Taking the Pulse of Palestine: Weekly News Check-Up. Friday 4 January 2019.
Stories from the Week:
28 December: Palestinian Killed in Gaza on 40th Week of Friday Protests
31 December: Israel Most Condemned Country at the UN in 2018
1 January: Israel/US Quit UNESCO
3 January: Palestine Football Team Touches Down in Dubai for 2019 Asian Cup
3 January: Rashida Tlaib Sworn into Congress Wearing Palestinian Thobe
Read more on each story below.
28 December: Palestinians Killed in Gaza on 40th Week of Friday Protests
26-year-old Palestinian Karam Fayyad was killed by Israeli fire east of the city of Khan Younis. Eight other Palestinians were also wounded by Israeli fire during the same protests which featured around 5,000 demonstrators. At least 240 Palestinians have been killed since the demonstrations began.
31 December: Israel Most Condemned Country at the UN in 2018
The General Assembly passed at least 20 resolutions critical of the human rights abuses, illegal settlements and continued occupation of East Jerusalem by Israel. In addition, at least six efforts were passed in November which sought to reignite discussion over the Israel-Palestine conflict, as well as a resolution which passed in December condemning the US’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.
1 January: Israel/US quit UNESCO
The US and Israel both quit the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation on New Year’s Day having planned to do so since 2017. Since 2011, when Israel and the US both stopped paying towards the UN body, the same year Palestine was voted in as a member state, it is believed the US have accrued $600m in unpaid dues and Israel $10.
3 January: Palestine Football Team Touches Down in Dubai for 2019 Asian Cup
The Palestine national football team have qualified for the group stages of the 2019 Asian Cup. They arrived at Dubai International Airport greeted by cheering fans. Their match schedule kicks off with a game against Syria on Sunday, followed by a challenging fixture against Asian champions Australia on Friday January 11th followed by Jordan on January 15th.
3 January: Rashida Tlaib Sworn into Congress Wearing Palestinian Thobe
Rashida Tlaib, the first Palestinian-American congresswoman, wore a Palestinian thobe to the inauguration. The dress was hand stitched by her mother when she came to the US from the West Bank when she was 20 years old.
Twitter hashtag #TweetYourThobe trended with images of proud Palestinians adorning their own thobes around the world, like that worn to her inauguration.
Together, Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib are the first-ever Muslim female members of Congress.
Read more: www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-46751362