News of Terrorism and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict (March 4 – 10, 2020)

The return march

• The Supreme National Authority for the Return Marches and the Struggle Against the Deal of the Century announced the cancellation of the return march which was supposed to be held on March 6, 2020, because of a fire in the Nuseirat refugee camp. The Authority called on Gazans to attend the funeral held for the victims of the fire (Filastin al-Yawm, March 5, 2020).^[1]
• As to the return march planned for March 30, 2020, this past week there were contradictory announcements:
• Suheil al-Hindi, member of Hamas’ political bureau and member of the Supreme National Authority, said that the reports in the social networks about the cancellation of the Land Day (March 30) activities because of the coronavirus were incorrect. He said the issue was under consideration and that the Supreme National Authority was in contact with the ministry of health and would follow its instructions (Dunia al-Watan, March 6, 2020).
• PIJ spokesman Da’ud Shehab announced that the return march would be held on March 30 and that preparations for it were in full swing (al-Andalou News, March 9, 2020).
• A senior Supreme National Authority figure said that so far they were planning return marches in accordance with the working program for 2020. He added that the issue was being examined and that the Supreme National Authority was in contact with the ministry of health, and would follow its instructions (Dunia al-Watan, March 5, 2020). 

Rocket and mortar shell fire into Israel

• On March 6, 2020, there was a failed attempt to fire a rocket from the Gaza Strip into Israeli territory. The rocket fell inside the Gaza Strip (IDF spokesman, March 6, 2020).

Monthly Distribution of Rocket and Mortar Shell Fire

Annual Distribution of Rocket Hits

Stabbing attack at the Nablus Gate in the Old City of Jerusalem

• On the afternoon of March 10, 2020 a Palestinian who lived in east Jerusalem arrived at the entrance of the Israeli police station at the Nablus Gate in the Old City of Jerusalem. He took out a knife and tried to stab Border Police fighters at the site. The fighters overcame the him. No casualties were reported. The Palestinian was taken for interrogation (Israel Police Force spokesman’s unit, March 10, 2020)

Other events

• Due to the PA’s closure of the West Bank in the wake of the spread of the coronavirus, the Great Dawn campaign\s Facebook page posted a notice stating that for one week only prayers would not be held in the mosques in the West Bank. The notice stressed that next week the campaign would resume its activity (Great Dawn Facebook page, March 5, 2020). However, the Facebook page of the Defenders of the Cave of the Patriarchs called on local residents to go to the mosques to pray despite warnings not to hold gatherings. The notice stressed that “the occupation and the settlements are the coronavirus killing us” (Facebook page of the Defenders of the Cave of the Patriarchs, March 5, 2020). According to reports, the number of Muslims going to the mosques to pray has decreased and is lower than in previous weeks.
• On the eve of the Purim holiday in Israel a closure was imposed on Judea, Samaria and the Gaza Strip, beginning of Sunday, March 8, 2020, and ending on Wednesday, March 11 (IDF spokesman, March 6, 2020). In Judea and Samaria Palestinians continued throwing stones and Molotov cocktails at Israeli security forces and civilian targets The more prominent events were the following:
  • March 9, 2020 – Stones were thrown at an Israeli bus southwest of Hebron. No casualties were reported. The front windshield of the bus was damaged (Rescue Without Borders in Judea and Samaria, March 9, 2020)
  • March 8, 2020 – Stones were thrown at an Israel vehicle near the Tapuah Junction in Gush Etzion. No casualties were reported. The vehicle was damaged (Rescue Without Borders in Judea and Samaria March 8, 2020).
  • March 8, 2020 – Stones were thrown at an Israel bus east of Gush Etzion. No casualties were reported. The front windshield of the bus was damaged (Rescue Without Borders in Judea and Samaria, March 8, 2020).
  • March 4, 2020 – Stones were thrown at an Israeli vehicle south of Mt. Hebron. No casualties were reported. The vehicle was damaged (Rescue Without Borders in Judea and Samaria, March 4, 2020).
  • March 4, 2020 – Border Police fighters operating in east Jerusalem detained three masked juveniles from east Jerusalem who were throwing stones at houses in the Silwan neighborhood. They were taken for interrogation (Rescue Without Borders in Judea and Samaria, March 4, 2020).
  • March 4, 2020 – Stones were thrown at an Israel bus on the Gush Etzion-Hebron road. No casualties were reported. Stones were thrown at an Israeli vehicle east of Bethlehem. No casualties were reported. The vehicle was damaged (Rescue Without Borders in Judea and Samaria, March 4, 2020).

Significant terrorist attacks in Judea and Samaria since January 2019^[2]

Demolishing the houses of terrorists

•  The Israeli security forces demolished the houses of Walid Hanatsha in Ramallah and Yazan Mughamas in Birzeit. Both were operatives in the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) squad that carried out the terrorist attack at the Danny Spring on August 23, 2019, killing a young Israeli woman and wounding her father and brother. The houses were demolished after appeals lodged by the terrorists’ families against their confiscation and destruction were rejected by the Israeli supreme court. As the houses were being demolished Palestinians rioted against the Israeli security forces, throwing stones and Molotov cocktails, and burning tires (IDF spokesman, March 5, 2020).

   
Right: The demolished house of Walid Hanatsha in the al-Tira neighborhood of Ramallah. The sign reads, “Walid remains and the occupation passes” (Palinfo Twitter account, March 5, 2020). Left: The house of Yazan Mughamas in Birzeit. A sign was erected with his picture and the PFLP emblem (Facebook page of the Palestinian prisoner’s club, March 5, 2020).

• Relating to the demolishing of the terrorists’ houses, the PFLP said its response would be through additional “resistance” [i.e., terrorism] and that Israel “would pay for its crimes.” The PFLP called on the Palestinian public, including Palestinians abroad, to organize campaigns and popular marches to protest the policy of destroying houses and to begin rebuilding them immediately. The PFLP criticized the Palestinian Authority (PA) security services for not doing anything to stop the IDF’s activity. It also criticized the Palestinian leadership for continuing to ignore the families of the prisoners and shaheeds whose houses Israel threatened to demolish (PFLP website, March 5, 2020).
• The PA foreign ministry said that demolishing houses was one example of the escalation of Israel’s measures to implement the “deal of the century” (PA foreign ministry website and what, March 6, 2020).

Fatah visit to the Gaza Strip

• Ziad Abu Amru, deputy PA prime minister, and Rawhi Fatouh, a member of Fatah’s Central Committee, entered the Gaza Strip through the Erez Crossing. Their visit was a part of the preparations being made for the visit of a delegation of senior Fatah figures to the Gaza Strip to meet with the Hamas leadership (Filastin al-Yawm, March 4, 2020). So far it is not known if the senior Fatah figures met with members of the Hamas leadership. The previous Fatah delegation, which included members of the Central Committee and arrived in the Gaza Strip last month to prepare for the visit, returned to the PA without having met with senior Hamas figures.
• Isma’il Haniyeh, head of Hamas’ political bureau, interviewed by the Hezbollah-affiliated Lebanese al-Mayadeen TV channel, said Hamas had decided to agree unconditionally to receive a Fatah delegation. He said that during his visit to Russia he had asked Abd al-Hafiz Nofal, the PA representative in Russia, to tell Mahmoud Abbas that Hamas would welcome the arrival of the [Fatah] delegation (al-Mayadeen, March 3, 2020).

Hamas delegation visit to Egypt

• “Egyptian sources” reported that the Hamas delegation headed by Rawhi Mushtaha which visited Cairo on March 5, 2020, met with the officers responsible for the Palestinian portfolio in Egyptian General Intelligence. At the meeting the Egyptians discussed the possibility of holding direct talks in Egypt between senior Israeli security personnel and Hamas representatives. The objective would be to discuss a number of issues related to the understandings for a lull arrangement. According to the sources the Hamas delegation strongly rejected the idea of direct meetings with Israel and said they adhered to the mechanism already in place, of indirect negotiations through Egypt and Qatar. The sources added that senior Egyptian officials discussed with the Hamas delegation the issue of Isma’il Haniyeh’s return to the Gaza Strip and what he would do in the near future. The members of the delegation made it clear to the Egyptians that reports about Haniyeh’s not returning the Gaza Strip were untrue, saying he would return in the near future (al-Araby al-Jadeed, March 5, 2020).

PIJ delegation expected to visit Russia

• After a Hamas delegation headed by Isma’il Haniyeh visited Russia on March 2, 2020, PIJ spokesman Daoud Shehab said his organization had received a formal invitation to visit Moscow to meet with senior Russian officials, including Sergey Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister. Daoud Shehab said the delegation would be headed by PIJ leader Ziyad al-Nakhalah, and its members would include Muhammad al-Hindi, al-Nakhalah’s deputy, and other senior PIJ figures. He stressed that Russia’s role in the Palestinian issue would not come at the expense of the role of Egypt (al-Andalou News, March 9, 2020). So far no date had been set for the planned visit.
• Daoud Shehab also related to other issues (al-Andalou News, March 9, 2020):
• Confrontation with Israel: The PIJ, he said, would respond to any attempt made by Israel to kill its senior figures. He said the PIJ, like the other Palestinian organizations, had improved its military capabilities, as had been evidenced by the most recent round of escalation.
• Understandings for a lull arrangement: He denied that the PIJ had received a proposal to disarm a part of the deliberations for reaching a lull arrangement. He said the PIJ would not agree to have such a possibility discussed with anyone whatsoever.

Erection of a border fence between Egypt and the Gaza Strip

• After a number of months of preparations, Egypt began the first stage of erecting a fence along its border with the Gaza Strip. Work has begun to clear the ground near the Rafah Crossing and a ditch has been dug to a depth of five meters for an eventual foundation for the fence. Egypt told Hamas it was planning to erect the fence before work began. Its objective is to prevent “extremist elements” from entering Egyptian territory. Egypt said Hamas has not expressed objections (al-Akhbar, March 6, 2020).
• A Hamas source quoted Ziyad al-Zaza, a member of Hamas’ political bureau, who said that when the Hamas delegation visited Egypt, its members requested the issue of erecting a fence between Egypt and the Gaza Strip be reexamined. That was because such a fence, according to Hamas, should be erected between Egypt and Israel, and not between Egypt and the Gaza Strip. They also said that Hamas had increased its security activities along the Egyptian border and guarded Egypt’s national security (Egyptian news website madamasr.com, March 8, 2018).

Transfer of Hamas’ activity to Turkey

• In an article that appeared in the London-based, Saudi Arabian controlled al-Sharq al-Awsat, Hamas sources reported that today more and more of Hamas’ activities are conducted from Turkey. The organization has reduced its presence in Qatar and Lebanon at their request, or out of fear of targeted killings. According to the sources, Isma’il Haniyeh, head of Hamas’ political bureau, and his deputy, Saleh al-‘Arouri, currently spend more and more time in Turkey. Haniyeh chose Turkey after Qatar formally requested in 2017 that Hamas not use its territory for activities that could be interpreted as hostile to Israel. The sources confirmed that at that time Hamas found it difficult to find permanent headquarters for its leadership and was considering a number of alternatives, including Malaysia. Lebanon and Gaza. In the end, however, Hamas returned to Turkey, which received the Hamas leadership with open arms (al-Sharq al-Awsat, March 9, 2020). 

Measures to prevent the spread of the coronavirus

Judea and Samaria

•  As of March 9, 2020, and according to a statement from Ibrahim Milhem, spokesman for the PA government, 26 cases of coronavirus have been identified in PA territory, most of them in Bethlehem (Wafa, March 9, 2020). Given the coronavirus outbreak, PA Prime Minister Muhammad Shtayyeh, based on an edict from Mahmoud Abbas, declared a state of emergency throughout the PA. It will be in force for a period of 30 days. He announced the opening of a quarantine center and an operations room to deal with the crisis, and the appointment of a media monitoring committee that will update the PA media (Wafa, March 6, 2020).

• In Bethlehem, where most of the coronavirus cases are located, particularly strict measures have been taken. The Palestinians security services closed the entrances to Bethlehem and prevented people from leaving or entering the city except in cases of emergency (Sawa, March 8, 2020). The governor of the Bethlehem district closed all the mosques, churches, monasteries and convents, archaeological sites and public parks, and banned gatherings (Facebook page of the governor of the Bethlehem district, March 8, 2020).
• The main measures taken by the PA have been the following (Palestinian TV, March 5, 2020). Many districts took additional steps, depending on the individual decisions of the local governors:
  • Closing all education institutions.
  • Banning movement between districts with the exception of emergencies.
  • Preventing gatherings and cancelling all international conferences.
  • PA Prime Minister Muhammad Shtayyeh said that in the near future all the crossings between Jordan and the West Bank would be closed and he called on residents to return to or leave the West Bank. He said the step had been coordinated with Jordan (Wafa, March 9, 2020).

The Gaza Strip

• The ministry of health in the Gaza Strip said that no cases of coronavirus infection have been identified in the Gaza Strip. Salameh Maarouf, chairman of the bureau of information in the Gaza Strip, said that Mahmoud Abbas’s declaration of a state of emergency does not apply to regions where no coronavirus infection is present, and therefore it does not apply to the Gaza Strip. However, he said preventive measures were being taken in the Gaza Strip (Shehab, March 5, 2020).
• The preventive measures include instructions that all those returning to the Gaza Strip through the Rafah Crossing must be quarantined for 14 days. To that end a quarantine facility was prepared at the Crossing itself. The work of officials in the Gaza Strip was suspended and the mosques were closed to mass prayers (Sawa, March 5, 2020). The ministry of education in the Gaza Strip announced the closing of schools and kindergartens until March 12, 2020. Schools and kindergartens will reopen on March 14, 2020, unless there are further developments. UNRWA also closed its schools until March 12, 2020. After that the situation will be reassessed (Dunia al-Watan, March 8, 2020).
• It was revealed that Hamas asked Egypt to assist the Gaza Strip in fighting the coronavirus, and that Egypt said it would send medical equipment and masks to the Gaza Strip. Egypt asked Hamas to keep its operatives from going to Iran (alarabiya.net, March 5, 2020).

   
Gaza Strip schools are closed.

Responses to the results of Israel’s general elections

• Various Palestinian spokesmen were indifferent to the results of Israel’s general elections, claiming that there is no difference between the country’s political parties. However, some of them represented the results as proof of the strengthening of the right wing in Israel. Nabil Abu Rudeineh, spokesman for Mahmoud Abbas, said the PA was prepared to cooperate with any Israeli government that would be committed to achieving a just peace (Wafa, March 3, 2020).
• The PLO’s Executive Committee met in Ramallah to discuss recent political developments in light of the results of the Israeli elections. PA Prime Minister Muhammad Shtayyeh said that the results indicated that as time passes Israel’s population becomes more right wing-oriented. He said the plan of the Israeli government, when it is formed, will be to begin action to annex the Palestinian territories. He added that the Palestinian people will face a challenge with the issue of the settlements and the annexation of the Jordan Valley (Wafa, March 3, 2020).
• Other responses were the following:
  • The foreign ministry said following the results of the election the plans to annex [territories] and expand the settlements became clear, as did other plans which were openly stated by the election propaganda. The ministry warned of the policies and measures that Netanyahu would take if he did in fact form the government (Wafa, March 3, 2020).
  • Saeb Erekat, secretary of the PLO’s Executive Committee, said that “the settlements, annexation and apartheid won [the elections].” He claimed Netanyahu had decided that continuing the “occupation” and the conflict would bring prosperity to Israel. Saeb Erekat was of the opinion that Israel’s next step would be annexation [of PA territory] (Saeb Erekat’s Twitter account, March 3, 2020).
  • Isma’il Haniyeh, head of Hamas’ political bureau, held a press conference where he said the results of the elections in Israel proved that Israeli society supported the right wing and the extreme right wing. The large parties in Israel have, he said, a common denominator, because both of them oppose Jerusalem as the capital of a Palestinian state and oppose the [so-called] “right of return.” He also said that today most Israelis tend to the right wing and to ideological and political extremism at the expense of the rights of the Palestinians (al-Aqsa, al-Mayadeen, March 3, 2020).

The PA claims a “victory” over Amazon

•  The PA’s ministry of communications and IT said that after a series of PA protests to stop Amazon’s ignoring of Palestinian identity, the company has begun to use the same shipping policy it uses for Israel (“the occupation country”). From now on Amazon will ship package to the “state of Palestine” free of charge (Facebook page of the PA’s ministry of communications and IT, March 3, 2020). The PA’s ministry of the treasury also issued a notice claiming that as a result of the memorandum sent to Amazon by Shakri Bishara, the treasury minister, and Khaled al-Asili, the minister of the national economy, Amazon complied with the Palestinians’ demand (Facebook page of the PA’s ministry of the treasury, March 4, 2020).