US provides $100m in aid to Palestinians; 227kg bombs to Israel
The United States announced it’s providing $100m in additional aid for Palestinians in the war-battered Gaza Strip and occupied West Bank.
A statement from USAID said the funding would assist the UN World Food Programme. Through the funding, it will provide “logistics support for the safe and efficient delivery of lifesaving humanitarian aid across Gaza”, it said without elaborating.
Aid agencies have complained that goods are not reaching people in Gaza because of Israeli restrictions, the dangerous security situation, and growing lawlessness that is complicating aid delivery.
A statement from the US aid agency said the additional funding brings US contributions to the Palestinians since the war began to more than $774m.
Earlier, the US agreed to resume shipping 500-pound (227kg) bombs to Israel, part of the $3.8bn worth of military aid it transfers annually.
And the 14.5 billion in extra military aid...
A start or merely a token gesture
US issues West Bank settlement-related sanctions
The US Treasury Department issued a notice on its website saying it will sanction five Israeli entities and three people in the occupied West Bank.
Those cited included the non-profit organisation Lehava, or Flame in Hebrew, an acronym for the Organisation for the Prevention of Assimilation in the Holy Land. Run by a far-right rabbi, Ben-Zion Gopstein, Lehava rejects any interaction between Jews and Palestinians, especially miscegenation and intermarriage between them.
Among the sanctioned are several sheep and goat farms as well as the three individuals – according to the Treasury notice – in places where settlers attack Palestinians regularly such as the South Hebron Hills.
The State Department issued a statement saying: “The United States remains deeply concerned about extremist violence and instability in the West Bank, which undermines Israel’s own security.”
State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller added: “We strongly encourage the government of Israel to take immediate steps to hold these individuals and entities accountable. In the absence of such steps, we will continue to impose our own accountability measures.”
The US has also imposed sanctions on four unauthorised settlement outposts in the occupied West Bank that the State Department said were “weaponised” for violence to displace Palestinians, such as disrupting grazing lands, limiting access to water wells, and launching violent attacks on neighbouring Palestinians.
One of the outposts is a farm owned by Isaschar Manne, who has been sanctioned. The State Department said the outpost “was established on pastureland belonging to the Palestinian community, and settlers from this outpost regularly attack community shepherds and prevent their access to pastureland through acts of violence”.
Two other Israelis were sanctioned for being leaders of Tsav 9, a previously sanctioned group that attacked convoys carrying humanitarian aid bound for civilians in Gaza, it said.
The move bars Americans from dealing with the targeted individuals and entities, and freezes any US assets they hold. It was unclear if any of the targets hold such assets.
Israeli court rules to evict 66 Palestinians in occupied East Jerusalem
The Jerusalem District Court has rejected appeals filed by 11 Palestinian families consisting of 66 people fighting eviction from their homes in the Batan al-Hawa neighbourhood in the Silwan district by the Ateret Cohanim settler group, the Israeli nonprofit Ir Amim says.
The Ghaith and Abu Nab families, numbering 22 individuals, were ordered to vacate their homes immediately and pay about $2,700 in legal expenses to the settler group. In a separate decision, the Nasser and Kaid Rajabi families, consisting of 44 members, were told to leave their home by January 12 and pay the same amount in legal expenses, Ir Amim said in a statement.
“These families are among some 85 Palestinian families, consisting of over 700 individuals, who face large-scale displacement and settler takeovers of their homes in Batan al-Hawa,” it said.
“These cases are part and parcel of a coordinated and systematic political campaign aimed at uprooting Palestinians and expanding Jewish settlement in the heart of Palestinian neighbourhoods. While the eviction claims themselves are initiated by settlers, they are aided and abetted on all levels of the state, which carry far-reaching implications on the future of Jerusalem and the conflict as a whole.”
