Wednesday 31 March 2021

Land grabs in Israel never ended — they became more sophisticated

From maintaining British Mandate laws to turning land into national parks, Israel is dispossessing Palestinian citizens to this day, says lawyer Salim Wakim.

Palestinians clash with Israeli security forces following a protest to mark Land Day in the village of Madama near Nablus, in the West Bank, March 30, 2017. (Nasser Ishtayeh/Flash90)

BySuha Arraf-March 31, 2021

Palestinian citizens of Israel on Tuesday marked 45 years since the first Land Day — an annual commemoration of the mass strikes and protests held on March 30, 1976 in response to a plan by the Israeli government, then led by Yitzhak Rabin, to confiscate thousands of dunams of land in the Galilee. Israeli security forces shot dead six demonstrators during those protests.

Over the years, Land Day has turned into a major event for Palestinians around the world to protest Israel’s discriminatory land regime and policies of dispossession. Although the methods Israel has used to expropriate Palestinian land inside its pre-1967 borders have changed over the decades — particularly after lifting military rule over Palestinian citizens of Israel in 1966 — the state’s policies are still being advanced to this day.

Salim Wakim, 67, is a leading attorney who has spent the last 43 years working to protect what is left of Palestinian land inside Israel.

Wakim’s father was originally from the village of Al-Bassa, whose residents were uprooted in 1948. After the Nakba, his father arrived in the Galilee village of Mi’ilya, got married, and raised a family of academics, intellectuals, and political activists who helped establish the Abnaa al-Balad movement. Despite his deep belonging to Mi’ilya, Wakim never forgot his roots, which he says led him to specialize in land law.

+972 spoke with Wakim about the history of Israel’s land regime, and how the commemoration of Land Day has been key to fostering Palestinian citizens’ awareness and connection with their homeland. The interview was edited and shortened for clarity.

Does Israel still expropriate Palestinian land inside the Green Line?

The expropriations after Land Day in 1976 were stopped and took on a different form. In the past, most of the expropriations took place according to British Mandate law. One of these laws was the Land Ordinance (Acquisition for Public Purposes) — 1943. The Mandate implemented this law for public use — to pave roads or build hospitals, for instance. But Israel took advantage of this law to confiscate as much land as possible and to build Jewish communities.

Salim Wakim (r), Palestinian land attorney. (Samaa Wakim)

The first round of expropriations in accordance with this law took place in the 1960s, against land belonging to [the Palestinian villages] Ein Mahil, Reineh, Al-Mashhad, in what is today [the Israeli city] Nof Hagalil. The second round took place in 1974 in areas such as Karmiel, Bi’ina, and Deir al-Asad.

But there are two laws prior to this that Israel used in the 1950s to expropriate millions of dunams of land. The first was the 1950 Absentees’ Property Law, which appointed a custodian [for these properties] — ostensibly so that if peace comes and those “absentees” [Palestinian refugees who were expelled or fled during the 1948 war] return to their land, it will be protected under the auspices of the custodian. The custodian exists to this very day.

Those same lands were then transferred to the so-called Development Authority, where then became property of the state. The government supposedly appointed the custodian to care for refugee land, [but instead] he sold it to the state.

This law alone was not enough for Israel, so it also enacted the Land Acquisition Law in 1953 — one of the most draconian and destructive laws against Palestinian citizens.

The law authorized Israel’s finance minister to transfer to the Development Authority land that was either not in the possession of its [Palestinian] owners on April 1, 1952, or was used by Israel for security, settlement, or development purposes between May 14, 1948 and April 1, 1952, and was still required for those purposes afterward. The law did not require the owner to be notified of the confiscation order, and some of the owners learned of the confiscation only many years after it took place.

Palestinian citizens of Israel march during a protest marking Land Day, in Arrabe, northern Israel, March 30, 2021. (Jamal Awad/Flash90)

We found materials in the state archives and were shocked at the way in which the state got its hands on the land. Before the state’s establishment, more than 92 percent of the land was owned by Palestinians; today, we own less than four percent. In the past, it was customary to grant small monetary compensation to those who could prove their livelihood depends on agriculture, or they would receive land in exchange for the property that was confiscated. But Israel canceled this arrangement.

Other expropriation laws were also put into place, such as the Cultivation Waste Land Law [which allowed the Israeli agriculture minister to declare land that had not been used by its owners for the purpose of agriculture or planting trees for a period as ‘waste land,’ before taking and dividing it among other bodies].

In the 1950s and ‘60s, Palestinian citizens lived under military rule. The people did not know there were [confiscation] orders. In this way, [the government] managed to confiscate tens of thousands of dunams.

The laws from the 1950s have continued to this day. In fact, once Israel was established, it repealed almost all of the British Mandate laws, but left the laws of land expropriation.

What happened after Land Day?

After Land Day, the direct expropriations nearly ceased — not because [the authorities] are nice, but because there was almost nothing left to expropriate. What is left is the land that is already in use. People are more aware today and have started going to the courts [to defend their remaining land].

Expropriations instead took a different form; for instance, by declaring an area a national park or nature reserve. This is what happened with the village of Jisr az-Zarqa. A few years ago, the authorities declared land belonging to Mi’ilya a national park, and in Yanuh they did the same.

A Bedouin woman reacts after seeing her demolished home in the village of Umm al-Hiran in the Negev desert, in southern Israel, January 18, 2017. (Hadas Parush/Flash90)

This [method] leaves the land in the hands of its original owners, but they cannot use it for agriculture or for building. The only thing you are allowed to do there is raise birds. The goal is to transform this property from agricultural land to land that cannot be used.

I worked on behalf of several families from the village of Jish and Mi’ilya and we were able to prove that this land was in fact in use. This is how we managed to save these plots. But few people were aware of this fact, and most of them have lost their land.

Another way to take over land is through the Planning and Building Law and the attempt to change the designation of land. This is what happened when Israel built Route 6 [a major north-south highway] on Palestinian-owned land. At first, the authorities set up a fund so that whoever had their land taken would receive an alternative plot. The authorities gave some land, but then stopped after claiming they did not have any more land to give, so they began paying small monetary compensation instead.

Yet another method has been through military live-fire training zones. I had one case of someone from the village of Maghar who wanted to register his land in the land registry deed [known in Israel as the “Tabu”]. The authorities refused to register the land, claiming it was in a live-fire zone, which means one can only access their land with a special permit. This has been in place since the 1950s.

Some of the firing zones have been canceled, such as Zone 9 between Sakhnin and Arrabe, which was closed down 20 years ago by a military order. Still, most of those orders have not been annulled. Today, the expropriations are done in a more sophisticated way.

How many successes have you had over the last 43 years?

Not many. These laws were legislated in a way that make them difficult to challenge. But I managed to reach many compromises. These are racist laws.

Palestinians mark Land Day by protesting house evictions in the neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah, in Jerusalem, March 30, 2021. (Activestills)

Are the Israeli government’s master plans for Palestinian villages another form of expropriation?

Absolutely, since there is no land to build on and the villages are being choked in. This is a method for the government to get its hands on the land, because people would give half a dunam designated for construction in exchange for ten dunams of agricultural land. In most villages, there is no land or plots for construction. People have no choice. But today some local councils have more awareness of this and are trying to build plans accordingly.

When did you start to feel that Palestinian awareness of land expropriation was growing?

It was after Land Day and the establishment of the Land Protection Committee. Before that, the matter only concerned a certain political stratum, primarily Communist Party activists and politicians who were aware of the issue and tried to defend the land.

The difference between the previous expropriations and the expropriations of 1976 was that in the latter case, they affected the land of Palestinians who had remained in the country, not land that belonged to absentees. Land Day was a formative event. Every year there is growing awareness. Marking Land Day only strengthened the connection to the land and made people understand the Zionist strategy of dispossession.

I am originally from the village of Al-Bassa, which was destroyed and saw its inhabitants displaced and its land confiscated. We have lost our land. But for me, my work is part of a vision and a mission. For every meter of land I manage to save, I feel a supreme sense of happiness — like it is a holiday.

Palestinians Seek EU Support for East Jerusalem Elections

Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki. (Photo: via EU website)

March 31, 2021

The Palestinians have asked the European Union to use its influence to ensure Israel allows its citizens in occupied East Jerusalem to vote in the upcoming Palestinian legislative and presidential elections.

Earlier reports suggested that voters in East Jerusalem would cast their ballots at Israeli post offices, which would then mail them to Palestinian elections officials.

At the time, Nabil Shaath, international relations adviser to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, said that any Israeli protestations at this arrangement would be staunchly rejected.

Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates Riyad Malki used a meeting with the EU’s representative to the country, Sven Kuehn von Burgsdorff, to reiterate this point.

A report from the official Wafa news agency says that he also requested the bloc send international observers and offer all the necessary support to facilitate the elections’ smooth running.

How Israeli rights groups prevent Palestinians from framing their own reality

Imbued in the settler-colonial system, Israeli human rights organisations appear to view Palestinians as little more than a raw data source, while Jewish staff set the agenda

A Palestinian protester walks across Israeli forces during a demonstration against Israeli settlements in the village of Deir Jarir near Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, on8 January, 2021 (AFP)

Haneen Maikey Lana Tatour-31 March 2021

In recent years, people of colour working in the human rights and international development sector have called on NGOs and agencies to examine institutional racism, and to look at how their structures, discourses and programmes reinforce colonialism and white supremacy.

Last year, 1,000 former and current staff of Doctors Without Borders called for an independent investigation to dismantle "decades of power and paternalism". A year earlier, a report by an independent commission determined that Oxfam International was plagued by "racism, colonial behaviour and bullying behaviours".

But this emerging global conversation appears to have skipped over Israeli human rights organisations, still praised for their courageous fight against Israel’s occupation and their advocacy of Palestinian rights. The recent report from B’Tselem, which declared Israel to be an apartheid state, offers an opportunity to speak about the racial politics of Israeli human rights work.

Racial hierarchy

Some Israeli rights organisations are not only imbued in the settler-colonial system and benefit from it, but they also embody and reproduce in their institutional structures and operations, racial colonial power relations. Put more bluntly, the Israeli human rights sector has an Ashkenazi Jewish-Israeli supremacy problem.

A close look at the staffing structures of such organisations reveals a striking picture of racial hierarchy between Israeli Jews, ’48 Palestinians (also referred to as Palestinian “citizens” of Israel), and Palestinians from the occupied West Bank and Gaza (also referred to as ’67 Palestinians) - the same hierarchy upon which the Israeli racial settler-colonial project rests.

Palestinians are designated specific roles ... yet, even though they are the backbone of these organisations, they are barred from top-level positions

Palestinians from Gaza and the occupied West Bank have two main roles in Israeli human rights organisations. They are the field researchers tasked with documenting violations of human rights, collecting data and taking testimonies. They are also the “clients” and “beneficiaries” who appeal to these organisations to help them secure their health, education, residence and movement rights vis-a-vis Israeli authorities.

Then there are the ’48 Palestinians, who occupy positions that demand a good command of both Arabic and Hebrew. Their role is to mediate between ’67 Palestinians and Israeli staff. They are the data and intake coordinators who manage fieldworkers, process information and coordinate the programmes that require direct communication with ‘67 Palestinians.

Finally, positions such as chief executives, spokespersons, international advocacy coordinators, resource development staff, and researchers who write public policy reports - the public faces of the organisations - are Israeli and Jewish American, almost exclusively Ashkenazi.

Colonial fragmentation

This is by no means a critique of Palestinian staff and their agency within Israeli human rights groups. Palestinian activists have long negotiated questions of livelihood and resistance while living under colonial conditions.

As in Israel’s racialised labour market, Israeli human rights organisations have their own glass ceiling. Palestinians are designated specific roles, without which the Israeli Jewish human rights groups cannot operate - yet, even though they are the backbone of these organisations, they are barred from top-level positions, which are mostly reserved for Ashkenazi Jews.

Why calling Israel an apartheid state is not enough

The division between the labour of ’48 and ’67 Palestinians also plays into and deepens the colonial fragmentation of Palestinians. It risks triggering internal power dynamics and a hierarchy between ’48 Palestinians, who serve as mediators, and ’67 Palestinians, who seek assistance or share their testimonies.

The deep-seated racism - and racism does not have to be conscious or intentional - that underpins this staffing culture also underscores questions of knowledge production and representation. In these organisations, Palestinians and their experiences of settler-colonial violence are instrumental for Israeli knowledge production. They are the source of information, and their lived experiences are the raw dataset.

It is the Israelis who decide what to do with this information, how to interpret and frame it, and how to communicate it to the world.

Arbiters of Palestinian agency

In a 2016 interview, B’Tselem’s executive director, Hagai El-Ad, was asked: “How do you give Palestinians voice and agency in your work?” His reply was telling:

“That’s a very important question, which we think about all of the time. One of the main ways is through our video project, which is a leading global example for self-empowered citizen journalism. Palestinian volunteers, more than 200 of them all over the West Bank, have video cameras, and are empowered to document life under the occupation. Of course, the footage later released is the original footage the way it was shot by Palestinians.”

The question, in itself, displays some of the harm these human rights organisations do by playing the role of mediators of the Palestinian experience - the givers of agency and voice. By assuming the authority to shape international perspectives of Palestinians, they act as the arbiters of Palestinian agency.

B’Tselem director Hagai El-Ad attends a media conference in Tel Aviv in 2016 (AFP)

At the same time, El-Ad’s answer suggests that the most the natives can do is document their reality. The Israeli human rights sector appears incapable of envisioning Palestinians as knowledge producers, or framers of their lived reality. The empowerment of which El-Ad speaks is a classic case of liberal empowerment devoid of power - one that sits well with the white saviour mindset.

An important aspect of this exploitative, racialised relationship is the emotional and psychological labour expended by Palestinians in collecting the information and testimonies necessary for the existence of these organisations.

While Palestinians are tasked with documenting and processing the horrifying settler-colonial violence to which they are subjected, Israeli staff receive processed and “clean” information to use in their reports, international advocacy work and public campaigns.

Cycle of violence

While this dynamic traps Palestinians in a cycle of violence that leaves them emotionally and politically exhausted and (re)traumatised, it shields the occupier from any direct involvement. Israeli staff receive the testimonies filtered and mediated, adding a further layer of disconnect between the occupier and the consequences of the occupation and colonial violence.

The racist structure that puts Palestinians in the back seat in these organisations also informs the politics of representation, which views Israelis as the natural representers and framers of Palestinians’ lived reality. This is joined by a sense of self-righteousness. In an interview with the New Yorker, El-Ad explained why B’Tselem decided to call Israel an apartheid state: “We want to change the discourse on what is happening between the river and the sea. The discourse has been untethered from reality, and this undermines the possibility of change.”

Our lived realities and knowledge should not be footnotes in the reports of white, Israeli, settler-colonial organisations

What B’Tselem and El-Ad ignore is that their own discourse has been untethered from reality. Had they listened to Palestinians, they would know that Palestinians have been saying for decades that they live a reality of apartheid, racial segregation and racial domination. This erasure is the result of a condescending approach that insists the settler knows better than the native.

Yet, within the racialised international scene, Palestinian activists, lawyers and human rights groups - such as Al-Haq, Al Mezan, Adalah or Addameer - do not receive the same international attention as B’Tselem or Israeli lawyer Michael Sfard of Yesh Din, with dozens of interviews and coverage in leading international outlets, and access to decision-makers.

Centring Palestinians

Israeli human rights organisations, activists and lawyers do not merely “use their privilege” to “help” Palestinians - a claim white people often make when they centre themselves. They speak of apartheid, but they do not work to undermine the politics that privilege them. Instead, they capitalise on and benefit from the politics that render Israeli voices as more valuable and legitimate - and they do so while exploiting Palestinian knowledge and labour.

Binding human rights treaty would be a crucial tool for Palestinians

This racial dynamic also influences the types of knowledge and discourse that are produced. Israeli human rights organisations assume the authoritative voice on Palestinian issues internationally. B’Tselem is now the go-to group on Israeli apartheid, Gisha on Gaza, Yesh Din on Israeli settlements in the West Bank, Physicians for Human Rights on health, and HaMoked on questions of status.

The result is a settler reading of the Palestinian experience. With the insistence of Israelis to define the Palestine question, the framing they offer and the knowledge they produce tends to undercut Palestinians and the radical anti-colonial agenda that centres liberation.

For example, while Palestinian radical politics sees in Israel an apartheid settler-colonial state and argues that Zionism is racism, B’Tselem advances an understanding of Israeli apartheid that ignores settler-colonialism and denies the racial underpinnings of the Zionist movement.

Palestinians know how to frame their own reality; they have been doing so for decades. Our concern is less with how to make Israeli organisations and activists less racist or more accommodating of Palestinians. We are more concerned with how we, as Palestinian activists, human rights organisations and solidarity groups, should respond to this racial dynamic.

Our lived realities and knowledge should not be footnotes in the reports of white, Israeli, settler-colonial organisations. A way forward is to centre Palestinian knowledge and the liberationist anti-colonial agenda.

Approach new definition of anti-Semitism with caution, Palestinians say

People stand holding banners — Israel lobby groups have attempted to brand some support for Palestinian rights as anti-Semitic. Will a new definition of anti-Jewish bigotry help change that?
Mahmoud AjjourAPA images

Nora Barrows-29 March 2021

A new definition of anti-Semitism has been released, aiming to clarify and “improve” a widely discredited interpretation that has inhibited and threatened advocacy for Palestinian rights.

But Palestinian and Jewish civil society groups are urging human rights campaigners to approach the declaration with caution.

The Jerusalem Declaration on anti-Semitism, signed by more than 200 scholars, is offered as an alternative to the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s (IHRA) definition of anti-Semitism, which conflates criticism of Israel and its state ideology, Zionism, with hatred of Jews.

In the effort to shield Israel from criticism, Israel lobby groups and associated individuals in Europe, Canada and the US have pushed lawmakers and university administrations to adopt the IHRA definition with some success.

But there has been steady pushback by advocates for human rights and free speech.

The new declaration states that anti-Semitism should be defined as “discrimination, prejudice, hostility or violence against Jews as Jews” and asserts that criticism of Zionism, opposition to Israel’s apartheid and settler-colonial system, and support for the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) campaign are not anti-Semitic.

But while the new definition “can be instrumental in the fight against the anti-Palestinian McCarthyism and repression that the proponents of the IHRA definition” have intentionally promoted, the Jerusalem declaration “excludes representative Palestinian perspectives,” states the Palestinian BDS National Committee (BNC).

Along with the declaration’s “unfortunate title and most of its guidelines, it is focused on Palestine/Israel and Zionism, unjustifiably reinforcing attempts to couple anti-Jewish racism with the struggle for Palestinian liberation, and therefore impacting our struggle,” the coalition group adds.

The exclusion of Palestinian perspectives, they say, points to “an omission that is quite telling about asymmetric relations of power and domination and how some liberals still try to make decisions that deeply affect us, without us.”

This new definition “risks reinforcing the impulse to decide for Palestinians and their allies what is acceptable to say about Israel and Palestinians’ lived experiences,” stated Palestine Legal director Dima Khalidi.

Additionally, the declaration fails to properly identify white supremacists and extremist right-wing groups as those primarily responsible for anti-Semitic violence.

This “inadvertently lets the far right off the hook,” the BNC warns, “despite a brief mention” in the declaration’s list of frequently asked questions.

Welcoming with caution

Corey Balsam of Independent Jewish Voices Canada stated on Thursday that the JDA could serve “as a useful tool for governments and institutions who are serious about combating anti-Semitism, rather than simply scoring points with the Israeli government and pro-Israel lobby groups.”

However, Balsam cautioned that the declaration’s focus on Israel-Palestine “risks contributing to the intense policing of discourse” and distracts “from the real dangers we face as Jews today from white supremacists and the far right.”

“It is regrettable that more than a year’s worth of intellectual time and energy had to be spent on this initiative, which risks further classifying speech concerning Jews as a ‘special case’ that requires its own set of guidelines,” writes Barry Trachtenberg, a scholar and signatory of the declaration, in Jewish Currents.

Trachtenberg is also a member of the academic advisory board at Jewish Voice for Peace.

“However, the damage done by the IHRA definition of anti-Semitism is profound. It has restricted reasonable debates about Israel and done nothing to lessen anti-Semitism. It must be stopped in its tracks,” he adds.

This week, Palestine Legal published an online interactive toolkit to track the evolution and implementation of the IHRA and document how Palestinian rights advocates have been impacted.

In 2020, state and federal lawmakers introduced more than 20 measures “aimed at silencing, condemning, or punishing advocacy for Palestinian rights,” the civil rights group reports. Those measures included bills condemning the BDS campaign as well as promotion of the IHRA definition.

Of the hundreds of incidents of suppression to which Palestine Legal responded in 2020, 66 percent included false accusations of anti-Semitism.

Widespread efforts to promote the IHRA definition “may have played a role in an uptick in false and politically motivated accusations of anti-Semitism against supporters of Palestinian rights,” Palestine Legal states.

Whose rights?

Another major critique of the declaration by Palestinian rights campaigners is over language that could prioritize the rights of Israeli settlers over Palestinians.

While the Jerusalem Declaration upholds “the Palestinian demand for justice and the full grant of their political, national, civil and human rights, as encapsulated in international law,” it also defines “Denying the right of Jews in the State of Israel to exist and flourish, collectively and individually, as Jews, in accordance with the principle of equality” as an act of anti-Semitism.

Here, the BNC notes that this alarmingly fails “to fully uphold the necessary distinction between hostility to or prejudice against Jews on the one hand and legitimate opposition to Israeli policies, ideology and system[s] of injustice on the other.”

The declaration signals that it would be anti-Semitic to deny Jewish Israeli settlers the “right” to replace Palestinians on ethnically cleansed land, the BNC warns.

“Should Palestinian refugees be denied their UN-stipulated right to return home in order not to disturb some assumed ‘collective Jewish right’ to demographic supremacy?” the group adds.

“What about justice, repatriation and reparations in accordance with international law and how they may impact certain assumed ‘rights’ of Jewish Israelis occupying Palestinian homes or lands?”

Most importantly, the Palestinian coalition group says, “what does any of this have to do with anti-Jewish racism?”

The Palestine Book Awards and resisting the falsification of history

Palestine Book Awards 2016 [Middle East Monitor]

Haifa Zangana-March 31, 2021 at 1:59 pm

The gap between the Arab people and their governments has never been greater and deeper than what we are currently experiencing regarding Palestine. At a time when some governments have rushed to declare their normalisation of relations with the racist colonial state of Israel, the Palestinian resistance is becoming entrenched, and popular anti-normalisation campaigns are spreading. International solidarity campaigns and the boycott movement have gained traction around the world.

The governments' submission to blackmail and political pressure, as well as their justification of normalisation for the sake of "peace" and ending the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, are both unacceptable. Moreover, the claims that they have the aspirations of a new Palestinian and Arab generation at heart are invalid. Palestinian Land Day, commemorated at the end of March annually, for example, is part of the collective memory that they are trying to erase. Resistance to the settler-colonial occupation now varies thanks to the initiatives of the new generations who are continuing the struggle of their predecessors, both within and beyond Palestine. They are carrying the torch of resistance, in all its forms, individually and alongside Palestine solidarity activists around the world. They still see and believe in the justice of the cause.

WATCH: Winners of 2020 Palestine Book Awards announced

A number of international initiatives focus on the cultural aspect of resisting the occupation, and for the Palestinian narrative to be a tool for preserving memory and combatting the falsification of the historical narrative and, indeed, history itself. In order to convey the Palestinian narrative to the widest possible audience, Middle East Monitor (MEMO) launched the Palestine Book Awards in 2011 to celebrate the achievements of writers, wherever and whoever they are, in writing about Palestine and its people. According to Dr Daud Abdullah, MEMO's director, the awards were also launched to encourage publishers to publish books on Palestine. While the awards began with a simple idea, they have grown over the past ten years as a result of the dedication of a team that believes in Palestine and the importance of books. Led by the activist and journalist Victoria Britten and my colleague Dr Ibrahim Darwish, I have had the honour of being part of that team from the 2012 awards to date.

How do we even begin to evaluate the ten years of the Palestine Book Awards? Gradually, they have attracted the attention of publishing houses, universities, and independent authors around the world, who started to submit their books on Palestine that met the criteria for consideration. Such books must, of course, be about Palestine, and be in English, published during the year before the awards being made. If the number of books submitted is any measure of success, then it is worth noting that twenty books were submitted in the first year, while in recent years the number is fifty, covering politics, economics, human rights, novels, poetry, memoirs, children's books, drawing, photography, and cooking. As for the authors, they are from different nationalities and countries, including the new generation of Palestinians inside Palestine and in the diaspora. They are united by their principled commitment to the rights of the Palestinian people, and their belief, as writers, academics, poets, and artists, in resistance to the occupation by spreading knowledge about Palestine and its people and challenging the blatantly misleading Israeli propaganda, while maintaining standards of originality and creativity.

The awards have become an annual event with status within British literary circles. Interested individuals look forward to attending an evening event usually held in London the day before the winners are announced, where they can listen to the short-listed authors and ask questions. The only exception to this tradition was last November when the nominated books were discussed and the winners were announced online due to the pandemic restrictions.

Dr Rima Khalaf was the guest of honour for the 2020 awards. It is well known that she resigned as Executive Secretary of the UN Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) in 2017 when she refused to withdraw a report about the suffering of the Palestinians under Israeli rule. The report presented compelling evidence that Israel has established an apartheid regime that oppresses and controls the Palestinian people as a whole, wherever they live. She is currently a founding member and president of the Global Organisation against Racial Discrimination and Segregation.

In her speech during the event, Dr Khalaf discussed the reasons why the awards are distinguished, including their focus on a subject that, until recently, was under siege in most Western countries. For many, trying to publish a book about Palestine in the West, especially one critical of Israel was thwarted, if not frustrating.

WATCH: Noura Erakat's address at Palestine Book Awards 2019

She provided examples illustrating the extent to which publishers in Britain fear publishing books that they think might offend Zionists, and thus expose themselves to organised boycotts of all of their publications. The late journalist and writer Alan Hart (1942-2018) was forced to self-publish the first edition of his 2005 book Zionism: The Real Enemy of the Jews. It is also equally difficult to translate books into English if they contain anything that is likely to tarnish Israel's carefully constructed image.

A programme for the coming months has been posted on the Palestine Book Awards website to celebrate the 10th anniversary. This includes interviews with winning authors, as well as activists and Palestinians, and others who support the project. This is in addition to the production of a video telling the story of the awards. During the year, a book of the speeches of guests of honour will also be published, alongside paintings and selected poems.

The fact that nearly 400 books about Palestine have been submitted for consideration over the past ten years is evidence of the growing interest in what is a just and inalienable cause. The latter refutes the false claims of those calling for normalisation with the occupation under the pretext of "peace". The issue of the Palestinian people is not one of war in the "normal" sense; it is an issue of legitimate resistance against racist, settler colonisation; of right against wrong. Normalisation is nothing less than the implementation of the colonialist plan by tyrannical Arab governments.

Palestinian's culture and heritage is the best weapon against the Occupation - Cartoon [Sabaaneh/MiddleEastMonitor]

Palestinian's culture and heritage is the best weapon against the Occupation – Cartoon [Sabaaneh/MiddleEastMonitor]

The books written about Palestine and its people are a tool for cultural, cognitive creation, and memory preservation, whether they are on the shortlist or not. They are part of the struggle towards the real solution, which is to end the occupation and ensure that justice underpins life with dignity and equality.

The broader lesson learned from the relative success of the Palestine Book Awards is that there is an ability to change the narrative imposed by the dominant colonial and Zionist policies in the intellectual and cultural space. Change can be achieved through ongoing activism to bring an end to the deliberate falsification of history, especially that which relates to the so-called "war on terror". The most important example of this is the criminal invasion and destruction of Iraq and the way that this has been distorted to suit the Western narrative. Lies were used to justify the war, a process which reflects the history of colonialism in third world countries in general, and in occupied Palestine in particular. Hence the importance of initiatives like the Palestine Book Awards.

Translated from Al Quds Al Arabi, 29 March 2021 and edited for MEMO.

Britain's Covid infection rate plunges below those in 25 EU nations thanks to the jab rollout success – as our cases fall by 28% in week to 4,052 and deaths halve to 43

The UK's successful vaccine rollout means it is now in the best position of all major European nations
Weekly infection rate in France, where intensive care units are overwhelmed, is around 8x higher than in UK
In Germany, which recorded 23,681 cases on March 30, the infection rate is nearly three times higher
Over the past week, the UK has recorded an average of 73 cases per one million people every day
Yesterday another 43 deaths and 4,052 cases were recorded. Deaths are now averaging 50 a day in Britain

By LUKE ANDREWS HEALTH REPORTER FOR MAILONLINE and ELEANOR HAYWARD HEALTH CORRESPONDENT FOR THE DAILY MAIL-31 March 2021

Britain's coronavirus infection rate is now significantly lower than 25 of the EU's 27 countries - as the UK's daily Covid cases plunge by 28 per cent in a week, official figures revealed.

The UK's successful vaccine rollout means it is now in the best position of all major European nations, despite being the worst hit in January.

The weekly infection rate in France, where intensive care units are overwhelmed, is around eight times higher than in the UK.

In Germany, which recorded 23,681 cases on March 30, the infection rate is nearly three times higher.

Over the past week, the UK has recorded an average of 73 cases per one million people every day. This is a lower rate than all 27 EU nations apart from Denmark and Portugal, which have both adopted strict lockdowns.

Hungary, the worst affected EU nation, has a daily rate of 882 cases per one million.

In France it is 571, while the rate in the Netherlands is 449 and in Italy it is 334. As Europe battles a third wave, UK cases, deaths and hospitalisations have fallen to a six-month low.

On Wednesday, another 43 deaths and 4,052 cases were recorded. Deaths are now averaging 50 a day, down from a peak of 1,284 deaths on January 19. It also marked a 56 per cent week-on-week drop in deaths on last Wednesday.

The contrasting fortunes of Britain and mainland Europe are largely down to our successful vaccination programme. Nearly six in ten adults in the UK have now received at least one dose.

But across the EU, just 11 per cent of the population have been vaccinated.

NHS chief executive Sir Simon Stevens is urging all over-50s and younger people with health conditions yet to be vaccinated to book an appointment now.

During April the NHS will focus on second doses but appointments for all over-50s not yet protected will also be available.

Yesterday, the number of second doses of Covid-19 vaccine outnumbered first doses for the first time.

A total of 270,526 second doses were registered on March 30, compared with 224,590 first doses, according to government figures. Previously the number of first jabs per day had always exceeded second jabs.

A total of 4.1million people in the UK are now fully vaccinated against Covid-19, around one in 13 adults.

Sir Simon said: 'We're well on track to meet our April 15 goal of offering NHS Covid vaccination to everyone aged 50 and over, as well as other high risk groups.

'In just the past two weeks we've now jabbed nearly 85 per cent of people aged 50-54, and over three million of the highest risk people have also now had their top up second dose.'

But last night Dr Yvonne Doyle, of Public Health England, warned: 'As restrictions lift and the weather improves, we cannot drop our guard. We're not out of the woods quite yet.'

She said: 'There are still as many people in hospital now as there were at the start of the second wave, and tens of thousands of us are getting infected every week and may become seriously ill.

'As restrictions lift and the weather improves, we cannot drop our guard. We're not out of the woods quite yet.'

She urged Britons to continue washing their hands, wearing facemasks and social distancing to stop coronavirus spreading, adding: '[Covid] case numbers are still high in certain places and looking forward they are certainly not predictable, so your actions are still saving lives.'

It came as police seized beer from revellers and poured it on the grass on Wednesday as Brits once again flocked to parks and beaches to enjoy 75F (24C) temperatures.

Hundreds of young people gathered at the Forest Recreation Ground in Nottingham this afternoon with bottles of alcohol, despite officers saying yesterday that this would be seized from anyone entering parks in the city. And the officers stuck to their word as officials clamped down on anti-social behaviour in the city after large crowds broke the rules at Nottingham's Arboretum on Monday, brawling and leaving huge amounts of litter.

Communities Secretary Robert Jenrick urged people to make the most the latest easing of restrictions in England in a 'sensible, cautious' manner, enjoying the sunshine but also being careful and sticking to the rules.

Police officers confiscate alcohol at the Forest Recreation Ground in Nottingham this afternoon

Police officers confiscate and dispose of alcohol at the Forest Recreation Ground in Nottingham this afternoon

People on the beach at Barry Island in South Wales as the UK enjoys unseasonably warm temperatures

People walk along the promenade at Brighton this afternoon as sunseekers head to the East Sussex coast

Police on horseback patrol along Tynemouth Longsands beach in North Tyneside this afternoon

EU REGULATOR SAYS THERE'S 'NO EVIDENCE' TO BACK GERMAN ASTRAZENECA BAN FOR UNDER-60s

Europe's medical watchdog slapped down Germany for suspending AstraZeneca's coronavirus jab after a small number of vaccinated people developed deadly brain clots.

The European Medicines Agency (EMA) said there was 'no evidence' to support halting the jab for people under 60, adding that the benefits of protecting against Covid far outweighed the risk of the extremely rare condition.

Analysis by the regulator found just 62 out of 9.1million people vaccinated with the British-made jab worldwide had developed the brain clot, known as cerebral sinus venous thrombosis — a rate of about five per million.

Emer Cooke, the EMA's executive director, told a press conference this afternoon there was no proof the vaccine had caused CSVT in any of the cases and admitted those people might have developed the condition regardless.

The EMA's ruling puts the watchdog at odds with many other major EU member states which have also restricted the jab's rollout in certain age groups, including France, Spain and Norway.

Cases of CSVT have been most common in Germany, where 31 out of 2.7million vaccinated people suffered the deadly brain clot - a rate of one in 90,000. It led to the nation banning the vaccine in under-60s last night.

The EMA revealed twice as many women had received AstraZenca's vaccine in Europe than men, before adding that the people normally most at risk of CSVT are females aged 35 to 45, possibly explaining the higher rates.

Until recently Germany had banned the AZ jab for over-60s due to initial fears about blood clots, meaning its rollout had for weeks targeted those most susceptible to CSVT.

Ms Cooke said: 'At present, the experts have advised us that they have not been able to identify specific risk factors, including age, gender or previous medical history of clotting disorders, for these very rare events.

'And, as I mentioned previously, a causal link of the vaccine has not yet been proven but it is possible, and further analysis is still ongoing. According to the current scientific knowledge, there is no evidence to support restricting the use of this vaccine in any population.'

In another day of Covid news:

EU regulators slapped down Germany for banning the AstraZeneca Covid vaccine for under-60s on Wednesday, saying there is 'no evidence' to support the restriction and benefits far outweigh risks;
President Macron is set to make an address tonight amid fears France is heading for a third lockdown;
Maskless Queen honours 100 years of brave Aussie flyers in her first public outing in five months;
Tourism bosses say roll-out success means Britons should be allowed summer holidays this year;
As Malta becomes the latest destination on the continent to say it will welcome British tourists;
Meanwhile, Michelle Heaton, 41, says she and her family have caught Covid just one month after they got their first dose of Pfizer vaccine;
Mother's face, arm, chest, legs and back erupt in agonising red rash after AstraZeneca vaccine;
But doctors say this could be linked to 'many other factors rather than the jab itself';

Birmingham council suspended mowing across its parks on Wednesday so they could focus on litter picking instead — while Nottingham closed two of its parks this afternoon after 'appalling scenes' of crowds there in recent days.

The biggest crowds appeared to be at Woodhouse Moor in Leeds, where hundreds of people gathered – and West Yorkshire Police warned they would 'disperse groups of over six, using fines where appropriate to do so'.

Elsewhere in the region a 14-year-old boy died after getting into difficulty at a waterfall. He was spotted struggling in a pool at about 6pm yesterday below the Goit Stock Waterfall beauty spot at Cullingworth near Bradford.

And there was a major clean-up in parks and beaches after people left behind mounds of litter including disposable barbecues, beer cans and takeaway boxes on the hottest March day in Britain for 53 years yesterday.

The hottest place in Britain by 2pm on Wednesday was Weybourne in Norfolk which hit 74.5F (23.6C). This was 36.4F (20.2C) warmer than the coldest place in the UK at the same time, Dalwhinnie in the Highlands, with 38.1F (3.4C).

Warwick University viruses expert Professor Lawrence Young warned people mixing in parks could turbo-charge the spread of the virus, telling MailOnline on Wednesday: 'We all expect the rates of infection to increase when these restrictions are removed. That's why we built gaps into the roadmap. But this (yesterday's scenes) is a real worry.

'What we've got is a serious situation where the younger population, who are responsible for the majority of the spread of the virus, are then mixing in parks. They think it's OK to mix outside and you won't get infected but if you are near someone who has the virus - is shedding the virus - then you are at risk.

'The transmission of the virus is clearly reduced when you are in a well-ventilated space and the sun is shining, but if you are in close proximity with someone who is infected you could get infected too.'

In North Tyneside, the picturesque Longsands Beach in Tynemouth was strewn with rubbish this morning after sunseekers flocked to the coast to enjoy the hot weather as temperatures soared to almost 68F (20C) in the area.

There were dismal scenes on the sands on Wednesday — with cans, coffee cups and plastic bags scattered across the shore. One onlooker said: 'It's heartbreaking to see. This is one of the most beautiful beaches in our region.

'We're very lucky to have access to such a stunning coastline. It is so upsetting to see so much rubbish. People should have more respect for nature, and stay away, if they can't clean up after themselves.'

Nicola Smith, 40, had planned to watch the sunrise with her eight-year-old daughter Leah, but instead of relaxing as the sky turned red, the pair began to clear the sands of litter left behind.

The health and social care worker said: 'It's absolutely awful. We got up at 5.45am as we wanted to enjoy the sunrise. But when we got here we just could not believe the amount of rubbish.

'We decided to start picking up the litter instead. There's so much. People have had barbecues and left behind beer bottles, clothes, shoes, even phone charges. You've got to be so careful where you tread. It's just not safe. My daughter has been collecting rubbish for an hour and a half now.

Germany has reported significantly more cases of cerebral sinus venous thrombosis (CSVT) than other major European countries and the reasons for it are unclear. The UK has vaccinated five times as many people but seen just one sixth as many CSVT cases, while France, Italy and Spain used the AstraZeneca jab on similar age groups but also had much lower rates of CSVT. There is still no evidence the vaccine is causing the condition, experts say

Several member states have paused rollouts of the AstraZeneca vaccine after a tiny number of inoculated people, predominantly women under 55, suffered deadly brain clots

Europe's suspension of the AstraZeneca vaccine will erode public confidence in the jab and lead to more coronavirus deaths, experts warned

MASKLESS QUEEN HONOURS 100 YEARS OF BRAVE AUSSIE FLYERS IN FIRST PUBLIC OUTING FOR FIVE MONTHS

The Queen was in good spirits as she arrived at the CWGC Air Forces Memorial in Runnymede, Surrey

The Queen entertained service personnel as she quipped about Typhoon jets being 'sent off to chase the Russians' during her first official royal engagement in five months.

The 94-year-old monarch visited the Commonwealth Air Forces Memorial in Runnymede, Surrey, to mark the centenary of the Royal Australian Air Force.

While she has been seen in video calls this year, it is the first time the Monarch has been seen in public since December, when she welcomed the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge back to Windsor after their whistle-stop tour of Britain.

It was her first in-person official engagement of 2021 - and the first since last October, when she visited the Defence Laboratory at Porton Down alongside her grandson Prince William.

It is also the first time she has been seen since Harry and Meghan's bombshell Oprah interview.

But in a light moment, the Queen quizzed one Australian serviceman about his work with Typhoon jets and asked if they were 'being sent off to chase the Russians?' and was told, 'That's correct, ma'am, it's a lot of fun for us!'

The Queen, who had her Covid vaccine in January, did not wear a face covering but donned a bright spring-inspired ensemble; an ivory Angela Kelly dress, green coat and matching hat adorned with faux daffodils and orchids, and the Australian wattle brooch presented to her on her first tour of the country in 1954.

She joked: 'It's a very long time since I've been here,' as she arrived at the memorial - which she had opened in her coronation year, on October 17, 1953.

The event comes as her husband Prince Philip recovers at home after undergoing heart surgery at St. Bartholomew's Hospital in London earlier this month.

It comes after EU regulators slapped down Germany for suspending AstraZeneca's coronavirus jab after a small number of vaccinated people developed deadly brain clots.

Tourism bosses have also said that the UK's successful jabs roll-out means it is safer for Britons to take summer holidays to more than 130 countries across the world.

A study commissioned by Manchester Airports Group says that most of Europe, the Caribbean, north Africa and the United States should be on the destination list.

The report, submitted to the Government's travel task force - which is due to outline its own plans next Monday - says it should be possible to allow people to visit countries with higher coronavirus rates that last summer without 'increasing the risk of putting pressure on the NHS'.

Currently all leisure travel is banned until May 17 at the earliest, with fears that a spike in Covid cases in Europe and a death rate of more than 1,000 a day in the US will keep foreign flights off the menu for some time.

However, business leaders last night united with MPs to plead with the Prime Minister to be ambitious as they warned that more than a million jobs were at risk if Boris Johnson failed to get Britain flying again.

In letter to the PM, they said firms across the country faced devastation if planes were kept grounded.

The PM has pencilled in May 17 as the earliest date when foreign travel could resume, but there are fears he will push this back as the continent is hit by a third coronavirus wave.

Mr Johnson will give an update on his plans on Monday, but sources say he is likely to declare it is still too early to set a firm date for when borders can reopen.

Following pleas from a group of 40 MPs earlier this week, industry leaders from the British Chambers of Commerce, Federation of Small Businesses and UK Hospitality said the economic recovery would be put at risk if overseas trips remained illegal.

'If we cannot start flying again this summer, the further damage to UK businesses large and small would be severe,' they wrote.

'Aviation is vital to the UK's economic recovery from the pandemic. Our air links are not a frivolous luxury.

'They connect Britain with the world and link British products, experiences and expertise with billions of potential buyers overseas.'

The business groups said the success of the vaccine rollout 'should allow us to push on with rebuilding the businesses, jobs and livelihoods that have been hit so hard by our forced isolation'.

Sri Lanka: One Island Two Nations