The Palestine Chronology

In the West Bank, 1 Palestinian was arrested during a late-night raid in al-Shuyukh; the man had been released after serving a 16-year sentence on 8/11. 10 others were arrested during late-night raids in and around Umm al-Rihan, Tubas, Beita, ‘Askar refugee camp, Bethlehem, and Fawwar. In East Jerusalem, 5 Palestinian families demolished the building they lived in in Bayt Hanina. (MEMO, WAFA, WAFA, WAFA 8/12; PCHR 8/19)

The PA called on the U.S. to intervene over Israeli plans to expand Israeli settlements with more than 2,000 housing units in the West Bank. The PA said the new construction contradicts U.S. president Joe Biden’s stance against settlement construction. (HA 8/12)

The PA said it had received 150,000 doses of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine. The health ministry further stated that it had received 1 million doses from Pfizer so far this year and that another 3 million would be delivered by the end of 2021. The PA also said it had sent 100,000 vaccine doses to Gaza, including 50,000 Pfizer and 50,000 of the Russian Sputnik vaccines. (AA, WAFA 8/12)

The Israeli high court of justice overturned former education minister Yoav Gallant’s decision to withhold the Israel Prize in mathematics and computer science from Oded Goldreich. Gallant had decided to withhold the prize given to Goldreich over claims that Goldreich is supporting a boycott of Israeli institutions in Israeli settlements. (HA 8/12)

Sudan said it would hand over its former president Omar al-Bashir to the ICC but did not provide a timeframe for doing so. Al-Bashir is wanted by the ICC for charges of genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity. (AJ 8/12)

AIPAC launched an ad campaign on Facebook implying that U.S. house representative Ilhan Omar (D-MN) stands with terrorists against the U.S. and Israel. The ad drew criticism from several pro-Israel organizations and Jewish Americans including J Street and Ilhan Omar’s staff, which claimed AIPAC ads were Islamophobic and putting Omar’s life at risk. Among other AIPAC targets in its ad campaign were Palestinian American Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), and Cori Bush (D-MO). (AJ, HA 8/12)

In the West Bank, Israeli settlers razed 20 dunums (5 acres) of land near Jalud. Israeli forces punitively demolished the home of an alleged attacker in Turmus ‘Ayya, displacing his family and damaging nearby buildings as the house was blown up. 8 Palestinians were arrested during late-night raids in and around al-Arroub refugee camp, Hebron, Dahariya, al-Khader, and Abu Dis. In East Jerusalem, Israeli forces delivered a demolition order for a 4-story building in Shu‘fat, which would displace 55 Palestinians. 2 Palestinians were arrested during raids in Isawiya and the Old City. In Gaza, Israeli forces opened fire on residential buildings east of Rafah, causing damage but no injuries. (AJ, ALM, AX, HA, JP, MEE, MEMO, REU, REU, WAFA, WAFA, WAFA, WAFA, WAFA, WAFA 7/8; AP, TOI 7/9; PCHR 7/15)

Palestinian owners of the land seized by Israeli settlers for the Evyater settlement outpost petitioned the Israeli high court of justice to cancel the deal made between the Israeli settlers and the Israeli government on 7/1. (HA, WAFA 7/8)

1 Palestinian prisoner held on administrative detention was released from detention to a hospital in Ramallah after 65 days of hunger strike. (PCHR 7/7; AP, HA, MEE, MEMO, WAFA 7/8; AJ 7/9)

PA president Mahmoud Abbas and other senior PA officials met with 11 U.S. congresspeople in Ramallah, including the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee Gregory Meeks (D-NY), Ted Deutch (D-FL), David Cicilline (D-RI), Abigail Spanberger (D-VA), Sara Jacobs (D-CA), Kathy Manning (D-NC), Brad Schneider (D-IL), Andy Barr (R-KY), Nicole Malliotakis (R-NY), and French Hill (R-AR). The members of Congress met with Israeli officials on 7/6. (MEE 7/6; JNS 7/7; WAFA 7/8)

Israel charged a Palestinian Israeli imam of Lydda’s largest mosque, Shaykh Yousef al-Baz, with incitement to violence for sharing a movie clip on Facebook showing people killing a police officer. Shaykh al-Baz was arrested on 6/17. (ALM, HA 7/8)

Israeli foreign minister Yair Lapid and Jordanian foreign minister Ayman Safadi met at the Allenby Bridge, where the 2 made agreements for Jordan to buy 50 million cubic meters of water from Israel and to increase the Jordanian export to the West Bank from $160 million to $700 million. Foreign minister Safadi also called for Israeli to halt settlement expansions, maintaining the status quo of the holy sites in Jerusalem, and called evictions of Palestinians from their homes in East Jerusalem a “war crime.” Walla News also reported that Israeli prime minister Naftali Bennett secretly met with Jordan’s king Abdullah II in Amman last week and that PA president Mahmoud Abbas was summoned to meet King Abdullah shortly after his meeting with Prime Minister Bennett. President Abbas met with King Abdullah in Amman on 6/30. (AJ, ALM, AP, AX, HA, HA, MEE, MEMO, REU, TOI 7/8; MEMO 7/9)

The Israeli high court of justice denied petitions challenging the legality of the nation-state law, ruling 10-1 that the law is not anti-democratic in the eyes of the judges. The dissenting judge is the court’s only Palestinian Israeli judge. Chairman of the Joint Arab List Ayman Odeh called the ruling “racist and anti-democratic.” Adalah said that the court had “enshrined Jewish supremacy and racial segregation as founding principles of the Israeli regime” with its ruling. For more about the Nation-State law, see the IPS publication “Israel's Nation-State Law: Institutionalizing Discrimination.” (AJ, AP, HA, JP, TOI, WAFA, WP 7/8; MEMO 7/9)

The U.S. embassy in Israel issued a statement criticizing the Israeli punitive demolition of the house of an accused Palestinian-American assailant in Turmus ‘Ayya (see above); secretary of state Antony Blinken “raised concern directly with senior Israeli officials” about the issue, possibly because the family living in the building are U.S. citizens. House chairman Meeks also called the Israeli foreign minister to protest the demolition. (AJ, ALM, AX, HA, JP, MEE, MEMO, REU, REU 7/8; AX 7/14)