Report: 4,013 Palestinians killed in Syria — Middle East Monitor (1/3)

The Action Group for Palestinians of Syria (AGPS) had documented the death of 4,013 Palestinians as a result of the war in Syria. In a report issued yesterday the group said the victims include 614 refugees who had died of torture inside Syrian regime prisons and detention centres and 205 who had died due to lack of medical care and the tight siege imposed by the Syrian regime army on the Yarmouk camp in Damascus. As many as 311 Palestinian were shot by snipers, it said. According to the group, as many as 142 victims were killed in bombings, 92 were executed in the field by regime forces and loyalists, 52 drowned trying to flee to Europe, 25 were assassinated and 315 were executed, burnt or suffocated. Some 87 victims died of unknown causes. The group explained that it documents the death of all Palestinian refugees in Syria, regardless of their political affiliations or the party responsible for their death.

Israel is systematically poisoning one million Palestinian children — Press TV (1/2)

Massad: The antisemitic deal of the century — Middle East Eye (1/2)

Since its inception at the end the 19th century, the Zionist movement has sought to transform the nature of European Jewish identity and the relationship between Jews and the modern movement of antisemitism. The two movements share the understanding that it is not racism and chauvinism that causes antisemitism; instead, they outrageously claim it is caused by the very presence of Jews in gentile societies - a position that the founder of Zionism, Theodor Herzl, insisted upon in his writings. Antisemites have been divided since the 1920s between those imperialist Europeans who agreed that Zionism would solve their Jewish “problem” by exporting Jews to Palestine, and the Nazis, who were determined to annihilate Jews altogether.  

Report: In 2019 Israel arrested over 5,500 Palestinians, including 889 children— Mondoweiss (12/31)

Will ICC pierce Israel’s bubble of impunity? — Electronic Intifada (12/30)

A Year in Review: Will 2020 Be a Game Changer in Palestine? — Palestine Chronicle (12/30)

In some ways, 2019 did indeed prove to be a game-changer in Palestine and Israel. It is the year when the Israeli government managed to achieve total and unconditional US support, while the Palestinian leadership was left largely isolated and incapable of formulating an alternative agenda. However, while Israel persists in its prolonged political crisis and as the international community is still unable or, perhaps, unwilling, to play a more fundamental role in ending the Israeli occupation of Palestine, 2020 promises to be equally tumultuous and challenging. A particularly interesting development to watch for in the coming year is that which will follow the International Criminal Court (ICC) decision announced on December 20 to launch “an investigation into the situation in Palestine”. Expectedly, the US rejected the ICC decision and the Israeli government threatened that it would bar ICC investigators from entering the country.