Palestine

03 May 2021; MEMO: Senior Fatah official and former Palestinian Foreign Minister Nasser Al-Qudwa has criticised Fatah leader Mahmoud Abbas's postponement of the general elections, announcing that he may create a new Fatah current, Shehab News Agency reported on Sunday.

03 May 2021; MEMO: The Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement Hamas has called for defying the Israeli eviction of Palestinian families in the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood in occupied Jerusalem, a statement has announced.

03 May 2021; MEMO: Jordan has condemned on Saturday the Israeli police's harassment of Christian worshippers trying to reach the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in the occupied city of Jerusalem to participate in Easter Eve celebrations.

03 May 2021; MEMO: The Israeli Supreme Court on Sunday gave four Palestinian families from Jerusalem's Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood until Thursday to reach a deal with Israeli Jewish settlers regarding the ownership of their homes, Al Jazeera reported.

The deal proposed by the court requires the Palestinian families to pay the Israeli settlers to rent their homes until the current owners pass away and then assign the properties to the settlers, not to their heirs.

01 May 2021; MEMO: COVID-19 cases and deaths in the occupied Palestinian territories have sharply declined in recent days, officials from the Ministry of Health in Gaza and the West Bank confirmed on Sunday.

In the last 24 hours, the occupied West Bank and the Gaza Strip recorded 664 new COVID-19 cases and eight deaths, with 171 cases and four deaths in the West Bank and 493 cases and four deaths in the Gaza strip.

02 May 2021; MEMO: Israel on Saturday prevented some Orthodox Christians from attending the Holy Fire ceremony at Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, Anadolu Agency reported.

Orthodox Christians, including priests, seeking to attend the ceremony flocked to the church — one of the most sacred Christian sites in the world — in East Jerusalem, but were blocked by police in the narrow streets leading to the church.

02 May 2021; MEMO: Israeli soldiers shot and injured a Palestinian woman in the West Bank city of Bethlehem on Sunday, according to the Israeli army and a Palestinian security source, Anadolu Agency reported.

The official news agency Wafa, citing a security source, said the woman was injured at a junction near the Israeli settlement bloc of Gush Etzion.

In a statement, the Israeli military claimed that the Palestinian woman attempted to stab Israeli soldiers at the junction.

01 May 2021; MEMO: Israeli occupation police have prevented West Bank Palestinians from entering Jerusalem for Ramadan's third Friday prayers at Al-Aqsa Mosque, Anadolu Agency reported.

Israel recently set a requirement that those wishing to pray at Al-Aqsa Mosque must be vaccinated against the coronavirus.

30 Apr 2021; MEMO: The World Bank approved a new four-year strategy for Palestine that puts emphasis on protecting lives and creating new job opportunities for Palestinians amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The Palestinian economy is projected to grow by only 3.7 per cent annually between now and 2025, according to a new UN study, as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to limit economic recovery and growth globally.

01 May 2021; MEMO: Israeli occupation authorities have started building 164 new settlement units in the Neve Daniel settlement built on Palestinian lands in the West Bank city of Bethlehem, Al-Ayyam newspaper reported on Friday.