Here is today’s DeepDive:
Steve Sosebee on how the West Bank is responding to the coronavirus (Palestine DeepDive)
Steve Sosebee spoke to Palestine DeepDive from his home in Ramallah, Palestine about the situation on the ground in the West Bank during these unprecedented times.
Steve is the founder of Palestine Children's Relief Fund and was speaking as part of our first live panel on the topic of "Palestine & Covid-19".
Only Americans can save Israel from itself by blocking West Bank annexation in D.C., lawmaker says (Mondoweiss)
Golan is a member of the Labor-Meretz-Gesher alliance in the Knesset (7 seats in the 120-member parliament).
Golan said that a solid right-wing majority of Israeli Jewish politicians– 65 out of the 120 members of Knesset– support annexing large portions of the West Bank so as to make sure there will never be a Palestinian state. And the only way to stop them, and save Israel from itself, he said, is on Capitol Hill.
He argued that many Israeli Jews understand that annexation as a threat to Zionism, because it would undermine the Zionist dream of a Jewish majority in the land, but they are too mistrustful of their neighbours to agree to give up land.
Rivlin gives Knesset 21 days to agree on the PM it wants, or go to new election (The Times of Israel)
Rivlin chose not to give Netanyahu another 28 days in which to attempt to negotiate a government himself, as he could have done under law. The move was widely seen as intended to force Netanyahu and Gantz to stop dithering and seal a unity deal quickly amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Row in Gaza over arrests for Zoom chat with Israelis (France 24)
A fierce dispute has divided the Palestinian community after Gaza's rulers, Hamas, arrested six local activists for chatting by video conference with left-leaning campaigners in Israel.
Gaza's Hamas-run interior ministry said that "establishing any activity or communication with the Israeli occupation under any excuse is a crime punishable by law, and is treason against our people".
"We absolutely condemn arrests of individuals because of practising their right to peaceful expression and assembly," said Saleh Hijazi, Amnesty's deputy director for the Middle East.
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Palestine DeepDive