Latest News Headlines of Palestine
Member of Fatah Central Committee and the Head of the General Authority of Civil Affairs, Hussein al-Sheikh, said today in a tweet that there’s an Israeli approval of the second batch of the Palestinian family reunification file, which amounts to 10,000 approvals from all governorates.
Source: Palestinian News & Info Agency
Finland is making a contribution of €2 million to the Palestinian Authority to support the payment of medical referrals to East Jerusalem Hospitals.
This contribution is channeled through the EU Program of Direct Financial Support to the Palestinian Authority ‘PEGASE mechanism’.
This support will help the Palestinian Authority in meeting its obligations towards East Jerusalem hospitals against the backdrop of the PA’s ongoing dramatic fiscal crisis and the socio-economic implications of the COVID-19 pandemic, said a statement issued by the Office of the European Union Representative.
It will also help the East Jerusalem Hospitals to maintain critical medical services to Palestinians in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and Gaza.
Together with European Union Member States, the EU has been supporting the Palestinian Authority since 2012 with regular contributions to the payment of referrals to East Jerusalem Hospitals that have reached over €140 million since then.
These hospitals are an integral part of the Palestinian healthcare system providing specialized services that cannot be found elsewhere in the West Bank and in Gaza.
“The East Jerusalem hospitals are among the few Palestinian institutions still working in the city and provide essential quality health care services that are not available elsewhere in Palestine.
Amid the Covid-19 pandemic and its unprecedented implications for the well-being of the Palestinian population, they have played a crucial role as an integral part of the Palestinian health sector,’’ said European Union Representative Sven Kühn von Burgsdorff.
“The European Union and its Member States support these hospitals to ensure that they continue to serve Palestinian patients from all over the occupied Palestinian territory. By this, we also help preserve the Palestinian identity of East Jerusalem that is challenged each day by Israel’s ongoing occupation practices,’’ he added.
“Finland remains committed to supporting the high-quality health care for Palestinians from East Jerusalem, Gaza, and the West Bank. Our direct financial support through PEGASE creates stability and alleviates life of Palestinian families in need of specialized health services”, said Ambassador Päivi Peltokoski, Representative of Finland.
Source: Palestinian News & Info Agency
Eight Palestinians are missing after a boat carrying migrants sank in the Aegean Sea, off the Greek coast, and efforts are underway to know what happened to them, today said Ahmad al-Deek, from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates.
He said that the ministry is in touch with the Greek authorities to obtain more information regarding the fate of the eight missing Palestinians.
Source: Palestinian News & Info Agency
President Mahmoud Abbas today declared a 30-day state of emergency in Palestine to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.
The state of emergency was first declared in March 2020 after the discovery of the first cases of coronavirus in the Palestinian territories and has been either extended or re-instated every 30 days since then.
The Palestinian basic law allows a one-time extension of the state of emergency, and if it has to be extended for a longer time, a new declaration should be issued.
The state of emergency gives the government the power to act in any way it deems necessary to combat the pandemic.
Source: Palestinian News & Info Agency
Israeli occupation forces opened their artillery fire today at two locations in the north of the Gaza Strip injuring three people, reported WAFA correspondent.
He said that the Israeli artillery targeted a location east of Beit Lahya and another east of Beit Hanoun injuring three farmers who were working in their lands near the border fence. The three were taken to a hospital in Beit Hanoun for treatment.
Israel claims shot were fired from Gaza at Israelis who were working on the border fence lightly injuring one and prompting its retaliatory attack.
Source: Palestinian News & Info Agency
Israeli occupation forces today detained four Palestinians, including a disabled person, from various parts of the West Bank, according to local and security sources.
They said that Israeli forces re-arrested a former prisoner from Kharas town, northwest of the southern West Bank city of Hebron.
Israeli soldiers also detained a 27-year-old disabled person from Tuba, one of the 19 hamlets comprising Masafer Yatta in the southern Hebron hills.
In Bethlehem district, the military vehicles stormed Dheisha refugee camp, where the soldiers detained a resident after ransacking his family house.
The soldiers conducted a similar raid in Husan village, west of the city, where they forcibly entered and searched two houses, including that of a prisoner’s family.
In the northern West Bank, the sources confirmed a raid in Anabta town, east of Tulkarm, resulting in the detention of one person.
In the central West Bank, Israeli soldiers barged their way into the industrial zone of al-Bireh, triggering confrontations. None was detained or injured though.
On Tuesday evening, Israeli police briefly detained a young man after brutally assaulting him at a gas station at the entrance of al-Issawiya, which lies on the eastern slopes of Jerusalem.
Police also beat up a 70-year-old woman in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Jabal al-Mukabbir. The woman was rushed to a hospital for treatment.
Israeli forces frequently raid Palestinian houses almost on a daily basis across the West Bank on the pretext of searching for “wanted” Palestinians, triggering clashes with residents.
Source: Palestinian News & Info Agency
Israeli forces today attacked the staff and students of a school in Tuqu‘ town, east of Bethlehem city, according to official sources.
The Ministry of Education (MoE) said that a number of Israeli soldiers attempted to break into the campus of Tuqu‘ Secondary Boys School,l when they were stopped by the school staff.
Following a scuffle with the staff for preventing them from breaking into the school campus, the soldiers beat the teachers with riffle butts.
The school principal and a teacher were left with bruises on their bodies and faces.
The soldiers fired tear gas and concussion bombs inside the school, causing suffocation caee cases among dozens of students and staff.
MoE pointed that Tuqu‘ schools are a frequent target of Israeli military assaults, including opening gunfire towards the schools, obstructing students’ access to them and heavy military deployments in the surrounding area.
Attacks on education by Israeli military forces and Israeli settlers in the Palestine constitute grave violations of the right to education and development. These attacks are particularly prevalent in the most vulnerable areas of the West Bank – Area C, H2 and Jerusalem.
Israel has constructed a section of the apartheid wall near Tuqu‘, confiscating and isolating some 4,843 dunams of fertile land for colonial settlement activities and pushing the villagers into a crowded enclave, a ghetto, surrounded by walls, settlements and military installations.
Source: Palestinian News & Info Agency
The Israeli municipality of West Jerusalem today demolished two Palestinian-owned houses in occupied East Jerusalem under the pretext of construction without a permit.
WAFA correspondent in Jerusalem said that Israeli police sealed off the vicinity of a building in the neighborhood of Jabal Al-Mukabber owned by a local resident before the municipality bulldozer proceeded to demolish it.
Residents clashed with the Israeli forces at the location, who fired teargas and rubber bullets at the protesters causing suffocation.
In Silwan neighborhood, Israeli municipality staff demolished another house for a local resident, also under the pretext of construction without a permit.
The house owner said he built it three years ago after he got married to live in it.
Palestinians in occupied Jerusalem say they are forced to build without permits because the Israeli municipality rarely issues permits to the city’s Palestinian citizens as a way to reduce their number by forcing them to leave it and find accommodation and work elsewhere.
Source: Palestinian News & Info Agency
American actress Susan Sarandon has once again reiterated her support for Palestine and the Palestinians.
The 75-year-old actress tweeted a picture that included a tweet by South Africa’s late retired Archbishop and anti-apartheid icon, Desmond Tutu, which said: “Israel will never get true security and safety through oppressing another people. A true peace can ultimately be built only on justice.”
The “Thelma & Louise” star has always spoken in favor of the Palestinian people on several occasions. Back in May, she tweeted “I stand with the Palestinian People fighting against the apartheid government of Netanyahu.”
She also praised US model of Palestinian origin, Bella Hadid, “for having the bravery to stand in solidarity with her people.”
Sarandon was also among the high-profile celebrities who signed an open letter criticizing Israel for labeling six Palestinian human rights groups as “terror organizations.”
Source: Palestinian News & Info Agency
The Ministry of Health said today that six people have died of coronavirus in Palestine in the last 24 hours as 291 new cases were recorded including six of the Omicron variant, bringing the total Omicron cases confirmed in Palestine so far to 54.
At the same time, President Mahmoud Abbas today declared a 30-day state of emergency in Palestine to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Ministry said four of the deaths were confirmed in the West Bank where 205 new cases were recorded, including the six tested with the Omicron variant, and 227 corona patients have recovered.
Two deaths and 86 new cases were recorded in the Gaza Strip while 120 patients have recovered.
Only one Omicron case was confirmed in Gaza, while the remaining 53 cases were in the West Bank, said the Ministry of Health.
It said that 55 corona patients are critical and are getting treatment in intensive care, including 19 on ventilators, as 115 other patients are being hospitalized.
Source: Palestinian News & Info Agency
Baghdad, The symbolic funeral of the martyrs of Al-Qaim began this morning, from the Palestine Street area towards Tahrir Square, on the occasion of the one-year anniversary of their martyrdom, with the participation of the Popular Mobilization Forces and the security forces from the police and the army.
Source: National Iraqi News Agency
While the Palestinian economy began to recover gradually in 2021 in light of the breaking of the epidemiological curve of the COVID-19 pandemic and despite the almost complete cessation of external support, forecast for 2022, however, shows a slowdown in the growth of the Palestinian economy, according to a joint press release by the Palestine Monetary Authority (PMA) and the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) on the performance of the Palestinian economy for 2021 along with the economic forecast for 2022.
The Palestinian economy recorded an increase of 6% during the year 2021 driven by the improvement in the level of aggregate demand, consumption and investment, while remaining below its pre-pandemic level, which led to an increase in the GDP per capita by 3.5%, said the press release.
As for the quarterly level, where the first quarter of 2021 witnessed a decline in GDP by 6% compared to the same period of 2020, and as a result of easing the severity of the measures resulting from the pandemic, the second quarter recorded a remarkable increase of 19%. Such increase will continue during the third quarter of 7%. It is also estimated that this recovery will continue through the fourth quarter of the same year.
Most economic activities witnessed an increase in the value-added during the year 2021 compared to the year 2020. Accordingly, the construction activity recorded the highest growth value added by 8%, and the industry activity grew by 5.5%, followed by the services activity, which increased by 5% during 2021, while the agricultural activity witnessed a decrease of 3%.
The levels of domestic aggregate demand during 2021 witnessed a remarkable improvement, as the aggregate consumption in Palestine, in both public and private sectors, increased by 5.5%, and aggregate investment by 12.5% compared to the previous year.
In terms of the foreign trade movement in Palestine, which is represented in total exports and imports, the initial estimates indicated an increase in the value of exports by 13% compared to 2020. The value of imports increased by 11% during the same period, which led to a rise in the trade balance deficit by 10% compared to the previous year.
According to preliminary estimates, and as a result of the increase of the prices of raw materials and shipping, the average of overall consumer prices index in Palestine recorded an increase of 1.2% during 2021 compared with 2020.
The PMA and the PCBS also issued two reports forecasting the main indicators of the Palestinian economy for 2022. The results of this scenario were reached by assuming the continuation of the gradual return of the Palestinian economic activity to its level prior to the health crisis of COVID- 19 pandemic, in light of the expectation that the health situation will continue to stabilize. In addition, there would be no serious changes on the existing political situation with the Israeli side, and the assumption that the financial situation of the Palestinian government would continue to be difficult in light of the continued deduction of an additional part of the clearance revenues by the Israeli side, as well as the continued abstention of some donor countries from providing aid and grants. This situation has been reflected in the main assumptions used in constructing the forecasts.
• At the real sector, it was assumed that some indicators that affect the levels of aggregate consumption and investment will continue to improve, in light of the cession of the uncertainty associated with the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Regarding the fiscal sector, it was assumed that the financial situation of the Palestinian government will continue to be difficult in light of the continued deduction of an additional part of the clearance revenues by the Israeli side and the continued abstention of some donor countries from providing aid and grants.
• As for the external sector, the Israeli side continues to impose restrictions on the movement of individuals and internal trade, and the persistence of obstacles to import and export movement in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
• In the labor sector, assumptions indicate a growth in the levels of employment and local employment, where the number of Palestinian employees in Israel at a rate close to its growth rate during previous years. Thus, the stability of the growth rate of financial compensation of employees in Israel.
• The continued flow of current transfers to the private sector, based on estimates of their growth in 2021.
• As for the monetary sector, it was assumed that the growth of credit facilities provided to the private sector has been the same level in the previous year. With the increasing amount of funding provided to productive, service and pioneering economic projects through the Estidama Fund.
According to these assumptions, economic forecasts indicate that the Palestinian economy with a possibility for achieving real growth during 2022 approximately by 3%, compared to an estimated growth of 6% in 2021, with a slight increase in GDP per capita during 2022 compared to 2021, provided that this performance will be driven by the continued recovery of components on both the demand and supply sides.
On the demand side, it is expected that overall consumption levels will continue to improve, contributing by 2.2% to the expected growth, and investment by 2.3%. As for the external sector, it is expected that exports will contribute by 0.8%, and it is expected that the levels of demand for imports will rise in light of the improvement in consumption levels. Therefore, imports are likely to contribute to dampening the growth rate by about 2.1%.
Source: Palestinian News & Info Agency