News of Terrorism and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict (December 15-9, 2020)

The Gaza Strip

• In the wake of the shortage of ICU beds for Covid-19 patients and the increase in the number of seriously and critically ill patients, the ministry of health in Gaza said that Covid-19 patients were being hospitalized in the general wards of the various hospitals. That was done after all the ICU beds initially prepared in the European Hospital and the Turkish Hospital were occupied (Dunia al-Watan, December 15, 2020).

Judea and Samaria

Rocket and mortar shell fire into Israel

• Relative quiet continues in Gaza. This past week no rocket hits were identified in Israeli territory.

Monthly Distribution of Rocket and Mortar Shell Fire

Annual Distribution of Rocket Hits

Palestinians riot again in the village of Mughayir

• On December 11 a video was uploaded to the social media of four young Palestinians throwing rocks and stones at an IDF officer during a riot in the village of Mughayir, northeast of Ramallah. Note: On December 4, during a riot in the village where Palestinians also threw rocks and stones, a young Palestinian boy was killed after having been shot in the stomach (the event is under investigation by the IDF’s Criminal Investigation Division).

Other events

• In Judea and Samaria Palestinians continued throwing stones and Molotov cocktails. The more prominent events were the following:^[2]
  • December 14, 2020: Stones were thrown at an bus southeast of Ramallah. No casualties were reported; the bus was damaged.
  • December 12, 2020: Stones were thrown at a bus south of Nablus. No casualties or damage were reported.
  • December 10, 2020: Stones were thrown at a vehicle southwest of Ramallah. No casualties were reported; the vehicle was damaged.
  • December 10, 2020: Stones were thrown east of Jerusalem. No casualties were reported.
  • December 10, 2020: Stones were thrown at a vehicle southeast of Hebron. No casualties were reported.
  • December 9, 2020: Stones were thrown at a bus southwest of Hebron. No casualties were reported
  • December 9, 2020: Stones were thrown at a bus east of Jerusalem. No casualties were reported; the bus was damaged. Three suspects were detained.
  • December 9, 2020: Stones were thrown at a bus in Hawwara (south of Nablus). No casualties were reported; the bus was damaged.
  • December 8, 2020: Stones were thrown at a bus north of Jericho. No casualties were reported. The front windshield of the bus was damaged.

Significant terrorist attacks in Judea and Samaria since January 2019^[3]

Senior Hamas figures’ statements on the 33rd anniversary of the movement’s founding

• Given the Covid-19 epidemic, Hamas decided to cancel its traditional rally in Gaza City to celebrate the 33^rd anniversary of its founding. Senior Hamas figures gave speeches and were interviewed for the event, the main motifs of which were the following:
• “The resistance in all its forms” (i.e., terrorist attacks) will continue until the realization of the Palestinian people’s “rights.” The West Bank is the most important battlefield for waging the conflict with Israel. Anyone who thinks the West Bank is calm or has been deterred [from attacks] is seriously mistaken (Isma’il Haniyeh, head of Hamas’ political bureau, Hamas website, December 13, 2020).

• Hamas rejects any territorial compromise regarding the land of Palestine, which is Islamic land. Hamas is examining all the ways to reach the Israeli heartland, whether with rockets, tunnels or any other way. Hamas will fight Israel with all its forces, whether with knives or suicide bombing attacks (Fathi Hamad, a member of Hamas’ political bureau, al-Aqsa TV, December 12, 2020).

• Hamas made a meaningful contribution to the release of Palestinian prisoners, Hamas and the “resistance” operatives work quietly and forcefully for the sake of releasing additional prisoners (Isma’il Haniyeh, Hamas website, December 13, 2020).
• Normalization, security coordination and talks with Israel are an illusion that will disappear before the eyes of their creators and supporters, because only through the use of force can liberation be achieved (senior Hamas figure Nasim Yassin, Palinfo, December 13, 2020).

Hamas makes preparations for its general elections

• On December 5 the central election committee of the Hamas prisoners in Israeli jails announced the results of the elections to the supreme leadership committee of prisoners for 2021-2022. According to the announcement the elections were held in four stages: election to the General Shura Council, composed of 51 members from all the jails; the election of 11 members to the supreme leadership committee from among the members of the General Shura Council. To the supreme leadership committee are added the leaders of the Hamas prisoners in the large jails (Ktziot, Ofer, Rimon and Megiddo), so that the leadership committee has 15 members, who choose the chairman and the deputy chairman of the supreme leadership committee.
• Prisoner Salameh al-Qatawi from Birzeit was chosen to chair the supreme leadership committee; prisoner Abd al-Nasser Issa was chosen as his deputy. Salameh Muhammad Abd al-Rahman al-Qatawi, 38, was detained in August 2009. He is serving a term of 15 years (AsraMedia website, December 6, 2020). He is a Hamas operative from Birzeit who was involved in three suicide bombing attacks against Israel during the second intifada in 2002: the suicide bombing attack in Café Moment in Jerusalem; the suicide bombing attack in the student cafeteria at the Mt. Scopus campus of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem and the suicide bombing attack in the Sheffield Club in Rishon LeTzion.

• Palestinian commentators on websites claimed that Musa Abu Marzouq wants to again fill a senior position in the Hamas leadership and plans to run in the internal Hamas elections, expected to be held during the first half of 2021. The commentators are divided on the question of whether he will run for the position of Hamas leader or if he aspires to the role of deputy chairman of the Hamas political bureau. Commentator Hussein Alian claimed that Musa Abu Marzouq will not be able to run against Isma’il Haniyeh or Khaled Mashaal for the position of Hamas leader. However, he will try to return to the position of deputy chairman of the political bureau with a wider field of authority (al-Mushraq News, December 8, 2020). Commentator Ahmed Abd al-Rauf said the problem of Musa Abu Marzouq, as compared with Isma’il Haniyeh and Khaled Mashaal, is that he lacks their charisma and popularity, while both of them have thousands of supporters (Dunia al-Watan, December 7, 2018).

Egyptian security delegation visits Gaza

• An Egyptian security delegation, headed by General Ahmed Abd al-Khalq, who holds the Palestinian portfolio in Egyptian General Intelligence, visited the Gaza Strip for a few hours on December 9. Hamas reported that its own delegation, headed by Khalil al-Haya, met with the Egyptians and discussed a variety of issues with them.
• Among the issues discussed were the internal Palestinian reconciliation, ways to force Israel to lift the “siege,” filling the needs of the distressed residents of Gaza and ways to deal with the coronavirus epidemic. They also discussed opening the Rafah Crossing to meet the needs of travelers (Hamas’ Telegram channel, December 9, 2020). Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem said the Egyptian delegation discussed the issues of the [internal Palestinian] reconciliation and the lull. Sources close to the Egyptian delegation reported that the talks also dealt with the Israelis held in the Gaza Strip (Ma’an, December 9, 2020).

Iranian aid distributed in Gaza

• On October 22, 2020, according to reports the al-Ansar Charity Association, which operates in the Gaza Strip, in cooperation with the Iranian Shaheed Foundation, distributed a donation from Iran to the families of Palestinian shaheeds killed in Operation Protective Edge.^[4] Nasser al-Sheikh Ali, responsible for media bulletins from the al-Ansar Charity Association, said that the donation of $700,000 was distributed to 1,700 families of Operation Protective Edge shaheeds. He thanked Iran for its support of the Palestinian cause despite the “siege” imposed on [Iran], as opposed to the PA and the PLO which had abandoned their responsibility for the families of Operation Protective Edge shaheeds and did not pay them allotments. Representatives of the families also thanked Iran (Paltoday, October 22, 2020; al-Hadath, October 22, 2020).
• The al-Ansar Charity Association Facebook page no longer exists, apparently having been closed by Facebook. The al-Ansar website was hacked and is inactive, while its Twitter account has two death notices from the end of November 2020 about the deaths of the former chairman of the Iranian Shaheed Foundation and of the chairman of the Palestine Shaheed Institution (other notices on the site are from March 2019).

Mahmoud Abbas visits Qatar

• On December 13 Mahmoud Abbas arrived in Qatar for a two-day visit. He was accompanied by Riyad al-Maliki, Palestinian foreign minister; Hussein al-Sheikh, chairman of the PA’s civil authority; and Majed Faraj, head of Palestinian general intelligence. On December 14 Mahmoud Abbas met with the emir of Qatar, Tamim bin Hamas al-Thani. They discussed instituting closer relations between Qatar and the Palestinians and the Palestinian cause. Mahmoud Abbas thanked al-Thani for his support of the Palestinians (Mahmoud Abbas’ Facebook page, December 14, 2020). The visit followed Mahmoud Abbas’ visits last week to Jordan and Egypt, which in ITIC assessment dealt with bilateral relations and coordinating positions in relation to the new American administration.

Palestinian reactions to normalization of Israeli-Moroccan relations

• However, senior figures in the PA and PLO condemned Morocco’s move, although they remained relatively restrained. Hamas, however, assailed Morocco and called the normalization of relations “treason.” The main statements were the following:
  • Nabil Sha’ath, advisor to Mahmoud Abbas, said in response to the announcement that it was forbidden to allow normalization of relations with Israel unless it withdrew from the lands it occupied in 1967, which would make it possible to establish an independent Palestinian state with east Jerusalem as its capital, and allow the Palestinian refugees to realize their “right of return” (al-Andalou News, December 11, 2020).
  • Bassam al-Salhi, a member of the PLO’s Executive Committee, said that any normalization which contradicted the Arab peace plan was unacceptable. He added that normalization has a very negative influence on the Palestinian cause because of the continuation of the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories and its refusal to implement UN resolutions or implement the Arab peace plan (al-Andalou News, December 11, 2020).
  • Jibril Rajoub, secretary of Fatah’s Central Committee, in an interview with the Hezbollah-affiliated Lebanese al-Mayadeen TV station, said that Morocco’s agreement came at the expense of Palestine and Jerusalem. He said he wondered what the connection was between Palestine and the Western Sahara. He stressed that Netanyahu is the enemy of the entire [Arab] nation and called on the Arab peoples to take a stand in the face of the collapse of the official Arab position (al-Mayadeen TV website, December 11, 2020).
  • Hamas said in a statement that the announcement of the normalization of relations between Morocco and Israel was a Moroccan betrayal of the Palestinians and contrary to the historical position that opposed Israel and the existence of relations with it. Hamas called on the people of Morocco to express their rejection of the agreement and continue the boycott of Israel, because Israel (“the Zionist enemy”) is a “malignant cancer” (Hamas’ Telegram channel, December 10, 2020). The Palestinian Islamic Jihad said in a statement that the step taken by the Moroccan regime was a betrayal of the basic principles of Islam and Arabism, and an abandonment of Jerusalem and Palestine (PIJ website, December 10, 2018).

Clashes continue in the Balata refugee camp in Nablus

• Palestinian security sources reported that on December 14 four security force operatives were injured by a Molotov cocktail during an activity in the Balata refugee camp. Three were slightly injured but the injuries of the fourth were serious. The Palestinians who threw the Molotov cocktail fled into the refugee camp. The sources said that since the beginning of the events in the refugee camp, 40 security force operatives had been injured in clashes with armed residents (Ma’an, December 14, 2020).

   
Right: An operative of the Palestinian security forces injured in clashes with armed Palestinians in the Balata refugee camp in Jenin (Ma’an, December 14, 2020). Left: Dispersing rioters with tear gas during clashes in the Balata refugee camp refugee camp (Facebook page of the Balata refugee camp, December 13, 2020).