News of Terrorism and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict (May 29- June 4, 2019)

The return march of May 31, 2019

• About 7,300 Palestinians attended the return march activities on May 31, 2019, whose theme was “Global Jerusalem Day.” During the events “coffins” and pictures of American president Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu were burned. Hamas deployed its operatives to restrain the demonstrators and control the events. Nevertheless, there were two attempts to penetrate into Israeli territory and an IED and two hand grenades were thrown at the security fence in the Gaza Strip.

      
Effigies of Trump and Netanyahu with sandals attached to humiliate them, and a “coffin” with a picture of Netanyahu and an inscription reading “the deal of the century,” in the return camp in eastern Khan Yunis (Palestine Live Facebook page; bottom left picture from the Supreme National Authority Facebook page, May 31, 2019).

    
Burning a “coffin” of the “deal of the century” in the return camp in the central Gaza Strip. The coffin is decorated with a picture of Trump (Supreme National Authority Facebook page, May 31, 2019).

• The ministry of health in the Gaza Strip reported that 16 Palestinians were injured by IDF fire (al-Andalou News, May 31, 2019). The Supreme National Authority of the Great Return March called on Palestinians to join the Eid al-Fitr^[3] prayer held in the return camp in eastern Gaza City (Eid al-Fitr is expected to begin on the evening of June 4, 2019) (Supreme National Authority Facebook page, June 1, 2019).

Statements by senior Hamas figures

• Khalil al-Haya, a member of Hamas’ political bureau, participated in the return march in eastern Gaza City. He called on all the Arab and Islamic states, and all those invited to the economic workshop in Bahrain, to adhere to the united inter-Arab decision against the “deal of the century” (Hamas website, May 31, 2019).
• Ahmed Bahar, deputy chairman of the Legislative Council, said the “resistance” [i.e., the terrorist organizations] in the Gaza Strip would continue to be the shield defending Jerusalem from Israel’s acts of aggression. He warned that the Palestinians and the “resistance” factions would not remain silent about the “crimes of the occupation” against Islam’s holy sites, which were a red line for all Muslims all over the globe (Facebook page of the Palestinian Legislative Council in the Gaza Strip, May 31, 2019).

    
Ahmed Bahar at the return camp in eastern Rafah. The backdrop is a large picture of the Dome of the Rock with a Palestinian flag and a key symbolizing the [so-called] “right of return” (Facebook page of the Palestinian Legislative Council in the Gaza Strip, May 31, 2019).

• Senior Hamas figure Isma’il Radwan gave a speech at the return camp in eastern Gaza City. He said that on Jerusalem Day they stressed that Jerusalem and “Palestine” were the heart of the conflict with “world Zionism” and the “occupation.” He thanked Iran and the “resistance axis” for their support of the “resistance” [terrorist organizations], and called for the formation of a Palestinian-Arab-Islamic front against the “deal of the century” (Isma’il Radwan’s Facebook page, May 31, 2019).
• Muhammad Abu Iskar, senior Hamas figure and a member of the Supreme National Authority, stressed Hamas’ rejection of the “deal of the century” and the economic workshop in Bahrain. He added that if Israel did not adhere to the understandings, “rough measures” [i.e., more violent activities] would be used again (Supreme National Authority Facebook page, May 31, 2019).

Jerusalem Day events in the Gaza Strip

    
Yahya al-Sinwar gives a speech at the conference held in Gaza City to make Jerusalem Day. (Right: Huna al-Masira on YouTube, May 30, 2019. Left: Palinfo Twitter account, May 30, 2019).

• During the conference held for Jerusalem Day, the moderator announced that Iran had decided to give $651,000 for the 1,540 families of shaheeds whose payments the Palestinian Authority (PA) no longer provided. The families of unmarried shaheeds would receive $200 each, the families of married shaheeds would receive $600 each. The money was also intended for 242 Palestinians injured during the return marches. The moderator added that Iran would continue supporting Palestinians injured in the return marches in the Gaza Strip (Safa, May 30, 2019, Radio Sawt al-Aqsa, May 30, 2019).

• During the past week Palestinians continued launching incendiary and IED balloons from the Gaza Strip into Israeli territory.^[5] Some of the attacks were the following:
  • June 4, 2019: Three fires were set in the Be’eri Forest by incendiary balloons from the Gaza Strip (Israeli media, June 4, 2019).
  • June 4, 2019: A fire was set in the western Negev, apparently by an incendiary balloon (Israeli media, June 4, 2019).
  • June 2, 2019: An incendiary balloon was located in a citrus grove hear the southern Israeli city of Qiryat Malachi (Red Alert Twitter account, June 4, 2019).
  • June 2, 2019: Two fires were set in the Kissufim Forest in the western Negev by an incendiary balloon launched from the Gaza Strip (Jewish National Fund (JNF), June 2, 2019).
  • May 31, 2019: Two fires were set in the western Negev by incendiary balloons launched from the Gaza Strip (Israel Fire and Rescue Services, southern district, May 31, 2019).
  • In the meantime, operatives of the units and groups launching incendiary and IED balloons continue to threaten Israel:
  • On May 31, 2019 the Sons of al-Zawari unit in the al-Maghazi refugee camp posted a threat to Israel on their Facebook page, threatening they would “burn the [communities] near the Gaza Strip border” in retaliation for the killing of a Palestinian in Bethlehem and the killing of the Palestinian who carried out the stabbing attack at the Nablus Gate. They posted another message threatening to “turn Israel into hell” in retaliation for harming worshippers at al-Aqsa mosque (Facebook page of the Sons of al-Zawari in al-Maghazi, May 31, 2019).
  • A group calling itself Ahfad al-Nasser [“the descendants of the victor”] in the central Gaza Strip threatened they would cause the Israeli communities near the Gaza Strip to “go up in flames” if Israel did not commit itself to implementing the [alleged] understandings of the lull. It was also noted that the activities of the Night Harassment Units would be renewed immediately after Eid al-Fitr if Israel evaded implementing the understandings [allegedly] reached with the Palestinian factions (Facebook page of Ahmed al-Najar, a photographer for the Gaza News website, June 2, 2019). Another group, this one calling itself “the Sons of al-Quqa units” of the Popular Resistance Movement threatened that if the siege of the Gaza Strip is not lifted, “we will burn all your homes and all your fields” (Facebook page of Hitham al-Asraq, a member of the Popular Resistance Movement leadership and head of its information bureau, June 3, 2019).

      
Operatives of the Ahfad al-Nasser unit in the central Gaza Strip launch incendiary balloons, apparently on June 2, 2019 (Ahmed al-Najar’s Facebook page, June 2, 2019).

Rocket and mortar shell fire

• This past week no rocket hits were identified in Israeli territory.

Monthly Distribution of Rocket and Mortar Shell Fire since January 2018

Annual Distribution of Rocket Hits

Double stabbing attack in the Old City of Jerusalem, May 31, 2019

• On the morning of May 31, 2019, a Palestinian terrorist who entered the Old City through the Nablus Gate stabbed an Israeli civilian. As the Palestinian fled the scene he stabbed another Israeli civilian. Policemen shot and killed the terrorist. The two Israelis were evacuated to hospitals, one critically wounded and the other slightly wounded (Israel Police Force’s Facebook page, May 31, 2019).
• The Palestinian media reported that the Palestinian terrorist was Yusuf Waji’ Abd al-Karim Sahwil, 18, from the village of Abwein (north of Ramallah) (Palinfo Twitter account, May 31, 2019). Both Fatah and Hamas (separately) issued mourning notices. On June 2, 2019, Muafaq Sahwil, the Fatah secretary in Ramallah, gave a speech in the mourning tent erected by the family in the village of Abwein. He praised the attack, which he called revenge against Israel and the United States, and called for the continuation of the “struggle and resistance” against Israel (Facebook page of the village of Abwein, June 2, 2019).

    
Right: Fatah mourning notice issued for the death of the “shaheed, the hero,” Yusuf Waji’ Abd al-Karim Sahwil (Facebook page of the village of Abwein, June 1, 2019). Left: Hamas mourning notice issued for its “son the shaheed, the hero,” Yusuf Waji’ Sahwil (Palinfo Twitter account, May 31, 2019).

Other events on the ground

• In Judea and Samaria. Palestinians continued throwing stones and Molotov cocktails at Israeli security forces and civilian targets. Israeli security forces carried out counterterrorism activities throughout Judea and Samaria, detaining Palestinians suspected of terrorist activity and seizing military grade and improvised weapons.
• The more prominent events were the following:
  • June 3, 2019 – Stones were thrown at an Israeli vehicle near the community of Ma’yan Meir (north of Ramallah). No casualties were reported. The front windshield was damaged (Rescue Without Borders in Judea and Samaria, June 3, 2019).
  • May 31, 2019 – Israeli security forces detained a Palestinian at one of the entrances to the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron. He aroused their suspicions and a search found a knife in his possession (Israel Police Force, May 31, 2019).
  • May 30, 2019 – Israeli security forces detained a Palestinian from Jenin who tried to enter the military courthouse in Salem with two pipe bombs (Israel Police Force, May 30, 2018).
  • May 30, 2019 – Stones were thrown at an Israeli vehicle near the village of Ya’bed (northern Samaria). No casualties were reported (Rescue Without Borders in Judea and Samaria, May 30, 2019). A Molotov cocktail was thrown from a moving car near Ofra. No casualties were reported (Rescue Without Borders in Judea and Samaria, May 30, 2019).
  • May 29, 2019 – Stones were thrown near the Nabi Elias bypass (east of Qalqilya). No casualties were reported. Stones were thrown at an Israel bus on the Azoun-Nabi Elias road. The front windshield was damaged (Rescue Without Borders in Judea and Samaria, May 29, 2019).
  • May 29, 2019 – Stones were thrown at an Israel vehicle near Halhul (north of Hebron). No casualties were reported; the front windshield was damaged (Rescue Without Borders in Judea and Samaria, May 29, 2019).

Significant terrorist attacks in Judea and Samaria since June 2017^[6]

Confrontations on the Temple Mount (June 2, 2019)

• On the morning of June 2, 2019, hundreds of Muslims began rioting in the Temple Mount, throwing chairs and other objects at police forces stationed there. Behind the riot was the visit of Israelis to the Temple Mount on Jerusalem Day. The rioters were pushed back towards the mosque and they barricaded themselves inside. Police forces broke into the mosque, and the rioters continued throwing chairs and other objects at them. The police dispersed the rioters and carried out detentions. After control had been restored, the visit of the Israelis to the Temple Mount was renewed (Israel Police Force, June 2, 2019). Despite the riot during the morning, Israel permitted Muslims to enter the Temple Mount and hold a mass evening prayer (Palinfo Twitter account, June 3, 2019).
• Israel’s actions were widely condemned by the Palestinians. Hamas and the PIJ issued threats against Israel.. The Islamic waqf on the Temple Mount called on all Muslims to come to the Temple Mount to defend it (Palinfo Twitter account, June 3, 2019). The Palestinian government issued a formal condemnation of the measures used by Israel, and in the same breath praised the Muslim worshippers for defending the Temple Mount (Wafa, June 3, 2019).

    
The scene of the riots on the Temple Mount after hundreds of rioters threw chairs and other objects at Israeli security forces (Israel Police Force, June 2, 2019).

Distribution of financial support to Palestinians wounded in the return marches

• On April 27, 2019, Ahmed al-Kurd, the chairman of the Supreme Committee for Monitoring the Wounded of the Return March and a member of Hamas’ political bureau, announced that the families of the killed and wounded of the return marches would receive financial support through the branches of the post office bank in the Gaza Strip on April 28, 2019. He called on the wounded who had registered to go to the bank branches on May 28, 2019, to receive the funds. The 3500 registered wounded Palestinians will receive between 300 and 600 shekels each (about $85 to $170). The names are examined through the website of the ministry of welfare in the Gaza Strip (Hamas’ al-Ra’i agency, April 27, 2019).

The PIJ displays a drone attack on Israeli targets

• On May 30, 2019, the PIJ’s military-terrorist wing issued a video of a drone attack of two IDF armored vehicles. According to the video it was the first attack of its kind and was carried out during the most recent round of fighting in the Gaza Strip (Jerusalem Brigades website, may 30, 2019).

      
Aerial photograph of two armored vehicles taken by a drone camera.

Israeli media report the PA stopped paying its debt to the Israel Electric Company

• The Israeli media reported the PA had stopped transferring payment to the Israel Electric Company, which provides electricity to the towns and local councils in Judea and Samaria. Over the past three months the PA’s debt grew by three hundred million shekels (about $83 million), and it now stands at half a billion shekels (about $140 million). The PA instructed the local municipalities not to pay their electricity bills to Israel, but to keep the funds. The funds would be in compensation for the freezing of the financial support they were supposed to receive from the regime in Ramallah. The funds were frozen because the PA refuses to accept tax revenues from Israel after deductions for the salaries given to the families of prisoners and shaheeds (Israeli TV channel 11, June 4, 2019). So far no information has been issued by official sources in the PA.

The PA continues diplomatic activity to prevent the economic workshop in Bahrain and the “deal of the century”

• Intensive PA activity, led by Mahmoud Abbas, continues in order to prevent the economic workshop in Bahrain. The main activities are the following:
•  Mahmoud Abbas attended an emergency economic summit meeting in Mecca (on May 30, 2019), where he stated that the PA would not participate in the economic workshop in Bahrain. On his way to Saudi Arabia he met in Amman, Jordan, with Sheikh Abdalla bin Ahmed Aal Khalifa, the envoy of the king of Bahrain, and informed him the Palestinians would not attend the economic workshop in Bahrain.

   
Right: Mahmoud Abbas meets with the envoy of the king of Bahrain. Left: Mahmoud Abbas delivers a speech at the Arab summit (Wafa, May 31, 2019).

• On May 28, 2019, Saeb Erekat, secretary of the PLO’s Executive Committee, held separate meetings with the head of the Middle East and North Africa department of the Swedish foreign ministry; Nikolay Mladenov, the UN envoy to the Middle East peace process; delegations of American Congressmen and members of the British House of Commons. He called on them to respect the Palestinian decision not to attend the economic workshop in Manama. He reiterated that the PLO was the only legitimate representative of the Palestinians and that they had not given a mandate to anyone to negotiate for them. He called on the Arab states to adhere to the Arab peace initiative without change (PLO website, May 28, 2019).

Hezbollah’s flagship tunnel in south Lebanon neutralized

• On May 29, 2019, with the destruction of the sixth Hezbollah tunnel exposed in January 2019, the IDF announced the end of Operation Northern Shield.^[7] The tunnel was dug from the Lebanese village of Ramyeh (in the western sector of south Lebanon, opposite the Israeli community of Zar’it), and was Hezbollah’s flagship tunnel, in which it invested the greatest amount of resources and effort. The entire length of the tunnel had electricity, a public address system and concrete steps, all of which enabled terrorists to remain inside for long periods of time, and made effective tunneling and a considerable degree of mobility possible. The tunnel was dug to a depth of 80 meters (about 262 feet) and is several hundred meters longs. It crossed the border into Israeli territory by 77 meters (more than 250 feet). The IDF neutralized the tunnel by inserting sealant materials and made it inoperative (IDF spokesman, May 30, 2019).

     
Pictures of Hezbollah’s flagship tunnel, destroyed at the end of Operation Northern Shield
(IDF spokesman, May 29, 2019).