The Palestine Chronology

In the West Bank, Israeli forces assaulted 1 77-year-old Palestinian man who refused to leave his land near Bayt Umar. Israeli forces also demolished 1 house, 1 retaining wall and a number of sheds in al-Walaja, and the foundations of 1 house in Bayt Jala. Elsewhere, Israeli forces leveled Palestinian land in Yanuh to expand a nearby settlement. Israeli forces also clashed with Palestinians during a late-night raid in Kaubar, leading to tear-gas related injuries. 8 Palestinians were arrested during raids in and around Qalandia, Tulkarm, Yatta, Nablus, and Beita. In East Jerusalem, 4 Palestinians were arrested during raids in al-Tur and Wadi Juz. In Gaza, Israeli forces opened fire on agricultural lands east of Khuza‘a; no injuries were reported. (WAFA, WAFA, WAFA, WAFA 11/12; PCHR 11/19)

1 Israeli soldier who had been missing since 11/10 was found dead near the Hizma checkpoint in the West Bank. Israel did not provide any further details. (HA 11/12)

The Israeli attorney general Avichai Mendelblit announced that Israel will freeze enforcement of the Kaminitz Law, which aims at punishing Israeli residents who build without a permit. While the law does not single out Palestinian-Israelis explicitly, it disproportionately effects Palestinian-Israelis because the time it takes to obtain a construction permit in Palestinian areas of Israel is much longer than in Israeli-Jewish areas. According to Haaretz, it is estimated that 50,000 Palestinian-owned houses in Israel are built without a permit. The freeze, which lasts until 2023, was seen as a win for the Joint Arab List whose politicians have been working with Israeli defense minister Benny Gantz and justice minister Avi Nissenkorn to get it through. (HA 11/12)

Axios reported that U.S. secretary of state Mike Pompeo will visit Israeli settlements in the West Bank and Golan Heights. During his trip, Secretary Pompeo is scheduled to visit a settler winery in Psagot near al-Bireh, which announced it will make a new series of wine named after him. The winery is built on 80 dunams (20 acres) of privately-owned Palestinian land seized by Israel. Pompeo will be the 1st U.S. secretary of state to visit both the Golan Heights and West Bank settlements. Pompeo was also the 1st secretary of state to visit the Wailing Wall. PA prime minister Mohammad Shtayyeh said in a tweet, “[w]e deplore US Sec. of State Mike Pompeo’s intent to visit the illegal settlement of Psagot, built on lands belonging to Palestinian owners in Al-Bireh city, during his visit to Israel next week. This dangerous precedent legalizes settlements& a blot to int’l legitimacy/ UN res’s.” (AX, HA 11/12; AJ, Twitter 11/13; WAFA 11/15)

The NYT reported that U.S. president Donald Trump, in a meeting with U.S. military officials, requested options for attacking Iran’s nuclear site in Natanz. According to NYT sources, he was ultimately dissuaded by the military officials not to launch an attack on Iran. (NYT, REU 11/16)

The prime minister of Pakistan Imran Khan said in an interview that the U.S. and at least 1 other unnamed country have been pressuring him to recognize Israel. Prime Minister Khan said he would not normalize relations with Israel until a peace agreement is made with Palestine. Khan, when pressed on what the 2d country was, said, “[l]eave this. There are things we cannot say.” (HA 11/17)

In the West Bank, Israeli forces issued demolition orders for 4 Palestinian-owned houses in Bani Na‘im and took measurements for a punitive demolition of a house owned by the family of an alleged attacker in the village. Israeli forces also uprooted 22 Palestinian-owned olive trees in Ras Karkar. In East Jerusalem, Israel informed PA governor of Jerusalem Adnan Ghaith that he was no longer allowed to leave Silwan and that he could not contact some 50 individuals, including PA president Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh. In Gaza, Israeli forces made incursions to level land east of Gaza City. Off the coast of Gaza, Israeli naval forces opened fire on Palestinian fishermen within 3 nautical miles offshore; no injuries were reported. (WAFA, WAFA, WAFA, WAFA 9/9; PCHR 9/10)

At a virtual Arab League meeting, a majority of countries rejected a Palestinian proposal to condemn the UAE for its normalization deal with Israel. PA foreign minister Riyad al-Maliki accused the U.S. of blackmailing Palestinians and some Arab countries. The secretary-general of the Arab League Ahmad Aboul Gheit reiterated that the Arab Peace Initiative remains the Arab League’s stance on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. (HA 9/8; AJ, HA, REU, WAFA, WAFA, WAFA 9/9; WAFA 9/10)

According to senior advisor to U.S. president Donald Trump, Jared Kushner, Saudi Arabia has allowed Israeli commercial air traffic to use Saudi Arabian airspace. Kushner also said that the U.S. peace plan presented in January was aimed at “trying to save the two-state solution, because . . . if we kept going with the status quo . . . ultimately, Israel would have eaten up all the land in the West Bank.” The U.S. peace plan allows Israel to annex 30 percent of the West Bank. (HA 9/9; TOI 9/10)

In the West Bank, Israeli forces arrested 9 Palestinians during late-night raids in and around Ya‘bad, Kaubar, and Hebron. In East Jerusalem, Israeli forces arrested 8 Palestinians including a Waqf guard at the Haram al-Sharif compound, 1 other in the Old City, 5 during late-night raids in the Old City, and delivered 2 summonses for interrogations. In Gaza, Israeli forces detained a Palestinian journalist returning via the Erez Crossing from Jordan, where he had undergone treatment for liver cancer. (WAFA, WAFA, WAFA, WAFA 5/19; PCHR 5/21)

The Islamic Waqf announced that the Haram al-Sharif compound and al-Aqsa Mosque would reopen after the end of Ramadan. (WAFA 5/19)

PA president Mahmoud Abbas announced that the PA will end all agreements with Israel and the U.S., including security agreements, because of Israel’s plans to annex parts of the West Bank. Haaretz reported that Palestinian sources said that coordination with Israel would continue at a lower level of engagement, at least for a time. In a speech, President Abbas said that, by Israel making the unilateral decision to annex parts of the West Bank, it has “annulled the Oslo agreement and all agreements signed with it, after snubbing all these years all these agreements and all the resolutions of the international legitimacy and international law.” Abbas further stated that the PA is ready to negotiate within the parameters of the Arab Peace Initiative, and that it had signed agreements “to accede to international agreements and conventions that we [the PA] have not yet joined.” (Guardian, WAFA, WAFA 5/19; HA, NYT, WAFA 5/20)

PA prime minister Mohammad Shtayyeh and German foreign minister Heiko Maas released a joint statement after a virtual meeting, stipulating that “[a]nnexation of any part of occupied Palestinian territories including East Jerusalem constitutes a clear violation of international law and seriously undermines the chances for the two-state solution within a final status agreement.” It further read that Germany “took note of the Palestinian view that such a step would put an end to all signed agreements.” Separately, the French foreign minister Jean-Yves Le Drian warned that Israeli annexation will have consequences for the EU’s relationship with Israel. (HA, WAFA 5/19)

A plane from the UAE with COVID-19-related aid materials for Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza landed in Israel. The aid package included 14 tons of medical supplies, including 10 ventilators. The direct flight from the UAE to Israel is the 1st of its kind. (AJ, HA, REU 5/19)

The EU Police Coordinating Office for Palestinian Police Support donated $65,500 worth of protective equipment and hand sanitizer to the Palestinian Civil Police. (WAFA 5/19)