THE QUARTERLY MAGAZINE OF PROMISED LAND MUSEUM PEACEFUL PALESTINE NEWS AND CURRENT EVENTS Spring 2023
Did Jewish people live in Israel before the creation of state? Jewish people have had a continuous connection to the Holy Land that dates back thousands of years before the creation of the Israeli state in 1948.The Torah teaches that after Abraham’s descendants were exiled from Egypt following hundreds of years of enslavement, Moses led them through the Sinai desert on a 40-year journey to the Promised Land of Israel (Genesis 17:8). The generations of Jewish people between then and now have witnessed many forms of political collectivity: from the monarchy established by the Tribes of Israel to the empire established by the Ottomans to today’s statehood. The Ottoman Empire ruled this land for hundreds of years before the modern Israeli state was established. Good governance by the Ottomans attracted many Jewish families to immigrate to the region from the Russian Empire and parts of Europe. Many Jews immigrated to the Ottoman Empire to flee persecution; Ottomans of many faiths and ethnic origins lived together in peace. Jewish Israeli historian Benny Morris found that between 1881 and 1908, only 13 Jews were killed by Arabs—most of which were for robberies or similar crimes. It was uncommon in this region to target a Jewish person for their faith. 78% MUSLIMS 590,890 11% JEWS 83,794 1% OTHERS 10% CHRISTIANS 73,024 CENSUS OF THE POPULATION OF PALESTINE September 1st, 1922 PERSPECTIVES • THE MAGAZINE OF PROMISED LAND MUSEUM 2
04 PEACEFUL PALESTINE 06 HAWARA 2023 07 THE FIRST MOVING PICTURE OF PALESTINE 07 HOW THE 1931 ALMANAC DESCRIBED PALESTINE 08 PALESTINE OPEN MAPS 10 ERASING HISTORIC PALESTINE 12 AN IMAM WHO SAVED JEWS FROM THE HOLOCAUST IN NAZI-OCCUPIED FRANCE 14 PEACE IS POSSIBLE 15 MUSEUM BACK ROOM HIGHLIGHTS 16 A TIMELINE OF THE ISRAELI-PALESTINIAN CONFLICT 18 ABOUT THIS PUBLICATION INSIDE THIS ISSUE COVER IMAGE: A Palestinian woman in Gaza ABOVE: Students at Birzeit University in Birzeit, also Bir Zeit, a Palestinian Christian town north of Ramallah in the central West Bank
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This issue’s theme “Peaceful Palestine” shares about life in the land between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea before the creation of the Israeli state. Jewish people have a long history of living in peace alongside non-Jewish people in the Holy Land.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. Watch the video tour of the Peaceful Palestine museum gallery: SPRING 2023 5
On February 26, 2023, more than 400 Israeli settlers violently rampaged Hawara and other nearby Palestinian villages in the West Bank, throwing rocks and setting cars and homes on fire, killing one civilian and injuring more than 100 others. Israel’s Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich responded by calling for the Israeli army to “wipe out” Hawara. Israeli soldiers were in the area at their usual posts and did not intervene to stop the attacks. A Haaretz editorial commented that while the army’s Central Command head Yehuda Fuchs claimed the military was not prepared for the large number of rioters, the military “is always prepared to prevent [activists] from demonstrating solidarity with Hawara residents,” concluding that “the IDF is weak against settlers but strong against Palestinians.” TOP LEFT: ,ץינקרוט לאכימ CC BY-SA 4.0 TOP RIGHT: By Osama Eid, CC BY-SA 3.0 RIGHT PAGE TOP: Liemburg Jude, CC BY-SA 4.0 Hawara 2023 PERSPECTIVES • THE MAGAZINE OF PROMISED LAND MUSEUM 6
The first moving picture of Palestine was captured by the Lumière brothers (French pioneers of photographic technology) in 1896.The film shows successful businesses operating peacefully; a bustling train station; and Jews, Christians, and Muslims living and praying in the same community. Palestine had a population of 600,000 with a majority of Sunni Muslims; while Jews made up half of the population of Jerusalem, they made up 5% of the population of Palestine as a whole. Yet, the film shows people of different religions living and praying together in peace, including Jewish people at the Western Wall and an Armenian pope walking in the holy streets. The film offers indisputable evidence of a peaceful Palestine – where The First Moving Picture of Palestine Palestinians Jews, Muslims, and Christians lived together before the year 1900. So how is it that many have come to understand the region as one with constant discord? What happened to generate decades of conflict that continues to this day? When did it start? People of multiple faiths lived and worshipped together in peace only 100 years ago.These are questions we hope to answer at the Promised Land Museum. The 1931 Almanac included a section titled “Palestine,” recognizing it as a territory with an estimated area of 9,000 square miles.The Almanac cited the Palestine Census of 1922 as documenting Palestine’s capital, Jerusalem, as having a population of 62,678. It also shared Great Britain’s policy at the time, which as a goal to “provide a national home for the Jews, permitting them to return to Palestine only as the development of that country guarantees the normal absorption of immigrants for rising industries and reclaimed agricultural lands.” The Almanac went further into aspects of Palestine’s economy and population in 1931. It noted “600 miles of new roads built, 200 schools opened, and that Palestine had nearly 150 industries with an investment of £1,200,000, of which all but £100,000 is Jewish.”Well before the establishment of the state of Israel, a massive influx of the Jewish population was recognized.The Almanac found that between 1920 and 1925, 46,225 Jews and only 2,027 non-Jews immigrated to Palestine. In 1924, 13,553 Jews were admitted, and in 1925, 33,801 Jews were admitted. 90% of these Jewish people were from Europe: 47% were from Poland alone, and only 594 were from the United States. How the 1931 Almanac Described Palestine SPRING 2023 7
Palestine Open Maps (POM) is a platform that uses mapping technologies in collaboration with researchers to showcase visual stories of the geographical transformation of historic Palestine over the last 70+ years.The project combines 1940s British Mandate of Palestine survey maps with present-day maps, historic and modern data, photography, and oral histories to create searchable and comprehendible maps.The project is creating a space for the collective digitization of Palestinian maps and the information therein to build immersive storytelling experiences. It is simultaneously developing the technology that produces 3-D topographic models exemplified by POM. SOURCING DATA FOR PALESTINE OPEN MAPS Palestine Open Maps combines maps with data, photography, and histories to create its interactive, searchable platform.The oldest maps were produced by the British Mandate’s Survey of Palestine and the Palestine Exploration Funds. POM sourced these public domain maps from several institutions, including the National Library of Israel, the National Library of Australia, and the David Rumsey Map Collection. The data, photographs, and histories emerged from a number of sources, including digitized data compiled by Salman Abu Sitta of the Palestine Land Society, Palestine Remembered, and Zochrot. The Palestine Open Maps project was initiated in March 2018 by Visualizing Palestine and Impact Data Lab (a Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation network Studio X Amman workshop). Visualizing Palestine continues to develop the platform with a team of individuals: Ahmad Barclay, Majd Al-shihabi (with the support of the Creative Commons Bassel Khartabil Free Culture Fellowship), Hanan Yazigi, Morad Taleeb, Henry Zaccak, and Bassam Barham. ABOUT VISUALIZING PALESTINE Palestine Open Maps PERSPECTIVES • THE MAGAZINE OF PROMISED LAND MUSEUM 8
Visualizing Palestine (VP) is the primary developer of Palestine Open Maps. VP, an independent and non-profit laboratory, creates data-driven tools and works in partnership with civil society actors to promote justice and equality in Israel-Palestine. The VP team of researchers, designers, communication specialists, and technologists is committed to keeping their process of creating visual stories for social justice open and verifiable. Here is a static and interactive Process Wheel that explains VP’s method from conception to production to reception. PUBLIC RESPONSES TO PALESTINE OPEN MAPS Bloomberg reporter Mimi Kirk described Palestine Open Maps’ level of detail as “exceptional,” highlighting how the platform has revealed what Palestine looked like prior to 1948 in a way that has never been seen before. In an interview with the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, Majd Al-shihabi shares his personal motivation for contributing to Palestine Open Maps: “A second Nakba is happening slowly right now, and it will be complete when the last person [who lived] during the Nakba will no longer be with us. A big part of this push toward archiving is the nagging awareness that we have an entire generation of people we are losing, and with them all that memory and knowledge. If you don’t preserve your past, you will lose your future.” SUPPORT PALESTINE OPEN MAPS’ VISION You can support the Palestine Open Maps project and platform by sharing the website, subscribing to their newsletter, or becoming a member of Visualizing Palestine. SPRING 2022 9 3
Israel Israel was founded on the idea that 20th century Jewish settlers arrived in the Holy Land and, through hard work, transformed its empty swamps into fertile gardens. Early Zionist thinker Israel Zangwill wrote in 1901: “Palestine is a country without a people; the Jews are a people without a country.The regeneration of the soil would bring the regeneration of the people.” Since then, the idea that Palestine was “a land without people for a people without a land” and Jewish settlement there “made the desert bloom” has become ubiquitous. If this were true, how did over 700,000 Palestinian men, women and children become refugees? Where had they been living? Pre-Israel Palestine was not a desert but was teeming with life and infrastructure. While the creators of the Israeli state told the world that pre-1948 Jewish settlement in Palestine transformed the desert into productive agriculture, Palestine’s alreadyproductive agricultural sector was not significantly impacted. In 1944, Palestinians cultivated three times the amount of land in the Naqab desert as settlers, and the total amount dropped significantly after the 1948 Nakba. Haaretz reports that Christian Arabs were the ones who transformed the desert into a garden more than 1,500 years ago. LIFE AND RELIGIOUS COEXISTENCE IN HISTORIC PALESTINE Palestine pre-1948 was bustling with life and productivity. Film footage of Palestine in 1896 shows bustling cities with businesses operating peacefully; a train station filled with people; and Muslims, Jews, and Christians practicing their religions freely.The region was under the control of the Ottomans who practiced religious tolerance throughout the empire. Many Jews fled attacks in Spain and Portugal in the late 15th century, flocked to the Ottoman Empire, and created the largest Jewish community in the world there. Equipped with religious freedom in a place where they could live without fear of persecution, the Ottoman Jews participated in commerce and became prosperous into the 19th century. A 1922 League of Nations census report shows that Palestine’s population included 83,694 Jews, 73,024 Christians, and 590,890 Muslims.The Jewish people of Palestine were not targeted for their religion. Israeli historian Benny Morris writes that between 1881‒1908, only 13 Jews had been killed by Arabs, and all but four of those cases were robberies or similar crimes. IF THE HOLY LAND WAS NOT A DESERT BEFORE ERASING HISTORIC PALESTINE “Israel’s Defense Ministry has systematically removed documents which reveal atrocities and massacres committed against Palestinian families by the Israeli soldiers during the 1948 war.” –Haaretz, Tamar Novick (historian), Akevot Institute for Israeli-Palestinian Conflict Research THE HOLY LAND: MAKING THE DESERT BLOOM PERSPECTIVES • THE MAGAZINE OF PROMISED LAND MUSEUM 10
ZIONIST SETTLEMENT, THEN WHAT HAPPENED TO THE PALESTINIAN FAMILIES’ HOMES AND INFRASTRUCTURE? Investigative reporting by Haaretz, historians like Tamar Novick, and organizations like the Akevot Institute for Israeli-Palestinian Conflict Research have found evidence that Israel’s Defense Ministry has systematically removed documents which reveal atrocities and massacres committed against Palestinian families by the Israeli soldiers during the 1948 war. Israeli historian Ilan Pappé argues that this is part of a broader effort to erase Palestinians and Palestine altogether. Israel hides Palestine beyond its historical archives and educational system. It has also been physically reshaping the land to conceal evidence of Palestinian life that pre-dated Israel. TEL AVIV MUSEUM OF ART: “ANTI-MAPPING” EXHIBIT The “Anti-Mapping” photography exhibit by Israeli photojournalists Miki Kratsman and Shabtai Pinchevsky documents sites that the state has sought to erase, obstruct, and conceal, such as Palestinian towns that were destroyed in 1948, unrecognized Bedouin villages, and regions along the Green Line.These photographs expose places whose Palestinian names have been erased in official records, or whose remains after the expulsion of Arabs have been covered up by Jewish National Fund ( JNF) forests, Zionist newtowns, or Israel Defense Forces (IDF) bases. In an interview with Haaretz, Kratzman shares: “I have a better understanding of what these [ JNF] forests are. In this area they planted on the ruins of Palestinian villages. In the Bedouin areas where I wander sometimes, trees are planted today after people are evicted, and the purpose of the forests is to prevent those people from returning. The JNF’s Ambassadors Forest extends across several kilometers, it’s huge. It covers the whole region of al-Arakib [an unrecognized Bedouin village and its surroundings, north of Be’er Sheva]. The trees expel the people. Until new communities are built in the place of those that were demolished, the facts on the ground are the trees.” SETTLER DESTRUCTION OF PALESTINIAN PROPERTY Israel’s army and government are not the only actors destroying evidence of Palestinian life. Settlers also engage in this violence. Settler violence includes acts of violence that directly injure or kill people and affect property, such as vandalizing trees (a source of income for agricultural workers, as well as a symbol of Palestinian national pride), land, and vehicles, and stealing, injuring, or killing livestock. A report from Visualizing Palestine shows how settler violence in the Occupied West Bank has been on the rise: in 2017, there were on average 10 settler attacks per week, and now in 2022 there has been an average of 27 settler attacks per week. B’Tselem, the Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories, has documented settler violence and the lack of repercussions for decades.They write: “These acts of violence occur in the context of the failure of Israeli law enforcement, which treats settler violence with complacency and forgiveness. [It] enable[s] the violence to continue.” PALESTINIANS HAVE ALWAYS BEEN AND WILL ALWAYS BE HERE Despite official and unofficial attempts to conceal and destroy Palestinian history and life in the Holy Land, Palestinian families and their allies continue to fight for their right to exist. Even if their homes are destroyed, Palestinian refugees still hold the keys. Middle East correspondent Robert Fisk spoke with Palestinian families who still held the keys to the homes they were forced to flee in 1948, the year of the Nakba and the year that the United Nations entrenched Palestinians’ right to return. He writes that most were convinced “that they would return after a week or two and re-open those front doors and walk back into the houses many have owned for generations.” The Palestinian key has become an important symbol for their continued hope to return. SPRING 2023 11
Mohammad Mesli barely knew his father–he died in 1961 when Mohammad was only a young boy. But a few years ago, he found a suitcase filled with documentation of his father’s secret life as an imam who saved Jews from the Holocaust and the Nazi regime. The old, untouched suitcase he found was full of notebooks, official documents, and photos of Abdel Kadir Mesli’s life from 1940 to 1945. Mohammad invited France 2, the French public television channel, to examine the suitcase and its contents. Abdel Kadir was an Algerian orphan who arrived in Paris at seventeen years old. He began work as both a dockworker and carpenter then became a miner in Belgium. By the 1930s, he had become one of the five imams at the famous Grand Mosque of Paris, the oldest mosque in France. A REFUGE FOR JEWISH PEOPLE Following the Battle of France, Germans occupied France and the Low Countries in June 1940. While General Charles de Gaulle and the Free French resistance kept fighting the Nazi and Vichy regimes, Nazi persecution policy endangered the lives of Jews in France and forced them to flee or go into hiding. Imam Abdel Kadir Mesli and the imams of the Grand Mosque of Paris took action to save persecuted Jews. French filmmaker Derri Berkani found a note circulated among Algerian laborers at the time that read as follows: “Yesterday evening, the Jews of Paris were arrested—the elderly, women, and children. In exile like us, workers like us, these are our brothers.Their children are like our children. If you encounter one of their children, you must give him asylum and protection until the time that the misfortune—or the sorrow—passes. Oh man of my country, your heart is generous.” Muslim Algerians who had survived French colonization empathized with the persecuted Jews. And the Grand Mosque of Paris became a refuge for the Jewish people. Imam Abdel Kadir Mesli used his position to write false certifications for many Jewish families declaring that they were Muslim and not Jewish. One letter was written for an Italian Jew named Jules Luzato, and his descendants confirmed that the Imam’s letter saved their lives. IMAM ABDEL KADIR MESLI’S PUNISHMENT AND PERSEVERANCE An ImamWho Saved Jews from the Holocaust in Nazi-Occupied France REMEMBERING MUSLIMS WHO RISKED THEIR LIVES TO SAVE JEWS DURING THE HOLOCAUST PERSPECTIVES • THE MAGAZINE OF PROMISED LAND MUSEUM 12
The suitcase also included a letter written by the Vichy government in 1940, which demanded that the mosque’s rector punish the imams for writing false certifications for Jews. Instead, the rector sent Imam Abdel Kadir Mesli to Bordeaux to support the Muslim prisoners of war there. Yet, even in Bordeaux, Imam Abdel Kadir continued helping Jewish fugitives by falsifying documents. After four years, the Gestapo caught Imam Abdel Kadir and deported him to the Mauthausen concentration camp, known as one of the worst Nazi camps. Despite enduring endless torture, he never revealed the names of his network of imams who saved Jews from the Holocaust. When the US Army liberated Mauthausen in 1945, the camp was overcrowded, lacked food and was overwhelmed with diseases, which led to mass deaths among prisoners that continued in the days and weeks after liberation. Imam Abdel Kadir only weighed 66 pounds (33 kg). Imam Abdel Kadir Mesli’s son Mohammad told France 2, “I think it’s important that these kinds of stories don’t get forgotten…Muslims and imams who put their own lives in danger to save the lives of Jews and others. I think that today this story carries even more weight.”The imams of the Grand Mosque will be remembered for standing up for what was right and practicing the Golden Rule. REMEMBERING MUSLIMS WHO SAVED JEWS FROM THE HOLOCAUST London’s Board of Deputies of British Jews (BDBJ) launched “The Righteous Muslim Exhibition” in 2013 to honor the Muslims who sheltered Jews from the atrocities of the Holocaust during World War II. According to the BBC, BDBJ hoped “to inspire new research into instances of collaboration between the Muslim and Jewish communities.” The seventy Muslims included in the exhibition have also been awarded the title “Righteous among the Nations” by an independent public commission chaired by an Israeli Supreme Court Justice. Yad Vashem World Holocaust Remembrance Center in Jerusalem recognizes these Righteous Muslims alongside more than 20,000 others of many faiths and nationalities. The medal of honor for the Righteous bears this Jewish saying: “Whosoever saves a single life, saves an entire universe” (originating in Mishnah, Sanhedrin 4:5) The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum temporarily featured the exhibition boards, supported by the accompanying booklet “The Role of the Righteous Muslims” written by Fiyaz Mughal, the director of the Faith Matters charity. Mughal felt inspired to create this exhibition to encourage Jews and Muslims to learn about their historical partnerships and combat misinformation, adding: “That’s the best thing for empathy and cohesion: shared learning, and a common pride in who we are.” SPRING 2023 13
PromisedLandMuseum.org is primarily an online museum, and we also provide a series of banners that can be used to present our exhibits at local, live events.These banners were recently displayed by the “Peace is ossible” student organization at Rutgers University in New Jersey. What a great group of students! The organization is committed to fostering peaceful, respectful dialog (about the opposite of what we see in major news media these days), to both sharing ideas and listening in response.The organization encompasses diverse views, opinions, and backgrounds.The students in this group are forward-thinking and sensitive to the needs of others (evidenced by having kosher, halal, and vegetarian food options at the event). This issue of Perspectives highlights our museum gallery on Peaceful Palestine.This gallery is informative of a time in Palestine when peaceful Palestinian Jewish, Christian, and Muslim families lived side-by-side.That this was possible is not at all surprising, considering how the delightful young students at Rutgers University—with more diversity than the Arab Muslims, Arab Christians, and Arab Jews of pre-1917 Palestine— thrive together and celebrate their different cultures. The ”Peace is Possible” event included a brief presentation on our museum, plus pre-arranged questions and answers, followed by an open discussion from the audience. It was clear that the entire audience—like most Americans—wanted to see peace and justice reign over the Holy Land. Students had different points of view, though, as might be expected given the students’ varying backgrounds. I was left with a strong, hopeful feeling, which reinforced that the peaceful repatriation of Palestinian families to their homes is as inevitable as the ending of Apartheid in South Africa—as no one wanted anything other than to see people, all people, treated as equal human beings. I’m optimistic about this. I don’t think my Jewish values are better than anyone else’s. When I hear Israel’s Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich say that Hawara should be “wiped out,” I fully believe he is a good person— a truly good, caring person— who has not fully thought out the implications of what he promotes. Would he want the non-Jewish children of Hawara killed, or is he only proposing to make them orphans? Either way, I’m sure if he thought about it, he would realize that mistreating others is not consistent with his moral values or the lessons of the Holocaust, much less a way to achieve peace. When he promotes a disproportionate response by Israeli forces to every act of violence by Palestinians, would he want a disproportionate infliction of violence on Israelis for every act of violence committed by an Israeli? I think he probably believes, as you and I do, that, as Rabbi Hillel said, we should not do to others that which we would not want done to ourselves. We’re scheduled to present our museum banners again at an upcoming national convention of Unitarian Universalists. If your organization would like to present our museum content at a live event, and if you want to spread this message of peaceful coexistence, please reach out to us at promisedlandmuseum.org/host-an-exhibit/ for more information on hosting an exhibit. PEACE IS POSSIBLE DR. STEVEN FELDMAN is a U.S.-based dermatologist and Curator of the Jewish Museum of the Palestinian Experience. PERSPECTIVES • THE MAGAZINE OF PROMISED LAND MUSEUM 14
MUSEUMBACKROOM HIGHLIGHTS ARTIFACTS 1935 Coin from Palestine With the fall of the Ottoman Empire, the League of Nations assigned Palestine to a British mandate in 1920. This 1935 Palestine coin features “Palestine” written in British Mandate Palestine’s three official languages: English, Arabic, and Hebrew. See the full entry here. BOOKS & DOCUMENTS Ten Myths About Israel “Historical disinformation, even of the most recent past, can do tremendous harm,” Israeli historian and University of Exeter professor Ilan Pappé writes in his book, Ten Myths About Israel. Pappé is an Israeli Jewish historian who describes how Palestinian families were made refugees from their homes. See the full entry here. INFOGRAPHICS & MAPS Rising Israeli Settler Violence in the Occupied West Bank Palestinians living in the Occupied Territories endure extremely harsh living conditions due to the Israeli military occupation. However, the Israel Defense Forces are not the only source of violence. Israeli settlers are also committing acts of violence. . See the full entry here. MOVIES 1948: Creation and Catastrophe The movie, 1948: Creation and Catastrophe, describes the events underlying the establishment of Israel through the personal recollections of both Palestinians and Israelis. See the full entry here. PHOTOS Desecration of the Beit Dajan Mosque Since the creation of the Israeli state, many extremist groups of Jewish people have desecrated Muslim holy sites. For example, there is proof that Jewish settlers destroyed the centuriesold mosque in Jerusalem by arson and vandalism in 1967. See more historical photos here. VIDEOS My Name Is Rachel Corrie Israel Social TV interviews the director and actors of the play “My Name is Rachel Corrie.”The play is based on American activist Rachel Corrie’s diary and takes place among the resistance movement to Israel’s home demolitions of 2003.. See the full entry here. SPRING 2023 15
A Timeline of the IsraeliPalestinian Conflict July 2021-September 2022 January 19 Israeli forces shot dead two Palestinian men, including a teacher, during a raid on Jenin in the occupied West Bank. January 21 A Palestinian man was shot dead in the city of Ramallah in the occupied West Bank by Israeli forces. January 23 The U.S. and Israel launched their largest joint military exercise ever, which included 100 U.S. aircraft with fighters, bombers, and refueling aircraft flying alongside 42 Israeli aircraft. January 28 Two people were wounded in a shooting attack by a 13-year-old Palestinian in occupied East Jerusalem. January 29 Netanyahu announced plans to expedite gun permits for Israeli citizens. January 30 Israeli forces shot dead a Palestinian in the city of Hebron in the occupied West Bank during a raid.This was the 35th Palestinian killed by Israeli forces in January 2023. January 29 Israeli civilian security guards shoot Palestinian teenager dead near the illegal settlement of Kedumim in the occupied West Bank. January 25 Israel demolishes Bedouin village Al-Araqeeb in the Negev Desert for the 212th time. January 26 Israeli forces killed 9 Palestinians including a 61-year-old woman and injured 20 more including children during a raid in the occupied West Bank. January 27 A Palestinian gunman killed 7 people and wounded 3 more in a synagogue outside Jerusalem ion response to the deadliest Israeli raid in the West Bank in years the day prior.The gunman was shot dead. August 19 Israeli forces shot and killed a Palestinian man during an early morning raid in the West Bank; forces also arrested 5 Palestinians suspected of terrorism. December 29, 2022 Israel’s new government was sworn in with Benjamin Netanyahu as Prime Minister for the sixth time. January 1 Israeli forces killed 2 Palestinians and wounded 3 in an exchange of gunfire during a home demolition operation in the Palestinian village of Kafr Dan in the occupied West Bank. January 2 Israeli forces killed 2 Palestinians during a raid on the village of Kufr Dan in the occupied West Bank. January 3 Israel’s ultranationalist national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir visited Al-Aqsa.The visit sparked outrage and critiques from many international and Israeli leaders, who called it “provocative.” January 3 Israeli forces shot and killed a 15-year-old Palestinian child during a raid on the city of Bethlehem in the occupied West Bank. January 5 Israeli forces shot dead a 16-year-old Palestinian child during a raid in the occupied West Bank city of Nablus. January 6 Two Jewish teenagers arrested for vandalizing more than 30 graves at the Protestant Mount Zion Cemetery in Jerusalem on January 1. January 12 Israeli forces shoot dead 3 Palestinians in a raid on the town of Qabatiya in the occupied West Bank. January 14 Israeli forces shot dead two Palestinians during a raid in the village of Jaba in the occupied West Bank.The Palestinian Islamic Jihad group said they were its members. January 15 Israeli forces shot dead a Palestinian man in the occupied West Bank at a checkpoint near Ramallah after spraying the man’s nephew with pepper spray. January 16 Israeli forces shot dead a 14-year-old Palestinian child during a raid on Bethlehem in the occupied West Bank. January 19 Israeli forces shot dead two Palestinian men, including a teacher, during a raid on Jenin in the occupied West Bank. January 9 Israel’s Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir instructed police to remove Palestinian flags from public spaces, calling the flag an act of “terrorism.” January 11 Israeli forces killed a Palesti ian during an army raid into the Balata refugee camp, and at the illegal Havat Yehuda settlement, an Israeli killed a Palestinian man he accused of stabbing another Israeli. February 2 Jewish settler population in the occupied West Bank exceeds 500,000. February 4 At least 13 Palestinians have been injured after Israeli forces fired live ammunition, an anti-tank guided missile, and tear gas during its raid of the Aqbat Jabr refugee camp in the occupied West Bank. February 6 Israeli forces kill 5 Palestinians in a raid on Jericho after a weeklong Israeli siege of the West Bank city. February 9 Barcelona mayor Ada Colau cut ties with Israel, calling for an end to the “systematic violation” of Palestinian human rights. February 10 A Palestinian rammed a car into a crowded bus stop in the illegal Israeli settlement of Ramot in occupied East Jerusalem, killing two people including a child, before being shot dead. February 13 100,000 Israelis protested the proposed judicial reform outside the Knesset in Jerusalem amid a mass strike. A Timeline of Events in Israel/ Palestine/Occupied Territories January 1, 2023 – March 30, 2023 16 PERSPECTIVES • THE MAGAZINE OF PROMISED LAND MUSEUM
February 23 Israel approved more than 7,000 new Jewish settlement homes in the occupied West Bank. March 9 At least 3 Israelis were wounded in a Tel Aviv shooting. Israeli police said the assailant was “neutralized” but provided no details about the circumstances of the shooting. February 26 A Palestinian gunman killed two Israelis in the occupied West Bank near the village of Huwara days after Israel’s deadliest raid in twenty years. March10 An Israeli settler shot and killed a Palestinian man in the occupied West Bank. February 26 Jordan hosts a meeting between Israeli and Palestinian Authority officials in a big to halt the surge in deadly violence. March12 Israeli military said it shot dead three Palestinian gunmen who had opened fire against Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank near the city of Nablus. March 3 Israeli forces killed a 15-year-old Palestinian in the occupied West Bank, shooting him in the back in response to the teen hurling rocks at a military vehicle. March 6 Jewish settlers attacked five Palestinians of the same family, including a toddler and an elderly man, in a supermarket parking lot ambush. Israeli soldiers did not stop the attack. March 7 Israeli forces killed at least 6 Palestinians and wounded 11 others during a raid in the occupied West Bank city of Jenin. February 27 Israeli settlers carried out one of the largest organized attacks on Palestinians: at least 400 settlers torched more than 30 Palestinian homes and 100 cars, killing 1 Palestinian and injuring hundreds of others in the occupied West Bank village of Huwara. It is described as a “pogrom.” March 16 Israeli raid in Jenin refugee camp kills four Palestinians including a teenage boy. March 1 Israel’s finance minister Bezalel Smotrich calls for the destruction of Huwara, saying it should be “wiped out,” emboldening far-right settlers after their recent rampage. March 23 Israeli forces shot dead a 25-year-old Palestinian during a raid on his occupied West Bank home in Izbat Shufa on the first day of Ramadan. March 2 The Israeli army lifted a 3-day blockade on Jericho in the occupied West Bank after killing a Palestinian man it claims was responsible for a shooting attack that killed an American-Israeli. March 24 United Nations independent commission of inquiry completed a second series of public hearings for its investigation of human rights violations in Israel and the occupied territories. One member called the evidence “very disturbing.” March 9 Israeli forces, including some in civilian clothing, killed 3 Palestinians in an occupied West Bank village raid in Jaba. A fourth Palestinian, 14-yearold Walid Nassar, died from injuries after being shot by Israeli military two days prior. February 15 Israel passed a law revoking the citizenship of Arab citizens with terrorism convictions or who receive financial aid from the Palestinian Authority, regardless of trial. February 22 Israeli forces killed 11 Palestinians—6 suspected militants and 5 civilians— and wounded more than 100 people in an occupied West Bank raid. February 13 Israel bombed the Gaza Strip, claiming the air strikes were a response to a rocket fired from the Palestinian territory. February 14 Israeli forces killed two Palestinians, including a teenager, in a raid on the Far’a refugee camp in the occupied West Bank. February 23 Militants in Gaza fired rockets into Israel in response to the deadly February 22 raid. Missile defenses intercepted the rockets, and Israeli fighter jets responded with air strikes into Gaza. March 26 Two Israeli soldiers were wounded in a drive-by shooting claimed by a Palestinian armed group in the occupied West Bank village of Huwara. March 27 Netanyahu announced the delay of a proposed judicial overhaul to prevent “a civil war.” His government’s plan would give parliament members the power to choose judges, eliminate judicial review of legislation, and vote down Supreme Court decisions. March 27 At least 6 Palestinians injured in an attack by Jewish settlers in the occupied West Bank town of Huwara. Video footage shows settlers stoning and torching the ambulances and Israeli soldiers beating and arresting Palestinians and firing tear gas at them, forcing them to close their shops. March 28 EU statement reports that Israeli authorities demolished 953 Palestinian structures in the occupied West Bank and cited 849 Jewish settler attacks against Palestinians in 2022 alone. March 28 Israel parliament passed temporary legislation, allowing police to conduct house searches for illegal weapons without a warrant, particularly in Arab communities. March 29 Israeli occupation authorities continue to restrict Palestinian access to Al-Aqsa Mosque during Ramadan while Israelis stormed the holy site. March 30 Thousands marched in Israel, the occupied West Bank, and Gaza in commemoration of the 47th Land Day; two people were wounded by Israeli army fire along the Gaza Strip border. March 30 Israeli forces fired tear gas bombs without warning inside Faisal Al-Husseini International Stadium in occupied East Jerusalem during the Palestinian Football Association’s final cup match. March 31 The Israel Defense Forces announced it would close West Bank and Gaza crossing points to Palestinians during Passover. March 31 The Land Research Centre in Jerusalem reported that Israel has demolished more than 12,350 Palestinian homes and uprooted more than 2 million perennial olive trees in the occupied territories since 1967. 1,220 demolition notices were distributed to Palestinians in 2022 alone. March 31 Jewish extremists attack Palestinian cab driver following a pro-government rally in Jerusalem. Video shows a large group chase him and destroy his car. 17 SPRING 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
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