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We will be hosting a discussion panel on the impact Covid-19 is having on Palestine today at 1330 GMT. Please sign up here to watch. A link to the stream will be shared shortly before the event starts.
Join us to hear from experts as well as people on the ground. Mark Seddon, former UN correspondent for Al Jazeera English and media advisor to the UN will be moderating this event, the first produced by Palestine DeepDive.
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Here is today’s DeepDive:
For this Palestinian engineer, electricity doesn’t need to be a luxury in Gaza (Mondoweiss)
Individual solar panels are a promising product in Gaza, where classes have moved online and power cuts still frustrate inhabitants. On the market since 2018, the panels are sold under the SunBox project, owned by a Gaza-based start-up founded two years earlier, GreenCake.
The sophisticated device is the brainchild of a 25-year-old civil engineer from Gaza, Majd Mashharawi. She famously built a a cinder block made from recycled ash only one year out of university, and gave a Ted talk about her experience.
Caabu and Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP) Parliamentary delegation visits West Bank February 2020(The Council for Arab-British Understanding)
From 17-21 February 2020, Caabu took another UK parliamentary delegation to the West Bank, together with our partners at Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP). The delegation consisted of three Labour Party MPs.
The importance of such delegations is for elected UK representatives to see for themselves the situation on the ground faced by Palestinians – in particular the most vulnerable of Palestinian communities – and how the Occupation, the threat of annexation, and various fundamental barriers (some physical and some not), impact their daily lives.
Hamas arrests Gaza peace activists after Zoom video call with Israelis (The Times of Israel)
Hamas-run security forces have arrested several peace activists in the Gaza Strip on treason charges after they took part in a web conference with Israeli activists, officials said Thursday.
The Hamas-run Interior Ministry said the activists were accused of “holding a normalization activity with the Israeli occupation.”
“Holding any activity or contact with the Israeli occupation under any cover is a crime punishable by law and a betrayal of the people and their sacrifices,” it said in a statement.
Did Trump give Israel 1 million face masks despite coronavirus equipment shortages in the US?(The New Arab)
An Israeli press report claiming the US Department of Defense had shipped one million face masks to Israel to help protect Israeli soldiers has angered Americans, causing some to question the Trump administration's priorities amid the coronavirus pandemic amid reports of shortages of protective equipment for US health workers.
The Pentagon's alleged shipment was initially reported by the Jerusalem Post, however mention of American involvement was later scrubbed, raising suspicions that US public anger may have forced Israeli military censors to act.
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Palestine DeepDive