“Palestinians in Israel, occupied East Jerusalem and the West Bank have called for a general strike on Tuesday to show unity amid ongoing Israeli bombardment on the Gaza Strip. The Arab Follow-up Committee, which coordinates between political parties inside Israel, called on Sunday for Palestinian citizens of Israel – who at almost 1.6 million make up 20 percent of the country – to mobilise for a general strike. It is named the Karameh (Dignity) Strike. Palestinian political factions, the Palestinian Authority (PA) and civil organisations have also responded to the call, announcing a general strike in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem. The strike is the latest example of Palestinian unity across historic Palestine and beyond seen in the past week since Israeli crackdowns in Jerusalem spilled into a conflict in Gaza.”

More Coverage of the Dignity Strike

• “Millions of Palestinians Join General Strike” (New York Times)

“Shops were shuttered across cities in Gaza, the occupied West Bank and in villages and towns inside Israel as Palestinians observed a general strike to protest against occupation and Israel’s ongoing bombardment of the blockaded enclave. The strike, which is supported by Hamas, the group running Gaza, and Fatah, the ruling party of the Palestinian Authority, led to the suspension of all economic activity and closure of educational institutions. “It’s the first time in decades that we see Palestinians across the political divide take part in such a general strike,” said Al Jazeera’s Nida Ibrahim, reporting from Ramallah.”

Top Headlines from the Middle East Eye Live Blog:

• Egypt to allocate $500m for Gaza rebuilding effort
• Marwan Barghouthi held in solitary confinement after penning letter of support for Palestinian protests
• Palestinian protests gain momentum across cities in the West Bank
• Palestinians record no deaths from overnight raids in Gaza for first time since renewed hostilities

“Israel’s national drone project will operate a fleet of unmanned aerial vehicles to track protests and riots, as well as damage caused by rockets fired from Gaza. The drones will help the Home Front Command’s efforts to map the damages caused by rockets in hard to reach places. The goal of the project, operated by Israel’s official urban aerial project “Na’ama”, is to provide visual access to places that cannot be reached by land – or at least those that cannot be accessed easily. The drones will document sites hit by rockets. They will also play another role: To help keep track of protests, if not also provide assistance during riots. The drones will provide a video feed that will be sent directly to the command center of one of the state companies operating the project.”

“The Israeli government, which has become used to treating the Palestinians as a divided and spineless people, will have to change its approach – or else what happened over the past week will look like just a preview. It’s possible: it only has to see them as human beings. The Palestinian leadership in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip needs to seek an end to the division and adopt a strategy and relies on the power of the people and not a ministry in Ramallah or a bunker in Gaza.”

“April 1936 marked a turning point in Palestinian rejection of the British Mandate. On 19 April that year, the newly formed Arab National Committee in Nablus called on Palestinians to launch a general strike, withhold tax payments, as well as boycott Jewish products, in order to protest British colonialism and growing Jewish immigration…The strike was brutally suppressed by British forces. British authorities began arresting anyone suspected of being responsible for the movement, while also proceeding with punitive home demolitions – a practice that Israel continues to implement against Palestinians today. At the same time, the British worked with and trained Zionist militias such as the infamous Haganah to crack down on Palestinian unrest. The strike was called off by the Higher Committee in November 1936, as regional Arab leaders from Jordan, Iraq and Saudi Arabia urged Palestinians to trust that the UK would implement their demands – demands which were, in fact, never fulfilled…While the general strike lasted six months, it set the wheels in motion for what would become known as the Arab Revolt from 1936 to 1939. Those three years marked the most sustained armed resistance against the British Mandate, and was violently repressed by British forces, which shipped more than 20,000 troops into Mandatory Palestine to quell the uprising. In parallel, Zionist paramilitary groups grew in numbers and strength. By late 1937, Mandate authorities declared martial law in Palestine, and banned the Arab Higher Committee.”

“Dozens of air strikes pounded Gaza on Tuesday as US President Joe Biden expressed support for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in a phone call with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. A new front in the conflict opened as the Israeli military said it also shelled Lebanon in response to six failed rocket launches from southern areas in the neighbouring country. At least 213 Palestinians, including 61 children, have been killed in Gaza since the attacks began. About 1,500 Palestinians have been wounded. Twelve people in Israel have died, including two children, while at least 300 have been wounded.” Also See – “Netanyahu says Israel set Hamas ‘years’ back, enemies will ‘draw the conclusion’; rocket alarms sound” (The Times of Israel)

“Since Covid-19 first emerged in the blockaded Gaza Strip, a shortage of medical supplies has allowed authorities to administer only a relatively tiny number of coronavirus tests. Now, the sole laboratory in Gaza that processes test results has become temporarily inoperable after an Israeli airstrike nearby on Monday, officials in Gaza said. The strike, which targeted a separate building in Gaza City, sent shrapnel and debris flying across the street, damaging the lab and the administrative offices of the Hamas-run Health Ministry, said Dr. Majdi Dhair, director of the ministry’s preventive medicine department.” Also See – “Hundreds of thousands in Gaza face shortages of clean water and medicine.” (New York Times)

“Search and rescue teams working in Gaza City today recovered the bodies of seven more children killed in Israeli airstrikes early Sunday morning, bringing the total number of Palestinian children killed in the Gaza Strip to 60 since May 10. Since yesterday, DCIP has confirmed the deaths of seven additional children all pulled from rubble today on Al-Wehda Street in Gaza City. Israeli bombardment on May 16 killed at least 18 children, including sisters Yara Mohammad Mu’in al-Qawlaq, 9, Hala Mohammad Mu’in al-Qawlaq, 12, and Rula Mohammad Mu’in al-Qawlaq, 5; Mira Rami Riad al-Ifranji, 11, and her brothers Yazan Rami Riad al-Ifranji, 13, and Ameer Rami Riad al-Ifranji, 9; and Lana Riad Hasan Ishkantna, 5.  DCIP previously confirmed and reported the deaths of 11 children in the same attack in a news alert published on May 16.”

Also See

• “Eleven children receiving NRC trauma care killed in their homes by Israeli air strikes” (Norewegian Refugee Aid)

“Fighting in Israel and Gaza has displaced nearly 47,000 Palestinians from their homes, according to the U.N. humanitarian agency, which on Tuesday described escalating peril inside the Gaza Strip.”

“The Agency has not received approval for critical access to Gaza for essential humanitarian supplies meant to provide relief to the distressed population, including particularly vulnerable persons such as pregnant women, children, persons with disabilities and serious medical conditions, and the elderly, despite immense needs following nine days of conflict. Approval has also not been received for its highest official to assess and support UNRWA emergency operations. “UNRWA is urgently awaiting approval through established mechanisms to cross into Gaza,” said UNRWA Director of Strategic Communications, Tamara Alrifai.”

Also See

• “Nearly half a million people out of reach in Gaza” (OxFam)

“Earlier on Tuesday, Israel temporarily reopened both the Erez and Kerem Shalom crossings into Gaza, allowing many truckloads of desperately needed fuel, medical equipment and animal feed into the enclave, according to Israel’s military liaison to the Palestinians, known formally as the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories.”

“Israel’s attacks on Gaza’s infrastructure, roads and residential towers indicates that the Israeli military does not possess accurate intelligence on the locations of Hamas’ operatives, “which prompts it to bomb larger areas to hit the target,” Mehasen explained. He added that the Israeli army may indeed have a map of the tunnels and has already destroyed part of them, but “there are still dozens of tunnels that are unknown to Israel, which managed to recruit some figures with information about the resistance.””

“Every night brings the war ritual for Randa Suleiman: She gathers her children, collects their favorite toys and looks for a hiding place in their home, listening for Israeli warplanes and bombs that will streak and fall through the Gaza darkness. “From 11 p.m., we prepare ourselves,” she said. “You hear [the children] talk about if they’re going to have to escape from the house or if they’re going to die.” It has been like this for days, the sky alight with rage. Suleiman, 40, is a guidance counselor, but she said she has no idea how to comfort her 15-year-old and 8-year-old boys. “As a mother, I can’t even help myself, let alone help them. Every moment I imagine I’m going to lose them.””

“Two Thai workers were killed and seven people were wounded in a rocket strike on an Israeli farm just over the Gaza border, police said. Gaza’s ruling Hamas Islamist group and Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility. Rockets were also launched at the cities of Ashdod and Beersheba, further to the north.”

More on Hamas Rockets

• “Army Thwarts Hamas Underwater Drone Attack on Israeli Ships” (Haaretz)
• “Hamas again threatens to strike Tel Aviv after Israel kills Islamic Jihad commander” (Al-Monitor)
• “Rockets from Gaza rain havoc on Israeli cities in latest war” (Washington Post)

“There are many reasonsfor the violence we have seen sweeping through mixed cities. We view the consistent erasure of the complex past of the city not only as an historical injustice but also as an injustice towards the present-day Arab residents of the cities and to the public as a whole. Violence is not the solution to grievances, but neither is the erasure of a glorious heritage and the transformation of structures such as Khans into arts and craft and leisure centers devoid of historical meaning. After the violence, there will be a need for mending and rebuilding. Community oriented preservation and development that works to strengthen rather than disenfranchise could be an opportunity to start building bridges. Highlighting the multicultural history of Lod and Acre, instead of further driving an already polarized society apart, could function as an excellent place to start sensitizing both Jews and Arabs to their shared heritage.”

“The High Follow-up Committee for Arab citizens of Israel is calling for a general strike tomorrow in Arab towns and communities over the conflict at Al-Aqsa Mosque and violence by settlers in mixed cities. Members of the Committee met yesterday with residents of Jaffa and Lod to hear their feelings and concerns.”

“Israeli television stations are providing security for some of their highest-profile reporters after physical attacks and death threats from far-right Jewish extremists. According to reports in the Israeli media, the N12 channel has provided security details for four of its on-air reporters: Dana Weiss, Guy Peleg, Yonit Levi and Rina Mazliah, after a rise in online threats against them amid recent intercommunal violence. Police have arrested one suspect in connection with threats against Weiss. Reporters from Channel 12, Kan news and Channel 13 have been physically attacked in recent days after rightwing extremists took to the streets to target Israeli citizens of Palestinian origin in various locations.”

Headlines

• “Gideon Sa’ar Mulling Power Sharing Deal With Netanyahu, Despite Election Promise” (Haaretz)
• “Gideon Sa’ar denies considering rotation with Netanyahu” (Jerusalem Post)

“The Palestinian Authority Health Ministry says a Palestinian protester has been killed and dozens more wounded when gunshots rang out at a large demonstration in the West Bank. The Israeli military says protesters opened fire at troops at the demonstration. It says two soldiers were shot in the leg and had to be hospitalized. Palestinian protesters often clash with Israeli troops in the West Bank but the demonstrators are rarely armed. The Health Ministry identifies the deceased as 25-year-old Muhammad Hamid. It says 46 others were wounded, including 16 with bullet wounds. It says four of them are in serious condition. Hundreds of protesters gathered on the outskirts of Ramallah, where the Palestinian Authority is headquartered, to protest against Israel’s actions in Gaza and Jerusalem. They burned tires and hurled stones at the Israeli troops, who fired tear gas at them. A general strike is being observed by Palestinians in Israel and the West Bank.”

“The settlements where emergency rules will go into effect are Oranit, Alfei Menashe, Elkana, Etz Efraim, Tzofim, Karnei Shomron and Sha’arei Tikva.”

“A Palestinian man tried to attack soldiers in the West Bank city of Hebron on Tuesday, opening fire with a submachine gun and trying to throw a pipe bomb, before he was shot by troops at the scene, the Israel Defense Forces said in a statement. The IDF said that soldiers opened fire and “neutralized” him, without giving further details on his condition. Reports said the attacker was killed.”

“Israeli forces beat, pepper-sprayed and removed the headscarf of MEE correspondent Latifeh Abdellatif on Tuesday, while she was filming the detention of a young boy in occupied East Jerusalem. Covering the nationwide Palestinian general strike at the Old City’s Damascus Gate, Abdellatif reported seeing a child being detained by Israeli forces. His father, and other Palestinians nearby, tried to stop the detention, which sparked a confrontation. Abdellatif then tried to film the incident, but was pushed by Israeli officers, despite making it clear to them that she was a reporter. “I’m a journalist, I’m a journalist,” Abdellatif repeated. The officers ignored her and continued to push her back, then pulled down her hijab and struck her with a baton on her knee.”

“The military said it shot down a drone entering its northern borders with Jordan on Tuesday morning, in what appeared to be the seventh such attack since the beginning of hostilities between Israel and Hamas last week. “Earlier this morning, a drone approaching the Israeli border in the Emek HaMaayanot area was intercepted after being monitored by the Israeli Air Force. The drone fragments were collected by security forces,” the Israel Defense Forces said in a statement. The IDF added that they it was examining the origins of the drone, and whether it came from Syria or Jordan. It has reported multiple drone launches by Hamas forces over the course of the fighting, including a explosives-laden unit that was downed and “fell on the launch squad” in the Gaza Strip on Saturday, killing two militants.”

“Jordanian lawmakers on Monday unanimously carried a motion urging the government to expel Israel’s ambassador to Amman in protest against Israeli “crimes” against Palestinians. Parliament Speaker Abdul Monem Odat announced the move live on television after a parliamentary session devoted to “the situation in Palestine and the crimes committed against them in Jerusalem and Gaza.” During a six-hour-long session, “the expulsion of the Israeli ambassador” was among the key recommendations carried, Odat said. Amir Weissbroad, the Israeli envoy, took up his post in 2018.”

“Six rockets were fired from Lebanon toward Israel late Monday, but they apparently fell short of the border fence. The military said it responded with artillery fire. The rockets triggered warning sirens in some communities near the border. The army later ordered communities within four kilometers (2.5 miles) of the northern border to open bomb shelters. There were no injuries reported.” Also See – “Hezbollah has dug tunnel network from Beirut to 3km. from Israel border – report” (The Times of Israel); 

“Scores of Palestinians and Lebanese protesting along the border with Israel have thrown rocks and climbed the cement wall snaking around the frontier, and drawn tear gas from Israeli forces. Lebanon’s National News Agency says five people were injured and others suffered from smoke inhalation. A number of protesters in the Lebanese border village of Adaisseh climbed the wall to plant Lebanese flags and the yellow flags of the Hezbollah terror group. It is the fifth straight day of protests along the border as support for the Palestinians swells against an Israeli military campaign in the Gaza Strip in response to rocket fire by the Hamas terror group toward Israeli cities. Hundreds of protesters have also marched in Lebanon’s capital today in support of Gaza. The march went from Beirut’s refugee camp of Mar Elias toward the city center. Yesterday, rockets fired from Lebanon fell inside Lebanese territory. Last week, the Israeli army shot and killed one protester along the border. Hezbollah later identified the person killed as one of its fighters.”

“President Joe Biden expressed support for a cease-fire between Israel and Gaza’s militant Hamas rulers in a call to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, but he stopped short of demanding an immediate stop to the eight days of Israeli airstrikes and Hamas rocket barrages that have killed more than 200 people, most of them Palestinian. Biden’s carefully worded statement, in a White House readout Monday of his second known call to Netanyahu in three days as the attacks pounded on, came with the administration under pressure to respond more forcefully despite its determination to wrench the U.S. foreign policy focus away from Middle East conflicts.”

“US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Monday that Washington has requested a “justification” for an Israeli air strike on a building in Gaza housing media offices, adding that he has not seen evidence linking Hamas to the al-Jalaa Tower.”

“US House Foreign Affairs Committee chairman Gregory Meeks is considering sending the Biden administration a letter in the coming days requesting that it delay a $735 million sale of precision-guided missiles to Israel. Meeks wants the delay in order to give his panel time to review the purchase, a congressional staffer told The Times of Israel on Monday. Democrats on the committee met earlier in the day to discuss the ongoing violence in Israel and Gaza, and one of the members raised a Washington Post report that broke the story on President Joe Biden’s advancing of the weapons sale at the beginning of the month, the staffer said.”

BUT WAIT –> “.@LeaderHoyer says @RepGregoryMeeks will NOT send a letter requesting a delay in an arms sale to Israel after the Biden administration agreed to brief House Foreign Affairs Committee members. “I support the president in his efforts to work to bring the violence to an end.”” (Twitter // Ben Siegel)

Also See

• “Biden Administration’s Approval of Weapons Sale to Israel Will Put Civilians at Greater Risk” (Amnesty International)

“Democrats are ratcheting up pressure on President Joe Biden to do more to stop the ongoing bloodshed in Gaza — even if it means going against Israel. The White House’s refusal to publicly call for a ceasefire between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas has put the president at odds with key members of his own party as casualties continue to rise in both Gaza and Israel…The pressure campaign from top Democrats represents a recalibration of the party’s posture toward Israel, which has grown increasingly antagonistic on Capitol Hill after decades in which support for the Palestinian cause was seen as a political third rail. Many lawmakers have lost patience with Netanyahu, arguing that his government has taken actions against Palestinians that make a two-state solution to the conflict less achievable.”

“Five months into her career as an elected official, Democratic Rep. Marie Newman has wasted no time making a name for herself. The congresswoman from Illinois has quickly established herself as among the most vocal supporters of Palestinian rights in the history of Congress, consistently finding herself at the forefront of the progressive response to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.”

“As with the Saudi-led war on Yemen and other serious foreign policy problems, biased and distorted news coverage by U.S. media leaves many Americans not knowing what to think. Many simply give up trying to sort out the rights and wrongs of what is happening and instead blame both sides, and then focus their attention closer to home, where the problems of society impact them more directly and are easier to understand and do something about. So how should Americans respond to horrific images of bleeding, dying children and homes reduced to rubble in Gaza? The tragic relevance of this crisis for Americans is that, behind the fog of war, propaganda and commercialized, biased media coverage, the United States bears an overwhelming share of responsibility for the carnage taking place in Palestine. U.S. policy has perpetuated the crisis and atrocities of the Israeli occupation by unconditionally supporting Israel in three distinct ways: militarily, diplomatically and politically. “

“Egypt is stepping up efforts to reach an agreement for de-escalation and quelling the violence between Palestinian factions and Israel, amid ongoing international calls for a cease-fire. An Egyptian official and a Hamas official told Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity that Cairo is continuing its daily calls with the fighting parties, in an attempt to reach some form of cease-fire — but no such breakthrough has been made yet.”

“Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday accused US President Joe Biden of having “bloody hands” because of Washington’s support for Israel’s bombing campaign on the besieged Gaza Strip. “You are writing history with your bloody hands,” Erdogan said in televised remarks directed at Biden. “You forced us to say this. We cannot step back,” the Turkish president added.”

“European Union foreign ministers were meeting Tuesday to discuss how to use the 27-nation bloc’s political clout to help diplomatic efforts to end ongoing hostilities between Israel and the Hamas terror group in the Gaza Strip. The EU has been united in its calls for a ceasefire and the need for a political solution to end the latest conflict — now in its second week — but the nations are divided over how best to help. No firm decisions involving threats of sanctions or other measures are likely from the ministers’ videoconference. The bloc’s 27 nations often struggle to find a common position over the conflict with some members including Germany, Austria and Slovenia firmly supporting Israel’s right to defend itself and others urging it to show greater restraint.”

“Jonathan Eyal: The term ‘Arab Israelis’ has become commonplace in various reports, but it’s fair to say that it’s primarily used by Israel. Is it an accurate name? Wouldn’t a more accurate description be ‘Palestinians of Israel’?

H A Hellyer: The term ‘Arab Israeli’ is deeply problematic, primarily because it disaggregates the Palestinian population that holds Israeli citizenship from the wider Palestinian community in the Holy Land, in the region, and worldwide. It makes them unrooted, and subtly implies they are somehow nomadic and unconnected. These people are, in fact, Palestinians – they are the descendants of Palestinians who managed to stay in their homes during the ‘Nakba’, precisely 73 years ago this past weekend, when the State of Israel was established in Mandatory Palestine, with most Palestinians being forced to flee. Removing ‘Palestinian’ from their nomenclature subtly erases their connection to their identity. Secondly, it ought to be noted that not all Palestinians are simply ‘Arabs’: there are Afro-Palestinians, Armenian-Palestinians, Assyrian-Palestinians and other ethnic minorities among them. In this regard, Palestinian is the correct term; it is, at the end of the day, how they refer to themselves. Finally, it should be noted that the usage of the term ‘Arab Israeli’ (which is an Israeli invention) was less frequently challenged by Palestinian citizens until the past two decades, out of a concern that it might further problematise their community vis-à-vis the authorities. After all, Palestinian citizens were under military rule for almost 20 years after the establishment of the state of Israel. Following the Second Intifada, more and more Palestinian Israeli citizens began to problematise the term.”

“That calling the status imposed on Palestinians a form of apartheid is even remotely controversial is laughable. One look at a current map of Israel, Gaza, and the occupied territories conjures up only one other example: apartheid-era South Africa, and the “Bantustans” or “homelands” into which Black Africans were forced. Palestinians cannot freely travel to see relatives or do business in other Palestinian cities without passing through highly intrusive — and often humiliating — Israeli checkpoints. This is all part of a long-standing and deliberate attempt to force Arabs out, without regard to what happens to them next. Most Arabs who live under Israeli economic and military control are not Israeli citizens; that includes both those living in the territory Israel occupies and those inside the country’s official borders. It is also an attempt to dilute their presence inside Israel itself, because to have Arabs as full participants is, in the opinion of the Israeli government and courts, diluting Israel’s status as an officially Jewish state. This means that despite how often American and Israeli politicians say it, Israel is not a true democracy. Arabs, whether or not they are actual citizens of Israel, are as a matter of law and the Constitution, second-class members of Israeli society.

“

“As fraught and imperfect as efforts at historical justice can be, consider what happens when they do not occur. The crimes of the past, when left unaddressed, do not remain in the past”

“Governments are still using rhetoric and applying policies that shield Israel from accountability. Repeated calls for “de-escalation” reinforce the myth that there are two equal sides in this conflict. The conflation of oppressor and oppressed and the complicit cover-up of apartheid and settler-colonialism is what empowers Israel to escalate its violence against Palestinians. This is why Israel is able to evict Palestinians from homes that they have lived in for decades, storm holy sites and bomb schools and media houses with impunity.”

“The theme of Israeli actions since its founding has been that the old Palestinians will die, and the young will forget. That cannot be further from the truth as we are all witnessing in horror today.”

“As Jerusalem’s Palestinians fight for their continued presence in the city and Gaza resists the criminal Israeli onslaught, normalisation with Israel has proven to be an utter failure in bringing peace and security to the region. To be sure, given what has transpired since the signing of the Abraham Accords last September, normalisation has shown itself to be a mere business transaction for those who engaged in it – one that may cost them their credibility in the region and beyond.”