THE QUARTERLY MAGAZINE OF PROMISED LAND MUSEUM A creative project of Voices for Justice in Palestine CREATION OF STATE NEWS AND CURRENT EVENTS Summer 2023
The 1931 Almanac describes massive Jewish immigration and development into Palestine prior to the creation of the Israeli state: “Between Sept. 1, 1920 and March 1, 1925, the total number of immigrants into Palestine were 46,225 Jews and 2,027 non-Jews. In 1925, 35,641 immigrants, of whom 33,801 were Jews, were admitted compared with 13,553 (12,856) Jews in 1924.”With the influx of Jewish immigrants into Palestine and growing tensions after the 1917 Balfour Declaration, civil war broke out on November 30, 1947.The war continued through 1949. The 1947 war was so dividing that it is referred to as the “War of Independence” in Hebrew and as “The Catastrophe,” or the Nakba in Arabic. It created a massive population shift as Palestinian families were separated from their homes. But why, after centuries of living alongside Jews in Palestine, did these families suddenly take their children and leave their homes, especially if their Jewish neighbors had—as many stories go— begged them to stay? Entire villages of peaceful, non-Jewish families didn’t just leave their homes.They were largely forced out, as documented by the Israel Defense Forces and Jewish historians. Jewish Immigration into Palestine Tantura women, children, and elderly leaving their homes in the pre-state of Israel PERSPECTIVES • THE MAGAZINE OF PROMISED LAND MUSEUM 2
04 CREATION OF STATE 06 THE HAGANAH WAR PLANS 07 PROMISED LAND MUSEUM JOINS THE UNITARIAN UNIVERSALIST GENERAL ASSEMBLY 2023 08 ISRAELI AIR FORCE PILOT REFUSES TO COMMIT WAR CRIMES 10 RABBINICAL STUDENTS CALL ON AMERICAN JEWS TO HOLD ISRAEL ACCOUNTABLE 12 THERE’S ALREADY ONLY ONE STATE FROM THE RIVER TO THE SEA 14 CREATING A “JEWISH” STATE 15 MUSEUM BACK ROOM HIGHLIGHTS 16 A TIMELINE OF THE ISRAELI-PALESTINIAN CONFLICT 18 ABOUT THIS PUBLICATION INSIDE THIS ISSUE COVER IMAGE: Drinking and hand washing fountain at the Western Wall in Jerusalem, Israel
CREATION OF STATE This issue’s theme “Creation of State” shares acts of violence committed by both sides in the years leading up to the creation of the Israeli state. It answers why more than 700,000 Palestinian men, women, and children were expelled.The articles herein focus primarily on material from both Jewish and Israeli sources. Palestinian sources are also valuable for understanding Palestinian perspectives. The Promised Land Museum was founded to provide a Jewish perspective and offer a more complete understanding of the conflict between Israel and Palestine. A better understanding will lead to what we all truly desire: peace, justice, and security for all families, both Jewish and non-Jewish, living between the river and the sea. 4 PERSPECTIVES • THE MAGAZINE OF PROMISED LAND MUSEUM
5 SUMMER 2023
The Haganah (the Jewish colonial army that predated the Israel Defense Forces) war plans included specific mention of the expulsion of entire Palestinian village populations —men, women, and children.The plans called for the “destruction of villages (setting fire to, blowing up, and planting mines in the debris), especially those population centers which are difficult to control continuously. Mounting search and control operations according to the following guidelines: encirclement of the village and conducting a search inside it. In the event of resistance, the armed force must be destroyed and the population must be expelled outside the borders of the state.” Israeli Jewish historians Benny Morris and Avi Shlaim describe how much of the expulsions of Palestinian families occurred in and before April 1948, before any Arab armies declared war in May 1948. While they do not say that there was a predetermined plan to rid Palestine of Palestinian families, they make clear that, by ordering the capture of Arab cities and the destruction of villages, the Haganah war plans both permitted and justified the forcible expulsion of Arab civilian families from their homes and villages.Movement. Jewish people also made up over 50 percent of the white people who challenged Jim Crow Laws in Mississippi. Jews also participated in the South African anti-apartheid movement.Throughout history, the Jewish people have shown their commitment to supporting rights for all people. The Haganah War Plans PERSPECTIVES • THE MAGAZINE OF PROMISED LAND MUSEUM 6
Promised Land Museum Joins the Unitarian Universalist General Assembly 2023 The Promised Land Museum recently displayed an interactive booth at the 2023 Unitarian Universalist General Assembly annual meeting in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, June 21-25. An estimated 2,000+ attendees from 1,000+ UU congregations were in attendance. “The museum display was well received by attendees,” said Promised Land Museum curator Steve Feldman. “Many were interested in the history and made clear that they were interested in the history of the Israel/Palestine issue and had not been aware of much of the information we presented.” The Promised Land Museum booth consisted of the six banners that are part of our travelling exhibit, which we’ll send to any organization in the United States that would like to host an exhibit. In addition, brochures, rack cards, booklets as well as plantable pencils that grow into a cherry tomato plant and high-quality embroidered tote bags. The museum booth was back-to-back with the UUJME’s booth (Unitarian Universalists for Justice in the Middle East). If you’d like to host an exhibit for your organization, click here for details and to download an Exhibitor’s Guide. We’re happy to pay for shipping both ways—so the exhibit is free to you and your organization along with both online and offline event promotional materials. The Promised Land Museum looks forward to displaying our exhibit at future Presbyterian, Methodist, and Catholic venues as well. SUMMER 2023 7
Yonotan Shapira is a Former Captain of the Israeli Air Force (IAF) who has since become an outspoken activist and supporter of the call for boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) against Israel. Shapira served in the IAF for 11 years as an officer in the Black Hawk helicopter squadron. In 2003, Shapira authored the “pilots’ letter” in which 27 IAF pilot co-signers stated their refusal to fly over the occupied territories Shapira spoke with Washington Report on Middle East Affairs journalist Robert Hirschfield in 2005 about his change of heart: “In July of 2002, an F-16 took off from the center of Israel and killed Salah Shehadeh, a Hamas commander with blood on his hands.They dropped a oneton bomb on his house in Gaza, killing 14 people, nine of them children. It was a war crime. You cannot fight terrorists with terrorist means.” He was questioned by Shin Bet after publishing the letter, and he and the other co-signers were dismissed from the IAF. Shapira recounted that after asking IAF commander General Halutz about the ethics of hurting innocent civilians, the commander responded that Jewish superiority to Arabs contextualizes Jewish actions. CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTOR SHAPIRA BECOMES AN ACTIVIST The young Shapira grew up with a patriotic love for his country and a desire to follow in his IAF pilot father’s footsteps. He told contributor for The Electronic Intifada Ryan Rodrick Beiler in 2015 that he was raised with “a lot of socialist values—caring about the other, caring about the poor—but at the same time with a big wall of negligence of Palestine.The same time I was in class learning these beautiful values, the Israeli army was engaged in occupation, land grabs, settlements, massacres, deportation of Palestinian activists. But I didn’t know these things.” It wasn’t until he witnessed the Israeli government initiate its targeted killing policy that he realized “something was rotten.” Amnesty International (AI) described the policy in 2003 as “assassinating Palestinians who they suspect of involvement in attacks against Israeli soldiers and civilians.” The AI report shared that between November 2000 and July 2003, over 100 Palestinians were assassinated and “killed scores and injured hundreds of other Palestinian men, women and children bystanders.” The pilots’ letter and the Israeli government and citizens’ responses to it opened a new chapter in Shapira’s life in which he and his co-signers became “peace activists, human rights activists, freedom activists.” Shapira continued, “It’s not enough just to not be part of something you believe is wrong. Now you have to make another step and become part of the solution.” Israeli Air Force Pilot Refuses to Commit War Crimes PERSPECTIVES • THE MAGAZINE OF PROMISED LAND MUSEUM 8
It’s not enough just to not be part of something you believe is wrong. Now you have to make another step and become part of the solution.” SPRING 2022 9 SHAPIRA’S NEXT CHAPTER In 2006, Shapira and his peers started the Combatants for Peace organization, which brought together Palestinian and Israeli fighters. He told The Electronic Intifada: “It was one of the most significant experiments I ever had in my life. To step into a room with people who before you were fearing to death—they were supposed to kill you and you were supposed to kill them. [Instead] you talk about your story…When you leave this room, you are a different person.The ‘we’ and ‘them’ that you had before cannot exist anymore.” However, Shapira soon realized that he could no longer support the organization because he believed the framework was problematic.The organization treated Israeli and Palestinian fighters as if they shared equal power in the conflict. He argued, “It’s not that you have two countries fighting each other. It’s a colonial struggle—colonizer and colonized.” He now supports Boycott from Within, an organization of Israelis who support the Palestinian call for Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS). He believes not only that the occupation should end, but also supports the right of return. Shapira said that Jewish Israelis must “realize that you can’t have peace and freedom with someone worth more than someone else…There is already one state.The only question is whether it will remain an apartheid state or if it will to [sic] be an equal place for everyone.” Supporting the Jewish Tradition of Freedom for All BBC News interviewed Shapira in 2018 and asked for his assessment of “what Israel is doing in Gaza.” Shapira responded that he could answer the question with only two words: war crime. He continued, “As Jewish people, we know that you cannot kill the desire of people to be free. As a Jewish person that was raised on all these values of liberation and humanity and freedom, we cannot kill the desire of the Palestinian people to live in freedom.” Shapira continues to use his voice to raise awareness about the Israeli army’s war crimes. As recently as 2021, he described the Israeli government and army as “terrorist organizations” run by “war criminals” to Middle East Monitor. Shapira has called on the Jewish American community to join him in demanding human rights for all people living in Israel-Palestine. He said, “The role of the Jewish community in the [United] States is essential to our future.The whole political situation in Israel depends on the American government. As a Jew, as a lover of Israel, you must stand up and criticize the government of Israel.” SUMMER 3
Dozens of American rabbinical and cantorial students wrote a public letter in 2021 calling on the Jewish American community to hold Israel accountable for its human rights abuses.The letter begins: “Blood is flowing in the streets of the Holy Land.” Nearly 90 rabbinical students had signed the letter in a matter of days, representing a large percentage from non-Orthodox rabbinical schools in the United States. The letter describes Israel’s military and police violence against Palestinians and its apartheid, which “so many of us ignore.” It continues, “As American Jews, our institutions tell stories of Israel rooted in hope for what could be, but oblivious to what is. Our tzedakah money funds a story we wish were true, but perpetuates a reality that is untenable and dangerous. Our political advocacy too often puts forth a narrative of victimization, but supports violent suppression of human rights and enables apartheid in the Palestinian territories, and the threat of annexation. It’s far past time that we confront this head on. We can no longer shy away or claim ignorance.” “BLOOD IS FLOWING IN THE STREETS OF THE HOLY LAND.” The letter was published days after a major outbreak of violence in Israel-Palestine in which 9 Israelis and more than 100 Palestinians died. More than 700 Palestinians were injured in a matter of twenty-four hours, with 500 hospitalized. The crisis was ostensibly triggered by an anticipated Supreme Court of Israel decision to evict Palestinian families from their ancestral homes in Sheikh Jarrah, an area which is considered part of the Palestinian Territories under international law. Palestinians protested the decision outside the Old City of Jerusalem, and Israeli police cracked down on the protestors and the 90,000 Muslims worshipping at the nearby Al-Aqsa Mosque during the Islamic holiday Laylat al-Qadr (or “Night of Destiny”, when prayers are considered most sacred). The police crackdown included the use of stun grenades, water cannons, skunk water, tear gas, rubber-coated bullets, and shock grenades. Live video footage shows Israeli police Rabbinical Students Call on American Jews to Hold Israel Accountable PERSPECTIVES • THE MAGAZINE OF PROMISED LAND MUSEUM 10
in riot gear and on horseback. One officer is grabbing a veiled woman protestor by her scarf and dragging her along the ground while she screams. On this Friday night alone, more than 205 Palestinians and 18 Israeli officers were injured, and 90 more Palestinians were injured the next day, according to Palestine Red Crescent. “FIRES ARE BURNING ON THE HILLS OF JERUSALEM AND BUILDINGS ARE SMOLDERING IN GAZA.” Following weeks of increasing violence, Hamas issued Israel an ultimatum to withdraw Israeli forces from the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood and the Al-Aqsa Mosque. When Israel refused to comply, Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad militants waged the heaviest rocket attack in Tel Aviv’s history—even the Iron Dome was unable to prevent all the rockets from landing, resulting in the deaths of 13 civilians in Israel. Israel responded to the militants’ rocket attacks with airstrikes on Gaza. By May 18, 2021, the United Nations Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) found that Israel had destroyed 94 buildings which comprised of 461 housing and commercial units, including news outlet offices such as the Associated Press’ Gaza bureau and the Al Jazeera Media Network. According to the UNOCHA, the Israeli air strikes alone caused 72,000 Palestinians to be displaced, and another 25,000 staying with host families. Between May 10 and 18, the airstrikes killed approximately 213 Palestinians, including 62 children and 35 women. In Israel, 10 people including one soldier were killed by rocket fire. Human Rights Watch (HRW) reported that the rockets and mortars fired by Palestinian militant groups amounted to war crimes. It similarly reported that Israel’s attacks on Gaza also amounted to war crimes: “Israeli forces carried out attacks in Gaza in May that devastated entire families without any apparent military target nearby.” WHO IS TO BLAME? The American rabbinical students’ letter does not mention the violent actions of Hamas. Frankie Sandmel, a Hebrew College rabbinical student, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency his own reasons for not calling out Hamas: “For myself, as an American Jew who has never lived in Gaza or the West Bank, I don’t feel like I have ground to stand on to try to influence how Palestinians respond to oppression. I do have the ability to speak to the American Jewish community that I am hoping to lead, to look at the ways that we vote and the ways that we give tzedakah and the ways that we educate our communities.” The letter asks: “How much say do we, American Jews, have? We are here, not there. What can we do?” In addition to voting and giving tzedakah in ways that will influence peace in Israel-Palestine, the letter recommends that Jewish Americans teach about Israel in all its “messy truth...”, offering a narrative in which “a persecuted people searching for safety, going to a land full of meaning for the Jewish people, full of meaning for so many other peoples, and also full of human beings who didn’t ask for new neighbors.” The rabbinical students implore that the Jewish American community “tap into the empathy that you need to feel and experience the reality on the ground” so that we may “act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with our G-d (Micah 6:8).” “Tap into the empathy that you need to feel and experience the reality on the ground” so that we may “act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with our G-d” –Micah 6:8 SUMMER 2023 11
Dr. Joshua Shanes, Associate Professor of Jewish Studies and Director of the Arnold Center for Israel Studies at the College of Charleston in South Carolina wrote an article for Haaretz titled “Liberal Zionists, Face the Facts: There’s Already Only One State From the River to the Sea.” He argues that Israel’s ongoing illegal annexation of the West Bank means that it will never accept a two-state solution, and under these conditions, people must recognize that as the only state from the river to the sea, Israel must include Palestinians. WHAT IS LIBERAL ZIONISM? Shanes describes Liberal Zionism as representative of a range of views that share the belief that a two-state solution would afford Palestinians with the equal rights they deserve. They oppose Israel’s military occupation, but they also oppose offering West Bank Palestinians with Israeli citizenship. In other words, they believe that maintaining Israel as a safe, Jewish-run state and securing the right of return for Palestinian refugees can best be achieved by creating a second Palestinian state. Shanes does not equate this with the Bantustan, two-state solution that was proposed for South Africa. WOULD EQUAL RIGHTS FOR PALESTINIANS MEAN THE DESTRUCTION OF ISRAEL? The word “destruction” in this context is used in several ways: either to refer to those who literally seek to destroy Israel or Israeli Jews, or to refer to the perceived threat of Palestinians’ right to return to their families’ homes, or even to refer to the alleged consequences of expanding West Bank Palestinians’ rights. Shanes argues that this expansive discourse of “destruction”—which implies “mass slaughter or the fullscale expulsion of Israeli Jews”—serves to obscure the fact that there is currently only one state from the river to the sea.Those who struggle for Palestinian rights must not be conflated with those who seek killing Jews or other forms of anti-Semitism. CONTRADICTION IN THE “RIGHT TO RETURN” Liberal Zionists understand that Israel was founded upon the belief that Jewish people are descendants of those who were expelled from the Holy Land millennia ago and thus have the right to return and enjoy full citizenship: refugees have a timeless and indelible right of return. Shanes points out the contradiction that Palestinian families have also been exiled from the same land, yet Israel prevents their right to return. THERE’S ALREADY ONLY ONE STATE FROMTHE RIVERTOTHE SEA PERSPECTIVES • THE MAGAZINE OF PROMISED LAND MUSEUM 12
Shanes points out another contradiction: the recognition of the Palestinian nation and its right to self-determination while simultaneously arguing that these rights would be impractical. For example, it might seem impractical for Palestinian families to return to their homes that are now occupied by Israeli Jews, ignoring the notion that if Palestinian families could be offered compensation, the Israeli Jewish family could be offered compensation on an equal basis. Another “impractical” concern is extending citizenship to more Palestinians would risk Israel losing a Jewish majority status, although treating all people as equal is our fundamental shared value. Shane compares this issue to “the Talmudic case of the man who steals a wooden beam and builds his house around it, it is simply not practical to demand he dismantle the house to return the beam. As Hillel rules, the cost would be so prohibitive that the thief would rather live in sin than make amends. Instead, justice demands the thief acknowledge his sin and make appropriate restitution of the beam’s value. In other words, Israel must acknowledge its past sins and make restitution.” MOVING FORWARD AS ONE STATE Considering the current reality that Israel is one state that determines the daily life of Palestinians living under military occupation, Shanes calls liberal Zionists to fight for the immediate extension of equal rights to all non-Jews living under Israel’s purview. The moral position according to Jewish values would not accept for Jews to enjoy freedom at the expense of another peoples’ freedom. Rather than waiting for the Israel-Palestine conflict to improve, Shanes argues for the importance of taking action today. MORE ABOUT DR. JOSHUA SHANES Dr. Joshua Shanes earned his Bachelor of Arts from the University of Illinois and his Doctorate of Philosophy in History from the University of Wisconsin. He researches and publishes about modern Jewish politics, culture, and religion and antisemitism. His book Diaspora Nationalism and Jewish Identity in Habsburg Galicia (Cambridge University Press, 2012) explores Zionism’s competing forms of Jewish nationalism from last century. He is currently writing a book for Rutgers University Press about the German origins of Jewish Orthodoxy into the 21st century. Shanes has also written for Haaretz on a number of topics, including New York’s Hasidic Education Crisis, Volodymyr Zelenskyy and antisemitism, and Tucker Carlson. SPRING 2023 13
Earlier this year, Jewish Israeli settlers attacked non-Jewish Palestinian families in the West Bank town of Huwara.The violence was so severe, it was widely condemned, even called a pogrom by an Israeli military official. Israeli President Herzog condemned the attack; “This is not our way,” he said. I’m sure he’s right.There’s nothing Jewish about inflicting a pogrom on non-Jewish families. What few noted was that what was done at Huwara was not nearly as bad as what was done to Palestinian families in 1948 when the population of entire towns and villages were expelled from their homes. Expelling entire villages of non-Jewish families is not our way. Israel is often called a Jewish democracy. Is it that? Can you create a democracy by making and keeping the majority refugees from their homes? Is there anything truly “Jewish” (in any moral sense of Judaism) about expelling entire villages of peaceful, non-Jewish families from their homes to create a state run by and for Jewish people? I recently presented an exhibition of highlights of our museum at the Unitarian Universalist General Assembly. One of the attendees, who selfidentified as a Zionist supporter of an Israel run by and for Jews, visited our museum and spoke with me. Seeing our museum content and learning of the expulsions of non-Jewish families from their homes left the Zionist feeling the founding of Israel was not consistent with our shared heartfelt values. I’m optimistic that we will see justice & peace soon because the mistreatment of others is not consistent with the values that anyone espouses. This issue of Perspectives focuses on the creation of Israel. Our museum gets to the heart of the conflict: making people refugees and keeping people refugees.This gallery, like all of our galleries, relies heavily on Israeli and Jewish sources of information, from documents that boldly used the word “colonization” to describe the support for Jews to move to Palestine to a report from the Israeli Defense Force documenting the most important causes for Palestinian families to become refugees. The Creation of State gallery may be the most enlightening and important gallery in our museum. Understanding the history shared in this gallery may change how we view Palestinian families and how we perceive Israel’s policies toward those families today. DR. STEVEN FELDMAN is a U.S.-based dermatologist and Curator of the Jewish Museum of the Palestinian Experience. Creating a “Jewish” State PERSPECTIVES • THE MAGAZINE OF PROMISED LAND MUSEUM 14
MUSEUMBACKROOM HIGHLIGHTS ARTIFACTS Albert Einstein Letter The Promised Land Museum is proud to display in our digital and physical archive this letter signed by Albert Einstein in 1948. Einstein supported Jewish migration to Palestine, but he stood strongly against the creation of a Jewish nation-state. See the full entry here. BOOKS & DOCUMENTS The Punishment of Gaza Veteran Israeli journalist Gideon Levy tracks the development of Israel policy between 2005 and 2009. He finds that Israel’s goal is to deny Palestinians the opportunity of forming an independent state; these policies have transformed Gaza into an open-air prison. See the full entry here. INFOGRAPHICS & MAPS Israeli Identification and Segregation Not all Palestinians are granted IDs. This infographic from Visualizing Palestine describes Israel’s identification system, which restricts where Palestinians can live, which services they can access, and how they can participate in the political system. See the full entry here. MOVIES Afterward Ofra Bloch is an Israeli trauma expert and director of the documentary film Afterward. In the film, she journeys through Germany, Israel, and Palestine to interview victims and victimizers. See the full entry here. PHOTOS Palestinians Throwing Rocks in Protest Palestinian civilians experience systemic oppression by living under Israel’s military occupation. Warfare between the two parties is asymmetrical. When a Palestinian civilian throws a stone, an Israeli soldier shoots a bullet. See more historical photos here. VIDEOS Who Will Roll the Stone Away This short film focuses on a century old farm known as the Tent of Nations, situated southwest of Bethlehem and owned by a Palestinian Lutheran family.The family’s slogan is painted on a rock at the farm’s entrance: “We refuse to be enemies.” See the full entry here. SUMMER 2023 15
May 2 A Palestinian shot at a vehicle near Shufa in the West Bank. In two other incidents, Palestinians threw stones at Israeli vehicles on West Bank roads. In another incident, Palestinians set a settler vehicle in Husan on fire. Two Israeli settlers were injured. May 1 Israeli settlers rammed their vehicle into two Palestinians who were riding bicycles near Silwan, injuring both. May 2 Palestinian hunger striker Khader Adnan died while detailed in Israeli jail without trial. He had been on hunger strike four times before and had been arrested 12 times by Israel under administrative detention. 104 rockets were fired from Gaza in response, causing one minor injury, and Israeli warplanes hit 16 targets in Gaza including a home and killing a civilian, before agreeing to a ceasefire. 4 Israe i mil t ry killed 3 confirmed Hamas m mbers, wounded four others from live ammunition, dest oyed one home, and damaged f ur others in a a d n the West Bank city of Nablus.The suspects were connected to an attack on s ttlers in Ap il which killed three, including a child.The operation injured 156 Palestinians, including over 50 pupils who had to be evacuated from school and treated for tear gas inhalation. May 4 Israeli forces shot and killed a Palestinian woman who stabbed an Israeli soldier at a checkpoint in the West Bank town of Huwara. April 2 Israeli government greenlights the creation of a national guard. Adalah, a non-profit in Israel, stated that it “entrenches Israel’s practice of maintaining two separate law enforcement systems based on national affiliation.” April 4 Israel doubles budget for West Bank settlements to monitor Palestinian construction and fund settler infrastructure and Palestinian expulsions. April 6 UN expert condemned Israeli forces’ “reckless and unlawful” violent incursions into the Haram AlSharif compound and its attacks on Palestinian worshippers at Al-Aqsa Mosque. April 7 Israel conducted airstrikes into Lebanon and the Gaza Strip after militants fired rockets from Lebanon into Israeli territory. Hours later, an alleged Palestinian shooting attack in the West Bank near an Israeli settlement killed two and wounded another. April 8 A Palestinian man drove a car into several pedestrians in Tel Aviv, wounding 8. April 9 Israeli military said that 3 rockets were launched into Israeli territory from Syria. April 10 As many as 17,000 Israelis, including government ministers and guarded by 1,000 Israeli military, marched in the occupied West Bank under a banner declaring “all of the land of Israel” to demand settlement expansion. April 17 Palestinian Prisoners’ Day is commemorated on this day. Israel holds more than 1,000 Palestinian detainees without charge or trial, which Israeli human rights group HaMoked calls the highest number since 2003. 2,200 have been detailed so far this year. 4,900 prisoners are now detailed, including 31 women and 160 children. April 17 China offered to facilitate peace talks between Israel and Palestinians. April 18 Israeli settlers demolished five Palestinian shops in the H2 area of Hebron. April 20 Israeli military raided town of Beita in the West Bank, injured three Palestinians by gunfire, threw teargas, and ransacked homes. April 13 Against legal precedent, the Israel Defense Minister Yoav Gallant denied Palestinians entry to Israel to participate in the binational Remembrance Day ceremony. April 16 Israel has restricted the number of worshippers allowed inside the East Jerusalem Church of the Holy Sepulchre on the Greek Orthodox Easter holiday.The Church called on Palestinians to defy the restrictions and celebrate the holiday in large numbers. Note: This timeline highlights some events and does not account for the many daily stresses and injustices occurring in people’s lives—and the many people not committing violence and injustices upon others. A Timeline of the ISRAELI-PALESTINIAN CONFLICT April 1, 2023 – June 30, 2023 May 5 Israel and the Palestinian Authority hold secret talks to develop a natural gas reservoir off the coast of Gaza. May 6 Undercover Israeli forces surrounded a house in the Tulkarm refugee camp in the West Bank and exchanged fire with Palestinians, killing two suspected of shooting and injuring a settler. May 7 Israeli demolished a Palestinian school in the West Bank, affecting 60 children, and confiscated its contents, due to it being constructed illegally. Rights groups state building permits are nearly impossible to obtain. May 8 Israeli settlers assaulted and injured a Palestinian farmer while he worked in his land in Jalud in the West Bank. May 9 Jewish Israeli woman disguised herself as a Palestinian and ran in a checkpoint while shouting “Allahu Akbar” and carrying an airsoft gun before soldiers wounded her by gunfire. Investigation found it was a suicide attempt. 16 PERSPECTIVES • THE MAGAZINE OF PROMISED LAND MUSEUM
June 6 Palestinians shot at a vehicle driving between Za’tara and Huwwara checkpoints, injuring one Israeli settler and damaging the car. June 8 Israeli forces raided the city of Ramallah in the West Bank and wounded 35 Palestinians amid clashes. June 9 Israeli forces at a checkpoint were inspecting a vehicle suspected of being stolen when the Palestinian driver allegedly tried to grab the soldier’s weapon. Another soldier shot him dead. June 1 An Israeli soldier shot and injured a Palestinian man and his 2-year-old son with live ammunition; the child died from the head injury days later. Israeli military stated the soldier had mistaken their car as the source of a nearby shooting attack. June 2 A Palestinian shot and injured an Israeli soldier near the Deir Sharaf village in the West Bank. June 4 Israeli settlers injured 145 Palestinians and damaged three houses, three vehicles, one barracks and one livelihood structure in the village of Burqa in the West Bank. Palestinians threw stones, injuring 3 Israeli settlers. Israeli forces intervened and injured 4 Palestinians with live ammunition, 3 with rubber bullets, and 137 with teargas. June 13 Israeli forces raided the Balata refugee camp in the West Bank and shot dead 19-year-old Palestinian passerby and injured 8 others with gunshot wounds. Israeli forces bombed the home of a wanted Palestinian fighter. June 5 A Palestinian ramming attack in Huwwara injured two Israeli soldiers. May 9 Israeli forces killed 12 Palestinians, including 9 civilians, and injured 20 in air raids on Gaza. May 12 Palestinians in Silwad near Ramallah threw stones at settlers who were grazing their livestock on Palestinian-owned and cultivated land. One Palestinian was injured with live ammunition, and another was injured by assault. May 13 Israeli forces undercover in a Palestinian bus raided the Balata refugee camp in Nablus, West Bank and killed two Palestinians and injured 78 others. May 14 Ceasefire truce was struck between Israeli and Gazan authorities after 33 Palestinians, including children, had been killed, 147 Palestinians had been wounded, and one Israeli had been killed. May 18 Thousands of Israelis marched through East Jerusalem during the annual Jerusalem Day “Flag March”.Thousands of Israeli police were deployed to block Palestinian access to the Old City of Jerusalem. Confrontations resulted in ten Palestinians being arrested and several Palestinian children and women injured. Israelis shouted insults at Palestinians and threw objects at journalists, injuring two. Israeli forces used live fire and tear gas on Palestinian demonstrators. May 18 Israeli Knesset has voted preliminary approval of a law that would make flying the Palestinian flag punishable by up to one year in prison. May 23 Israeli settlers broke into the Palestinian Ein Samiya herding community in the West Bank and vandalized its school, damaged water tanks, and destroyed three mobile latrines. Residents (33 households of 178 people, including 78 children) relocated their community due to the violence. May 10 Israeli forces raided Qabatiya in the West Bank and shot dead two Palestinians and shot another who died of his wounds the following day. Palestinians responded by throwing stones and explosive devices at the military. May 11 Israeli forces raided Nur Shams refugee camp in the West Bank and exchanged fire with Palestinians. An elderly Palestinian bystander was shot and killed by Israeli forces, and one Israeli soldier was injured. May 11 Israel bombed farmland in Gaza, leaving one Palestinian woman paralyzed. June 15 Israeli forces killed 1 Palestinian, wounded more than 300 others, and blew up a family’s home in a raid in the West Bank city of Nablus. June 19 Six Palestinians including a 15-year-old girl have been killed by Israeli forces and Israeli helicopters shooting missiles during a raid on the Jenin refugee camp in the West Bank. At least 91 Palestinians including a journalist and 7 Israeli soldiers were wounded. Four Palestine Red Crescent Society ambulances were also targeted by Israeli forces. June 20 Two Hamas gunmen opened fire in a restaurant and gas station near an Israeli settlement in the West Bank, killing at least 4 Israelis including two 17-year-olds and wounding 4 others. Israeli forces shot the gunmen dead. June 21 More than 400 Israeli settlers stormed the West Bank village of Turmus Ayya, setting more than 60 cars, 30 homes, trees, and farmland on fire and shooting live ammunition at dozens of residents, killing two Palestinians. Settler attacks continued for five days, killing a total of 16 Palestinians and injuring dozens, in the West Bank and in the Al Aqsa Mosque. June 21 Prime Minister Netanyahu approves the construction of 1,000 new homes in the West Bank settlement of Eli in response to the June 20 attack. June 21 Israeli forces used a drone to kill 3 alleged militants in the West Bank, including one 15-year-old.This was the first time Israel used drone strikes in the West Bank since 2006. June 23 Masked Israeli settlers entered a mosque in Orif and ripped apart a Koran before moving to a local school and setting classrooms on fire. June 24 A 17-year-old Palestinian Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade member opened fire at an Israeli military checkpoint before being shot dead. June 26 Israel’s government approved plans to build more than 5,000 new settlement homes in the West Bank. May 29 Israeli forces raided the Jenin refugee camp in the West Bank and exchanged fire with Palestinians, killing one, injuring six, arresting six others, and damaging one ambulance. May 30 A Palestinian drive-by shooting killed an Israeli settler near the Hermesh settlement in the West Bank. Israeli forces set up checkpoints to obstruct movement and launched a manhunt. Settlers responded by attacking Palestinians and their property in the surrounding villages. 17 SUMMER 2023
ABOUT THIS PUBLICATION This magazine has been developed by the Promised Land Museum, a project of Voices for Justice in Palestine.The Promised Land Museum was founded to provide a Jewish Perspective on the Israel/Palestine conflict.This perspective is rooted in Jewish values, to treat our neighbor as we would want to be treated. The mission of Voices for Justice in Palestine is to work for a just and sustainable peace in Israel-Palestine. We educate the public, advocate for change based on equal rights, and directly support peace builders in Israel-Palestine. If you are interested in contributing to a future issue, visit us on social media or contact us via email at voicesforjusticeinpalestine@gmail.com. 18 PERSPECTIVES • THE MAGAZINE OF PROMISED LAND MUSEUM
For more information or to share this message of peace with your community, contact Voices for Justice in Palestine, PO Box 2081, Chapel Hill, NC 27515. voicesforjusticeinpalestine@gmail.com @Promised Land @promisedlandmuseum @LandMuseum @PromisedLand PromisedLandMuseum.org A creative project of Voices for Justice in Palestine
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