Top news stories from Israel/Palestine: May 16, 2019

What We’re Reading

Occupation/Human rights

Israeli forces shoot 16 Palestinian protesters at Gaza frontier,

Israeli soldiers have shot 16 people at the Gaza frontier on a day of rallies commemorating the mass displacement of Palestinians during the war that led to Israel’s creation in 1948.

People Are Deactivating Airbnb for Allowing Listings in the Occupied West Bank,

Airbnb won’t be collecting profits from illegal settlements, but organizers say that’s not enough.

11 MKs visit evacuated settlement, declare ‘mission’ to return permanently,

Settler leader heading delegation of right-wing lawmakers calls on Netanyahu to stop ‘hiding behind the Americans’ and rebuild four northern West Bank towns.

Palestinian activists don’t understand why they can’t enter the US,

In December 1992, about nine months before the first Palestinian-Israeli peace accords were signed on the White House lawn, Hanan Ashrawi met with President George H.W. Bush in the Oval Office. Now, 26 years later, she can’t even enter the United States.

New Poll: Democratic Primary Voters are Supportive of Israel and Simultaneously Critical of Israeli Government Policies,

National survey finds Democratic voters most likely to back presidential candidate who acts as fair and impartial broker in Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations.

BDS

GOP launches anti-BDS discharge petition,

House Republicans on Wednesday began collecting signatures to force a vote on Senate-passed legislation intended to protect Israel from financial boycotts, pressing forward with an effort to paint Democrats as anti-Israel and anti-Jewish.

German parliament to denounce boycott movement as ‘anti-Semitic’,

Amid growing controversy, the German parliament is set to pass a resolution on Friday condemning the anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement. The text condemns BDS as anti-Semitic and urges the government not to fund or support groups or activities that question Israel’s right to exist and to defend itself.