Top News from Israel & Palestine: February 27, 2020

What We’re Reading

Trump Plan

50 ex-European leaders and FMs condemn Trump plan, cite apartheid similarities,

“Fifty former European leaders and foreign ministers have signed an open letter expressing ‘grave concern’ over US President Donald Trump’s plan for Israeli-Palestinian peace. The letter, published in The Guardian on Thursday, criticized the plan for allowing Israeli annexation of settlements and creating a situation it said was tantamount to ‘apartheid.’ ‘“The plan contradicts internationally agreed parameters for the Middle East peace process, relevant UN resolutions, including security council resolution 2334, and the most fundamental principles of international law. Instead of promoting peace, it risks fueling the conflict – at the expense of Israeli and Palestinian civilians alike, and with grave implications for Jordan and the wider region,’ it said.” [Text of the letter/signers]

PA seeks Israeli left's support to challenge US peace plan,

“The Palestinian Authority (PA) recently intensified its meetings with Israeli journalists, former lawmakers, political party members and academics in an attempt to gain their cooperation and to explain Palestinians’ broad rejection of the US Mideast peace plan. But these gatherings aren’t sitting well with the public.”

Benny Gantz: We will never go back to '67 lines – watch,

“…Asked about US President Donald Trump’s ‘Deal of the Century,’ Gantz was overall positive about the peace plan. ‘As a whole package, it makes sense,’ he said. ‘It sees the reality as it is… The Palestinians are here, we are here, lets see how we can [live] together.’ Gantz said were concerns about aspects of the plan, but that the details should wait until after the election as it would take months to properly implement. Other moderate powers in the region such as Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia needed to be consulted on the plan, he said, but he added: ‘If down the road, the Palestinians will continue to refuse to move forward, then we will have to see whether we are willing to do it unilaterally or not.’ The Palestinian Authority ‘has to be a partner,’ he said. ‘I hope that they decide to give up dreams, illusions, we are not going anywhere. The right to return will never happen. We will never go back to ’67 lines.’”

'Only Yamina opposes Palestinian state',

“Former Justice Minister MK Ayelet Shaked spoke to Ben Caspit and Yinon Magal on Radio 103FM on Wednesday and discussed her recent campaigning on behalf of the Yamina party…She pointed out that ‘Without us there [cannot be a] right-wing government. Before we got involved, Netanyahu was considering the ‘two-state solution,’ freezing settlement construction, and releasing terrorists. We came in, changed the entire perspective, and started discussing sovereignty [in Judea and Samaria]. If [Yamina] doesn’t get a strong representation, there will be no sovereignty and a Palestinian state might be established. We are the only party that opposes a Palestinian state,’ she reiterated.”

West Bank/East Jerusalem

UN envoy: 'Settlements' are a substantial obstacle to peace,

“The UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, Nickolay Mladenov, on Wednesday condemned Israel’s announcement from last week of new construction in the Givat Hamatos and Har Homa neighborhoods in Jerusalem. In a statement, Mladenov also criticized Tuesday’s announcement of construction in the E1 area, near Maaleh Adumim. ‘I am very concerned about Israel’s recent announcements regarding the advancement of settlement construction in Giv’at Hamatos and Har Homa, as well as the worrying plans for 3,500 units in the controversial E1 area of the occupied West Bank,’ he said. ‘All settlements are illegal under international law and remain a substantial obstacle to peace. If the E1 plan were to be implemented, it would sever the connection between northern and southern West Bank, significantly undermining the chances for establishing a viable and contiguous Palestinian state as part of a negotiated two-state solution,’ continued Mladenov.” [Also see: Building plans for Eli approved

Palestinian Authority lashes Netanyahu’s vow to build in West Bank corridor,

“Israel’s plan to build new settlement homes in a contentious area of the West Bank would destroy the prospect of a two-state solution, Palestinian Authority Foreign Minister Riyad al-Malki said Wednesday. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced on Tuesday that he had ordered the promotion of a plan for some 3,500 homes that has long been frozen due to objections from governments around the world supportive of a two-state solution. The plan to build in an area known as E1 ‘is so dangerous, more dangerous than any other settlement plans in the West Bank,’ al-Maliki told reporters on the sidelines of the Human Rights Council in Geneva.”

Israel Halts Evacuation of Illegal West Bank Outpost at Request of Defense Minister's Aide,

“Civil Administration did remove, however, a Palestinian protest tent in the area, based on the same regulations by which it originally planned to remove the outpost.”

Two homes, barns demolished in the south of West Bank,

“Israeli forces today demolished two Palestinian homes and two animal barns in the area of Masafer Yatta, in the south of the occupied West Bank, under the pretext they were built without a permit, according to a local source…Masafer Yatta is classified as Area C, which is under full Israeli military control. Area C makes up around 60 percent of the area of the occupied West Bank, which Israel plans to annex after expelling its Palestinian population. Getting an Israeli building permit in Area C is almost impossible, as confirmed by many human rights organizations.”

PA threatens Amazon over free deliveries to Judea and Samaria,

“The Palestinian Authority called on the US e-commerce company Amazon to immediately withdraw from its ‘discriminatory and unfair’ policy, expressed in ‘its support of settlement activity in violation of international law.’ This message was included in a letter sent by PA Finance Minister Shukari Bishara and National Economy Minister Khalid Al-Ossali to Amazon in response to its decision to issue its free shipping service to Israel, including Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria.They stated in their letter that Amazon’s policy ‘encourages Israel – the occupying power – to continue to violate international law.’ According to them, this policy also encourages Palestinian Arabs to deny their national identity by the implicit recognition that they are part of Israel for receiving free service from the company. The ministers urged Amazon to immediately stop this ‘racist’ policy and threatened to take legal action in international courts.”

Tires slashed, West Bank village threatened with ‘war’ in apparent hate attack,

“Several vehicles in the West Bank village of Yasuf were damaged by vandals in the overnight hours between Tuesday and Wednesday in an apparent hate crime. In total, tires on 13 cars were slashed in Yasuf, according to Yesh Din, an Israeli rights groups. The village is located adjacent to the Tapuah Junction in the northern West Bank and near a handful of settlements known as extremist hotbeds. Graffiti was also spray-painted on the walls of two structures in Yasuf, pictures shared by Yesh Din showed. ‘“There will be a war over Judea and Samaria,’ referring to biblical names for the West Bank, was found written in Hebrew on one wall, while a Star of David was seen on the other.”

Israeli settlers uproot hundreds of olive and vine trees south of Bethlehem,

“Israeli settlers today uprooted hundreds of olive and vine trees in the town of al-Khader, to the south of the occupied West Bank city of Bethlehem, according to Emad Dadoo, a local activist. He told WAFA that settlers from the illegal Israeli settlement of Eliazar uprooted about 200 olive trees and 80 vine trees in lands belonging to Palestinian residents located close to the settlement. He noted that settlers have recently been targeting village lands, especially those close to settlements, by razing lands, uprooting trees and preventing farmers access to their lands.”

Planned Western Wall Train Will Threaten Historic Jerusalem Spring, Report Says,

“…’If it weren’t for the Gihon spring, Jerusalem wouldn’t have existed,’ declares Prof. Ronny Reich, the archaeologist who has been in charge of the City of David dig in recent decades. The spring has been a source of life in the city for thousands of years, and the need to defend the spring shaped Jerusalem’s ancient defenses. Later it became a holy site and ultimately a tourist site managed by the Ir David Foundation, also known as Elad. But the spring is now facing a substantial threat. A report, the contents of which are being reported here for the first time, states that the continued flow of water from the spring would be threatened if a plan for an underground train in the vicinity of Jerusalem’s Old City to serve the Western Wall is carried out. The plan is being promoted by Transportation Minister Bezalel Smotrich despite objections from professional staff at his ministry and at the state planning administration.”

Israel arrests PA officials in Jerusalem,

“Israeli police yesterday arrested two senior Palestinian Authority (PA) officials in occupied Jerusalem after raiding their homes and searching them, Quds Press reported. Local sources told Quds Press that the Israeli occupation police arrested the Director of Arab Studies Society Khalil Tafakji from the Juz neighbourhood in Jerusalem. The same sources also reported that Israeli police arrested Head of the Chamber of Commerce Kamak Obeidat from his house in Beit Hanina in the occupied holy city. Israeli occupation forces have been escalating their assaults on Palestinian activists and PA officials in order to undermine any national activity in the holy city since the announcement of the US “deal of the century”. Last week, occupation authorities banned the PA’s governor of occupied Jerusalem Adnan Ghaith from entering the West Bank for six months and from communicating with the Palestinian Authority.”

Gaza

IDF fighter jets shoot down drone dispatched from Gaza,

“IDF fighter jets have intercepted a drone dispatched from the Gaza Strip, the IDF confirmed on Thursday. The army said the drone was heading westward over the Mediterranean sea upon exiting the coastal enclave’s airspace. The drone, which is speculated to belong to Hamas, was under constant surveillance from the moment it took off. Ultimately, Israel Air Force F-15 fighter jets were dispatched and intercepted the drone at 10:55 am at an altitude of 1,700 feet, 8 miles off the Gaza shore.Security officials say a probe into the incident was launched to determine what were the drone’s targets.”

Israel to reopen Gaza border crossings, fishing zone as fragile calm returns,

“Israel on Wednesday announced it would reopen its border crossings with the Gaza Strip, as well as the coastal enclave’s fishing zone, as a ceasefire with Palestinian terror groups continued to hold days after a violent flareup… ‘Following a new situation assessment — and assuming the security stability remains — it was decided to return to service the Erez and Kerem Shalom crossings beginning tomorrow (Thursday) morning. In addition, the fishing zone will return to 15 nautical miles,’ Israel’s military liaison to the Palestinians said in a statement.”

10 bouts in Gaza later, Israel not much closer to preventing the next round,

“Israel’s two-day battle with the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror group this week was its tenth major round of fighting in the Gaza Strip in the past two years. No Israelis were seriously injured in this bout, and the roughly 100 rockets and mortar shells fired at southern Israel caused minimal property damage, as some 90 percent of projectiles heading toward populated areas were intercepted by the Iron Dome missile defense system, according to the military. With the accumulated experience from nine previous conflicts, Israel has gotten markedly better at fighting these one-to-three day battles — while doing little to prevent them from happening in the first place.”

How Hamas’ observation units operate on Gaza border,

“Yedioth Ahronoth’s Palestinian affairs correspondent Elior Levy shed light Feb. 13 on the work of Hamas’ observation units along Israel’s borders with the Gaza Strip. The newspaper quoted Israeli security and military sources as saying that Hamas is following every movement of Israeli soldiers near the border, with the mission of observation and control units being to monitor any strange Israeli movements on the borders, be it by land, air or sea, and relay them to the operations room of Hamas’ military wing, Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades. Hamas’ observation posts are deployed along the eastern border with Israel, namely east of the cities of Rafah and Khan Yunis in southern Gaza, in Maghazi and Bureij in central Gaza, in Shajaiya east of Gaza City, and in Jabaliya, Beit Lahia and Beit Hannoun in northern Gaza. Levy’s article included audio clips of members of the observation units reporting to other Hamas groups all field events near the border.”

Israel seizes $4 million in Iranian terror money sent to Hamas,

“Defense Minister Naftali Bennett on Thursday signed an order to seize $4 million transferred from Iran to Hamas in the Gaza Strip. The money is intended to develop Hamas terrorist infrastructure in Gaza, including the production of weapons and payment to the organization’s terrorists, and originates from the Iranian government working against the State of Israel. The order signed today by the defense minister is directed against a Gaza money exchange company which is owned by Gaza businessman Zuhir Shamalah and his family. Shamalah took the place of Ahmad Khudri, Hamas’ main money-changer who was close to Yahya Sinwar and was thwarted by the IDF in May 2019. The order will allow action against Shamalah and his family globally, by limiting their physical movements in some countries, along with limiting the company’s financial activities by international financial bodies.”

The Region

Ex-Trump Mideast envoy joins Israeli venture capital firm,

“A leading Israeli venture capital firm said Wednesday it has hired the Trump administration’s former Mideast envoy Jason Greenblatt as a business developer for the region. OurCrowd said the former attorney for Donald Trump will be acting as a partner responsible for ‘building ties with the Middle East region.’…Greenblatt told The Associated Press his focus would be on cultivating investment from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Bahrain — all countries that have developed behind-the-scenes relations with Israel in recent years, and who were to be key investors in the economic development side of the Trump administration’s Mideast plan.”

Senior Hezbollah Official Killed in Israeli Strike in Syria, Reports Say,

“A senior Hezbollah official in Syria was killed on Thursday in an Israeli drone strike, Syrian opposition media report. Syrian state TV reported that an Israeli drone fired a missile at a car in southern Syria, killing one person, who it says was a ‘civilian.’ Some other media outlets aligned with the Assad regime said he was a local policeman. The man is said to have been targeted while driving near the village of Hader, near Quneitra, in the Syrian Golan Heights.”

Countries fire allegations of interference against Dahlan,

“Former Fatah leader Mohammed Dahlan has long been the subject of myriad accusations, but the charges seem especially widespread this year. Several countries have been accusing Dahlan, a Palestinian who lives in exile in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), of interfering in their internal affairs.”