Chronological Review of Events/September 2014 – DPR review

Division for Palestinian Rights

Chronological Review of Events Relating to the

Question of Palestine

Monthly media monitoring review

September 2014

1

Four Palestinians were shot and injured with live bullets by the Israeli army in Dheisheh refugee camp, south of Bethlehem. (WAFA)

Addameer, a prisoner rights advocacy group, announced that over 770 Palestinians had been detained in Jerusalem since July 2. (Ynetnews)

Palestinian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Riyad Malki, called upon the EU to play a significant role in the peace process and the final status negotiations between the Palestinians and the Israelis, along with the US Secretary of State John Kerry’s efforts. (WAFA)

Member of the PLO Executive Committee Saeb Erekat called upon the EU countries to immediately recognize the State of Palestine based on 1967 border and with Jerusalem as its capital. (WAFA)

Turkey’s new Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu said that he saw no hope of “normalizing” ties with Israel unless it ended a blockade of the Gaza Strip. (The Jerusalem Post)

“The time has come for Europe to play a genuine political role in the region,” said the European Parliament’s Socialists and Democrats Group President Gianni Pittella. (WAFA)

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon expressed his alarm over the announcement by Israeli authorities that they declared as so-called “State land” nearly 1,000 acres of land in the Bethlehem area of the West Bank. The Secretary-General called on Israel to heed the calls of the international community to refrain from settlement activity and abide by its commitments under international law and the Quartet Road Map. (The Jerusalem Post)

The US urged Israel to reverse the plan, which has angered the Palestinians and alarmed Israeli peace campaigners. The Foreign Minister of Egypt said, “This is not a positive step — it contradicts international law and will have negative consequences on the peace process,” it would be “an obstacle” to a two-State solution between Israel and the Palestinians. Spain considered the decision as an ‘inappropriate’ one. European powers warn Israel “it will do serious damage to Israel in the international arena.” (Ynetnews)

“We denounce Israel’s seizing land, which is aimed at building illegal settlements, in villages in the West Bank,” said the Turkish Foreign Ministry. (Hürriyet Daily News)

Philip Luther of human rights group Amnesty International declared that it “appears to be the largest land grab in the Occupied Palestinian Territories since 1980”. (IMEMC)

The 2014-15 school year in Gaza will begin in two weeks, said UNRWA spokesman Chris Gunness. UNRWA schools will run on a double-shift basis to accommodate some 241,000 children. (Haaretz)

2

Israeli forces opened fire at fishermen off the coast of Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, in an apparent violation of the ceasefire agreement reached in Cairo last week, according to fishermen. An Israeli army spokeswoman said the fishermen “deviated from the designated fishing zone,” and that “warning shots” were fired into the air. (IMEMC)

Israeli forces arrested 21 Palestinians from West Bank districts. (WAFA)

Palestinian medical sources report that a man and a child have died of serious injuries suffered during Israel’s bombardment of the Gaza Strip. (IMEMC)

Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat will present plans to US Secretary of State John Kerry calling for a time table for ending the Israeli occupation. (Ynetnews)

According to Israeli media, Prime Minister Netanyahu does not plan to send a delegation for negotiations in Cairo, as stipulated by the recent ceasefire agreement. “Israel risks nullifying the cease-fire in the Gaza Strip if the Netanyahu Government doesn’t send an official representative to the Cairo negotiations,” said one of the Palestinian negotiators. (IMEMC)

“We have just completed a military operation and we are facing a sensitive international arena. We are already struggling to preserve international support, why was it so urgent to create another crisis with the Americans just now?” said the Israeli Minister of Finance, Yair Lapid. He added that “West Bank land seizure harms Israel.” (Ynetnews)

The EU will impose a ban on imports of all Israeli meat, poultry, and dairy products unless Israel comes up with a sufficiently effective mechanism that differentiates the produce that originates in settlements, according to a report in Ma’ariv. (The Jerusalem Post)

Ibrahim Khreisheh, the Palestinian representative to the Human Rights Council, said: “We were officially informed that the United Nations inquiry committee will arrive in the Gaza Strip, in the first week of October, to probe 50 days of conflicts between Israel and Gaza.” (Xinhua)

PLO Executive Committee member Hanan Ashrawi briefed CEIRPP on current political developments and the situation on the ground. (Division for Palestinian Rights)

To support the local economy, the Palestinian Minister of Education calls to buy local and use non-Israeli products. (Ynetnews)

A poll, conducted by the Beit-Sahour Palestinian Centre for Public Opinion in mid-August, showed that an overwhelming 77 per cent majority of Gaza Strip residents believes that Israel has been “painfully beaten” by Hamas; it also showed that more than 70 per cent of Gazans are worried about the possibility of another military confrontation with Israel. (The Jerusalem Post)

A poll, conducted by the Palestinian Centre for Policy and Survey Research indicates that 61 per cent of Palestinians would choose Hamas leader, Ismail Haniyeh, for President if elections were held today. Only 32 per cent would vote for current President Mahmoud Abbas, the survey suggested. (Ynetnews)

A senior Israeli military intelligence official acknowledged that only several hundred Hamas operatives out of a total of 16,000 were killed during this summer’s 50-day war in Gaza, leaving the group’s fighting force largely intact. (The New York Times)

EU spokesman Michael Mann said in a statement that the EU would not recognize “any changes to the pre-1967 borders, including with regard to Jerusalem, other than those agreed by the parties,” adding, “At this delicate moment, any action that might undermine stability and the prospect of constructive negotiations following the ceasefire in Gaza should be avoided”. (Ynetnews)

State Department Spokeswoman Jen Psaki said a statement “We are deeply concerned about the declaration of a large area as ‘State land’ to be used for expanded settlement building”. Ms. Psaki also expressed concern over “reports that new settlement and East Jerusalem construction or planning announcements may be issued at any time, including for the sensitive area of Giv’at Hamatos in East Jerusalem.” (The Washington Post)

3

Palestinian sources said that Israeli forces detained Fatah activist Husam al-Din Abu Riyala, 26, in Nablus after shooting him in the foot following a two-hour standoff. Mr. Abu Riyala was issued a summons order last month. (Ma’an News Agency)

A PLO official said that the Palestinian leadership intends to seek a UN Security Council resolution setting a three-year deadline for ending the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories, (AFP) 

A Palestinian delegation was scheduled to meet with US Secretary of State John Kerry in Washington to discuss Israel’s latest decision to appropriate a large tract of West Bank land. (DPA)

In a telephone call to Prime Minister Netanyahu, US Secretary of State Kerry sharply protested the decision to appropriate 4,000 dunums (1,000 acres) of land belonging to Palestinian villages in “Gush Etzion” and declare them State lands. (Haaretz)

A delegation from the Arab League will visit Gaza today to review damage and the situation in the health sector following Israel’s military offensive. They will also bring an aid convoy consisting of 13 truckloads of medicines and medical supplies. They were also expected to inform the League’s Secretary-General about their findings which will be discussed at a meeting of Arab Foreign Ministers on 7 September in Cairo. (Ma’an News Agency)

Israeli bulldozers arrived in Beit Hanina (East Jerusalem) and demolished two rooms of a property which had been previously partially demolished 4 times by Israeli authorities. (Ma’an News Agency)

Israeli ground forces, backed by bulldozers and armoured vehicles, operated in southeast Gaza and then left, Gaza authorities said. No injuries were reported. Meanwhile, the Navy arrested 2 fishermen off the Gaza coast. (Ma’an News Agency)

“Kerry met with Saeb Erekat and [Palestinian intelligence chief] Majid Faraj for about two hours this afternoon,” State Department spokesperson Jen Psaki said. “It was a constructive conversation that covered a range of issues, including Gaza, Israeli-Palestinian relations, and recent developments in the region,” she said, adding they had agreed to talk again in coming weeks. State Department officials told AFP the Palestinians had requested the meeting “to brief the Secretary on current Palestinian plans on the way forward and next steps in Gaza.” (AFP)

Senior Gaza-based Fatah leader Faisal Abu Shahla told Ma’an that Fatah had asked Hamas to send a delegation “authorized to take decisions” to take part in a meeting outside of Palestine to discuss unresolved issues and arrangements related to reconciliation. “Agreement will be reached on a political program equal to the sacrifices that the Palestinian people have made during the aggression on the Gaza Strip,” he added. (Ma’an News Agency)

The Jerusalem Municipality approved a large development for the Jabel Mukaber neighbourhood in East Jerusalem. The plan will feature 2,200 housing units and 130 hectares for infrastructure, including parks, roads, schools, cultural institutions and businesses. It will “strengthen Israeli sovereignty over East Jerusalem” by curbing rampant illegal construction and upgrading the standard of living in the Arab neighbourhood, Mayor Nir Barkat said. (The Jerusalem Post)

4

The Israeli forces arrested 14 Palestinians from Bethlehem, Jenin, Hebron, Tulkarm and Qalqilya. (PNN)

Gunmen opened fire in Tulkarm at the car of second deputy PLC speaker, Hasan Khreisha, the official told Ma’an. He was unhurt. (Ma’an News Agency)

Senior Fatah official Mohammed Shtayyeh declared that the Palestinians are ready to apply for ICC membership and take Israel to the court — and added that their demands should be taken seriously. (Haaretz)

Small groups of Jewish settlers stormed the Al-Aqsa Mosque, backed by Israeli special police units, and carried out a “provocative tour” of the Al-Aqsa courtyards. Palestinian worshippers and the Mosque’s guards confronted the settlers, while the Israeli police attacked the guards and worshippers and threatened to arrest them. (Petra)

Despite the cease-fire agreement that was believed to include the partial lifting of the blockade on Gaza, no restrictions have been eased, humanitarian workers and border guards say. (IRIN)

According to OCHA, 108,000 Palestinians in Gaza still remain homeless as their homes have been damaged or destroyed. (IMEMC)

Hundreds of UNRWA researchers and engineers will begin an evaluation of damages to the homes of the displaced across the Gaza Strip on 7 September, UNRWA media adviser Adnan Abu Hasna said.

The evaluation as being conducted under the UNDP auspices. “We will pay for the houses that were slightly damaged through donations from the UAE worth $41 million,” he said. Abu Hasna added that the UNRWA will launch a campaign to provide financial support for those displaced to be able to rent housing. (Ma’an News Agency)

Egyptian medical sources reported that an elderly Palestinian woman died at a Cairo hospital of serious injuries suffered during the Israeli war on Gaza. (IMEMC)

Israeli forces closed agricultural roads and, together with workers from Israeli water utility “Mekorot”, confiscated water pipes near Hebron, according to municipal sources and witnesses. (WAFA)

A Palestinian prisoner has been transferred to a hospital after having been tortured in an Israeli detention centre, the Palestinian Prisoner Affairs Committee reported. (PNN)

The US is open to a new resolution on Gaza but it must “do no harm” to the ceasefire and Israeli-Palestinian talks that are scheduled to resume in Cairo, and should “play a positive role in supporting a durable solution,” Amb. Samantha Power told reporters. She added: “If you mean to secure a permanent peace, Israel has to be a part of that negotiation, just as a practical matter. So to think that you can come to New York and secure what needs to be worked out on the ground is not realistic.” (Ynetnews)

Palestinian economic growth slumped from 11 per cent in 2010 and 2011 to just 1.5 per cent last year, and was set to shrink further, said the latest UNCTAD report. “The deterioration of the Palestinian economy, largely rooted in the territory’s occupied status, has resulted in weak growth, a precarious fiscal position, forced dependence on the Israeli economy, mass unemployment, wider and deeper poverty and greater food insecurity,” UNCTAD said. The report did not take into account the impact of the latest Gaza conflict. UNCTAD’s Mahmoud Elkhafif told reporters that $4 billion was a “very conservative estimate” of the cost of rebuilding Gaza. (AFP)

The family of the Israeli 4-year-old killed by fire from Gaza sent a letter to Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon accusing the UN of “hypocrisy” for not investigating Hamas. (The Jerusalem Post)

A Palestinian teenager who was critically wounded earlier this week during a protest in East Jerusalem, is clinically dead, doctors at Hadassah Ein Kerem told the family. (Haaretz)

The US Administration has rejected Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ new initiative for solving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, a PA official in Ramallah said. The plan, which envisages a full Israeli withdrawal to the pre-1967 lines within three years, was presented to US Secretary of State John Kerry on Wednesday by Chief PLO negotiator Saeb Erekat. Washington has rejected Abbas’ initiative, saying it was opposed to any unilateral move that could negatively impact the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. (The Jerusalem Post)

Following the indictment of Hussam Hassan Kawasme as the Hamas mastermind of the kidnapping and murder of three Israeli teens in June, Israeli officials called on Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to severe ties with Hamas. (The Jerusalem Post)

Israeli soldiers set fire to Palestinian-owned olive trees near the settlement of “Kiryat Arba” in Hebron. (Ma’an News Agency)

Rebuilding Gaza will cost $7.8 billion, the Palestinian Government said in the most comprehensive assessment yet of damage from a seven-week war with Israel. The cost of rebuilding 17,000 Gazan homes razed by Israeli bombings would be $2.5 billion and the energy sector needed $250 million after the Strip’s only power plant was destroyed by two Israeli missiles. Rebuilding Gaza would depend heavily on foreign aid and would require an end to Palestinian rivalry and Israel opening its border crossings, said Mohammed Shtayyeh, a Palestinian economist, who heads the Palestinian Economic Council for Research and Development (PECDAR) which conducted the study. (The Jerusalem Post) 

Speaking at a press conference held in Gaza, Palestinian Deputy Health Minister Youssef Abul Rish said the hospitals in the Gaza Strip were suffering from a severe shortage of essential medicines and medical supplies. (middleeastmonitor.com)

Israeli authorities indicted Hussam Kawasme, arrested on 11 July, of organizing the 12 June kidnapping of three Israeli teenagers and allegedly spending some 220,000 shekels ($61,300 US) on weapons and cars used in the crime. Kawasme was indicted in a military court for “transferring enemy funds,” carrying out services for an “illegal organization” and “deliberately causing the death” of the three Israelis. (IMEMC)

The Palestinian General Federation of Private Radio and Television Stations said that the Israeli army killed seven media reporters during the month of August, bringing the total number of journalists killed during Israel’s war on Palestinians in the Gaza Strip to 17. In a statement, the Federation called to form international committees to investigate Israel’s targeting of journalists and media workers in the Palestinian Territory. (middleeastmonitor.com)

5

Israeli navy forces have arrested two Palestinian fishermen near the Waha area off the coast of Beit Lahiya, according to the head of the fishermen syndicate in Gaza. (middleeastmonitor.com)

Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal expressed his agreement to the founding of a Palestinian State within the 1967 Green Line in a meeting last month in Doha with the Amir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. (The Jerusalem Post)

Ismail Haniyeh, Hamas deputy chief, called on Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to immediately sign the Rome Statute to file a case against Israel at the ICC. (Xinhuanet.com)

Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal said Hamas will not accept any Israeli, regional or international calls to disarm the group “As long as the occupation exists there will be resistance and fighting”, he said. (Ma’an News Agency)

The Tunisian Ennahda movement, a moderate Islamist political party, said that its leader Rached Ghannouchi will act as a mediator between Palestinian factions Fatah and Hamas. According to the spokesman of the movement in Tunisia, the decision came after an explicit request from President Abbas to intervene to help achieve Palestinian unity, and that Ghannouchi was currently involved in efforts in this respect. (middleeastmonitor.com)

Israel published tenders for 283 new homes in the West Bank settlement of Elkana. The Lands Authority first published tenders for the new homes in November of 2013, as part of a larger package of settlement activity it linked to a release of 27 Palestinian prisoners, but the marketing process was never completed. (The Jerusalem Post)

The Obama Administration is considering taking further action regarding Israel’s expropriation of 1,000 acres of West Bank land, on top of the condemnation Washington has already issued. In recent days senior officials in the Obama Administration have sent extremely sharply worded messages to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office. (Haaretz) 

Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat announced right-wing City Councellor Aryeh King would be stripped of all municipal positions and fired from the city coalition, due to a petition he filed against the municipality regarding the approval of a construction plan for an Arab neighbourhood in East Jerusalem. (Haaretz)

It was reported that in light of an upcoming UN report and Palestinian threats to open a case against Israel at the ICC over “Operation Protective Edge”, the IDF had strengthened its legal staff, was conducting internal investigations of its wartime actions and had prepared a detailed PR campaign of satellite photos and video clips – hoping to persuade the world that its war against Hamas was justified, while struggling to verify the number of dead in Gaza. (Ynetnews.com)

The European Union has contributed €15.5 million to the payment of August salaries and pensions of 69,000 Palestinian civil servants and pensioners in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. (Palestine News Network) 

EU sources have revealed that Israel is profiting millions of dollars from reconstruction efforts in the Gaza Strip by effectively blocking all non-Israeli material into the enclave. While no formal Israeli ban prevents the importing of reconstruction materials made outside Israel, EU sources speaking on condition of anonymity say that in practice, Israeli security demands meant that a de facto ban was in place. (Palestine News Network) 

The Palestinian Authority is working to implement a three-stage plan to solve the water crisis in Gaza after Israel’s assault caused over $34.5 million worth of damages to water networks. At least 17 kilometres of water supply networks were completely destroyed and another 29 partially destroyed during Israel’s offensive. (Ma’an News Agency)

Recent statistics from the Palestinian General Federation of Trade Unions (PGFTU) have revealed that unemployment in Gaza stands at 200,000 people. PGFTU’s President in Gaza stated this figure represented a 30,000 person increase since before the war with Israel, due to the destruction of a large number of factories, workshops, companies, making the situation “the worst in ten years”. He added that trade unions are still waiting for Israel to honour the terms of the ceasefire by opening all borders with Gaza in order that reconstruction and a boost to the labour market may begin. (Palestine News Network)

Five Muslim relief organisations working in a coalition to support the recovery of the Gaza Strip are contributing US$ 500,000 to UNRWA for humanitarian assistance. The agreement was signed by Islamic Help, United Muslim Relief, Baitulmaal Life for Relief and Development, and the Muslim Community and Education Centre. (UNRWA)

Opposition leader Isaac Herzog met with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, and called for the sides to resume peace negotiations in the wake of the Gaza conflict. In the first meeting between a senior Israeli official and the PA leader since the 50-day Operation Protective Edge in Gaza, Herzog said the current situation amid the intermediary cease-fire provided a rare opportunity to forge a regional political settlement. (The Jerusalem Post)

US Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Samantha Power, has implied that Washington will block any resolution in the Security Council to pass Palestinian initiatives to end the Israeli occupation in the West Bank within three years. The US ambassador stated, according to Al Ray: “We believe that negotiations are the way in which a two-state solution can be achieved, must be achieved. We don’t think there are shortcuts or unilateral measures that can be taken at the United Nations or anyplace else that will bring about the outcome that the Palestinian people most seek.” (IMEMC)

A European delegation arrived in the Gaza Strip to inspect the extent of the damages around the Rafah crossing, which connects the Gaza Strip with Egypt, as a result of Israel’s recent military operation. The Agreement on Movement and Access (AMA) signed between the Palestinian Authority and Israel in November 2005 stipulates the presence of a European observation mission to supervise the movement of Gazans through the Rafah crossing. However, Israel has prevented European observers from entering Gaza since 2006, following the kidnapping of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit. Ever since; the crossing remains partially open, with frequent closures. (Middle East Monitor)

Deputy Secretary-General of the Fatah revolutionary council Fahi al-Zaareer said that the movement’s seventh general convention will not be held without the participation of Fatah leaders in Gaza and other countries. Al-Zaareer told Ma’an that the convention holds major strategic importance as it renews the group’s leadership, adding that there is still a possibility of holding it this year. Al-Zaareer added that revolutionary council leaders stressed the importance of establishing a new vice presidential position in the Palestinian Authority, who will be elected at the same time as the president. (Ma’an News Agency)

6

Indirect negotiations between Palestinian factions and Israel will continue in two weeks in Cairo, a leading member of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine said. DFLP leader Qais Abd al-Karim, a member of the Palestinian negotiations delegation, told Ma’an that negotiations regarding Gaza in the aftermath of the Israeli assault were expected to continue on the 20 or 21 September. The negotiations will focus on the entry of construction material into the Gaza Strip, as Israel has not yet implemented an agreement to ease the siege and allow building supplies in, Abd al-Karim said. (Ma’an News Agency)

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas visited Cairo for a three-day visit. He attended a meeting with foreign ministers of the Arab League [where he …]. In addition, a delegation of Palestinian lawyers will discuss Israeli war crimes committed during its recent offensive on the Gaza Strip. (IMEMC)

Palestinian Authority security agencies in the West Bank stepped up their crackdown on Hamas activists. Hamas said that more than 40 of its members and supporters have been rounded up by the PA since the end of Operation protective Edge. Another 30 Hamas activists were also summoned for interrogation, Hamas said. (The Jerusalem Post)

7

A senior Israeli political source warned that Hamas has renewed its rocket manufacturing and smuggling operations and has begun rebuilding the terror tunnels destroyed by the IDF. (Ynetnews)

Amid political rumblings as a result of the recent ceasefire with Hamas, Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman spoke at a press conference, saying that while he isn’t happy with the current government coalition, elections aren’t a viable option when considering the state of the region and the threats facing Israel, including the continued militarization of Gaza. (Ynetnews)

The Israeli Foreign Ministry had proposed the deployment of an international force in the Gaza Strip in the aftermath of Operation Protective Edge, the Ha’aretz daily reported. The proposal, submitted in a document to a security cabinet meeting on 21 August, called for an international force to be deployed in the strip to help make sure Hamas would not re-arm itself and that funds would go to the rehabilitation of the enclave, which was badly hit by the 7-week operation. Among others, the proposal suggests four alternatives to deploy the force — a European Union force, a western force, a UN force or a NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) force. (Xinhua)

President Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority lambasted his faction’s long-time rival, Hamas, at a meeting of the Arab League over the weekend, deepening doubts about the durability of their reconciliation pact and potentially complicating reconstruction of the Gaza Strip. Mr. Abbas started a speech to Arab foreign ministers in Cairo discussing the bitter history of his Fatah faction’s fight with Hamas, the Islamist movement that dominates Gaza, but after a minute the meeting was closed to the news media. (The New York Times)

Scores of Palestinians rioted in East Jerusalem after hearing that a youth from their neighborhood had died of wounds suffered in a clash with Israeli police last week. Protesters in the neighborhood of Wadi al-Joz close to the walled Old City threw rocks, petrol bombs and flares at passing cars, and riot officers responded with rubber bullets during an afternoon of clashes that lasted for several hours. There were no reports of serious injury. (Reuters)

In first Major policy address since the ceasefire announced on 26 August, Pierre Krähenbühl, Commissioner-General of UNRWA, asked the Council of Foreign Ministers of the League of Arab States for US$ 47 million for Gaza recovery. (unrwa.org)

8

The foreign ministers of the Arab League Council announced on their support for the plan of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to ask the UN Security Council for a timeline to end Israel’s occupation and establish a Palestinian state on the 1967 borders, Anadolu news agency reported. (Middle East Monitor)

Israeli forces attacked the funeral procession of killed Jerusalem teenager Abd al-Majid Sinokrot after mourners marched from his neighbourhood of Wadi Joz to the Al-Aqsa Mosque. (Ma’an News Agency)

Masked men threw rocks at Israeli police forces in East Jerusalem and were met with crowd control measures by security forces. (Ynetnews)

President Abbas concluded a three-day official visit to Egypt, during which he held meetings with top officials, including his Egyptian counterpart Abdul-Fattah al-Sisi. During his visit, President Abbas spoke to the Conference of the Foreign Ministers of the Arab League and discussed the Palestinian issue. He also met with multiple Egyptian intellectuals and media figures, as well as with the Egyptian Intelligence Chief Mohammad Tuhami. (WAFA)

Speaking at a conference held by the International Institute for Counter-Terrorism in Herzliya, Israel’s Strategic Affairs Minister Yuval Steinitz said, “Every examination of what happened in Gaza, and every look at what is happening around Israel, leads to the conclusion that the demand for Israel to withdraw to the 1967 lines, without holding on to the Jordan Valley, without defensible borders, without security control, and without the demilitarization of Gaza… is a recipe for collective suicide.” (The Jerusalem Post)

Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah reaffirmed that the national consensus Government was responsible for providing for the basic and urgent needs to Gaza residents despite obstacles. (WAFA)

Azzam al-Ahmed, who headed the Palestinian delegation to the Cairo cease-fire talks during “Operation Protective Edge”, said that the Gaza Strip “won’t get a penny” unless there’s a “legitimate authority” there. He also reiterated the refusal of the Palestinian Authority to pay the salaries to tens of thousands of Hamas-appointed employees in the Gaza Strip stating that they had been appointed by an illegitimate [Hamas] Government. (The Jerusalem Post)

The Palestinian Ministry of Agriculture said Israel violated the ceasefire agreement, allowing Gaza fishermen to sail up to only five nautical miles off the coast. Israeli warships fired on fishing boats which exceeded that distance, according to a statement issued by the Ministry. (Alray) 

It was reported that senior officials from donor countries and several Arab and foreign businessmen, as well as investors were going to meet in Zurich to discuss details about the cost of the reconstruction of Gaza, and the most prominent sectors to be focused on. (Alray)

The Head of the International Federation of Journalists, Jim Boumelha said the federation will investigate the war crimes committed by Israel during “Operation Protective Edge”. Mr. Boumelha arrived at the Rafah crossing with a delegation of 12 international journalists. (Alray)

Hamas official Ismail Radwan warned that his movement would consider any international troops in the Gaza Strip as an occupying power and would treat them as such, responding to reports that the Israeli Foreign Ministry had proposed to deploy international forces in the Strip. He added that international bodies should remove the occupation and lift the blockade, rather than talk about the resistance weapons. (MEMO)

Norway’s Foreign Minister Børge Brende said in Gaza that a conference of donors on rebuilding the Strip would be held in Cairo on 12 October. He also told reporters that the world and Israel “bear the responsibility for the hard situation in Gaza.” (Ma’an News Agency, Xinhua)

Hamas stated that the movement distributed a total of $32 million to owners of houses destroyed during “Operation Protective Edge.” (PNN)

Some 38 Palestinian children injured in the last Israeli assault on Gaza left the Strip through the Rafah crossing and were set to fly to Germany for treatment. (Ma’an News Agency)

An aid convoy dispatched by the Jordan Hashemite Charity Organization arrived in the Gaza Strip. (Petra)

The new UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, opened the 27^th regular session of the Human Rights Council. While highlighting the human rights situation in the Middle East, the Commissioner said that “the Israel-Palestine conflict was another example of the need to end persistent discrimination and impunity, the recurring violence and the destructive repetition of crises in Gaza.” (unog.ch)

9

Israeli forces brutally assaulted a Palestinian youth from Artas, south of Bethlehem, according to security sources. (WAFA)

Israeli soldiers arrested 15 Palestinians in the West Bank, according to Palestinian sources. (Petra)

The Israeli navy arrested four Gaza fishermen and seized their boat. (Ynetnews)

Israel’s Channel 2 radio station reported that Israeli Deputy Finance Minister, Mickey Levy, warned that Palestine stood on the brink of a third intifada and outbreaks of violence may be imminent if moves are not taken soon towards lasting peace. (PNN)

Israeli Justice Minister Tzipi Livni proposed an initiative to deal with the Gaza Strip, which includes the disarmament of the Strip, controlling the entry of goods and funds, as well as the establishment of a “legitimate” Government which recognizes Israel and international conventions. (MEMO)

President Abbas wants the UN to replace the US as a leading peace broker between Israelis and Palestinians, senior Fatah official Nabil Sha’ath told Bloomberg in an interview. (The Jerusalem Post) 

The Jerusalem Court’s magistrate, Judge Mordechai Burstyn, decided to cancel an agreement which handed control of a section of the Western Wall complex in East Jerusalem over to the right-wing archaeological association Elad and a settler group. (Haaretz) 

The High Court of Justice ordered the demolition of uninhabited structures located on private Palestinian land built by the West Bank settlement of “Beit El.” (Haaretz) 

An analysis of Israeli Government financial subsidies to municipalities shows that the West Bank settlements have for decades been receiving vastly preferential treatment, according to a new report by the Adva Centre. (Ynetnews)

The head of the Prisoner Affairs Committee said Raed al-Jabari, a Palestinian prisoner, died in Israel’s Soroka Medical Centre after being moved there from the Eshel prison. Issa Qaraqe, the former Minister of Prisoners’ Affairs, held Israel responsible for al-Jabari’s life and demanded an investigation into the cause of his death. (Ma’an News Agency)

Around 500 economic facilities constituting 60 per cent of the production capacity in Gaza were destroyed during “Operation Protective Edge” said the spokesperson of the Palestinian Ministry of the Economy, Azmi Abdul Rahman. (Alray)

It was reported that Israel fabricated videos showing Palestinian fighters in Gaza hospitals during “Operation Protective Edge”. (IMEMC)

It appears that a serious diplomatic miscommunication between Israel and the US may have led to the breakdown of a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas during “Operation Protective Edge”, according to Army Radio. The Israelis were led to believe that Hamas agreed to an unconditional ceasefire, whereas Hamas never agreed to stop attacks on troops already on the ground in Gaza. (The Jerusalem Post)

Leila Zerrougui, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict, told the Security Council that during “Operation Protective Edge” the IDF bombed 244 schools, 75 out of which were UNRWA’s. She added that the Israeli military killed more than 500 and injured 3,106 children; more than a third under the age of 12. (Alray)

Justice Minister Tzipi Livni said that settlements do not bring security to Israel but rather cause harm to future generations of Israelis. (The Jerusalem Post) 

Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yildiz told a conference: “Without a permanent [Gaza] ceasefire that would satisfy all sides, we cannot think of any energy projects with Israel.” (MEMO)

Israeli courts extended the detentions of 74 Palestinian prisoners for “questioning and legal procedures,” a rights group said. (Ma’an News Agency)

Deputy Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammed Mustafa said that international donors are hesitant to fund the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip so long as Hamas remains in control there and the prospect of future wars looms. He said international bodies are eager for President Abbas’ forces to take on a leading role in Gaza. (Ynetnews)

Deputy Prime Minister Mohammed Mustafa, and the UN Humanitarian Coordinator, James Rawley, released the updated Gaza Crisis Appeal, which seeks $551 million to address the urgent humanitarian needs of Palestinians in Gaza affected by the recent armed conflict. (OCHA)

While prison officials contend that a Palestinian prisoner, 35, hanged himself in a bathroom at Eshel Prison, the PA is calling the “mysterious” suicide a “war crime.” PA Prisoners’ Affairs Union Chairman Qadura Fares demanded that international organizations open a formal investigation into the incident. On 10 September Israeli authorities agreed to conduct an autopsy on the Palestinian prisoner (The Jerusalem Post; Alray) 

10

A young Palestinian man was shot dead by IDF soldiers during a riot in the Amari refugee camp near Ramallah, when troops entered the area in an attempt to arrest a Hamas member. (Ynetnews)

Israeli forces arrested 13 Palestinians in the West Bank and 16 workers in Jerusalem. (Alray)

Hamas said that “Gaza is the symbol of legitimacy, and all those who incite against them and their heroic people have no legitimacy,” in response to statements made by Deputy Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa regarding the Gaza employees’ salaries. (MEMO)

The National Planning and Building Council has put on hold plans for a national park on the slopes of Mount Scopus until the needs of the two adjacent Arab neighbourhoods are assessed. (Haaretz) 

Palestinian prisoners, held in Israeli jails, started a one-day general hunger strike in protest of the mysterious death of inmate Raed al-Jabari at an Israeli hospital. Israel announced they would conduct an autopsy. (Alray, WAFA)

Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh said he refuses to link the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip with disarming the Palestinian resistance, the Anadolu news agency reported. (MEMO) 

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told Al Hayat that the UN is considering a separate investigation into the circumstances surrounding the attacks on the organization’s facilities and workers in the Gaza Strip during “Operation Protective Edge”. Ban was quoted as saying that an investigative committee of this nature – if and when it is needed – would only begin its work after the Human Rights Council probe completes its mandate. (The Jerusalem Post)

Palestine’s Ambassador to South Africa Abdul Hafiz Nofal said that the University of Johannesburg decided not to host any academic or lecturer working in Israeli universities. Nofal pointed out that the university decided not to accept Israeli students if they did not sign a pledge not to cooperate with the Israeli military and security institutions. (Alray)

Clashes erupted between Israeli forces and hundreds of Palestinians who attended the funeral of a Palestinian who was killed overnight during IDF raids near Ramallah. (The Jerusalem Post)

Israel to consolidate a Gaza ceasefire are to resume in Cairo around 20-25 September. A senior Egyptian official told AFP in Cairo that no date had been set for the negotiations to resume, but confirmed a “security delegation” had visited Ramallah, the West Bank political headquarters of Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas. (AFP)

Israeli Justice Minister Tzipi Livni called for the resumption of peace talks between Israel and Palestinian Authority, claiming that doing so would help the fight against the Islamic state terrorist group. Restarting peace talks, she said, would “create a strong axis with Arab countries that terrorism is a common enemy to them.” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held a meeting 10 September on the threat of possible infiltration by Islamic State militants into Israel and the West Bank, a senior official in Jerusalem said. (Alray)

Hamas’s exiled deputy leader Mussa Abu Marzuq said that indirect talks with Israel to consolidate a Gaza ceasefire are to resume in Cairo around 20-25 September. A senior Egyptian official told AFP in Cairo that no date had been set for the negotiations to resume, but confirmed a “security delegation” had visited Ramallah, the West Bank political headquarters of Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas. (AFP)

Israeli news site, Walla, has revealed that the United States threatened the Palestinian Authority with economic sanctions if President Mahmoud Abbas insisted on presenting his plan for the end of occupation to the UN. (Palestine News Network)

Senior Hamas Leader Mousa Abu-Marzouk called for the members of the Palestinian government based in Ramallah to visit the Gaza Strip and carry out their work. After a meeting with journalists in Gaza, Abu-Marzouk said: “From here, a call for the Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to implement all we have agreed on in Cairo, invite the temporary committee for the PLO to meet, in any place it wants, in order to carry out its tasks and to issue the needed decrees for the convention of the Palestinian Legislative Council.” He also called for the government to work on facilitating the entrance of humanitarian and relief aid into the Strip. (middleeastmonitor.com)

Israeli Military Advocate-General Maj.-Gen. Dani Efroni has opened five criminal investigations into IDF actions in the recent Gaza war, senior army sources said. Efroni has ordered an investigation into an incident surrounding the military strike on a Gaza City beach on 16 July, in which four Palestinian boys were killed. The second larger incident investigation will look into the circumstances around an IDF strike on an UNRWA school in Beit Hanun on 24 July, in which 14 Palestinians were killed. (The Jerusalem Post, The New York Times)

Speaking to journalists in Jerusalem, the EU ambassador to Israel, Lars Faaborg-Andersen, and John Gatt-Rutter, EU envoy to the West Bank and Gaza, warned that violence could re-ignite in Gaza within “months” if Israel and Hamas fail to consolidate a fragile ceasefire through serious talks. The. (AFP)

A Ministry of Health official warned a health disaster may emerge if hospital hygiene services providers stage full strikes in Gaza. Hospital cleaners walked out in a partial two-day strike on 8 September in protest to not having been paid salaries by the reconciliation government for five months. (Palestine News Network)

The Representative of India to the State of Palestine Mahesh Kumar handed over a check of US$ 1 million to UNRWA’s Director of External Relations and Communications as India’s annual contribution to UNRWA. (WAFA)

Palestinian medical sources reported that a 53-year-old Palestinian woman and a 72-year-old man had died of serious injuries suffered during Israeli bombardments in Gaza. (IMEMC, Ma’an News Agency)

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An 11-year-old Palestinian boy died of injuries he had sustained during the Israeli offensive in Gaza. (IMEMC, Ma’an News Agency)

Israeli defence forces arrested 29 Palestinians from Jenin and Hebron. (Alray)

Israeli army vehicles infiltrated Gaza borders and went nearly 300 meters into the eastern part of the town of al-Qarara to the south of the strip, according to media sources. Three bulldozers and four armoured tanks raided and razed agricultural land amid sporadic gunfire. No injuries or arrests were reported in the incident. (WAFA)

In an interview to Al-Quds newspaper, Senior Hamas official Moussa Abu Marzook said that, in light of international efforts to begin talks on a ceasefire in the wake of Operation Protective Edge, there was no obstacle in religious law to negotiations with Israel. Israeli Communications Minister Yaakov Perry, said that “as long as Hamas does not abandon the path of violence and terrorism, recognize the right of Israel to exist or accepted the conditions of the Quartet, Israel will not conduct direct negotiations with that terrorist organization”. (Ynetnews) 

“Private sector is a key driver for economic growth and job creation but Palestinian enterprises have remained hostage to political instability, unresolved conflict, and continued restrictions on movement, access, and trade,” said a report published by the World Bank. “An active private sector is much needed to fuel economic and social progress in the Palestinian territories already faced with declining income and increasing unemployment,” said Steen Jorgensen, World Bank country director for the West Bank and Gaza. (worldbank.org)

The Palestinian National Consensus Government’s Ministry of Public Works in collaboration with UNRWA and UNDP, having formed a shelter cluster, have announced the beginning of assessments in order to deliver shelter assistance packages for families displaced by the recent war in Gaza. At a joint press conference in Gaza, they noted that a total of 60,000 homes had been affected by Operation Pillar of Defence. They have estimated that it will take 20 years to rebuild Gaza and if the siege is not lifted, further construction improvement will be severely hampered. (middleeastmonitor.com)

The Russell Tribunal on Palestine will be holding an extraordinary session in Brussels on 24-25 September focusing on Israel’s most recent military operation in Gaza, the so-called “Operation Protective Edge”. Judges, legal scholars, UN officials, journalists and cultural luminaries will gather to examine alleged Israeli war crimes, crimes against humanity and, for the first time regarding Israel, the crime of genocide. The Tribunal will also examine the legal consequences and third state responsibilities arising from the above. (russeltribunalonpalestine.com)

42 Palestinian, Israeli, and international organizations are urgently calling on world leaders to stop Israeli plans to forcibly transfer thousands of Palestinian Bedouins out of their communities in the central part of the occupied West Bank and into a designated township. (www.scribd.com)

In the first in-depth documentation of the attacks that damaged Gaza schools, Human Rights Watch investigated the three attacks, which occurred on July 24 and 30, and August 3, 2014, and killed 45 people, including 17 children. Two of the three attacks Human Rights Watch investigated – in Beit Hanoun and Jabalya – did not appear to target a military objective or were otherwise unlawfully indiscriminate. The third attack in Rafah was unlawfully disproportionate if not otherwise indiscriminate. Fred Abrahams, special adviser at Human Rights Watch said “Israel has offered no convincing explanation for these attacks on schools where people had gone for protection and the resulting carnage.” (hrw.org)

President Abbas said that he had reached an agreement with Israel and the UN to allow imports of reconstruction materials into the Gaza Strip, without providing specifics. (The New York Times)

Cuba’s Government-run website reported that the country had sent six tons of drugs and medical supplies to Gaza. (AFP)

Issa Qaraqe, former Palestinian Minister for Prisoners’ Affairs, said an autopsy had shown a 35-year-old Palestinian detainee, Raed al-Jabari, had died after being tortured in an Israeli prison. An Israeli spokesperson had said he had hanged himself. (Ma’an News Agency)

The Ahrar Human Rights Centre said Israel had released a PLC member from Hamas, Khalid Yahya Said, while 33 other members were still being held in Israeli detention without charge or trial. (Ma’an News Agency)

Israeli suspicions that Hamas was operating near UNRWA schools do not justify attacks against such facilities, State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf said. (The Jerusalem Post)

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Israeli navy ships opened fire at a number of Palestinian fishing boats off the coast of the northern Gaza Strip, causing damage but no injuries. (IMEMC) 

Israeli and Palestinian sources said a 16-year-old Palestinian boy who had died on 7 September during a demonstration in East Jerusalem had been killed by a bullet, not by a fall as police had claimed. (Haaretz)

In a letter addressed to the Israeli Prime Minister, 43 Israeli intelligence soldiers said they refused to take part in mass surveillance against Palestinians or “to be tools to deepen the military regime in the occupied territories”. (Ynetnews)

Hanina Dakkak, a UNFPA technical advisor visiting the Gaza Strip, said Gaza would need 15 years of reconstruction before life would be able to return to normal, especially with regard to the psychological trauma experienced by the residents. (Ma’an News Agency)

Israeli soldiers detained four Palestinians in the West Bank. (IMEMC)

Senior Hamas official Ismail Haniyeh urged the Palestinian leadership to sign the Rome Statute and hold Israel accountable for its crimes in Gaza at the ICC. (Ma’an News

Chief of Hamas’ Political Bureau Khaled Mashaal said that the Palestinians did not need mediators to unite them as they were not divided. Mashaal, who was on a visit to Tunis, responded to an earlier message sent by President Abbas calling for the Head of the Tunisian Islamic Movement, Al-Nahdah Sheikh Rashid Al-Ghanouchi, to mediate. (IMEMC)

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Fifty Palestinian families made homeless by Israeli bombing were rehoused in UAE-donated mobile homes in Khan Yunis. (AFP)

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Landlords in the Gaza Strip are refusing to rent apartments to Hamas members and their families, said out of fear they would be targeted by Israel in the future, senior Hamas official Musa Abu Marzouq. (The Jerusalem Post)

An autopsy report released by a Palestinian coroner confirmed the cause of death of Arab teen Muhammad Abd al-Majid Sunuqrut in Jerusalem last week was a sponge-covered bullet to the head, contradicting police claims that the 16-year-old fell and fractured his skull. (The Jerusalem Post)

Hamas confirmed that one of its top officials, Emad al-Alami, was injured at the beginning of “Operation Protective Edge” in the Gaza Strip. (The Jerusalem Post)

Kuwait made its first high level ministerial visit to Palestine since the PA was created two decades ago, State media reported. During a meeting with President Abbas in Ramallah, First Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Sabah Al Khaled Al Hamad Al Sabah discussed strengthening bilateral relations. A memorandum of understanding was signed to create a joint committee for political cooperation and consultation between respective Foreign Ministries. (KUNA)

The town of Kufr Qaddum was without electricity coming from the adjacent “Kedumim” settlement since six villagers dependent on oxygen machines have been evacuated to the nearby hospital in Nablus. (IMEMC)

There will be “no direct negotiations with the Zionist enemy,” Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh announced publicly, in Gaza, and called on President Abbas to “review” his own strategy of talks with Israel. He vowed that Hamas would not disarm, “not for the rehabilitation of Gaza” and not “for anything.” (AFP) 

Some 500,000 Gaza children started school, three weeks later than scheduled. They may be given psychological counselling, UNRWA said. Israeli authorities prevented Palestinian Minister of Education Khawla Shakhshir from going to the Gaza Strip for the opening of the school year. Around 9,600 students will not begin classes as 3 schools are still housing IDPs, UNRWA said. (The Times of Malta, IMEMC, WAFA)

A boat carrying migrants from Egypt to Italy, including Palestinians fleeing from Gaza, overturned in the Mediterranean near Egypt, killing fifteen Palestinians on board, according to Al-Anadolu news agency. (IMEMC)

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Violent clashes erupted between Israeli soldiers and Palestinian youths in the town of Taqqo’, near Bethlehem after Israeli forces stormed the town. (Alray)

The State of Palestine joined the 1991 Energy Charter Treaty (ECT), becoming the 65th country to sign the treaty which establishes a multilateral framework for cross-border co-operations in the energy industry. (PNN)

The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs called, in a statement, upon human rights organizations to prosecute Israeli war criminals, bring them to justice, and list them as wanted terrorists. (WAFA)

Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah called on donor representatives to urge their respective Governments to provide more humanitarian assistance to the Gaza Strip and to support the Palestinian national consensus Government. (WAFA)

President Abbas said: “We will head to the Security Council to present our cause and find a solution to our people who seek freedom and a State with East Jerusalem as its capital.” Separately, during a meeting with visiting Chinese Special Envoy to the Middle East Gong Xiaosheng, Abbas stressed the importance of the Chinese support of the upcoming Palestinian leadership’s initiative. (WAFA, Xinhua)

More than 99 per cent of West Bank’s Area C has been confiscated by Israeli authorities to establish and expand Israeli settlements and closed military zones as well as nature reserves, the PLO Department of Culture and Information revealed in a detailed report. (MEMO)

The Palestinian Ministry of Education reported that the educational sector of the Gaza Strip sustained $33 million worth of losses, as a result of the recently-halted conflict in the Gaza Strip. (IMEMC)

A total of 56 tons of humanitarian aid sent by Venezuela were received in Egypt by the Red Crescent Society. (EVN)

Senior Fatah official Azzam al-Ahmad said that delegations of Fatah and Hamas will be meeting within the coming three days. He added that a Palestinian State would not be established except through a national unity and stated that “Israel was seeking to divide the Palestinian people”. (Alray)

It was reported that the family of detainee Reziq Abdullah Rajoub, 57, from Hebron, voiced an appeal to human rights and legal groups to intervene for his release, especially amidst his deteriorating health condition. (IMEMC)

UN Special Coordinator Robert Serry said at a launch of the UNSCO report to AHLC that in the aftermath of the recent conflict in the Gaza Strip, a fundamental change was needed in the dynamics in the enclave. He also called for renewed urgency in addressing the situation in the West Bank. “Neither Israeli closure [of Gaza] nor militant smuggling of weapons or material for tunnels nor the continued division of the Palestinians can offer anything beyond setting the stage for another, even more catastrophic war,” the report warned. (un.org)

ESCWA said that rebuilding the war-torn Syria, Iraq and the Gaza Strip will cost around $750 billion. (MEMO)

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The Israeli army installed a new surveillance room at the main entrance of the Ibrahimi Mosque, in the heart of Hebron. (PNN)

Masked men opened fire at an Israeli Border Police post in the Shuafat refugee camp in East Jerusalem in broad daylight. The event was documented in a video by local residents. (Ynetnews)

Israeli forces arrested 26 Palestinians, including 13 minors, from Jerusalem and the West Bank area of Salfit. (WAFA)

Israel is planning to forcibly transfer thousands of Palestinian Bedouins from their West Bank communities near the “E1” area into a designated township to free up land for settlement expansion. Local and international groups are urging world leaders to pressure Israel to stop this violation of Palestinian rights. (IMEMC)

The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemned Israeli plans to “empty” areas in the West Bank of Bedouin communities. The Ministry said in a statement that these plans aim to expand settlements and displace Bedouin communities from the eastern area of Jerusalem with a “loud violation” of international law and the Geneva Conventions. More than 350 Bedouin homes have been destroyed since the beginning of 2014 and several schools were shut while the Israeli authorities are preventing humanitarian aid and supplies from reaching these communities, it said. (Ma’an News Agency)

The Palestinian Ministry of National Economy said that it had issued nine new factory licenses in August. The majority of the factories would produce food, beverages, and chemical products. (Ma’an News Agency) 

A Canada-based think tank documented 26 Israeli violations after the Hamas-Israel ceasefire. (Alray)

Palestinian detainee and iconic former hunger striker Samer al-Issawi is in a deteriorating condition, his family said following a visit. (IMEMC)

The Palestinian Centre for Human rights said that its lawyers confirmed that at least four Palestinians who were arrested during “Operation Protective Edge” were subjected to torture during their detention period. (Ma’an News Agency)

During a briefing to the Security Council, Special Coordinator Serry said that the ceasefire brokered by Egypt largely held since 26 August but remained fragile, with the underlying dynamics still unaddressed. He described the levels of destruction in Gaza as “shocking” and noted that it would not be easy to revive a political process, warning that fresh thinking was urgently needed. He informed that his office had brokered an Israel-PA-UN agreement to enable reconstruction in Gaza giving a lead role to the PA with the UN monitoring the use of materials. In closing he said: “I hope the Council will have the occasion to make its own position clear … at a time when the parties and the world desperately need confidence, commitment and hope.” (un.org)

The World Bank issued a new report for the AHLC on the Palestinian economy stating it was in decline for the first time in seven years as the result of the recent Gaza war, continued Israeli and Egyptian restrictions on Palestinian trade and a drop in foreign aid. The report also spells out the repercussions of the political uncertainty and restrictions on movement and access and recommends remedial actions by all parties. (worldbank.org) 

Palestinian soccer clubs and NGOs have called on the UEFA not to award to Israel the right to host the 2020 UEFA European Championship. (Alray)

Israeli forces arrested 9 Palestinians from various parts of the West Bank. (Petra)

President Abbas will ask French President Francois Hollande to recognize Palestine as a State during his trip to Paris, as part of a broader effort to drum up international support for a new political initiative to end the Israeli-Arab conflict. Foreign Minister Riyad Malki told Ma’an News Agency the “current political climate” was better than ever before to push forward with the demands of the Palestinian people, adding that “now, more than ever,” the world was convinced that Israel was undermining the peace process with its expanded settlement activity.” (The Jerusalem Post)

President Abbas chaired a meeting of the Palestinian leadership in Ramallah over the weekend to discuss the US efforts to form a coalition to fight ISIS. Following the meeting, the Palestinian leaders said the “international campaign against terrorism was currently lacking a political dimension that would address the issues of the region.” Nabil Abu Rudeineh, spokesman for the Presidency, said that without solving the Palestinian issue “there would be no solutions for the problems of the region.” (The Jerusalem Post)

X-ray technicians went on strike in the West Bank demanding better conditions. (Ma’an News Agency)

The deputy head of the Palestinian Energy Authority said the Turkish offer to provide the Gaza Strip with a floating electricity generator for three months was still in the works but they were still awaiting the necessary permits to send it. He said that the Authority did not object to the ship docking in Israel or Egypt. Khalil stated that the electricity company managed to return to use 80 per cent of the grids damaged by Israel. A schedule of six hours of electricity a day would continue, but will return to the eight-hour schedule once more fuel was available. (Ma’an News Agency)

The Ahrar Centre for Detainees Studies and Human Rights stated that female detainee Nahil Abu Aisha, 33, had been denied family visits for six months, and is subject to ongoing violations of her rights. (IMEMC)

Israeli settlers stormed the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in East Jerusalem, via the Al-Maghariba Gate. Palestinian sources said that settlers roamed the compound under the protection of the Israeli special police. (Petra)

A mortar shell fired from Gaza landed in Israeli territory, for the first time since the end of the recent war. There were no casualties or damage. (Haaretz)

The Environmental Education Centre, which is part of the Lutheran Church, said the recent war in Gaza had left up to four million tons of rubble that could not be removed without around $30 million in aid. (NBC)

A number of Israeli military vehicles invaded Tequoa town, east of Bethlehem, and clashed with local youths. Soldiers fired rubber-coated metal bullets and gas bombs, and caused several residents to suffer from tear gas inhalation. (IMEMC)

The Yesha Council announced that Israel’s settler population in the West Bank had increased by two per cent in the first half of the year. (Ynetnews)

Israeli police said they had arrested overnight 22 Palestinians in East Jerusalem, including 13 minors, on suspicion of throwing stones and Molotov cocktails. (Ynetnews) 

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The Israeli army seized Palestinian-owned tractors and other equipment in Al-Ras Al-Ahmar, a village east of Tubas in the northern Gaza Strip. (WAFA)

Around 40 Israeli settlers and Yeshiva students, guarded by Israeli police, stormed the Al-Aqsa Mosque through the Moroccan gate and headed to the Dome of the Rock. (Alray)

A number of Israeli settlers bulldozed agricultural land belonging to residents of Deir Estia and Hares villages, north of Salfit in the central West Bank. (IMEMC)

Confrontations between Israeli soldiers and Palestinian residents in Nablus erupted after around 700 settlers stormed Joseph’s Tomb under heavy army protection. The soldiers fired tear gas canisters and stun grenades at the residents. (WAFA)

The Israeli army arrested nine Palestinians in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. (WAFA)

73 Palestinian prisoners threatened to take protest measures that could include a hunger strike, against their continued detention. They were arrested in the last three months in violation of the 2011 Gilad Shalit prisoner swap that freed them, in a massive detention campaign across the West Bank carried out by Israel in the wake of the disappearance and death of three Israeli teenagers from a Jewish settlement. An international campaign will be launched on 19 September at the meeting of the Human Rights Council of the United Nations, calling for the release of the 73 detainees, Issa Qaraqe, the former Palestinian Minister of Prisoners Affairs said. (Ma’an News Agency; Alray)

The Middle East Quartet called for a quick start of the rebuilding of the war-ravaged Gaza Strip before the current truce with Israel ends in renewed violence. “The precarious situation in Gaza and southern Israel, the danger that violence could flare up again at any point, are precisely the reasons to move as quickly as possible on the short-term and long-term recovery efforts,” Quartet envoy Tony Blair wrote “This is not about putting the pieces back together in Gaza, this is about making substantive, lasting change, uniting Gaza and the West Bank and opening Gaza back up to the world,” in the introduction to a report he is to present in New York on 22 September to a session of the Ad Hoc Liaison Committee, which coordinates international donor support for the Palestinians. (Ma’an News Agency)

A deal reached over the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip is set to be implemented in the coming months with the amount of building materials entering the territory expected to quadruple, James Rawley, the Deputy Special Coordinator said in the first details of the agreement to emerge. Up to 800 truckloads of construction materials will enter Gaza per day – a jump from the 200 or so trucks that enter now, he said. (Ynetnews.com)

The Gazan Ministry of Culture called on the Arab Publishers’ Union to help supply the Gaza libraries with books after the late Gaza conflict partially or fully destroyed over 200 libraries. The number of books destroyed in the conflict was about 20,000. (Alray)

Israeli forces issued a decree banning farmers from irrigating crops on their lands in Atov, located in the proximity of Tubas in the West Bank, threatening to arrest Palestinians who cultivate their land. Palestine’s Safa news agency reported that the IDF had destroyed the water system three days prior, in continuation of a policy that deprives the Atov area of all kinds of infrastructure. (middleastmonitor.com)

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An Israeli army spokesperson said there had been no rocket attack from the