Four Years Without Justice for Shireen Abu Akleh | Palestine Policy Roundup 5.12.26
Welcome to the Palestine Policy Roundup, a weekly publication of the IMEU Policy Project.
THE HUMAN COST OF WAR: BY THE NUMBERS:
🇵🇸 GAZA: 854 killed since the beginning of Trump's Gaza plan (Palestinian Ministry of Health); at least 2,400 Israeli violations of Trump's Gaza plan (Gaza Government Media Office); 72,740 killed during Israel's genocide (Palestinian Ministry of Health)
🇮🇷 IRAN: 3,468 killed (Iran Ministry of Health)
🇱🇧 LEBANON: 2,882 killed (Lebanon Ministry of Public Health); 1.1 million displaced (UN)
🇮🇱 ISRAEL: 26 killed (Israel Ministry of Health)
🇺🇲 US: 13 servicemembers killed (US Military)
🗝️ 78 YEARS OF ISRAEL'S DISPLACEMENT OF PALESTINIANS
This Friday marks the 78th anniversary of the Nakba—the violent expulsion of Palestinians carried out by Zionist militias and the Israeli military before, during, and after Israel's establishment in 1948.
HISTORIC DISPLACEMENT: By 1949, more than 750,000 Palestinians—over 75% of Palestinians whose homes were on land that became Israel—were made refugees and more than 400 Palestinian towns and cities were depopulated.
The Nakba was a deliberate and systemic act that was planned by Zionist leadership and carried out by the Israeli military and its militia forerunners. The blueprint for the Nakba, known as Plan Dalet, called for the destruction of Palestinian towns and the killing of Palestinians in order to drive them from their homeland.
Zionist militias carried out dozens of massacres in Palestinian towns such as Deir Yassin to facilitate this forced displacement.
ONGOING NAKBA: Palestinians consider the Nakba to be ongoing as Israel continues to forcibly displace Palestinians from their ancestral lands. Israel continues to use massacres to force Palestinians to leave their homes.
Israel continues its violence against Palestinians in Gaza as President Trump attempts to force a corporate takeover of the area. Up to 90% of all Palestinians in Gaza—1.9 million people—have been forcibly displaced during the course of Israel's genocide.
Since the beginning of Israel's genocide in Gaza, nearly 4,000 Palestinians have been displaced by Israeli settler attacks and access restrictions imposed by the Israeli military in the illegally occupied West Bank.
In addition, the Israeli military has forcibly displaced more than 40,000 Palestinians from refugee camps in the West Bank—the largest displacement of Palestinians since Israel began its illegal military occupation in 1967.
💡 COSPONSORSHIP REQUEST: IMEU Policy Project strongly encourages House Members to cosponsor Rep. Rashida Tlaib's resolution to recognize the 1948 Nakba and ongoing US complicity in Israeli atrocities.
📖 LEARN MORE about the Nakba in a fact sheet published by the Institute for Middle East Understanding, the sister organization of the IMEU Policy Project.
🖊️ FOUR YEARS SINCE ISRAEL KILLED SHIREEN ABU AKLEH
Yesterday marked the fourth anniversary of the killing of Shireen Abu Akleh, a Palestinian-American US citizen and journalist, who was shot by the Israeli military as she was reporting in the West Bank. To this day, Israel has refused to hold anyone accountable for Shireen's killing, and continues to detain and kill journalists.
NO ACCOUNTABILITY: Shireen was killed by an Israeli soldier as she and her crew covered an Israeli invasion of the Jenin refugee camp in the West Bank on May 11, 2022. Shireen was wearing a press vest and helmet when she was killed. Her colleague, Ali al-Samoudi, was also injured in the attack.
Investigations published by CNN and Forensic Architecture found that Shireen was likely deliberately targeted by the Israeli soldier who killed her.
The FBI reportedly opened an investigation into Shireen's killing but has not released a report on the investigation. The Biden administration refused to hold Israel accountable, and President Trump has continued this refusal. The Biden administration also allegedly watered down its assessment of the killing that was circulated by the State Department.
COLLEAGUE DETAINED: Earlier this month, Shireen's colleague Ali al-Samoudi was released from Israeli detention after being held for more than a year without charge. In an interview with CNN, Samoudi described being starved and abused by Israeli prison authorities.
According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, Israel has detained more than 100 Palestinian journalists since the beginning of its genocide in Gaza. 35 remain in Israeli detention. Several Palestinian journalists have recounted being tortured while in Israeli detention.
STILL TARGETING JOURNALISTS: The refusal to hold Israel accountable has supercharged Israel's attacks on and imprisonment of journalists in Palestine and across the region. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, Israel has killed 258 journalists—most of whom were Palestinians in Gaza—since the beginning of its genocide there.
Israel has used weapons likely provided by the US to kill several journalists, including Issam Abdallah and three other Lebanese journalists. American journalist Dylan Collins was injured in the attack that killed Abdallah.
Deliberate attacks on journalists are considered war crimes under international law and also violate US law, including the Arms Export Control Act.
💡 COSPONSORSHIP REQUEST: IMEU Policy Project strongly encourages House Members to cosponsor the Justice for Shireen Act to support holding Israel accountable for the killing of Shireen and other US citizens.
🚨 ISRAELI SETTLERS LAUNCH 20 ATTACKS ON PALESTINIANS
Last weekend, Israeli settlers launched more than 20 attacks against Palestinians across the West Bank. Several Palestinians, including a 65-year-old woman and a pregnant woman, were wounded in these attacks. Palestinians reported that the Israeli military assisted one attack on a Palestinian town and prevented injured Palestinians from receiving medical treatment by blocking access. In several instances, settlers reportedly entered the homes of Palestinians and beat them with clubs.
INCREASING ATTACKS: This weekend of attacks follows the establishment of several settlements, which are illegal under international law, announced by Israel late last month.
Last Sunday, in one of these recently approved settlements, Israeli settlers forced a Palestinian family to exhume the body of their father from the cemetery where he had been laid to rest. Israeli settlers threatened to use a bulldozer to destroy the grave if the family did not exhume the body. The family said that Palestinians have used that cemetery for generations.
During the first three months of this year, Israeli settlers launched 545 attacks against Palestinians in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. These settler attacks are part and parcel of the Israeli government's policy to colonize Palestinian land and force Palestinians out of their homes.
👀 ICYMI: MEMBERS OF CONGRESS SPEAK OUT
Senator Peter Welch, highlighting his recent letter to US Central Command: "I'm deeply concerned by reports that the U.S. military could be supporting controversial Israeli military actions, including the forced displacement of 1 million civilians in Lebanon. Our troops shouldn't be put in a position to be supporting possible war crimes."
Senator Chris Van Hollen, in response to the Trump administration expediting its deportation case against Mahmoud Khalil: "Free speech is free speech — you don't get to pick and choose. If you are mad about Trump's efforts to muzzle Jimmy Kimmel, you should be equally angry about his efforts to punish students who speak out against U.S. complicity in the horrors in Gaza."
Rep. Sara Jacobs: "President Trump is continuing a long U.S. tradition of holding our partners to different standards than everyone else: selling billions of dollars in weapons to Israel and the UAE – despite their atrocities in Gaza and Sudan. This hypocrisy hurts us."
Rep. Pramila Jayapal: "NEW: 30 House Democrats are demanding answers from the Trump administration about Israel's nuclear program. As the US engages in an illegal war alongside the Israeli government, the American people and our troops deserve transparency about the full nuclear risks of this war."
Rep. Delia Ramirez: "The unaccountable, unlawful, inhumane campaign of death and displacement continues. The Israeli government continues to drop U.S.-made bombs in Lebanon. More than 2,600 people have died, and over 8,350 people are injured. Congress can and must put an end to the violence in the region. We must Block the Bombs and pass the Lebanon War Power Resolution I co-led with @RepRashida."
Rep. Valerie Foushee: "This is cruel and inhumane. Israel continues to kill innocent civilians with airstrikes in Lebanon, including women, children, and seniors. Congress must block arms sales to Israel and pass @RepRashida's War Powers Resolution to stop our military from further assisting Israel's hostilities in Lebanon immediately."
Rep. Rashida Tlaib: "Four years ago today, Palestinian American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh was killed by the Israeli military, and our government did nothing. Since then, over 260 journalists have suffered the same deadly fate. We must uplift the truth in Palestine; they were murdered for reporting."
Photo: Tomas Vynikal, via Shutterstock. Stock Photo ID: 2383248961