“On Land Day, the undersigned organisations call for effective measures to uphold international justice and accountability for widespread and systematic human rights violations committed against the Palestinian people. Our organisations urgently call on the UN and third States to bring an end to the Gaza closure, to take effective measures to implement the recommendations of the Commission of Inquiry, and to call for the opening of an investigation by the International Criminal Court (ICC) into the Situation in the State of Palestine. Finally, we urge the ICC’s Pre-Trial Chamber to immediately recognize the occupied Palestinian territory, comprising the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip, as being within the Court’s jurisdiction, so that the Prosecutor may begin her long-awaited investigation into suspected war crimes and crimes against humanity committed against the Palestinian people, including within the context of the Great Return March in the Gaza Strip. As we commemorate Land Day, our organisations stress that, in the absence of accountability, third States have allowed Israel’s pervasive impunity to prevail, while the root causes driving the demonstrations in the Gaza Strip over the past two years have remained unaddressed. Seven decades since the Nakba, it is long time for third States to adopt effective measures to uphold the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people.”

“The number of confirmed cases of coronavirus in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip passed 100 on Sunday after infections emerged in villages where Palestinian authorities had not previously reported them. Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Mohammed Shtayyeh told a press conference in Ramallah that two Palestinians tested positive for COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus — one in Hebron and another in Qatana, a village north of Jerusalem — raising the total number of confirmed cases to 106.”

“Yet the terrifying possibility of an outbreak in one of the world’s most crowded territories — 2 million people squeezed into an area twice the size of Washington, D.C. —does not seem to have registered fully. Many in Gaza seem to accept Hamas assurances that the threat is contained. In the meantime, Hamas is racing to build two massive quarantine facilities — hoping to prevent the disease from spreading and overwhelming Gaza’s already shattered health system. The construction was ordered after photos surfaced from makeshift centers — mostly schools — showing people celebrating birthday parties with visiting relatives, food being delivered by volunteers and groups of people smoking water pipes together.”

“Mass rallies planned to be held on Gaza’s border with Israel have been canceled due to coronavirus concerns. The rallies set for March 30 were scheduled to mark the second anniversary of the Great March of Return, a mass convergence on the border to protest Israel’s blockade of Gaza. ‘We call upon our people not to go to the return encampments on March 30 and to stay home in order to maintain the safety of our people in the face of this lethal pandemic,’ Khaled al-Batsh, a senior member of Islamic Jihad, told Reuters.”

“Ending impunity for attacks on civilians, medical facilities and personnel is an urgent and critical imperative. All available international legal avenues must be pursued given the systemic failings of Israel’s military investigation system to undertake genuine investigations. This is essential to fulfil the core fundamental rights of victims, survivors and their family members to have access to justice, and also to provide the most effective deterrence against repetition of such attacks in the future. The grave repercussions of ongoing blanket impunity are starkly illustrated by the repeated killing and injuring of medical personnel and unarmed protesters by Israeli forces since 30 March 2018.”

“To help contain the spread of the coronavirus, the Ministry of Education and Higher Education in the Gaza Strip has launched a media campaign to encourage students to use the online courses broadcast on its media outlets, Rawafid website and Voice of Education Radio. The radio outlet, which was established in 2012 to broadcast live 12th-grade lessons, was upgraded early this year with improved equipment and technology. Virtual classes have been greatly expanded since Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas declared a state of emergency March 5 to counter COVID-19, closing all schools and universities.”

“Radio Alhara, which means “the neighborhood’s radio” in Arabic, went on the air for the first time on March 20. It was conceived in a Facebook conversation between brothers Elias and Yousef Anastas, and Yazan Khalili, who broadcast from Bethlehem and Ramallah respectively. The one-page website is relatively bare. Following Radio Alhay’s presentation, the founders set out the project’s story in a few sentences of white Arabic text on a black backdrop: ‘This is a participatory project starting in Bethlehem and Ramallah, but it will expand to other cities across Palestine and the world,’ they write. ‘We will open this space for listening, discussion and debate, so that we can spend isolation communicating with each other and remembering one another. We send love and hope to everyone, and we shall meet again in good health. Stay tuned, from the bedroom to the living room, and the other way around’.”

“As a precaution, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his advisers are voluntarily entering quarantine until Health Ministry officials finish their epidemiological investigation into whether he was exposed to the coronavirus, his office says. ‘Even before the epidemiological investigation is over and to remove all doubt, the prime minister has decided that he and his close staff will remain in isolation until the epidemiological investigation is completed, and according to the findings, the Health Ministry and the personal physician of the prime minister will set a day to end the isolation,’ his office says.”

“Cabinet ministers meeting later today to vote on tighter lockdown rules will debate a proposal to limit gatherings from 10 to two people, with the exception of family members, Channel 12 reports. The updated emergency regulations also call for cutting in-office workers in the public sector by a further 50 percent. The rules would come in addition to existing regulations that ban Israelis from venturing more than 100 meters from their homes, with the exception of shopping for food or medicines or going to work.”

“On Sunday, Bennett, who also headed the national religious Yamina alliance in Israel’s last election, published a plan to fight the virus based on cooperation between the defense establishment and civilian companies. While the document didn’t name any specific company, TheMarker has learned that the company in question is NSO. The document said the system would be one of the most advanced in the world and is already ready to go. However, it still needs legal approval and appropriate controls to protect people’s privacy. Once it has the necessary approvals, all the data on coronavirus tests and their results could be fed into it. Then, ‘at any given moment, we’ll summon the people with the highest likelihood of infection for testing,’ the document said.”

“The unrecognized Bedouin villages in the Naqab/Negev in southern Israel are facing a crisis in the shadow of the coronavirus pandemic, say residents and activists. Due to the lack of infrastructure and health services, the communities are unable to follow the guidance set out by the Israeli Health Ministry. Attiah al-Aasem, chair of the Regional Council of Unrecognized Villages in the Naqab, warns that ‘the coronavirus will worsen the day-to-day problems in the villages.’ In the absence of utilities such as water, sewage, and garbage collection, residents are having to do their best to look after themselves, al-Aasem adds. ‘The Naqab is liable to become like northern Italy,’ says Salame Alatrash, head of the Al-Kasom Regional Council.”

“The government has delayed plans to have soldiers help enforce a full coronavirus lockdown, fearing friction between young soldiers and civilians, military sources said…The original plan called for armed soldiers to accompany the police in their patrol vehicles. But on Sunday, the General Staff grasped the potential for problems; for example, a soldier shooting into the air to disperse civilians in heavily ultra-Orthodox Bnei Brak, which has seen an outsized number of coronavirus cases.”

“The Blue and White Party, which won 33 seats in the March 2 election, split amicably into four parties and two factions at a meeting of the Knesset Arrangements Committee on Sunday. Knesset Speaker Benny Gantz will keep the name Blue and White, which will serve the 15 MKs of his Israel Resilience Party. MK Yair Lapid’s 13-MK Yesh Atid merged into one 16-MK faction with three MKs from Moshe Ya’alon’s Telem Party called Yesh Atid-Telem.The breakups and mergers ended up being a victory for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, because Hendel and Hauser are right wing, and along with Gesher MK Orly Levy-Abecassis, who broke off from Labor-Meretz, Netanyahu now has 61 MKs on the Right. Another change approved in the Arrangements Committee was that Gantz and Lapid traded rebel female MKs. MK Pnina Tamano-Shata left Yesh Atid for the Israel Resilience Party, and Gadeer Mreeh went from Blue and White to Yesh Atid, without sanctions to either MK for jumping sides.”

“As Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Hosen L’Yisrael leader Benny Gantz near an agreement on a joint government, the question of what portfolios each of them will be able to fill is beginning to clear up. Netanyahu’s right-wing bloc will retain the finance, health and education portfolios. Gantz’s party will take the defense and justice portfolios, as well as the Foreign Ministry. The Public Security Ministry, too, will remain in the hands of Netanyahu’s Likud, with Culture Minister Miri Regev taking that portfolio.”

“Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Benny Gantz will promote legislation next week to allow Netanyahu to serve in government despite his indictment in three corruption cases, even after he relinquishes the post of prime minister in 18 months. The two are currently meeting, along with Gantz’s party member Gabi Ashkenazi, to discuss the terms of an agreement on a unity government. The move is at the center of coalition negotiations for a rotating unity government in which Netanyahu will first serve as premier and will then become deputy. The new legislation modifies the position of deputy prime minister to be similar in authority to a minister without portfolio, but also possess veto power on key appointments and the ability to serve despite criminal charges. During Netanyahu’s turn as prime minister, Gantz will serve as deputy, and most likely also as foreign minister. A source in his party said the legislation is critical because it will enable them to “steer the government from day one’.”

“As unity talks were proceeding between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Blue and White party chief Benny Gantz, the religious hawkish Yamina party on Monday stepped up warnings that it could end up not joining the emerging unity government, as the premier was appearing to make significant concessions to the center-left bloc and sidelining Yamina’s ministers. Various unconfirmed reports Sunday said that in the emerging government, Yamina would be cut down from three current minister positions — Defense Minister Naftali Bennett, Transportation Minister Bezalel Smotrich and Education Minister Rafi Peretz — to just the education portfolio.”

“Microsoft is set to sell shares in an Israeli facial recognition company accused of surveilling Palestinians in the occupied West Bank. The company’s M12 venture arm invested $74m in AnyVision in June, only to come under fire after an October report by US broadcaster NBC News claimed that the Tel-Aviv-based company was powering a ‘secret military surveillance project throughout the West Bank.’ An audit subsequently launched by Microsoft into the news report led by former US attorney general Eric Holder found on Friday that while the company’s technology was used in cross-border checkpoints it did not amount to a mass surveillance programme in the occupied Palestinian territories. However, Microsoft said that it was now divesting from the company, citing concerns over ethical oversight and added it would end investments in facial technology companies.”

“Microsoft said it plans to sell its shares in the Israeli facial recognition company AnyVision, after former United States Attorney General Eric Holder had launched an investigation into the company, NBC News reported on Friday. Microsoft’s M12 corporate venture fund participated in a $74 million series A investment round that AnyVision announced in June 2019. Later that year, Microsoft hired Holder to investigate whether the use of facial recognition technology developed by the Israeli startup complies with its ethics principles. The probe reflected growing unease about facial recognition surveillance in the United States and elsewhere, which civil liberties groups say could lead to unfair arrests and limit freedom of expression. AnyVision is Israel’s most high-profile biometric recognition firm, particularly in facial recognition. The company notes that its software can be hooked up to cameras of all kinds and be installed and used immediately, requiring little computing capacity. In July 2019, Haaretz-TheMarker learned that AnyVision is taking part in two special projects in assisting the Israeli army in the West Bank. One involved a system that it installed at army checkpoints that thousands of Palestinians pass through each day on their way to work from the West Bank. The product lets the army quickly identify whether the person passing through has an Israeli work permit, thereby shortening the wait at the border.”

“The European Union (EU) and the Palestinian Non-Governmental Organizations Network (PNGO), a coalition of 135 local NGOs, are engaged in talks to clarify a perceived change in EU funding criteria to Palestinian civil society. Since the start of this year, the EU has been under fire by Palestinian civil society for an alleged “anti-terror” clause in their general grant contracts used to fund NGOs worldwide. Othman expressed how the addition of this line was not intended to target Palestinians specifically, but is a general clause adhering to European law in order to thwart the channeling of money to individuals and organizations on the EU’s restrictive measures list. On this list, there are not only “terrorist organizations” but also governments, individuals and other entities involved in money laundering, trafficking, and so forth.”

“On 3/27, Sens. Warren (D-MA) and Van Hollen (D-MD) sent a letter, cosigned by 6 Democratic Senate colleagues, urging Secretary of State Pompeo “to take every reasonable step toprovide medicine, medical equipment, and other necessary assistance to the West Bank and Gaza Strip(Palestinian Territories) to prevent a humanitarian disaster.” The 4-page letter, which includes extensive citations and footnotes, note that “The Fiscal Year (FY) 2020 Appropriations Act included $75 million for humanitarian and development assistance for the Palestinian people. Despite that appropriation, and in the face of a COVID-19 outbreak in the West Bank and the beginnings of one in Gaza,as far as we are aware the Administration has not reconsidered its policy of ceasing all bilateral assistance to the Palestinians and all contributions to UNRWA.” The letter continues: “The COVID-19 pandemic poses an unprecedented health, diplomatic, and economic threat, and it is in the national security interest of the United States and in the interest of the Palestinian people and our ally Israel, where there are more than 1,200 confirmed cases,to combat the spread of COVID-19 in the Palestinian Territories.” The letter closes with a list of five specific questions for Pompeo to answer, related to any planned action/inaction in this regard, with a response required by April 3.”

“As Israel continues to roll out increasingly severe restrictions on movement in its response to the COVID-19 health crisis, reports suggest that the Prime Minister’s Office and the National Security Council are working on a plan to close off the Shufat Refugee Camp from the rest of Jerusalem. The Shufat Refugee Camp, home to tens of thousands of Palestinians who hold Israeli residency cards, is located within the expanded municipal border of Jerusalem, but on the West Bank side of the Israeli separation barrier. The camp has a single entrance/exit, controlled by an Israeli military checkpoint, through which residents must pass in order to access other areas of Jerusalem. It is this checkpoint that some Israeli authorities are now reportedly seeking to close.”