FMEP is proud to announce our 2023 Palestinian Non-Resident Fellows, who will join FMEP in conceptualizing, hosting, and participating in webinars and podcasts covering a wide range of Palestine-related issues:

• Dr. Yara Asi, Assistant Professor at the University of Central Florida;
• Rabea Eghbariah, human rights attorney and doctoral student at Harvard Law School.

Listen to Yara and Rabea discuss their backgrounds, scholarship, and insight into this moment in time for Palestinians on brand-new Occupied Thoughts podcast episodes.

The fourth webinar in FMEP and Al Shabaka’s four-part series, Learning and Unlearning Palestine, will feature Saleh Hijazi (BDS Movement) and Nadya Tannous (Palestinian Youth Movement) in conversation with Tariq Kenney-Shawa (Al Shabaka). Panelists will explore what allyship and solidarity with the Palestinian liberation struggle has looked like, and what it can and should look like moving forward.

Also see/listen to Normalizing and Peacemaking as Discourses of Violence, the third episode in this series, which features Inès Abdel Razek (PIPD) and Dr. Yara Hawari (Al Shabaka) in conversation with Dr. Maha Nassar (U. of Arizona) and was recorded on 2/27/23. 

 FMEP Fellow Peter Beinart is joined by Nathaniel Berman (Brown University) and Sawsan Zaher (human rights attorney) to discuss the notion that the Israeli Supreme Court – even before the proposed judicial reforms – is a protector of human rights and democratic principles in Israel. This conversation addresses the current protests against Netanyahu’s overhaul, and the historic role the Israeli Supreme Court has played in systematically oppression (or allowing the oppression of) Palestinians.

1. With New Powers Given to Smotrich, Israel Annexes the West Bank (Even Without a Formal Declaration) 
2. Final Hearing on E-1 Settlement Set for March 27th
3. Israel Advances More than 7k Settlement Units & Establishes 4 More New Settlements
4. U.S.-Brokered Compromise at the UN: Bibi Makes  – and then breaks – Promises to Biden Admin on Settlements, Outposts, Raids, and Demolitions
5. Multiple East Jerusalem Evictions Expected in March
6. New Report: Displacement via Bureaucracy in East Jerusalem
7. Bonus Reads

1.Bills, Resolutions & Letters

2. Hearings
3. Media & Reports
4. Members on the Record (Palestine/Palestinians)
5. Members on the Record (Israel)
6. Members on the Record (Iran)
7. Members on the Record (other Mideast countries)

See also: FMEP Legislative Round-Up: February 11, 2023, including Bills, Resolutions & Letters; Media & Reports; Members on the Record (Attacking & Defending Ilhan Omar); Members on the Record (Palestine/Palestinians); Members on the Record (Israel); Members on the Record (Iran); Members on the Record (other Mideast countries)

“By Monday morning, Huwara, a centrally located town through which thousands of Palestinians and settlers travel every day, looked like a battlefield. The town council reported that settlers had torched eight homes, broken windows in 35 others, and set fire to 250 vehicles. More than 120 people were wounded, including one Palestinian with a serious head wound who is currently hospitalized in Nablus. An Israeli shot and killed Sami Aktash, 37, from the nearby village of Za’atara. It is still unclear whether he was gunned down by settlers or soldiers. Immediately following the murders of the two Israelis, which took place early Sunday afternoon, the army closed Tapuah Junction, a major traffic artery nearby, as well as the entrance to Huwara used by Israelis living in the Yitzhar settlement, just northwest of the town. However, despite these closures, numerous eyewitnesses reported that the army allowed settlers to enter Huwara on foot, while preventing journalists, medics, and Palestinian aid workers from doing the same. On Monday morning, after the rampage had ended, the roads were strewn with stones, tear gas grenades, and burned tires, which the settlers reportedly used to set homes on fire. Residents said they could not remember any comparable event ever taking place in their town.” See also In pictures: Homes burn and cars are torched as Israeli settlers take ‘revenge’ in West Bank (Middle East Eye); After Hawara rampage, Israel settlers take ‘organised pogroms’ to other Palestine villages (The New Arab); ‘Never like this before’: settler violence in West Bank escalates (Guardian); After visiting Hawara, US Special Representative condemns the widescale indiscriminate settler violence (WAFA); In Rare Move, Leading U.S.-Jewish Groups Strongly Condemn Israeli Settler Violence (Haaretz); Israeli settlers rampage through Palestinian towns in revenge for shooting (WaPo); Top Israeli General Dubs Settler Rampage ‘Pogrom,’ Claims Military Was Caught Off Guard (Haaretz); Huwwara riots: Eyewitness account of Israeli settler attack on Palestinian town (Middle East Eye); Revenge Attacks After Killing of Israeli Settlers Leave West Bank in Turmoil (NYT); Palestinian killed as Israeli settlers rampage through West Bank in ‘revenge’ attacks (Middle East Eye); Israeli-American killed in West Bank after settlers rampage against Palestinians (New Arab); After helping earthquake victims, this Palestinian was killed by an Israeli rampage (Middle East Eye); Out of Hundreds of Rampaging Israeli Settlers, Only One Remains in Custody (Haaretz);

“Witnessing such a violent rampage, many observers resort to calls for a “return to calm” in Palestine. But such feeble calls are no longer adequate – if they ever were. One cannot ignore the recurrent nature of settlers’ violence and the way it acts as a pillar of Israel’s rule over the Palestinians. The infliction of violence with impunity, the army’s enabling of this violence and the denial of basic rights embody the existing order. Sunday’s rampage is thus a manifestation of the status quo in Palestine, not an exceptional occurrence or momentary disorder.” See also The pogrom is the point (Orly Noy//+972);

“The attack by the settlers was billed as an act of revenge after a Palestinian gunman opened fire at a traffic junction near Huwara, killing two brothers who lived in a nearby Jewish settlement. That assault itself was likely retaliation for an Israeli military raid on the city of Nablus last week that saw 11 Palestinians — including militants and civilians — killed. On Monday, there were reports of new Palestinian attacks on Israeli-owned vehicles in the West Bank. The bloody wheel turns, the cycle of violence continues. But such logic obscures more immediate forces at play. The installation of the most right-wing government in Israel’s history at the beginning of the year has been accompanied by the marked rise in violence. Since the start of the year, Israeli soldiers and settlers have killed at least 61 Palestinians — civilians and militants. A new wave of militancy is stirring in the West Bank, which analysts say is fueled by anger at the Israeli military occupation and mounting settler violence as well as disillusionment with the prevailing political status quo represented by the deeply unpopular Palestinian Authority.” See also Emboldened by Israel’s far right, Jewish settlers fan the flames of chaos (Washington Post); Opinion | Israeli Settlers Rioted in Hawara Because Israeli Leaders Are Rioting in Jerusalem (Haaretz); ‘Today, I won’t condemn’: Some Netanyahu allies are declining to decry Sunday’s West Bank settler riot (JTA); ‘We need burning villages’: Coalition lawmaker backs unprecedented settler rampage (Times of Israel); Israel: Legal scholars call for ‘war crimes’ investigation into Smotrich remarks (Middle East Eye); Huwwara riots: Israel’s leaders stoke flames by lauding settler attacks (Middle East Eye); also see this reporting of Smotrich doubling-down on 3/1/23: Palestinian ‘Village of Hawara Needs to Be Wiped Out’: Israel’s Far-right Finance Minister Justifies ‘Disproportionate’ Response to Terrorism (Haaretz)

“Israeli forces killed at least 11 Palestinians and wounded more than 100 Wednesday in a daytime raid in the West Bank city of Nablus, Palestinian officials said. The operation, the deadliest such raid in years, left Nablus’s Old City riddled with bullets and was another escalation in counterterrorism tactics by Israel under its new far-right government. Among those killed were a 72-year-old man, a 16-year-old boy and a 66-year-old man who died of tear gas inhalation, the Palestinian Ministry of Health said. Palestinian armed groups said at least six of the dead were members of recently formed, loosely organized militant groups, including the Lion’s Den, the Nablus Brigade and the Balata Brigade, based in a neighboring refugee camp.” See also Israel strikes Gaza, as unrest grows in West Bank (Al Monitor), A Palestinian man died in this medic’s arms. Then he realised it was his father (Middle East Eye), As Israel’s raids grow in West Bank, so does Palestinian support for armed groups (Al Monitor); Palestinian kills two Israeli settlers near Nablus (Middle East Eye); Jewish Currents “guide to help readers understand why Israel is conducting raids“; Also see this 3/1/23 NYT “visual investigation”: How an Israeli Raid on a Safe House Ended With Civilians Killed

“The bottom line is that the agreement signed today is simultaneously a giant leap of legal annexation of the West Bank and an act of perpetuating the regime’s apartheid nature.” See also Israel: Pro-settler minister handed West Bank powers in ‘de jure annexation’ (Middle East Eye); Israel has quietly annexed the West Bank and Biden stays silent (Mitchell Plitnick//Mondoweiss); Israel’s Netanyahu government advances settlement expansion (Al Monitor)

“According to the law — which passed with a decisive majority of 94 Knesset members from both the governing coalition and the opposition bloc, and only 10 votes against — the Israeli interior minister will be authorized to revoke a person’s citizenship or residency if they are convicted of and jailed for committing a “terrorist act,” provided that they received funds, or someone else received funds on their behalf, from the Palestinian Authority (PA). The law further permits the expulsion of these individuals to the occupied West Bank or Gaza Strip if they meet the above criteria…It is impossible to overstate the extent to which the new law is intended to violate fundamental rights — specifically those of Palestinian citizens of Israel and Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem. The right to citizenship is known as the “right to have rights,” from which the most basic civil rights are derived.” See also The practice of revoking citizenship was tainted. Not anymore. (Washington Post)

“Just hours after a meeting between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, which ended in a joint statement outlining an Israeli commitment to suspend discussions on new settlements in the occupied West Bank, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the building of Israeli settlements will continue to go ahead…According to a joint communique released by the US State Department on Sunday, Israel committed to “stop discussion of any new settlement units for four months and to stop authorisation of any outposts for six months”. Shortly after the communique was released, Netanyahu tweeted that there “will not be any freeze” to settlement construction.” See also Palestinians and Israelis agree to take steps to de-escalate tensions (Axios)

“The reason is that the movement against Mr. Netanyahu is not like the pro-democracy opposition movements in Turkey, India or Brazil — or the movement against Trumpism in the United States. It’s not a movement for equal rights. It’s a movement to preserve the political system that existed before Mr. Netanyahu’s right-wing coalition took power, which was not, for Palestinians, a genuine liberal democracy in the first place. It’s a movement to save liberal democracy for Jews.”

“Israeli police violently dispersed protesters on Wednesday [3/1/23] as thousands marched in different cities to protest against a controversial government plan to overhaul the judicial system, amid growing political turmoil….Protesters declared Wednesday a “national day of disruption”, blocking vital roads and burning tyres on highways. Marches were set to culminate in a large demonstration in Tel Aviv and in front of the residence of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem. Police have used stun grenades, water cannons and mounted officers to disperse demonstrators.” See also Government pushes ahead with judicial overhaul in Knesset amid protests (Times of Israel); ‘National Day of Disruption’ | Police Use Stun Grenades, Water Cannons Against Tel Aviv Pro-democracy Protesters, 11 Wounded; Israeli police violently crack down on protest over judicial overhaul (WaPo); Former Mossad, Shin Bet and IDF Heads Decry Effort to ‘Turn Israel Into a De Facto Dictatorship’ (Haaretz)

“An Israeli airstrike reportedly has killed up to 15 people in Kafr Sousa – a high-security area of the Syrian capital, Damascus, part of which is home to senior security officials, security branches and intelligence headquarters and Iranian installations…For almost a decade, Israel has been carrying out airstrikes against suspected Iranian-sponsored weapons transfers and personnel deployments in neighbouring Syria. Israeli officials have rarely acknowledged responsibility for specific operations.”

“Protesters warn that Israeli headlines have begun to read like a manual for future autocracies, with ministers seemingly handpicked to undermine the departments they run. The new justice minister intends to strip away the judiciary’s power. The communications minister has threatened to defund Israel’s public broadcaster, reportedly hoping to funnel money to a channel favorable to Netanyahu. The minister of heritage has called organizations representing Reform Jews an “active danger” to Jewish identity. No one, however, offends liberal and centrist Israelis quite like Itamar Ben-Gvir. Ben-Gvir, who entered parliament in 2021, leads a far-right party called Otzma Yehudit, or Jewish Power. His role model and ideological wellspring has long been Meir Kahane, a Brooklyn rabbi who moved to Israel in 1971 and…argued that “the idea of a democratic Jewish state is nonsense.” In his view, demographic trends would inevitably turn Israel’s non-Jews into a majority, and so the ideal solution was “the immediate transfer of the Arabs.”…His party, Kach (Thus), was finally barred from parliament in 1988. Jewish Power is an ideological offshoot of Kach; Ben-Gvir served as a Kach youth leader and has called Kahane a “saint.” Ben-Gvir, who is forty-six, has been convicted on at least eight charges, including supporting a terrorist organization and incitement to racism…” See also Itamar Ben Gvir: How an extremist settler became a powerful Israeli minister (WaPo)

“Tens of thousands of Israelis have filled the streets of major cities in recent weeks to protest significant judicial reforms that the new far-right Israeli government, elected late last year, is seeking to ram through the Knesset with a narrow majority. These developments have been framed as a major constitutional crisis and have brought on talk of an Israeli “civil war” and drawn the intervention of concerned outsiders. This crisis, however, is not about diverging from the essence of the Israeli political system, but rather about continuing it. To understand why, one must look at the origins of Israel’s constitutional crisis, which was and continues to be shaped by the state’s desire to prioritize settler colonialism over liberal governance.” See also Why Israel’s opposition won’t talk about the real goal of judicial overhaul (Michael Schaeffer Omer-Man//+972): “Government officials have explicitly said their legal reforms are about annexation. Opponents won’t admit it because they share the same vision.” See also Tech Leaders in Israel Wonder if It’s Time to Leave (NYT)

“The U.N. Security Council unanimously approved a watered-down statement strongly opposing Israel’s continued construction and expansion of settlements Monday. The vote came after high-stakes negotiations by the Biden administration succeeded in derailing a legally binding resolution that would have demanded a halt to Israeli settlement activity. The Palestinian-backed draft resolution was the subject of frantic talks by senior Biden administration officials including Secretary of States Antony Blinken with Palestinian, Israeli and United Arab Emirates leaders. Those discussions culminated in a deal Sunday to forego it in favor of a weaker presidential statement that is not legally binding, according to multiple diplomats familiar with the situation. The deal averted a potential diplomatic crisis, with the U.S. almost certainly vetoing the resolution, which would have angered Palestinian supporters at a time when the U.S. and its Western allies are trying to gain international support against Russia for its war with Ukraine…But U.S. support for the presidential statement angered Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.” See also UN Security Council pans Israeli settlements; Israel: US should not have signed on (TOI), US backs UN Security Council statement denouncing Israeli settlements in rare move (Middle East Eye)

“Palestinians living in East Jerusalem have for decades seethed under Israeli restrictions designed, residents say, to push them out of the disputed city. But for Mohammed Bashir, 25, life has now hit “below zero” as Israel’s new far-right government and especially its Minister of National Security Itamar Ben Gvir have stepped up house demolitions and expulsions that could ignite the city just as violence is spreading in the surrounding occupied Palestinian territories… Earlier this month, Ben Gvir, who first made a name for himself in the extremist settler movement, announced a “Bring Back Order” campaign in East Jerusalem targeting buildings constructed without permits, which are almost impossible for Palestinians to obtain — even while settlers are allowed to build freely… Since 1967, an estimated 58,000 settler homes have been built on the city’s east side compared to just 600 Palestinian dwellings, according to Daniel Seidman, an Israeli lawyer specializing in Jerusalem… Already in 2023, the rate of home and building demolitions is the highest in years, with 39 structures toppled just in the last month, according to data from the United Nation’s humanitarian agency.”

“In September 2021, 6 Palestinian political prisoners successfully orchestrated the most high-profile prison break in modern Palestinian history, escaping the notorious Gilboa Prison and evading Israeli authorities before they were finally recaptured after several days on the run. Popularly called the “Freedom Tunnel” operation (nafaq al-hurriyah in Arabic), the escape has become an iconic moment for Palestinians. Seventeen months later, the Gilboa six are back in prison, and up against an Israeli court hearing. On the same day as the trial of the Gilboa six, Palestinian detainees in Israeli prisons have announced the start of mass disobedience protesting the punitive deterioration of prison conditions ever since the Gilboa Prison break.” See also Palestinian political prisoners begin mass civil disobedience in Israeli jails (Middle East Eye)

“The collective punishment imposed on Palestinians through the medical permit system and multiple other avenues, is not justifiable by any measure, legally or ethically. Evidence suggests instead, that Israel uses the permit system as a mechanism of control, and to apply pressure on groups like Hamas. It is also used as a means to force individual Palestinians to inform on others…The medical permit system is part of a broader structure of oppression that, because it is bureaucratic rather than overtly violent, often goes ignored by the international bodies that might otherwise moderately criticise or at least question bombing campaigns or raids. This “mechanism of oppression,” however, causes untold harm, including premature mortality, in ways that are harder to measure than those that come from military violence, but are just as destructive.”

“The State Department’s 2021 report on terrorism, published on Monday, concludes that Israeli security forces often did not prevent violent attacks by settlers against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and almost never held violent settlers accountable. Why it matters: This is the most serious determination made in an official and public State Department report regarding the issue of settler violence against Palestinian civilians. The report says that according to UN monitoring data and also according to the Israeli Shin Bet intelligence agency, there was a significant increase in the number, scale, severity and geographical scope in 2021…According to the report, the characteristics of the attacks also changed. In prior years, attacks were sporadic and conducted by individuals or small groups of four to five settlers, but attacks in 2021 were conducted by big groups of several dozen settlers “indicating that attacks were likely pre-planned.”” See also In West Bank, settler violence forcing out Palestinian Bedouins (Al Jazeera)

“Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said that he thinks that democracy is in peril in Israel and that the U.S. should revisit the conditions under which it offers financial assistance to the country…Sanders said on Sunday the U.S., which is one of the closest allies of Israel and provides it with billions of dollars of support each year, should add conditions to that assistance. “I think the United States gives billions of dollars in aid to Israel,” Sanders said. “And I think we’ve got to put some strings attached to that and say you cannot run a racist government. You cannot turn your back on a two-state solution. You cannot demean the Palestinian people there. You just can’t do it and then come to America and ask for money.””

“A new Democratic political action committee (PAC) has arisen, dedicated to cultivating what it refers to as “moderate policies.” It stands against Republicans, as it supports only Democrats, but primarily, it aims to move the Democratic party to the right. It’s the latest iteration of conservative efforts to revive the classical conservatism that has been drowned by right-wing fanaticism, creating the so-called “Never-Trump Republicans” who don’t have a political home for the moment. But it also holds serious dangers for Palestine advocacy…Moderate PAC, as it is called, focuses on economic issues, echoing old Republican talking points from the 1980s about fiscal responsibility and low taxes…The new PAC, which intends to raise at least $20 million to target progressive candidates in the 2024 election, currently has only one major donor: billionaire Jeffrey Yass. That name may not be familiar to most Americans, but it’s one we need to get to know better. Yass, often referred to as the richest person in Pennsylvania, is the driving force behind funding for the Kohelet Forum, an organization that bears a great deal of responsibility for pushing Israeli policy to the far right, and whose network expands not only throughout Israel but also deep into the United States. Kohelet’s agenda sounds a great deal like Moderate PAC’s.” See also GOP Megadonor is Funding A Far-Right Israeli Think Tank – and Establishment Democrats (The Intercept)

“Yet the emergence of largely retired Jewish establishment leaders and a few center-right commentators as newly minted critics of the Israeli government signifies less than it might seem. While many of these figures are speaking out in uncharacteristic ways, they have kept their rhetoric within carefully circumscribed boundaries. The message of the communal leaders’ joint statement is one of loyalty, not combativeness: It does not threaten any action to hold Israel accountable.” See also Major Diaspora philanthropists warn of danger to Israeli democracy (JTA)

“The justices will not hear an appeal to a June 2022 decision by the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals involving Act 710 of 2017, an Arkansas law imposing a 20% penalty on state contractors with contracts over $1,000 if they refuse an oath not to support the nonviolent international Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement against Israeli crimes in Palestine including occupation, settler colonization, ethnic cleansing, and apartheid…While pro-Israel groups and individuals hailed the high court’s punt as a major blow to BDS, journalism, free speech, and Palestine advocates decried the move…Some critics warned that allowing anti-BDS laws to stand—effectively upholding them—will adversely affect Americans’ right to voice dissent on a wide range of issues… “From the Boston Tea Party to the Montgomery Bus Boycott to the boycott of apartheid South Africa, Americans have proudly exercised that right to make their voices heard,” Brian Hauss—the senior staff attorney at the ACLU Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project—said in a statement. “But if states can suppress boycotts of Israel, then they can suppress boycotts of the National Rifle Association or Planned Parenthood,” he added. “While we are disappointed with the result in this case, the ACLU will continue to defend the right to boycott in courts and legislatures throughout the country.”” See also Top US court refuses to review anti-BDS law. Here’s what it means (Al Jazeera) and Lara Friedman’s extensive research including Constitutionality Issues & BDS Legislation: Source Docs & Expert Views;

““Recently we witnessed some cases where Palestinian academics and journalists are censored on Twitter for different reasons,” said Mona Shtaya, advocacy and communications manager at 7amleh, the Arab Center for the Advancement of Social Media, a Palestinian digital rights organisation. Among the reasons offered by the platform were “violating community standards”, and some accounts were said to have been suspended “by mistake” or as a result of technical glitches, Shtaya said. But she believes that the unspoken reasons include a general increase in hate speech and incitement against Arabs, including Palestinians. “Whatever the reasons behind this censorship, the result remains the same: imposing higher censorship over digital freedoms and rights, especially on oppressed people,” she told Al Jazeera.”