Chronological Review of Events/November 2016 – DPR review

Division for Palestinian Rights

Chronological Review of Events Relating to the

Question of Palestine

Monthly media monitoring review

November 2016

November 2016 chron

1 Nov

Following the shooting on 31 October, Israeli forces raided Qabatiya village and the home of the slain Palestinian, arrested his brother and confiscated the work permits of the family. During the operation, clashes between youth and the IDF were reported. (Ma’an News Agency, International Middle East Media Centre, Haaretz, The Times of Israel).

Overnight clashes between youth and the IDF were reported in Dheisheh refugee camp near Bethlehem, and arrests were carried out in the Nablus and Hebron districts. (The Times of Israel)

Israeli naval forces stopped two Palestinian fishing boats off the coast, confiscated the boats and detained the crew, according to the Palestinian Fishermen Union in Gaza. (Ma’an News Agency)

Incidents involving land levelling and shooting at agricultural areas by Israeli forces near the Israel-Gaza border were reported. (Ma’an News Agency)

India and Palestine have signed an agreement to set up in Ramallah the “Palestine-India Techno Park” which will be financed with a $12 million Indian grant, payable in two years. (Trade Arabia Business News Information)

The Israeli navy s opened fire at Palestinian fishing boats, before arresting 6 Palestinian fishermen. (IMEMC)  

On the anniversary of the Balfour Declaration, the Arab League issued a statement calling on all nations, peoples, and international institutions to restore justice to the Palestinian people. (Ma’an News Agency)

In a joint press conference with President Abbas, Italian President Sergio Mattarella called for an appropriate environment for the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, and for moves to be made by the international community to foster such efforts. (Ma’an News Agency)

The Palestinian Committee of Prisoners’ Affairs filed an appeal to an Israeli court to obtain the release of the bodies of 11 Palestinians from the West Bank who had been killed by Israeli forces while allegedly committing attacks. (Ma’an News Agency)

Israeli Nature and Parks Authority forces demolished several graves inside a Palestinian cemetery in East Jerusalem.  (Ma’an News Agency, IMEMC, Albawaba)

2 Nov

The Israeli military arrested at least 28 Palestinians during overnight raids across the West Bank and East Jerusalem. (Press TV, WAFA)

The Beit El checkpoint remained closed for the second straight day after a Palestinian man injured three soldiers before being killed by Israeli forces.  (Ma’an News Agency)

The IDF Military Police recently arrested three soldiers from its own Taoz Battalion on suspicion of taking bribes from Palestinians in exchange for allowing uninspected passage through checkpoints. The soldiers confessed to the charges. (Israel Hayom)

The Palestinian Ministry for Foreign Affairs condemned a recently approved Israeli plan to construct a railway line that will connect Jerusalem with neighbouring settlement blocs in the West Bank. (WAFA)

Israeli soldiers raided Zabbouba, near Jenin in the occupied West Bank, searching many homes and causing multiple injuries, including a 10-year old child. (IMEMC)

Israeli forces ordered nine Palestinian Bedouin families in the northern Jordan Valley to leave their homes, in order to make way for Israeli military training in the area. (IMEMC)

Israeli bulldozers demolished the Palestinian Bedouin village of Al-Araqib in the Negev for the 105th time. (Ma’an News Agency, IMEMC)

Israeli bulldozers demolished a residence in the East Jerusalem neighbourhood of Beit Hanina despite the owners’ claims that the demolition order had been postponed. (Ma’an News Agency)

Fatah’s Central Committee decided to hold its next congress on 29 November, its first since 2009. (Gulf News)

Israeli Member of Knesset Forer introduced a bill intended to halt EU support for Palestinian construction in Area C of the West Bank. If passed, the bill would strip diplomats of their immunity if involved in terrorism, human trafficking, and ‘illegal’ construction, including helping Palestinian construction in Area C of the West Bank. (The Jerusalem Post)

An Israeli court sentenced a 16-year-old Palestinian to life in prison and a $460,000 fine for killing an Israeli woman in the settlement of Otniel last January. (Ma’an News Agency)

Israeli parliamentarians from the Jewish Home and Likud parties filed an amended bill designed to recognize unauthorized West Bank outposts and avert the court-ordered demolition of the Amona outpost. (The Times of Israel, Middle East Monitor)

The Jerusalem Municipality confirmed that it had approved the construction of 181 new housing units in Gilo, a Jerusalem neighborhood beyond the Green Line. The US State Department condemned the decision. (Haaretz, The Jerusalem Post)

The Prisoners’ Affairs Commission, the Prisoner’s Society, al-Mezan for Human Rights, and Addameer released their joint monthly report which cited, inter alia, that Israel had detained 554 Palestinians during the month of October. (WAFA)

UNRWA Commissioner-General Krähenbühl briefed the Fourth (Special Political and Decolonization) Committee of the UN and urged Member States to provide the Agency with sustained, predictable funding to tackle the extensive challenges facing young Palestinians. (UN Press Release)

3 Nov

Israeli forces blocked two roads leading to Marah Rabah, south of Bethlehem. (WAFA)

Israeli forces demolished two storage warehouses and a butchery in Beita, south of Nablus. (WAFA)

Israeli soldiers conducted a dawn raid of Qabatia, south of Jenin, clashing with local youths and causing residents to suffer from teargas inhalation. (IMEMC)

Israeli forces shot a 12-year-old Palestinian girl in an incident initially reported by Israeli media as a failed stabbing attack. According to Defence for Children International-Palestine (DCIP), the girl was shot “for failing to halt at Eliyahu checkpoint” near Qalqilya in the West Bank. (Middle East Monitor)

The High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Mogherini has affirmed the right of EU citizens to boycott Israel, and said that the EU firmly protected the freedom of expression, including with regard to BDS actions carried out on EU territory, while the union remains opposed to a boycott on the country. (Independent)

The Israeli High Court of Justice has granted a three-day extension to Palestinian landowners and human rights groups to respond to a state request to delay the court-ordered dismantlement of the Amona outpost in the West Bank. (The Times of Israel)

The EU and the Palestinian Government inaugurated the first batch of EU-funded social infrastructure projects in Area C of the West Bank. The projects will address the needs of over 300 Palestinian families in three villages of Qalqiliya governorate. (EEAS Press Release, WAFA)

Israeli forces detained at least 22 Palestinians, including 7 members of one family, during overnight raids in Jerusalem and throughout the West Bank. (Petra, WAFA, IMEMC)

An OCHA mapping exercise indicates that at least 180 Palestinian households in East Jerusalem have eviction cases filed against them – mostly initiated by Israeli settler organizations. As a result 818 Palestinians, including 372 children, are at risk of displacement. (www.ochaopt.org)

UNRWA organized an olive picking event in solidarity with Palestine refugee farmers near Bethlehem, highlighting the importance of the olive harvest for Palestinians and the impact of settlement expansion and access restrictions due to the Wall and its associated permit regime on farmers. (UNRWA)

4 Nov

Palestinian security forces reportedly provided the Israeli army with intelligence on a large roadside bomb meant to target Israeli patrols in the district of Hebron, which allowed for the attack to be thwarted. (Israel Hayom)

5 Nov

Israeli settlers from “Talmon” settlement reportedly attacked Palestinian farmers harvesting olives in the district of Ramallah, seriously injuring one of them. (Israel Times)

6 Nov

Overnight, arrest and search operations were conducted by Israeli forces in the West Bank districts of Jenin, Ramallah, Bethlehem, Hebron and East Jerusalem. According to the Palestinian Prisoners Society (PPS), 17 Palestinians including minors were arrested in addition to 14. (International Middle East Media Centre, Ma’an News Agency)

Israel rejected the call to attend the international peace conference planned in December in Paris, stressing that only direct Israeli-Palestinian talks would lead to agreement for a two-State solution. “Israel expects France not to advance an initiative or a process that is against the official stance of the State of Israel”, Prime Minister Netanyahu’s envoys Jacob Nagel and Yitzhak Molho told French envoy Pierre Vimont. (Jerusalem Post)

Israeli soldiers attacked and wounded two Palestinian farmers in the Qalqilya district, threatening them with death should they approach their land again. (International Middle East Media Centre)

The Israeli navy reportedly opened fire at Palestinian fishermen off the coast of the northern Gaza Strip, forcing them to sail back to shore. (Ma’an News Agency)

7 Nov

A Jerusalem court sentenced a 14-year old Palestinian teenager to 12 years in prison over a stabbing attack last October in East Jerusalem’s “Pisgat Ze’ev” settlement. During the incident, his 15-year old cousin had been reportedly shot dead by Israeli forces and the teenager had been left to bleed before being taken to hospital. (Press TV)

In the district of Nablus, Palestinian farmers reportedly had their olive crops stolen overnight by settlers. Since their land is located within the boundaries of a settlement, the farmers require Israeli permits to access their fields, limited to specific days and hours. (International Middle East Media Centre)

Israeli forces raided the Wadi al-Amayer area of al-Samu in Hebron and confiscated a residential trailer, construction materials, and a water tank belonging to a local Palestinian resident. (Ma’an News Agency)

Israeli security forces ordered the closure of the al-Awda wedding hall in al-Eizariya, Jerusalem, in an effort to prevent the “very dangerous phenomenon and bad tradition” of celebratory shots in the air during Palestinian weddings. The wedding hall owner has been given 30 days to take steps to prevent such “incidents” before the hall may be reopened. (Ma’an News Agency)

Israeli authorities voiced their opposition against the recommendation of an EU Middle East affairs committee that EU Member States ask Israel to reimburse them for the demolition of EU-financed buildings and infrastructure projects in Area C of the West Bank. (Ashraq Al-Awsat)

The interior committee of the Knesset approved a bill which will prevent supporters of the BDS movement from entering Israel. The opposition leader of the Knesset criticized the proposed legislation for “symbolizing the budding fascism that is rising and flourishing in Israeli society”. (Ma’an News Agency)

Jerusalem’s mayor issued a letter to Israeli government authorities warning that Palestinian homes built without Israeli permits in East Jerusalem may be demolished if Israeli authorities proceed with implementing the Israeli Supreme Court decision ordering the demolition of the Amona outpost. (The Times of Israel)

Israeli forces detained at least 20 Palestinians during overnight raids throughout the occupied Palestinian territory. (Ma’an News Agency)

Palestinian students sent half a million letters to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in support of 350 Palestinian children, including 12 girls, detained in Israeli jails. The initiative was organized by the Palestinian Prisoner Society and the Palestinian Ministry of Education. (ABNA) 

8 Nov

Israeli navy ships fired at Palestinian fishing boats in Palestinian territorial waters off the northern coast of the Gaza Strip. (IMEMC)

Israeli authorities demolished two Palestinian residential buildings in occupied East Jerusalem’s Wadi Joz and Issawiya neighbourhoods because the buildings were constructed without Israeli building permits. (Ma’an News Agency, IMEMC)

The International Police Organization (INTERPOL) suspended, until July 2017, Palestine’s application request for membership on account that more procedural work is necessary before the application can be duly reviewed. Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu attributed INTERPOL’s decision to Israel’s effective diplomatic efforts to keep Palestine out of INTERPOL. (The Jerusalem Post, The Times of Israel)

The Israeli head of the joint Israeli-Palestinian water distribution council has sent an “urgent letter” to the UN humanitarian aid coordinator in the West Bank, UNRWA, the Red Cross, USAID, and various influential ambassadors to Israel, warning that the water infrastructure in the West Bank and Gaza will collapse if the Palestinian Authority refuses to cooperate with Israel. The council has not met since 2010 due to the PA’s refusal to approve water infrastructure upgrades in West Bank settlements. (Ynet)

A Jerusalem court has sentenced two Palestinian teenagers to 11 years in prison for an attempted stabbing attack near the Damascus Gate of the Old City of Jerusalem earlier this year. (FARS News Agency)

Israeli forces detained 22 Palestinians, including 10 children and a physically-disabled man, during night raids in various parts of the occupied West Bank. (IMEMC)

Palestinian children demonstrated against the 12-year prison sentence of a Palestinian teenager in front of the UNHCR office in the Gaza Strip. A Jerusalem court sentenced the teenager on 7 November 2016 over his involvement in a stabbing attack in East Jerusalem in October 2015. (Ma’an News Agency)

Israeli authorities demolished a residential building in East Jerusalem.  (WAFA)

The Israeli navy opened fire on Palestinian fishermen’s boats, which were sailing within the designated fishing zone of northern Gaza.  (WAFA)

Israeli forces detained 22 Palestinians, including a disabled man and several minors, in overnight raids across the West Bank.  (WAFA)

Palestinian Minister of Foreign Affairs Maliki and visiting Indian Minister of State for External Affairs Akbar chaired the first Joint Commission Meeting between India and Palestine in Ramallah, and announced the opening of the Palestine-India Techno Park.  (WAFA)

9 Nov

Israeli forces detained 9 Palestinians in Hebron.  (IMEMC)

Israeli bulldozers razed and levelled Palestinian land in the southern Gaza Strip.  (Ma’an News Agency)

Israeli forces critically wounded a Palestinian youth in Nablus after an alleged stab attack.  (Ma’an News Agency)

The European Union criticized Israel’s approval of construction permits for 181 housing units in the illegal settlement of “Gilo”.  (European Union)

UNRWA disbursed over $1.6 million for reconstruction and repair works to 244 refugee families across Gaza.  (UNRWA)

Israeli soldiers shot, and seriously injured, a Palestinian man after he reportedly attempted to stab a soldier in an area between Za’tara and Huwwara military roadblocks in Nablus. (IMEMC)

Israeli security forces arrested 20 Palestinians and raided a weapons manufacturing workshop in the West Bank. (Ynet)

Hossein Amir Abdollahian, Iran’s former deputy Foreign Minister and current international adviser to the speaker of parliament, received Hamas representative Khalid al-Qaddumi in Tehran. Abdollahian underlined the continuity of Iran’s unwavering support for Palestine. (Ma’an News Agency)

Israeli bulldozers escorted by Israeli forces, demolished a car wash in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Beit Hanina because the car wash did not have Israeli-issued building permits. (Ma’an News Agency)

10 Nov

Israeli forces shot a Palestinian youth during commemorations of the 12th anniversary of Palestinian President Yasser Arafat’s death, after clashes erupted near a checkpoint in Ramallah. (Ma’an News Agency)

Israeli soldiers shot and injured a Palestinian child near Atara military roadblock north of Ramallah. The soldiers were filmed dragging the wounded child instead of dealing with his injury. (IMEMC)

Israeli soldiers shot and wounded a Palestinian man as he threw a Molotov cocktail at their position outside Ramallah. (The Times of Israel)

Israeli forces cut off the electricity and raided the home of the head of the Palestinian public prosecutor's office in Jammain in the West Bank district of Salfit. (Ma’an News Agency)

Israeli navy ships opened fire on several Palestinian fishing boats near Gaza city and in central Gaza. Separately, Israeli soldiers opened fire on farmers in their lands near Khan Younis, in the south of the Gaza Strip. (IMEMC)

Israeli authorities issued administrative detention orders against 50 Palestinian prisoners between November 1 and 9, with 16 of the orders issued against prisoners for the first time while the rest were extensions of previous administrative detentions. (Ma’an News Agency)

Israeli soldiers detained 23 Palestinians, including a child suffering from gun-shot wounds, following raids in various parts of the occupied West Bank. (IMEMC)

On the 12th anniversary of the death of Yasser Arafat, Palestinian President Abbas called for an end to the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem. (Ma’an News Agency)

A home in the illegal Israeli settlement “Beit El” was set on fire by a group of Palestinian youth who threw Molotov cocktails into the settlement. No injuries were reported. (Ma’an News Agency)

Israeli forces raided the home of Palestinian prisoner Younis Ayesh Zein in Yatta, in the occupied West Bank, and sealed his bedroom with concrete. (Ma’an News Agency)

UN Deputy Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process and Humanitarian Coordinator for the Occupied Palestinian Territory Piper condemned Israel for its demolition of structures and seizure of aid provided by donors to vulnerable Palestinians. The total number of structures demolished in the first half of 2016 in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem far exceeded the total number of demolitions in all of 2015. (Ma’an News Agency, UN)

11 Nov

Israeli forces fired five or six mortar shells at “suspicious” targets near Khan Younis in southern Gaza. No injuries or damages were reported. (Ma’an News Agency)

Israeli forces arrested four Palestinians in Jenin, Jerusalem, Nablus and Tubas. (IMEMC)

According to a briefing sent to Israeli diplomats, the Israeli Foreign Ministry believes that as US President Donald Trump has “minimal interest in foreign affairs” and “will seek to reduce American involvement” in the region and in the Israel-Palestine peace process. (Haaretz)

Three detained brothers from Beit Amin, south of Qalqilya in the occupied West Bank, have now been on hunger strikes for ten days in protest at their detention in solidarity confinement. (IMEMC)

The UNRWA Microfinance Department has been awarded the “Transparency Award” at the 12th Annual Sanabel Conference in Casablanca, Morocco, for attaining the highest standards of data and information disclosure. (UNRWA)

Israeli radio reported that the Israeli municipality of Jerusalem is to announce plans to build thousands of units occupied East Jerusalem, which had been frozen because of the international criticism of settlement activity in the last three years, among them 3,000 units in “Gilo”; 2,600 units in “Givat Hamatos”; and 1,500 units in “Ramat Shlomo”. (Palestine News Network)

Palestinian President Abbas met with Russian Prime Minister Medvedev in Jericho. The two leaders signed six cooperation agreements providing for closer economic and cultural ties, including development of industrial zones, vocational training, and acknowledgment that Palestinian cultural events will be celebrated in Russia and Russian cultural events will be celebrated in Palestine. (Ma’an News Agency)

12 Nov

Israeli soldiers opened fire at several Palestinian homes and agricultural lands, east of Khan Younis in southern Gaza. (IMEMC, Ma’an News Agency)

An Israeli military court sentenced two Israeli soldiers to sixty days in prison as part of a plea bargain after the two admitted to having set fire to a Palestinian warehouse in Nablus, in the northern occupied West Bank. (Ma’an News Agency)

13 Nov

Israeli forces confiscated a plot of land near Salfit, in the occupied West Bank, for the benefit of expanding the industrial zone of the nearby illegal settlement “Ariel”. (IMEMC)

The Israeli Ministerial Committee on Legislation adopted a bill providing for the retroactive legalization of illegal Israeli settlements built on private Palestinian land. The bill will now be sent to the Israeli parliament for approval. (The New York Times)

The Israeli Ministerial Committee on Legislation adopted a draft bill that provides for “limiting the magnitude of noise from public address systems in houses of prayer.” The law is intended to ban the public broadcast of the Muslim call to prayer from the loudspeakers of local mosques. The Palestinian Government has condemned the proposed legislation and warned that it will lead to “catastrophe” if enacted. The bill must pass four readings in the Knesset before becoming Israeli law. (The Jerusalem Post)

A Palestinian family in occupied East Jerusalem demolished two of its apartments in accordance with an Israeli court order. The Jerusalem municipality had informed the family that if it did not proceed with the demolitions, the municipality would do so instead. The apartments housed 12 people, including 6 children. (Ma’an News Agency, Middle East Monitor)

Israeli forces detained at least 10 Palestinians during predawn raids across the occupied West Bank. (Ma’an News Agency, IMEMC)

14 Nov

Egyptian authorities have reopened the Rafah border crossing for five days. (The Peninsula)

Israeli forces detained three Palestinians, including two minors, in dawn raids of Shu’fat refugee camp in occupied East Jerusalem. (IMEMC)

Israeli forces detained 10 Palestinians, including one teenager, following dawn raids of various cities in the occupied West Bank. (WAFA)

A delegation from Palestine’s Islamic Jihad, led by Secretary General Ramadhan Shallah, arrived in Cairo for talks with the Egyptian government. The principal item on the agenda was the Rafah border crossing and related issues. (Middle East Monitor)

A bill which would bar activists from the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement from entering Israel passed its first legislative hurdle in the Knesset. The bill passed its first reading with 42 votes in favour, 15 against and 7 abstentions. If made into law, any individual advocating a boycott of Israel could be prevented from entering the country. (Times of Israel)

The Israeli Supreme Court rejected a petition by the Israeli government to postpone the enforcement of an order to evacuate the illegal outpost of Amona in the occupied West Bank. The Justices upheld their previous ruling that the evacuation must be carried out by 25 December 2016. Israeli human rights organisation Yesh Din welcomed the decision. Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit urged the government to abide by the ruling. (Times of Israel, Haaretz, Ma’an News Agency)

Israeli settlers in the illegal outpost of Amona held an emergency meeting on the evening after the Israeli Supreme Court restated its order that the outpost must be evacuated imminently. Residents vowed to resist any attempts to enforce the legal judgement. (Jerusalem Post, Ma’an News Agency, Times of Israel)

UNRWA employees protested in front of UNRWA’s Gaza City headquarters during a one-day strike over a wage and job vacancies dispute. The employees’ union said that further strikes would be held in the coming days in Gaza, the occupied West Bank and East

Jerusalem. (Ma’an News Agency)

At a meeting of the UNRWA Advisory Commission, UNRWA Commissioner- General Krähenbühl called on donor countries to meet in full their financial obligations to the Palestinian refugee agency. UNRWA’s financial shortfall, he said, was seriously hampering its ability to respond to the rising suffering of Palestinian refugees. (UNRWA, Kuwait News Agency)

UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Mladenov visited Balata, the West Bank’s largest refugee camp, meeting with representatives of civil society and politicians opposed to Palestinian President Abbas. He warned the international community that intra-Palestinian tensions were increasing and dangerous. “If you forget about these communities, they will explode,” he said. (AFP, Middle East Eye)

The Prosecutor of the ICC  Fatou Bensouda issued her annual report which notes inter alia that, despite the 2005 disengagement from Gaza, Israel “nonetheless remains an occupying power as a result of the scope and degree of control that Israel has retained over the territory of Gaza”. The report further notes that, “the Office of the Prosecutor  has produced a comprehensive database of over 3,000 reported incidents and crimes that allegedly occurred during the 2014 Gaza conflict.[..] The Office is continuing to [review] the information available, in order to establish whether there is a reasonable basis to proceed with an investigation”.  (icc-cpi.int)

15 Nov

At least 16 Palestinians were arrested and detained by Israeli forces in predawn raids across the occupied West Bank. (Ma’an News Agency)

Israeli forces fired on Palestinian fishing vessels close to the Gaza shoreline. Significant damage to several boats was caused, but no injuries or casualties were reported. (IMEMC, Palestine News Network)

Egyptian authorities opened the Rafah border crossing for the second consecutive day, after a prior announcement it would be opened for five consecutive days beginning on 14 November. (Ma’an News Agency)

On a visit to Turkmenistan, Palestinian President Abbas briefed Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow on conditions in the occupied West Bank and Gaza. President Abbas also reiterated his support for both the French and the Russian proposals for a revival of Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations. (Ma’an News Agency)

The French and US governments have condemned Israeli ministers for their decision to support a bill in the Knesset that would allow settlers in the occupied West Bank to remain in homes built on private Palestinian land. A French Foreign Ministry spokesman said the proposed law “would once again jeopardize a two-state solution”. A US State Department spokeswoman said that it would represent a “dramatic advancement of the settlement enterprise, which is already gravely endangering the prospects for a two-state solution”. (Reuters, Times of Israel)

Gaza’s Deputy Education Minister Ziab Thabet announced that 15 new schools would be opened by the Ministry in 2017. However, the Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip would make the process particularly challenging. (Ma’an News Agency)

16 Nov

Israeli forces arrested and detained at least ten Palestinians, including a 12-year-old child, during predawn raids executed across the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem. (Ma’an News Agency)

Three Palestinian youths who allegedly threw rocks and Molotov cocktails at Israeli forces conducting a pre-dawn raid in central Ramallah on the offices of the Palestinian National Initiative, a Palestinian political party, were injured after Israeli forces opened fire on them. (IMEMC, Ma’an News Agency)

Israeli forces soldiers raided the Ramallah offices of the Health Development Information and Policy Institute, a Palestinian NGO, seizing hard drives, documents and video footage and destroying computer equipment, windows and walls. Palestine Liberation Organisation Secretary General Erekat condemned the raid as an act of “Israeli aggression” against “non-violent resistance” to the occupation. (Palestine Monitor, PLO)

Israeli Defence Minister Avigdor Liberman proposed that the Israeli government reach a deal with the incoming US administration of President-elect Trump that would see the US recognise Israeli settlements and permit continued building inside them, even if the price was relinquishing the right to expand outlying settlements. (Times of Israel, Ynetnews, Haaretz)

Egyptian authorities opened the Rafah border crossing between the besieged Gaza Strip and Egypt for the third consecutive day. (Ma’an News Agency)

As part of a large-scale campaign of incursions and breaking into homes, media centers and buildings, Israeli forces also invaded the office of Palestinian Legislator and head of the Palestinian National Initiative, Mustafa Barghouthi.  Saeb Erekat, a member of the Executive Committee of the PLO, strongly condemned the invasions and violations that resulted in the arrests, and wounding, of dozens of Palestinians. (IMEMC)  

In response to the Israeli Supreme Court’s ruling to evacuate the unauthorized Israeli outpost of “Amona” by the end of the year, the Jerusalem municipality has reportedly demanded that the Court in turn approve the immediate demolition of more than a dozen Palestinian homes in Jerusalem. (Ma’an News Agency)

The Israeli Supreme Court rejected an appeal filed by residents of the West Bank village of al-Nabi Elyas over Israel’s confiscation of 100 dunums of Palestinian land, ruling that claimants could not prove ownership of  the land which had been seized to build a road. (Ma’an News Agency)

The Secretary General welcomed the announcement by the Government of Canada that it was resuming support to UNRWA by donating CDN $25 million for the essential health, education, relief, social services and humanitarian programmes of the Agency. (un.org)

The Israeli High Court of Justice ruled that Israel’s confiscation of 25 acres of land to build a road in the occupied West Bank could proceed. Palestinian villagers had their judicial appeal rejected by the Court, which argued that they could not prove ownership of the land. (Times of Israel, Ma’an News Agency)

The Canadian government announced that it will resume funding UNRWA. Canada will provide $20 million to UNRWA and an additional $5 million to UNRWA’s emergency appeal for Palestinian refugees impacted by the war in Syria. The move represents a significant change in policy from the previous Conservative administration in Ottawa, which halted Canada’s contributions entirely in 2010. (CBC, The Globe and Mail, Jerusalem Post)

17 Nov

The Palestinian Prisoners Society (PPS) has reported that Israeli forces overnight have arrested at least 19 Palestinians, including two young men, and children, in different parts of the occupied West Bank, including in Hebron and Jerusalem. . (IMEMC)

Speaking at the UN Conference on Climate Change – Conference of Parties (COP-22) in Marrakesh, Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah said Israel was polluting and causing damage to the Palestinian environment and water resources by constructing factories in the West Bank. Calling upon UN delegates to investigate Israel for its actions, Hamdallah said that Israel intentionally harmed the Gazan and West Bank environments in order to directly harm civilians. (The Jerusalem Post)

Electricity supply in Gaza has been further strained by damage to several Egyptian power lines and to a power plant  in the southern Gaza Strip, where only one generator is currently working. (Ma’an News Agency)

French Consul-General Pierre Cochard signed a funding agreement on 16 November with Palestinian Finance Minister Shukri Bishara, to support the PA with 8 million euros ($8.55 million). (Ma’an News Agency)

A senior Hamas official, Moussa Abu Marzouq, has blamed what he called the “US-Israeli veto” on the movement’s participation in the Government, for hindering the Palestinian reconciliation. In an interview, he said that President Abbas during his meetings in Doha in October had put preconditions for reconciliation to proceed further. Marzouq emphasised that   there was no room for any further meetings until Fatah changed its positions and the talks were based on what had been agreed to in the past.   (middleeastmonitor.com)

A group of Palestinian young people attacked Palestinian security forces with live fire and bombs near Faraa refugee camp in the occupied West Bank. The confrontation took place during a protest against the Palestinian Authority’s detention of Palestinian youth. No injuries were reported. (Ma’an News Agency)

Trondheim City Council, the municipal body of Norway’s third largest city, voted to boycott all goods and services produced in illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank. (Middle East Monitor)

18 Nov

Egyptian authorities opened the Rafah border crossing for the fifth and final consecutive day. Around 100 Palestinians were denied permission to cross from Gaza into Egypt. (Ma’an News Agency, Palestine News Network)

Palestinian Authority President Abbas has frozen the salaries of 57 employees in the Gaza Strip over their alleged support for dismissed Fatah member Mohammed Dahlan. Sources suggested that President Abbas will eventually stop paying salaries to around 500 officials believed to support Dahlan. (Middle East Monitor)

President Abbas has held talks with Hamas’ leadership abroad to allow hundreds of Fatah members to attend Fatah’s 7th Congress in the West Bank, due to be held on 29 November, the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People. (Middle East Monitor)

Sweden became the latest country to express its opposition to a bill before the Israeli Knesset which would legalise unauthorized settlement outposts in the occupied West Bank. A Foreign Ministry spokesperson said the Swedish government was “deeply concerned” by the proposed law and that it was contrary to “Israeli and international law” and would “greatly undermine” the two-State solution. (Times of Israel)

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has expressed profound concern over the deteriorating health of two Palestinian hunger strikers being held without charge or trial in an Israeli prison. Anas Shadid (20) and Ahmad Abu Farah (29) have now been on hunger strike for more than 50 days in protest. An ICRC doctor who has regularly visited the pair called for a “solution” to be found “before the detainees lose their lives”. (Ma’an News Agency)

The Representative Council of Qatar University Students voted to support the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement targeting Israel. (IMEMC)

Israeli troops shot and killed a 26-year-old Palestinian during a rock-throwing protest near the Gaza-Israel border. (Reuters)

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in the occupied Palestinian territories informed that the number of structures the Israeli authorities have targeted for demolition in Area C of the West Bank and occupied Arab East Jerusalem since the start of 2016 reached 1033, more than double the figure for the same period of 2015. (WAFA)

20 Nov

Israeli forces delivered 20 demolition notices to residents in Um al-Kher village near Hebron. (Ma´an News Agency)

Israeli police detained and charged a Palestinian teenager with incitement to violence and terrorism for his posts on social media. (Ma´an News Agency)

Israeli forces confiscated a tractor from a Palestinian farmer in the West Bank. (IMEMC)

Israeli naval forces opened fire at Palestinian boats off the Gaza Strip. (Ma´an News Agency)

21 Nov

Israeli forces shot a Palestinian day labourer as he was trying to enter Jerusalem for work. (IMEMC)

Israeli forces detained 15 Palestinians in overnight raids across the West Bank. (Ma´an News Agency)

French authorities have informed the Palestinian leadership of their determination to hold the International Meeting on the Peace Process in Paris in the second half of December. (AlBawaba)

One of US President-elect Trump´s leading candidates for Secretary of Defense, retired Marine Corps General James Mattis, has said Israel´s settlement project could turn the country into an apartheid state and that the US pays a price for its support of Israel. (Times of Israel)

Ahead of his trip to Turkey, UNRWA´s Commissioner-General Pierre Krahenbuhl voiced his hope that Turkish officials and development agencies will open up opportunities for partnership in assisting Palestinian refugees. Turkey will be Vice-Chair of UNRWA´s Advisory Commission in 2017. (The Peninsula Qatar)

PLO Executive Committee member Dr. Hanan Ashrawi denounced the Jerusalem Planning and Building Committee’s ongoing discussions to build 1,400 housing units in “Ramat Shlomo.” (Ma’an News Agency)

The General Assembly’s Third Committee voted to adopt a resolution reaffirming Palestinians’ right to self-determination. (WAFA)

Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the oPt Michael Lynk said he was deeply concerned at the proposal to legalize more than 100 illegal outposts in the occupied West Bank, which passed its first reading in the Knesset on 16 November. The Special Rapporteur noted that the draft legislation, if adopted, allows the Israeli state to appropriate private Palestinian lands on which the outposts have been built, thereby regularising them for use by Israeli settlers. Lynk emphasized that international law prohibits the occupying power from confiscating private property. Even the Israeli Supreme Court has ruled on a number of occasions that the confiscation of private Palestinian lands for settlement purposes was illegal under Israeli law. (ohchr.org)

The Lebanese military announced the construction of a concrete wall around Ain al-Helweh, Lebanon’s largest Palestinian refugee camp. The construction of the wall is already under way and will take around 15 months to complete. According to a military source, its objective is to “stop the infiltration of terrorists inside Ain al-Helweh from nearby orchards”. Around 120,000 people live in the camp, including around 50,000 Palestinian refugees recently displaced by the conflict in Syria. (AFP, Anadolu Agency, Deutsche Welle)

22 Nov

Israeli soldiers shot and killed a Palestinian man at the Qalandiya checkpoint after he allegedly tried to stab them. (WAFA, Haaretz)

Israeli forces detained 7 Palestinians in predawn raids across the West Bank. (Ma’an News Agency)

In a meeting with the Representative of Ireland in Palestine Jonathan Conlon at the PLO headquarters in Ramallah to discuss Palestinian-Irish relations, Dr. Hanan Ashrawi urged the Irish government to recognize Palestine in the immediate future. (Palestine News Network)

Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera stated in the Sri Lanka’s Parliament that the county’s support for Palestine at the United Nations will remain unchanged. (Xinhua)

Israeli settlers set fire to a Palestinian home near Hebron. (WAFA)

The Israel Land Authority (ILA) has announced it will demolish Umm al-Hiran, a Bedouin village that is home to Palestinian citizens of Israel in the country’s southern Negev region, forcibly transferring at least 30 residents. The Israeli government plans to build a Jewish village in what many see as an attempt to cleanse the area of its historic Arab non-Jewish population. Including Umm al-Hiran, some 40 “unrecognized” Bedouin villages in the Negev region are slated for demolition despite being home to tens of thousands of residents. (Al Jazeera)

The Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics ‘External Trade in Goods’ report for September 2016 revealed exports and imports decreased by 10.6% and 6.7%, respectively, compared to August 2016. (WAFA)

Palestinian, Israeli and US ecological activists are providing alternative, cost-saving systems for water and waste treatment in the village of Auja near Jericho. (Haaretz)

The Israeli government reportedly intends to change the names of Jerusalem landmarks into Israeli ones. (IMEMC)

Issa Amro, founder of Youth against Settlements (YAS), will appear in Israeli military court facing18 charges dating back to 2010. In 2010, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) declared Amro Palestine’s human rights defender of the year, while in 2013 he was declared a Human Right Defender by the European Union. (Middle East Monitor)

A Palestinian youth was killed and two others injured after a shooting by unknown assailants in the Balata refugee camp in the occupied West Bank. (Ma’an News Agency)

Israeli Minister of Public Security Gilad Erdan said that Israeli Ministers and Members of the Knesset will soon regain permission to enter the al-Aqsa Mosque/Temple Mount compound. For several months Israeli ministers have been prohibited from conducting visits by Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu. (Palestine News Network)

Israeli settlers from the illegal settlement of Beit Tatir set fire to a Palestinian family home near Yatta, south of Hebron. The family was not home at the time of the attack. No injuries were reported. (Palestine News Network)

Three Palestinian human rights organizations – announced their third legal submission to the International Criminal Court (ICC), “Gaza Illegal Closure: Persecution and Other Inhumane Acts Committed against Civilians as a Crime Against Humanity“. Palestinian Center for Human Rights, Al-Haq and Al Mezan Center for Human Rights delivered the documentation to ICC Prosecutor Bensouda in the Hague. (Palestinian Information Center)

In response to a parliamentary question, UK Minister for the Middle East Tobias Ellwood called on Israel to transfer power over security in the occupied West Bank to the Palestinian Authority. During the same parliamentary session, former UK Minister for International Development Desmond Swayne said that Israel’s treatment of Palestinians amounted to “apartheid”. (Times of Israel, The Independent)

The World Bank reported that only 10 percent of Gazans have access to safe, clean drinking water. (World Bank)

23 Nov

Israeli forces detained at least 20 Palestinians, including three minors, in overnight raids across the occupied West Bank. (Ma’an News Agency)

An Israeli court sentenced a 17 year old Palestinian girl to 13-and-a-half years in prison for a stabbing attack carried out last year in Jerusalem. (Ma’an News Agency, WAFA, Ynetnews)

Israeli forces raided two printing shops in the occupied West Bank and seized computers. (WAFA)

Two vital power lines supplying the southern Gaza Strip were damaged. (Ma’an News Agency)

The UN’s Access Coordination Unit reported a significant increase in the number of forced cancellations of visits, deportations and denials of entry to Gaza and the West Bank by Israeli authorities committed against UN staff and civil society representatives. It estimated an increase in deportations from 1-2% in 2013 to 10% in 2016. Permit denials for UN staff rose from 3% in January 2016, to 65% in August and 45% in September. (Al-Jazeera)

Several Palestinians were injured after Israeli forces conducted a raid on the campus of Al-Quds University, searching, interrogating and using tear gas on students. (IMEMC)

Medical care in al-Durrah children’s hospital in Gaza was suspended due to a lack of fuel to power its generators. (Ma’an News Agency)

24 Nov

On 24 November the Israeli authorities accepted Palestine’s offer to help put out the fires that have been raging across Israel. The State of Palestine provided firefighters and logistical support to assist the effort to tackle the blazes. (Haaretz, Middle East Monitor, Jerusalem Post)

Israel returned the body of a 28-year-old Palestinian man, 54 days after he had been killed by Israeli forces. (Ma’an News Agency)

Deputy Special Coordinator Robert Piper addressed the Palestinian Resilience Conference in Amman. He said that the “Palestinian people are amongst the most resilient in the world,” but that “we must not take this as a given; this resilience is under threat”.

UNRWA Commissioner-General Krähenbühl welcomed China’s decision to contribute $300,000 to UNRWA in support of its core programmes and services, including education, health, relief and social services and camp improvement. The contribution represents a 50 percent increase in China’s annual contribution to the UNRWA budget. (UNRWA)

25 Nov

Israeli forces detained at least 16 Palestinians across Israel and the occupied West Bank suspected of deliberately starting fires that began in Haifa four days ago and continue to spread. (Ma’an News Agency)

The Israeli Foreign Ministry denounced the French Government after it published new regulations obliging importers and retailers to label settlement products. (Haaretz, Middle East Monitor)

26 Nov

Palestinian President Abbas ordered that Palestinian flags in public offices be flown at half-staff on 27 November in honour of the late Cuban leader Fidel Castro. (Times of Israel)

27 Nov

UNRWA workers´ union announced that it will suspend its strike against the Agency´s administration for 10 days. (Ma´an News Agency)

28 Nov

Israeli forces detained 17 Palestinians in overnight raids across the West Bank and East Jerusalem. (Ma´an News Agency)

Israeli authorities continued to block access routes into several Palestinian towns and villages in the West Bank due to forest fires across the country. (Middle East Monitor)

Israeli forces detained Palestinian legislator Dr. Azzam Salhab after searching his home in Hebron. (IMEMC)

The Israeli navy opened fire at Palestinian fishermen off the northern coast of Gaza. (Ma´an News Agency)

European Union Representative in Palestine Ralph Tarraf joined the Mayor of Bethlehem Vera Baboun and Palestinian youth to light the Nativity Church orange as part of the EU campaign “Enough” to mark the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. (Palestine News Network)

Spokesmen for Hamas and Islamic Jihad said they will send delegations from the West Bank to participate in Fatah´s 7th Congress on 29 November. On the agenda will be the process to choose 1,400 new members of Fatah´s Central Committee and Revolutionary Council. (Middle East Monitor)

Israeli forces reportedly assaulted 2 Palestinian minors in custody at the Ofer detention center. (Ma´an News Agency)

An Israeli military court sentenced 11 Palestinians to prison under administrative detention. (Ma´an News Agency)

Saudi Arabia, through the Saudi Fund for Development, has contributed US$67 million for UNRWA projects to be implemented in Gaza, the West Bank and Jordan. (UNRWA)

Palestine Shelter Cluster has issued a warning that 13,800 Palestinians in 89 communities in the East Jerusalem periphery areas are at increased threat of demolition and forcible transfer by Israeli forces. (Middle East Monitor)

29 Nov

Fatah´s 7th Congress re-elected President Mahmoud Abbas to a new 5-year term. (Palestine News Network)

Palestinian MP Sheikh Ahmed Ali delivered a speech on behalf of Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal to Fatah´s 7th Congress, stating Hamas was ready to fulfil the requirements for partnership with Fatah and all Palestinian factions. (Middle East Monitor)

Israel´s Leviathan consortium launched a $4 billion gas and pipeline investment project that will serve Israeli, Palestinian, Jordanian and Egyptian markets. (Engineering News Record)

The International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People was commemorated at the UN. A Special meeting of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People was held at UN Headquarters in the morning. The President of the General Assembly, the President of the Security Council, the Deputy Secretary-General, among others, were in attendance. Similar commemorations were held at UN offices in Geneva, Nairobi and Vienna. In the afternoon, the General Assembly debated the "Question of Palestine". In the evening, the Committee and the Permanent Observer Mission of the State of Palestine inaugurated the exhibit "Palestinian Embroidery: Threads of Continuity, Identity and Empowerment.” (United Nations)

30 Nov

Israeli forces detained 16 Palestinians, including 7 minors, in overnight raids across the West Bank. (Ma´an News Agency)

The Israeli Navy opened fire on Palestinian fishermen off the northern Gaza coast. (IMEMC)

The Israeli Police arrested a Palestinian man for possible connection with last week´s fire in Nataf. (Times of Israel)

Coca-Cola opened its new $20 million bottling facility in Gaza, creating 120 jobs for Gazans and supporting 1,200 Palestinians through a local value-chain of suppliers, distributors and retailers. (Trade Arabia)

Palestinian President Abbas said “there is no other path than reconciliation” and proposed the creation of a temporary unity government with Hamas in his address to Fatah´s 7th Congress. (UNSCO)

The General Assembly adopted six resolutions on the Question of Palestine, ranging from Jerusalem to support for the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, the Division for Palestinian Rights and a special Department of Public Information program on Palestine. (United Nations)

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