“Since sundown Monday, 26 Palestinians — including nine children and a woman— were killed in Gaza, most by airstrikes, health officials there said. The Israeli military said at least 16 of the dead were militants. Two women were killed by rockets fired from Gaza that hit their homes in the southern city of Ashkelon — the first Israeli deaths in the current violence. At least 10 other Israelis have been wounded since Monday evening.” 

Also see: 

• “Number of casualties in Gaza Strip rises to 28” (Middle East Monitor) 
• “Live Updates | Gaza Flare-up: Two Women in Israel Killed as Militants Expand Rocket Fire; Direct Hit to Israeli Homes, School” (Haaretz) 
• “2 Israelis killed in Ashkelon as ‘largest ever’ rocket salvo hits south” (Ynet)
• “Live: Dozens dead in Gaza as rights groups condemn Israel’s actions” (Middle East Eye) 
• “New Israeli raids on Gaza target school, factory” (Anadolu)
• “After Raid on Aqsa Mosque, Rockets From Gaza and Israeli Airstrikes” (NYT)
• “Israeli warplanes destroy high rise in Gaza City, people evacuated before attack” (WAFA)

“A day of upheaval at the holy sites of this contested city quickly widened into a night of warlike violence in communities across the country Tuesday, with hundreds of rockets from the Gaza Strip resulting in the deaths of at least two Israelis and retaliatory airstrikes killing at least 22 Gazans, according to Palestinian officials and Israeli media. Clashes also broke out in the West Bank between Palestinians and Israeli soldiers, as well as between Jewish residents, Israeli police and Arab citizens in Arab-Israeli towns and mixed Jewish-Arab towns, leading to hundreds of arrests and at least one Palestinian fatality.” 

“At least 20 Palestinians, including nine children, were killed in a series of Israeli air strikes across the Gaza Strip on Monday, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, while a further 60 were injured in the bombardment. Among those killed were two siblings from the al-Masri family, Ibrahim, 11, and seven-year-old Marwan, from Beit Hanoun in the northern Gaza Strip.”

“Israel will step up the rate and intensity of its attacks on terrorist targets in the Gaza Strip, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday, after two elderly Israeli women were killed in a massive barrage of rocket fire on the south of the country….the IDF has carried out hundreds of attacks on Hamas and Islamic Jihad in Gaza. We have taken out commanders, attacked a large number of their high-quality targets. “It was concluded that we will increase both the might and the frequency of the attacks,” Netanyahu said. “Hamas will now be dealt blows that it did not expect,” he said referring to the terror group that rules Gaza.”

Also see: 

• “PM says Hamas to suffer ‘unexpected blows’ after 2 Israelis killed from rockets” (Israel Hayom)
• “Violent Jerusalem Clashes Just the Start of Bloody Days to Come” (Daily Beast) 
• “Reported shooting attempt at West Bank junction; two assailants shot” (ToI)

“The military identified the militant as the head of the PIJ’s rocket unit Samih al-Mamluk. Other senior militants in the organization were also killed in the same strike, including Mohamad Abu al-Atta — brother of the military commander of the PIJ’s Northern Brigade in Gaza Bahaa Abu al-Atta who was assassinated by Israel in late 2019 — and Kamal Karika. PIJ confirmed the three killed in an airstrike on a hideout apartment in Gaza City were senior members of its armed wing and vowed retaliation.”

“After Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned Monday night that the fighting could last for days, Defense Minister Benny Gantz on Tuesday approved the deployment of some 5,000 reservist soldiers, including in the Southern Command, the Home Front Command and the Operations Directorate.”

“An Israeli Arab man was killed and another moderately wounded in the central Israeli city of Lod on Monday night, as demonstrations and riots mushroomed throughout the country following the escalating violence in Jerusalem. Some 200 masked protesters gathered outside the municipality building in the mixed Jewish-Arab city on Monday night, where they burned trashcans and hurled stones and fireworks at police….One possibility being investigated is that he was shot by residents after Arab rioters threw stones at Jewish homes, tore down traffic signs and set objects on fire….Yoel Frankenberg, a Lod resident who was there…added that their likely target was a group of buildings housing members of Garin Torani, a religious Zionist group that sets up communities in underdeveloped areas.”

Also see: 

• “Arab man shot dead in Lod in suspected hate crime amid riots” (Ynet)
• “Footage from Lod shows police car on fire” (ToI)
• “Palestinian-Israeli killed protesting support for Al-Aqsa” (MEMO)

“Thousands demonstrate in Nazareth, Haifa, Shfaram, Segev Shalom and in smaller towns such as Eksal, Kafr Manda, and Nahaf. In Nazareth, some demonstrators shot fireworks; in Haifa, others burned trash cans.” 

“Israeli intelligence estimates – based on pieces of rockets previously fired at Israel or rockets captured by the IDF at sea on their way to Gaza – are that Hamas has dozens of rockets with a range of 100-160 km., which can cover most of the country even up to Haifa and further north….PIJ also may have a very small number of Buraq-100 rockets, which have a range of more than 100 km. Hamas may also have hundreds of rockets with a range of 70-80 km., which would have the range to hit three critical targets: Tel Aviv and the cities within its corridor, Ben-Gurion Airport and Jerusalem.”

See also: “Hamas claims to use new missile to bypass Iron Dome in Ashkelon” (ToI)

“Hamas’s decision to fire rockets at Jerusalem on Monday has enabled it to present itself as a credible “resistance” group that is prepared to do anything to support the Palestinians in Jerusalem and stop Israel from carrying out its purported scheme to “Judaize” the city and “change the historical and legal status” of the Aqsa Mosque compound…Hamas now appears, at least in the eyes of many Palestinians as the only Palestinian faction that is willing to stand up against Israel to “defend” Islam’s third-holiest site and “thwart” Israeli “conspiracies” against the Palestinian residents of Jerusalem…by commandeering the Jerusalem protests, Hamas has drawn attention to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’s incompetence in dealing with the crisis. Abbas is now being depicted by Hamas and other Palestinians as a weak leader who has failed to stop Israeli “aggression” on al-Aqsa Mosque and Jerusalem.””

“As of 9 P.M. on Monday, the big winner of the day at the Damascus Gate was Hamas. Calls of support for the movement, its rockets and its commanders were heard everywhere. The fact that it had led the Temple Mount violence in the morning and that its commanders had promised to fire at Israel – and kept their word – gave it the status of victor among Jerusalem’s Palestinians. “[Hamas military spokesman] Abu Obeida threatened that it would fire at Israel and five minutes later we saw the policemen leaving Damascus Gate,” said a Palestinian activist minutes before the siren, when the policemen left the gate to reroute the Flags March. In the Palestinian narrative, Hamas is the sole entity that managed to get Israel to fold and change the route of the march away from the Muslim Quarter.”

““We will not allow violence and disruption,” Rivlin said. “Palestinian extremists have turned the Temple Mount into a cache for weapons, and a base for attacks.”…“No country in the world would accept a situation like this. We will never accept this reality. We will protect our citizens by all means necessary,” he stated.” 

“Zionist settlement remains an ongoing process that seeks to remove Palestinian natives and replace them with Jewish-Zionists. In Jerusalem, the forced removals echo throughout the West Bank, throughout Gaza and among Palestinians forcibly exiled in the global diaspora…As May 15 marks the 73rd commemoration of the mass expulsion of Palestinians from cities such as Haifa, Tarshiha and Safad in 1948, let the world bear witness to Jerusalem today. This is how refugees are made, this is our ongoing Nakba. Our freedom struggle is not for a state but for belonging to the land, to remain on it, to keep our homes, to resist erasure…There’s no denying the reality: This is Zionist settler colonialism, where if one settler does not take our homes, another settler will. When will the world open its eyes to this injustice and respond appropriately? We do not need more empty both sides-isms, we need solidarity to overcome apartheid.”

“While such violence is far from unprecedented in our region, and has been inherent to Israel’s oppressive policies for decades, these are choices that ultimately serve the interests of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is desperately fighting to save his political career and avoid potential time behind bars.”

“Palestinians described the flash raid launched by Israeli security forces on Monday on the Al-Aqsa compound that wounded hundreds of people, as fears intensified violence could escalate during a march by Israeli nationalists. Security forces stormed Islam’s third holiest site in Jerusalem as many worshippers prayed in the mosque, firing stun grenades, tear gas and rubber-coated metal rounds as snipers took up positions on rooftops.” See also: “Red Crescent: 334 people injured, 258 required hospitalization from Israeli assault in Jerusalem” (WAFA)

“Another video clip of ultranationalist Israelis in ecstatic celebration in front of the Western Wall, as flames near the Aqsa mosque leapt into the night sky above, unsettled and appalled many Palestinian and Jewish critics of the 54-year-old Israeli occupation of the city….as several Israeli journalists, as well as activists and scholars who speak Hebrew, pointed out, what was most horrifying about the scene was the song the ultranationalists were singing along to, as a fire raged in front of them near Islam’s third holiest site. It was, as Yair Wallach, a senior lecturer in Israeli Studies at SOAS, University of London, explained, a 1990s Hassidic rock tune associated with the far-right Jewish supremacist movement of Rabbi Meir Kahane.” See also: “Jews dancing while fire rages on Temple Mount lights up social media” (JPost)

“Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben Gvir arrived in Sheikh Jarrah in what they said was a demonstration of solidarity with the handful of Jewish families in the almost exclusively Palestinian neighborhood. … Joining those demonstrators in solidarity with the Palestinian Sheikh Jarrah residents were Joint List MKs, including Ahmad Tibi, Aida Touma-Sliman, Sami Abou Shehadeh and Ofer Cassif. Footage from the scene showed police shoving Touma-Sliman and other demonstrators back as the MK shouted, “Shame on you!” and warned that she was a lawmaker and hence holds parliamentary immunity.”

Also see: 

• “What has caused Jerusalem’s worst violence in years?” (The Guardian)
• “Why Jerusalem’s Aqsa Mosque Is an Arab-Israeli Fuse” (NYT)
• “Occupied East Jerusalem: Forced expulsions and raids on Al-Aqsa” (Al Jazeera)
• “Sheikh Jarrah residents speak out on Israel’s forced expulsions” (Al Jazeera)
• “East Jerusalem hospital fills up after Al-Aqsa clashes” (Al Araby) 
• “Al-Aqsa attack: Six times Israel attacked worshippers at the sacred site” (MEE)

“In the years following annexation, the State expropriated thousands of dunams of private land from its owners. In total, around a third of all the annexed area was expropriated. These lands were used to establish Israeli neighborhoods (Ramot Eshkol, Ramot, Gilo, Armon Hanatziv and more) and some are to this day zoned as reserves for the expansion of these neighborhoods….About three years ago, Bimkom began efforts to obtain the full copies of the maps from the Israel Land Authority (ILA). At first we were refused outright. The ILA later agreed to allow the maps to be viewed, but refused to provide even a single copy of them. Bimkom therefore filed a Freedom of Information petition, after which the state withdrew from its position that copies of the maps could not be acquired and the Israel Land Authority provided Bimkom with copies of the expropriation maps. These maps have now been scanned in their entirety and uploaded to a new website, which Bimkom is launching at this time.”

“Hesitation from the US mission to the United Nations prevented the release of a joint statement by the Security Council’s members on the ongoing escalations in Jerusalem, after the top UN body held an emergency meeting on the subject earlier Monday, a diplomat involved told The Times of Israel…The Norwegian statement underwent a number of amendments per requests from the US and UK, whose representative made sure it included a condemnation of the firing of incendiary devices and rockets from Gaza, a Security Council diplomat said….Fourteen of the 15 Security Council members backed the updated draft of the statement, but it failed to move forward after the US mission asked for more time to deliberate the matter, adding that such a step might not be useful at this time, two diplomats present told The Times of Israel.” 

Also see: “UN council meets on Jerusalem violence, considers statement” (AP)

“The Secretary-General is gravely concerned by the serious escalations in the Occupied Palestinian Territory and Israel, including the latest escalation in Gaza, which add to the heightened tensions and violence in occupied East Jerusalem…Israeli security forces must exercise maximum restraint and calibrate their use of force. The indiscriminate launching of rockets and mortars towards Israeli population centres is unacceptable.”

See also “UNRWA joins other UN entities in raising alarm over eight Sheikh Jarrah families at risk of forced eviction” (WAFA); “UN Committee on Palestinian Rights alarmed at deterioration of situation in occupied territories “(WAFA)

“Reactions poured in from around the world on Monday after violence sparked by days of unrest at Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa mosque compound, with Israel launching deadly air strikes on Gaza in response to a barrage of rockets fired by the Islamist movement Hamas.”

See also: 

• “World leaders urge calm amid growing violence between Israelis, Palestinians” (JPost)
• “EU condemns Gaza rocket fire into Israel, calls for de-escalation” (Ynet) 
• “Jordanians protest against Israel over al Aqsa violence” (Reuters)
• “Muslim Leaders Condemn Israel for ‘Barbaric Attacks’ Against Al-Aqsa Worshippers” (Haaretz)

““In the last few days, Egypt extensively reached out to Israel and other concerned countries urging them to exert all possible efforts to prevent the deterioration of the situation in Jerusalem,” says Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry. “But we did not get the necessary response,” he tells the meeting of the Arab League via videoconference.”

“According to Egyptian media, the extraordinary virtual meeting took place at the request of Palestine and was chaired by Qatar. Hossam Zaki, the league’s assistant secretary general, said in a statement that the meeting was raised to the foreign ministers’ level to address the dangers of Israeli efforts to Judaize Jerusalem.”

“Turkey’s efforts to mend ties with Israel have been derailed by the ferocious crackdown by Israeli forces on Palestinians inside the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, with Turkish leaders relapsing into well-worn verbal salvoes against the Jewish state amid heightened religious sensitivities during Ramadan. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan took to Twitter over the weekend to air his fury in Turkish, Arabic and Hebrew.” 

“The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates today condemned the Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza Strip that have left so far more than 24 people dead, many of them children, and over 100 injured, and called on the International Criminal Court (ICC) to speed up its investigation into Israeli war crimes in the occupied territories.”

“Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas received a letter on Tuesday from US President Joe Biden regarding “the latest political developments, current situations, and bilateral relations” between the US and Palestine, according to the official Palestinian WAFA news agency….The letter is the first official announced engagement between the two sides since Biden assumed office in January.” 

“Amid de-escalation attempts by both the Israelis and Palestinians, Blinken reiterated that “Israel, of course, has a right to defend its people and its territory from these attacks.””

“Outrage is rising among Democrats over events in the Middle East — and it’s aimed at Israel. A previous generation of Democrats leaned heavily into the idea of Israel as a stalwart U.S. ally. U.S. criticism of Israel was muted or nonexistent, and Washington often acted as a bulwark against international opprobrium. But the progressives on the rise today are more likely to draw parallels between the plight of the Palestinians and the injustices faced by Black Americans, or to compare Israel’s posture with apartheid-era South Africa.” See also: “Mixed reactions from Congress to Jerusalem conflict” (Al Monitor)

“Members of Congress are speaking out on the situation in Sheikh Jarrah! Hopefully the list (below) will keep growing!”

“New thread [featuring]. Members of Congress who’ve been silent re Israeli actions related to Sheikh Jarrah & Haram a-Sharif/Temple Mt, but who are now moved to speak on missiles being fired into Israel (which, to be clear, is a war crime – but the selective empathy/outrage is striking)”

“As tensions in Jerusalem and Gaza boil over, there is growing dissatisfaction among former U.S. officials and policy experts regarding the Biden administration’s approach toward the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Sources describe the administration’s apparent disengagement from the conflict as intentionally neglectful, with the implication being that the administration has determined it is politically unwise to get actively involved in Israeli-Palestinian matters or dragged into an intractable conflict.” See also “Biden expected to choose next ambassador to Israel in coming days” (Israel Hayom)

“The Biden administration has made little secret of its desire to avoid a deep entanglement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. But some analysts argue that the support of successive U.S. administrations for Israel — through billions of dollars in military aid, acquiescence to Israel’s steady expansion of settlements in the West Bank and the shielding of Israel from censure in international forums — brought the conflict to this point. “US is not a bystander in the conflict; it is part and parcel of the asymmetry of power that unfairly hurts one side in favor of the other, while making peace more remote,” tweeted Shibley Telhami of the Brookings Institution.”

“Biden has said he will not accept unilateral actions by either side, but Israel continues to take unilateral steps, primarily through forced displacement, confiscation of property, home demolitions, unchecked settler violence, and Israeli police brutality….One of the first steps Biden could take is to unequivocally disavow the Trump administration’s January 2020 “Peace to Prosperity” plan, which put a stamp of approval on Israel’s taking of land and resources by force and excluded Palestinians from the process outright. The administration should also plainly condemn, as the U.K. has, the systematic efforts by Israel to dispossess Palestinians from their homes. The Biden administration should also enforce America’s own foreign-aid laws by ensuring greater transparency and accountability for how its aid to Israel is currently used, so that Israel is held to U.S. human rights standards and other benchmarks for aid recipients—something that has increasing support within the Democratic Party.”

Also see: 

• “Jerusalem violence puts Biden on back foot regarding human rights in foreign policy” (Responsible Statecraft)
• “Israel’s actions in East Jerusalem are a human rights test for Biden” (Vox)

“How is it acceptable that settler organizations are able to operate freely in the United States while Palestinian charities have been accused of providing material support for terrorism? How are settlers, many of whom are American citizens, allowed to travel to Jerusalem and other parts of occupied Palestine to partake in violations against international law which include settling occupied land?…If progressive American policy makers like Bernie Sanders, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and others are serious about saving Sheikh Jarrah, they must be serious about saving all of Palestine. It’s not enough to speak out and condemn the Israeli government at this point.”

“Instagram and Twitter have blamed technical errors for deleting posts mentioning the possible eviction of Palestinians from East Jerusalem, but data rights groups fear “discriminatory” algorithms are at work and want greater transparency. Palestinians living in the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood claimed by Jewish settlers have taken to social media to protest as they face eviction, but some found their posts, photos or videos removed or their accounts blocked starting last week….By Monday, 7amleh, a nonprofit focused on social media, had received more than 200 complaints about deleted posts and suspended accounts related to Sheikh Jarrah….But in a joint statement, 7amleh, Access Now, and other digital rights groups called on Twitter and Instagram to use “transparent and coherent moderation policies”and be more open when take-downs happen.

“Since the latest flare-up in the region, many Palestinian activists have taken to social media to criticise the language used by some media outlets and politicians to frame the events in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories. Often, the target of criticism is language that appears to equivocate between unequal sides – particularly the use of terms such as “clashes” or references to “violence” in the passive tense that do not attribute the cause or target of the violence.”

“In fact, from the right-wing Israel Hayom to the mainstream Yedioth Ahronoth, the fate of Palestinian children bombed from the sky while living under the cruelty of a 14-year siege is barely an afterthought for the Israeli press. The top stories in Israel’s four major newspapers today — Yedioth Ahronoth, Haaretz, Maariv, and Israel Hayom — all essentially followed the same pattern: Hamas rockets dominated both the headlines and the featured photo for each story. Only those who take the time to read — and perhaps do some more research — will discover that according to reports, Israeli forces killed 24 Palestinians, nine of them children, and wounded many more the evening prior. They will also discover that, while terrorizing thousands in southern Israel, no Jewish Israeli was killed yesterday (Hamas rockets launched after the newspapers’ publications have since wounded at least 20 people).” 

“The Arab Center for the Advancement of Social Media launched its annual report on Palestinian digital rights, entitled “#Hashtag Palestine 2020.” The report details violations that took place in 2020, and specifically during the coronavirus pandemic, by authorities, technology companies and the Palestinian society itself.”

“The United Arab List party froze coalition talks on Monday in the wake of escalations in Jerusalem and the south, according to sources involved in the talks….Lapid was supposed to meet on Monday with Yamina chairman Naftali Bennett and United Arab List leader Mansour Abbas, but the latter suspended coalition negotiations and put off the meeting due to the security situation. The meeting had been aimed at reaching final understandings ahead of the possible signing of a coalition agreement.”

Also see: 

• “Analysis | Rivals’ Coalition Talks Mean Netanyahu’s in No Rush to De-escalate Gaza Tensions” (Haaretz)
• “Would escalation with Hamas benefit Netanyahu?” (Al Monitor)

“Jerusalem mayor Moshe Lion presented Pollard, who now lives in the city, with a certificate of appreciation in honor of his sacrifices on behalf of the Jewish people and Jerusalem. Lion said it is fitting to celebrate the liberation of Jerusalem and of Pollard on the same day.” 

Bisharat to former Knesset member Talab al-Sana—have alluded to the bitter irony of Jews telling another people to give up on their homeland and assimilate in foreign lands. We, of all people, should understand how insulting that demand is. Jewish leaders keep insisting that, to achieve peace, Palestinians must forget the Nakba, the catastrophe they endured in 1948. But it is more accurate to say that peace will come when Jews remember. The better we remember why Palestinians left, the better we will understand why they deserve the chance to return…The consequences of these efforts to rationalize and bury the Nakba are not theoretical. They are playing themselves out right now on the streets of Sheikh Jarrah. The Israeli leaders who justify expelling Palestinians today in order to make Jerusalem a Jewish city are merely paraphrasing the Jewish organizations that have spent the last several decades justifying the expulsion of Palestinians in 1948 in order to create a Jewish state.”