictions in Jerusalem “scheduled to take place on Sunday, May 2, which happens to coincide with the Greek Orthodox celebration of Easter.”
Recent videos show routine racism and violence directed against Palestinians with Israeli government support. Jewish settlers threaten to unleash dogs on Palestinians. Others spew hatred as soldiers protect them: “This is my land, King David walked around here two thousand years ago, herding his sheep. When you were where — in Saudi Arabia? Where Muhammad roamed…. Muhammad killed people. Raped. You’re a rapist people.”
Israeli authorities are failing to provide essential information on the vaccine in Arabic, to establish vaccine centers in Palestinian neighborhoods in East Jerusalem, and to provide sufficient vaccines in Bedouin clinics in the Negev. These failures are “not a coincidence”, rights groups say.
Israeli authorities have announced a temporary freeze on home demolitions in occupied East Jerusalem, following legal pressure amidst a rise in the demolition of Palestinian homes during the COVID-19 pandemic.
There are more than 2,300 active cases of COVID-19 in East Jerusalem, and the daily rate of infection continues to climb. Despite this, Israeli authorities have continued their policy of home demolitions and arrests in the occupied territory.
Malek Issa, 8, was shot in the face with a rubber-coated bullet by an Israeli police officer as he was on his way home February 15 in occupied Jerusalem. Israeli police said an officer claimed to have fired his weapon at a wall for “calibration” purposes, and thought Issa was hit by an alleged Palestinian stone-thrower.
It’s been six months of unrest in Issawiya. Excessive police brutality and indiscriminate daily raids by Israeli forces with no justification have left residents of the East Jerusalem district exhausted – and there is no end in sight.
On Wednesday, Palestinian political leaders and civil servants joined UN officials to launch an appeal for $348 million in aid “to provide basic food, protection, health care, shelter, water and sanitation to 1.5 million Palestinians” in Gaza, as well as the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
The Christmas tree is up at the entrance to the Imperial Hotel in Jerusalem, but for its Palestinian hosts there is little festive cheer amid fears they could be evicted in favour of Israeli settlers, the AFP reports.