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Six Major Developments That Shaped 2022 For Palestinians

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4 years ago

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Palestinians have continued to resist the Israeli occupation in the West Bank, but near-daily raids have led to the deadliest year for Palestinians in the territory since 2006

Palestinians have continued to resist the Israeli occupation in the West Bank, but near-daily raids have led to the deadliest year for Palestinians in the territory since 2006

The UN called 2022 the deadliest year for Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied West Bank in 16 years. Here are some of the year’s most important events.

Ramallah, Occupied West Bank and Gaza City – Conflict, raids, and the killing of one of Palestine’s most well-respected journalists – just some of the most important events to happen in Israel and Palestine in 2022.

The United Nations declared the year the deadliest for Palestinians in the occupied West Bank since 2006, evidence of increased use of force by Israel, amid a further shift to the far right in the country.

Here are six major developments that shaped 2022 for Palestinians.

Conflict in Gaza, again

Less than 15 months after the previous Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip, the blockaded territory was attacked by Israeli warplanes for three days in early August, killing at least 49 Palestinians, including 17 children.

The arrest of a Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) leader in the West Bank by Israeli forces raised fears of an escalation, leading to Israel reinforcing its military presence on the border between Israel and Gaza.

On August 5, Israeli warplanes launched a wave of air attacks on Gaza, which the PIJ responded to by firing rockets at Israel.

While there was a real fear that the outbreak of fighting would lead to a prolonged conflict, especially following the killing of PIJ commanders, the conflict ultimately stopped after three days, after an Egyptian-mediated truce came into effect.

One of the main reasons why the conflict did not escalate was the decision by Hamas, which has governed Gaza for 15 years, to stay out of the fighting.

Despite that, there was considerable damage in Gaza, which has barely been rebuilt since the 11-day conflict of 2021. And the threat of another outbreak of prolonged violence has not gone away, leaving Palestinians in Gaza constantly fearful of what many feel is the inevitable next war.

Growing Palestinian armed resistance

One of the main changes in the West Bank in 2022 was the growth of small armed resistance groups centred in the northern cities of Jenin and Nablus.

The phenomenon started back in September 2021 with the formation of the first group, the Jenin Brigades, in the city’s refugee camp following Israel’s killing of fighter Jamil al-Amouri in June.

This was followed in 2022 with the creation of the Nablus Brigades, the Lions’ Den, the Balata Brigades, the Tubas Brigades and the Yabad Brigades. While the groups are made up of members of various traditional Palestinian parties, the new groups refuse to align themselves with any specific party or movement.

While the groups are limited in terms of their capabilities, they have been focused on clashing with Israeli forces in response to the latter’s near-daily raids, and have also carried out shooting at Israeli military checkpoints. They have also taken responsibility for attacks that have killed Israeli soldiers and settlers.

The emergence of these groups is the first time since the second Intifada (2000-05) that organised groups have fought Israeli forces in the West Bank. At the end of that Intifada, or uprising, most weapons in the territory came under Palestinian Authority’s (PA) possession.

Daily raids and killings

Following a string of individual attacks in Israel that began in March, Israel launched a military campaign called “Break the Wave” that has included near-daily raids, mass arrests and killings in the West Bank, with a focus on Jenin and Nablus.

Civilians confronting the Israeli army during raids and uninvolved bystanders have been killed, as well as Palestinian fighters in targeted assassinations and during armed clashes.

Israeli forces killed at least 170 Palestinians in the West Bank and occupied East Jerusalem in 2022, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, including more than 30 children. At least 9,000 others have been injured.

Several of the killings have caused particular outrage among Palestinians, including recently on December 12, when a 16-year-old in Jenin was shot dead while standing on the roof of her home watching an army raid. A 23-year-old Palestinian was also killed by an Israeli soldier in public on December 2. The killing was filmed and Palestinians described it as an “execution”.

Observers, diplomats and rights groups have expressed “concern” over Israel’s use of excessive lethal force in the West Bank this year, leading to the high number of killings.

The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights has previously noted that Israeli forces “often use firearms against Palestinians on mere suspicion or as a precautionary measure, in violation of international standards”.

Killing of Shireen Abu Akleh

On May 11, Israeli forces shot dead veteran Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh while she was covering a military raid on the Jenin refugee camp.

Abu Akleh was a 51-year-old Palestinian-American TV correspondent for Al Jazeera Arabic and had covered the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories for more than 25 years. Her killing led to an international outcry and sent shockwaves throughout the world.

The reporter was honoured in a  three-day funeral procession that saw an outpouring of grief and respect, with her body being transferred from Jenin to Jerusalem.

In East Jerusalem, Israeli forces attacked mourners carrying her coffin. Despite the efforts of Israeli authorities, thousands of Palestinians filled the streets of Jerusalem for the funeral.

Multiple investigations have found Israel responsible for her killing, and Israel eventually admitted in September that there was a “high possibility” that one of its soldiers had killed Abu Akleh. However, Israeli authorities refused to launch a criminal investigation.

In December, Al Jazeera submitted a formal request to the International Criminal Court (ICC) to investigate and prosecute those responsible for Abu Akleh’s killing.

Rise of the far right

In 2022, the fifth Israeli parliamentary elections in less than four years were held. While the results appear to have temporarily ended Israel’s long-running inability to form a stable government, it has resulted in the creation of the most far-right government in the country’s 74-year history.

Prime Minister-designate Benjamin Netanyahu and his Likud party formed an alliance with religious Zionist and ultraorthodox parties, winning a 64-majority in the 120-member Knesset.

The third largest bloc in the election results was the Religious Zionist alliance – a merger of the party with the same name led by Bezalel Smotrich, and the Jewish Power party led by Itamar Ben-Gvir.

The two controversial figures are known for their frequent incitement of violence against Palestinians and have publicly stated their intentions to deepen illegal Israeli settlement building in the West Bank.

Last year, Smotrich said Palestinians in Israel “are here by mistake – because [former PM] Ben-Gurion didn’t finish the job” and throw them out in 1948.

Meanwhile, Ben-Gvir, who previously called for the deportation of Palestinian citizens “deemed disloyal to Israel”, called on settlers to carry guns, and regularly criticised the Israeli army and government for not using stronger measures against Palestinians.

The policies and views of the politicians, who are set to be given roles responsible for security in the West Bank, are set to further ignite the already-tense situation on the ground there.

Increased settler attacks

Attacks by Israeli settlers against Palestinians in the West Bank increased and became more brazen and coordinated in 2022.

At least three Palestinians were killed by settlers this year. Some of these attacks have come as Israeli military forces watched on.

“Disturbing evidence of Israeli forces frequently facilitating, supporting and participating in settler attacks, makes it difficult to discern between Israeli settler and state violence,” UN officials said in a statement on December 15.

“2022 is the sixth year of consecutive annual increase in the number of Israeli settler attacks in the occupied West Bank,” the statement continued. “Armed and masked Israeli settlers are attacking Palestinians in their homes, attacking children on their way to school, destroying property and burning olive groves, and terrorising entire communities with complete impunity.”

Between 600,000 and 750,000 Israeli settlers live in at least 250 illegal settlements scattered across the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

SOURCE: AL JAZEERA
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Foreign

Israel’s War On Gaza: List of Key Events, Day 101

Published

3 years ago

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15th January 2024

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Israel's war on Gaza: List of key events, day 101 | Israel War on Gaza News | Al Jazeera

Dozens of Palestinians killed in overnight Israeli strikes in central and south Gaza as Red Sea tensions rise.

Here’s how things stand on Monday, January 15, 2024:

Latest updates and human impact

  • Israeli attacks continue unabated overnight killing and wounding dozens of civilians in central and southern Gaza. At least 22 people were killed and a large number injured as a result of Israeli forces targeting al-Thalatheni Street in the central Gaza Strip.
  • Yemen’s Houthi rebels fired an antiship cruise missile toward an American destroyer in the Red Sea, which was shot down by a US fighter jet, announced US Central Command (CENTCOM) on X.
  • This was the first US-acknowledged Houthi attack since the US strikes on Yemen on Friday.
  • Hamas released a 37-second video showing three Israeli captives held in Gaza on Sunday, saying they would reveal the fate of the captives on Monday and urging the Israeli government to stop the offensive.
  • The Israeli military says it has shifted to a new phase of the war focused on the southern end of Gaza, where almost 2 million internally displaced Palestinians are running out of safe spaces to shelter.
  • The Gaza Ministry of Health has said almost 24,000 people have been killed in the Israeli offensive. More than 60,000 people have been wounded in 100 days of war.

Diplomacy

  • Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that his country will pursue its war against Hamas until victory and will not be stopped by anyone, including the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
  • The White House said on Sunday that “it’s the right time” for Israel to scale back its military offensive in the Gaza Strip.
  • Egypt’s State Information Service (SIS) said in a statement on Sunday that one of the biggest obstacles to the timely delivery of sufficient aid to Gaza was Israeli inspection of the aid. The statement came after Israel blamed Cairo for the delay in aid delivery to Gaza during its defence at the ICJ.
  • US Secretary of State Antony Blinken posted on X on Monday, calling for the release of the remaining captives held in Gaza on the 100th day since they were taken by Hamas. He did not mention the Palestinian casualties.
  • Australia’s Foreign Minister Penny Wong, who described herself as a “friend of Israel” to the press, will travel to Jordan, Israel, the occupied Palestinian Territories and the United Arab Emirates this week, her office said on Monday.

West Bank raids and violence

  • Israeli forces arrested 25 students staging a sit-in in protest against high tuition fees at An-Najah University in Nablus. Al Jazeera’s Hamdah Salhut reported that the protesting students received a text message from Israeli forces telling them to “surrender now”.
  • Israeli forces have reportedly raided the family home of Nael al-Barghouti, the longest-serving Palestinian prisoner, in the village of Kobar, in Ramallah, in the occupied West Bank.
  • The Israeli army said on Friday that it killed three Palestinian men who infiltrated a West Bank settlement and fired upon soldiers.
  • The Israeli military killed two Palestinians after accusing them of ramming their car through a checkpoint near Hebron.
  • Local sources reported that Israeli forces bulldozed two Palestinian-owned houses during a Sunday midnight raid in the city of Qalqilya, Palestinian news agency Wafa reported.
  • Armed Israeli settlers broke into the village of Burin, south of Nablus, and attacked Palestinian residents’ houses and properties after midnight on Sunday, Wafa reported.
  • “Violent raids and arrests have become part of the fabric of daily life in the occupied West Bank,” Al Jazeera’s Mohammed Jamjoom, reporting from Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, said. At least 347 Palestinians have been killed and thousands have been arrested since October 7.

 

SOURCE: AL JAZEERA AND NEWS AGENCIES
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Hamas Says Will Kill Hostages if Israeli Attacks On Gaza Civilians Continue

Published

3 years ago

on

10th October 2023

By

Flames and smoke billow during Israeli attacks against Gaza on October 9, 2023

Human Rights Watch terms Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant’s call for a ‘complete siege’ on Gaza a ‘war crime’.

The Hamas movement has threatened to kill an Israeli hostage every time Israel bombs a Palestinian home without warning as Israel mobilised some 300,000 reservists and imposed a total blockade of the Gaza Strip, denying the enclave’s millions of residents access to food, water and fuel.

The warning from Hamas came on Monday as the death toll from the armed group’s surprise weekend attack climbed to 900 in Israel and revenge attacks by Israeli forces on the besieged Gaza Strip killed more than 700 people and left some 3,700 others wounded.

Residential apartment blocks, hospitals, schools and a mosque have been among the sites attacked by Israeli fighter jets, artillery and drones, according to media reports and witnesses.

Hamas spokesperson Abu Ubaida issued the threat to kill Israelis from the dozens held captive by the armed group. He said an Israeli hostage would be killed for every Israeli bombing of a civilian house without warning.

Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen said more than 100 people were taken captive by Hamas during the deadly cross-border incursion over the weekend.

As Israeli forces conducted intense retaliatory attacks on Gaza on Monday, Israel’s Defence Minister Yoav Gallant drew international condemnation by announcing a total blockade of the densely populated and besieged enclave, which is home to 2.3 million people.

Gallant said Israel would impose a “complete siege” on Gaza. “No electricity, no food, no water, no gas – it’s all closed.”

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he was “deeply distressed” by the siege announcement and warned that Gaza’s already dire humanitarian situation will now “only deteriorate exponentially”.

A mourner carries the body of Palestinian boy Saad Lubbad, who health officials said was killed in Israeli strikes, during his funeral in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, October 9, 2023. REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa
A mourner carries the body of Palestinian boy Saad Lubbad, who health officials said was killed in an Israeli attack, during his funeral in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, on October 9, 2023 [Ibraheem Abu Mustafa/Reuters]

Guterres also said some 137,000 people were taking shelter with the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) at schools across Gaza.

UNRWA said on Tuesday that almost 190,000 people have been displaced in Gaza amid the Israeli attacks and the figure is expected to grow further as the violence intensifies.

Nearly half a million people have also not received food rations this week in Gaza as UN food distribution centres have been forced to remain closed amid the Israeli onslaught, UNRWA said.

Human Rights Watch said Israel’s total blockade on the necessities of life for everyday people in Gaza was a war crime.

“Defense Minister Gallant’s statements are abhorrent,” Omar Shakir, Israel and Palestine director at Human Rights Watch, said in a statement.

“Depriving the population in an occupied territory of food and electricity is collective punishment, which is a war crime, as is using starvation as a weapon of war. The International Criminal Court should take note of this call to commit a war crime,” he said.

Shakir also condemned the threat by Hamas to kill hostages, warning that such action was also a war crime.

“All hostages should be safely released to their families,” he said.

On the diplomatic front, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan called on Hamas and Israel to immediately end violence and protect civilians, the Egyptian presidency said.

Erdogan urged Israel against “indiscriminately” attacking civilians and delivered measured criticism of Hamas, urging both sides to respect the “ethics” of war.

The United Kingdom, French, German, Italian and US governments issued a joint statement on Monday recognising the “legitimate aspirations” of the Palestinian people and supporting equal measures of justice and freedom for Israelis and Palestinians alike.

INTERACTIVE_DEATH_TOLL_INJURED_ISRAEL_PALESTINE_OCT10_2023_0415
They said they would remain “united and coordinated” to ensure Israel can defend itself.

But the prospect that fighting could spread also alarmed the region and the world.

Lebanese armed group Hezbollah fired rockets into northern Israel in response to at least three of its members being killed in Israeli shelling of Lebanon.

Israel said one of its deputy commanders was also killed in an earlier cross-border raid from Lebanon.

SOURCE: AL JAZEERA AND NEWS AGENCIES

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Western Leaders Accused of Hypocrisy Over Response To Palestine, Ukraine

Published

3 years ago

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10th October 2023

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US President Joe Biden holds a bilateral meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the sidelines of the 78th United Nations General Assembly in New York City, the US, September 20, 2023

Social media users, including journalists and observers, are calling out what they call a ‘double standard’.

After Saturday’s surprise attack by the Palestinian group Hamas on Israel, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy took to the social media platform X to offer “condolences go out to everyone who lost relatives or close ones in the terrorist attack”.

He also stated, “Israel’s right to self-defence is unquestionable.”

Many world leaders, including US President Joe Biden and UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, shared similar sentiments.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen stated, “Israel has the right to defend itself – today and in the days to come. The European Union stands with Israel.”

Accusations of Western ‘double standards’

Some social media users have criticised these statements, saying they highlight a double standard.

Ukraine’s right to defend itself is praised by most international leaders while Russia’s invasion is condemned, but commentators said the same cannot be said about Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and Gaza.

Aaron Bastani, a leftist British journalist, said on X that there’s a “clear double standard in endorsing terrorism against civilian targets in Ukraine … and condemning it by Palestinians”.

Many users said Western diplomats and media support the Ukrainians who defend their land, but label the Palestinians fighting against Israel as “terrorists”.

https://twitter.com/KhaledBeydoun/status/1710787817415082349?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1710787817415082349%7Ctwgr%5E6acf829869e993177f32aa38aa48c02f38cb7f61%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.aljazeera.com%2Fnews%2F2023%2F10%2F9%2Fwestern-leaders-accused-of-hypocrisy-over-response-to-palestine-ukraine

An illustration of a woman’s face, in which one eye is closed beside a Palestinian flag, and one eye open beside a Ukrainian flag, has been regularly shared as a symbol of the West’s alleged double standards in how the two conflicts are viewed.

https://twitter.com/OnlinePalEng/status/1710994682883273172?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1710994682883273172%7Ctwgr%5E6acf829869e993177f32aa38aa48c02f38cb7f61%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.aljazeera.com%2Fnews%2F2023%2F10%2F9%2Fwestern-leaders-accused-of-hypocrisy-over-response-to-palestine-ukraine

Clips also emerged on social media from a CNN interview with Mustafa Barghouti, the general secretary of the Palestinian National Initiative, in which he posed the rhetorical question, “Why does the United States support Ukraine in fighting occupation – while here they support the occupier, who continues to occupy us?”

It is not the first time Western nations have been accused of double standards in their stance on the Ukraine war.

Earlier in the year, Amnesty International published a report highlighting the West’s “double standards” on global human rights.

Agnes Callamard, Amnesty’s secretary-general, told Al Jazeera at the time that the occupation of Palestinian territory was a “particularly important one”.

“Without making any comparison between Russia’s aggression and Israel … it is clear the Palestinian people are under a regime of oppression – a regime of occupation and a regime of apartheid,” Callamard told Al Jazeera.

Over the last three days, X users recirculated earlier statements calling out what they called Western hypocrisy, sharing video by the Irish lawmaker Richard Boyd Barrett from March 2022 in which he berated the Irish government’s double standards regarding Ukraine and Palestine:

“You’re happy to use the most strong and robust language to describe the crimes against humanity of [Russian President] Vladimir Putin, but you will not use the same strength of language when it comes to describing Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians.”

Barrett on Sunday again called out what he described as “shocking double standards of Western leaders supporting Ukraine resistance but condemning Palestinian[s].”

Meanwhile, others warned against comparing conflicts.

https://twitter.com/denfordauthor/status/1710993737738768607?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1710993737738768607%7Ctwgr%5E6acf829869e993177f32aa38aa48c02f38cb7f61%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.aljazeera.com%2Fnews%2F2023%2F10%2F9%2Fwestern-leaders-accused-of-hypocrisy-over-response-to-palestine-ukraine

And some cautioned that Hamas and the Palestinians should not be seen as one and the same.

Ukrainian footballer Oleksandr Zinchenko, who plays for Arsenal, posted on Instagram, stating he “stands with Israel”.

Zinchenko has been a vocal supporter of his home country in its ongoing defence against Russia, and he participated in a Game4Ukraine charity match in London earlier this year to raise money for Ukraine.

After online backlash, with some questioning an alleged double standard in his support of Israel, the footballer removed the post and switched his social media account to private.

Several people claimed that Zinchenko’s football club, in not responding to his comments, was guilty of hypocrisy after they had distanced themselves from former player Mesut Ozil’s comments in 2019 over alleged human rights abuses against Uighur Muslims in China.

SOURCE: AL JAZEERA
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