The Palestine Chronology

In the West Bank, PA security forces, dressed in civilian clothes, violently dispersed Palestinian students and staff protesting the dismissal of 10 students from the Islamic bloc and 5 employees at An-Najah National University in Nablus, causing several injuries from beatings and pepper spray. The Iranian news agency Tansim said 1 of its Palestinian reporters was abducted by Palestinian gunmen while covering the events before being beaten and warned against writing negatively about the PA. Israeli settlers threw stones at Palestinian vehicles traveling between Nablus and Jenin. Israeli settlers also vandalized 8 olive trees in Qaryut. Israeli forces evicted 4 Palestinians from their land in Wadi Fukin. 12 Palestinians were arrested during late-night raids in Ramallah, Tuqu‘, Bethlehem, Surif, al-Tabaqa, Nablus, Far‘un, Rumana, and Aqabat Jaber refugee camp; Israeli forces violently dispersed Palestinians protesting the raid in Nablus, injuring 2 with shrapnel. In East Jerusalem, Israeli forces assaulted and arrested 2 Palestinians in Silwan and arrested 1 other in Isawiya. (MEE, WAFA, WAFA 6/14; PCHR 6/15; PCHR 6/16; AP, HA 6/17; UNOCHA 7/2)

Hamas released a statement accusing PA forces in the West Bank of torturing Hamas supporters. (ALM 7/2)

EU commission president Ursula von der Leyen announced that the frozen $224 million in economic aid to the PA from 2021 had been unfrozen and would be transferred to the PA. The announcement came ahead of a meeting between President von der Leyen and PA prime minister Mohammed Shtayyeh in Ramallah. Von der Leyen later met with Israeli prime minister Naftali Bennett and president Isaac Herzog. The EU funding to the PA was frozen due to 1 Hungarian commissioner’s concern over “incitement” in PA schoolbooks. Prime Minister Shtayyeh also met with his Italian counterpart Mario Draghi. (AA, HA, JP, POL, TOI, WAFA, WAFA, WAFA 6/14; AJ, WAFA 6/15)

Israel’s deputy religious affairs minister Matan Kahana of the Yamina party was filmed telling Israeli high schoolers in the Efrat settlement that “if there was a button that could be pressed, that would remove all the Arabs from here, send them on an express train to Switzerland—where they would live an amazing life, I wish them all the best in Switzerland—I would press that button. . . . there is no such button. We were probably meant to [co]exist here on this land in some form,” Palestinian members of the Israeli parliament attacked Kahana for his remarks and he later apologized for wording his statements poorly. (AJ, AP, HA, MEE 6/14; HA, MDW, TOI 6/15)

The U.S. White House expressed concern over negotiations between the Israeli spyware company NSO Group and the American defense contractor L3Harris for the latter to buy technology from the former. The deal would see NSO Group removed from the U.S. department of commerce’s blacklist and would transfer NSO’s clients in the U.S., UK, Australia, Canada, and New Zealand, and possibly EU and NATO countries to L3Harris. The New York Times later reported that the negotiations had collapsed after they were made public and that U.S. intelligence officials had backed L3Harris’s potential acquisition of NSO Group. (HA 6/14; MEE, REU 6/15; NYT, WP 7/10; HA, TOI 7/11)

In the West Bank, Israeli settlers leveled land near Dura. Israeli settlers also attacked Palestinian shepherds in Burqa, stealing 20 sheep; 1 Palestinian was in serious condition after the attack. 2 Palestinians were arrested during late-night raids in Taqqua. In Gaza, Israeli warplanes struck 3 places in and around Gaza City with rockets after alleging that 1 rocket was fired at Israel from Gaza; no injuries were reported. Off the coast of Gaza, Israeli naval forces opened fire on Palestinian fishermen using live ammunition and water hoses 3 nautical miles west of Bayt Lahiya; 1 boat was damaged. In Israel, Palestinian citizens of Israel were striking in many places, for the 2d day in a row, to protest the disproportionately low compensation that business owners in Palestinian-majority neighborhoods have received of the COVID-19 aid, about 1.7 percent. (HA 5/5; JP, REU, WAFA, WAFA, WAFA, WAFA, WAFA 5/6; HA, PCHR 5/7)

Israeli defense minister Naftali Bennett announced plans for around 7,000 new settlement units in the Efrat settlement. The plans expand the settlement by seizing 1,100 dunams (271.8 acres) of Palestinian land. (AJ, HA, INN, REU, WAFA 5/6)

The Israeli high court of justice dismissed a petition against allowing Benjamin Netanyahu to form a government because he is criminally indicted, and petitions against the coalition agreement between Netanyahu and Benny Gantz. (REU 5/6; HA 5/7)