8 aug 2019
July 2019 has witnessed a rise in the number of attacks against media freedoms in Palestine, compared to June, while Facebook continued closing more pages and accounts for news agencies and journalists claiming “violation of Facebook criteria”.
The Palestinian Center for Development & Media Freedoms “MADA” has documented during July a total of 38 attacks (compared to 29 attacks documented during June).
The Israeli Occupation has committed a total of 18 attacks while 4 attacks were committed by Palestinian authorities, and 16 were committed by Facebook through closing the pages and accounts of media institutions and journalists followed by tens of thousands compared to 29 attacks against media freedoms documented during the preceding month, June.
Israeli Violations:
The number of violations committed by the Israeli occupation authorities and forces has decreased from 28 attacks documented during June to 18 attacks documented during July. However, these attacks have not changed in terms of type as most of which fall under the most serious attacks threatening the lives of female/male journalists and media freedoms.
The injury of journalist Sami Jamal Masran by explosive gunshot fragments the most serious and tragic injury as it caused him serious wounds and loss of vision completely in that eye, even though the journalist Sami, in a separate incident at the beginning of that month, was injured by rubber bullet without causing him any harm (he was wearing the protective vest).
Among the most prominent Israeli attacks, is the injury of Mohammad Atef Al-Arbeed (by a gunshot in his thigh), the journalist Safinaz Baker Allouh (by a rubber bullet in her shoulder), the cameraman Mahmoud Zakaria Abu Muslem (by a rubber bullet in his leg), the reporter of Al-Ghad TV Khaled Saleh Budair (by a gas bomb directly in his abdomen), the cameraman of French News Agency Jafar Zahed Ishataya (by a rubber bullet in his upper thigh), Omar Ismail Al-Amour (by a gas bomb directly in his back), Ayat Khaled Arqawi (by a gas bomb directly in her Loin), assaulting the journalist Abdelhafeeth Thiab Al-Hashlamoun the cameraman of the European News Agency, and Mashhour Hassan Al-Wahwah the cameraman of Palestinian News Agency “Wafa”, and arresting the Director of Palestinian Broadcasting Corporation in Tulkarem, Ahmad Juma Ba’jawi, after raiding and searching his house.
In addition to the Israeli attacks, Facebook Administration has closed no less than 16 pages belonging to journalists and media institutions following the understandings it has concluded with the Israeli Government under which Facebook has to delete and remove any post Israel deems as an “incitement”. It should be noted that Facebook has closed around 65 pages for Palestinian journalists and media institutions in May claiming of posting materials “inciting violence”.
Palestinian Violations
The Palestinian violations remained at extremely low levels, and only four violations were documented this month (3 of which have taken place in the West Bank while one has taken place in Gaza Strip), namely: arresting the journalist Thaer Ziad Al-Fakhouri by the Preventive Security Services for 6 days after raiding and searching his house as well as a Press he owns, subjecting the independent journalist Sami Saed Al-Saie to a campaign of threats and smear (not by official authorities but by citizens) due to publishing a video for a group of persons who were disrupting traffic in Tulkarem by drafting in their vehicles in the streets.
This is in addition to summoning the journalist Ihab Omar Al-Fasfous by the Public Prosecution and Khan Younes Court as part of prosecuting him due to publishing a video in September, 2018 that shows his nephew being assaulted and tortured by Khan Younes Police.
The Palestinian Center for Development & Media Freedoms “MADA” has documented during July a total of 38 attacks (compared to 29 attacks documented during June).
The Israeli Occupation has committed a total of 18 attacks while 4 attacks were committed by Palestinian authorities, and 16 were committed by Facebook through closing the pages and accounts of media institutions and journalists followed by tens of thousands compared to 29 attacks against media freedoms documented during the preceding month, June.
Israeli Violations:
The number of violations committed by the Israeli occupation authorities and forces has decreased from 28 attacks documented during June to 18 attacks documented during July. However, these attacks have not changed in terms of type as most of which fall under the most serious attacks threatening the lives of female/male journalists and media freedoms.
The injury of journalist Sami Jamal Masran by explosive gunshot fragments the most serious and tragic injury as it caused him serious wounds and loss of vision completely in that eye, even though the journalist Sami, in a separate incident at the beginning of that month, was injured by rubber bullet without causing him any harm (he was wearing the protective vest).
Among the most prominent Israeli attacks, is the injury of Mohammad Atef Al-Arbeed (by a gunshot in his thigh), the journalist Safinaz Baker Allouh (by a rubber bullet in her shoulder), the cameraman Mahmoud Zakaria Abu Muslem (by a rubber bullet in his leg), the reporter of Al-Ghad TV Khaled Saleh Budair (by a gas bomb directly in his abdomen), the cameraman of French News Agency Jafar Zahed Ishataya (by a rubber bullet in his upper thigh), Omar Ismail Al-Amour (by a gas bomb directly in his back), Ayat Khaled Arqawi (by a gas bomb directly in her Loin), assaulting the journalist Abdelhafeeth Thiab Al-Hashlamoun the cameraman of the European News Agency, and Mashhour Hassan Al-Wahwah the cameraman of Palestinian News Agency “Wafa”, and arresting the Director of Palestinian Broadcasting Corporation in Tulkarem, Ahmad Juma Ba’jawi, after raiding and searching his house.
In addition to the Israeli attacks, Facebook Administration has closed no less than 16 pages belonging to journalists and media institutions following the understandings it has concluded with the Israeli Government under which Facebook has to delete and remove any post Israel deems as an “incitement”. It should be noted that Facebook has closed around 65 pages for Palestinian journalists and media institutions in May claiming of posting materials “inciting violence”.
Palestinian Violations
The Palestinian violations remained at extremely low levels, and only four violations were documented this month (3 of which have taken place in the West Bank while one has taken place in Gaza Strip), namely: arresting the journalist Thaer Ziad Al-Fakhouri by the Preventive Security Services for 6 days after raiding and searching his house as well as a Press he owns, subjecting the independent journalist Sami Saed Al-Saie to a campaign of threats and smear (not by official authorities but by citizens) due to publishing a video for a group of persons who were disrupting traffic in Tulkarem by drafting in their vehicles in the streets.
This is in addition to summoning the journalist Ihab Omar Al-Fasfous by the Public Prosecution and Khan Younes Court as part of prosecuting him due to publishing a video in September, 2018 that shows his nephew being assaulted and tortured by Khan Younes Police.
7 aug 2019
The new monthly Israeli Official Incitement report for July 2019, prepared by the PLO Negotiations Affairs Department, highlights recent inciting statements made by senior Israeli officials; including members of Israeli political parties, newly elected members of the Israeli Parliament (Knesset), as well as leaders of extremist and illegal settlers’ organizations.
The report includes examples of official Israeli incitement against Palestinian prisoners, martyrs and their families, the Palestinian population in Gaza, the indigenous Palestinian citizens of Israel, Human Rights defenders, as well as against the President of the State of Palestine and the Palestinian leadership.
I. Palestinian Prisoners, Martyrs, and their Families
Uzi Dayan, MK Likud (Twitter, 22 July)
“To destroy the houses of terrorists – even if they did not kill anyone!…terror does not take a break, postponing the response reduces the power deterrence.”
Oded Forer, MK Yisrael Beitenu (Twitter, 17 July)
“Congratulations to the Prime Minister who prevented enacting the death penalty law for terrorists despite his commitment and promises. The privileges enjoyed by terrorists in the jail are the result of the failure of the Prime Minister and the Interior Security Minister who are not stopping the summer camp [good conditions]that the terrorists receive, and allow them to have developed TVs, visits and mobiles.”
Benjamin Netanyahu, Prime Minister MK Likud (Israel’s army radio Glz , 7 July)
“….we should never release any single prisoner.”
II. The Ongoing Israeli Assault on Gaza
Benjamin Netanyahu, Prime Minister MK Likud (Twitter, 3 July)
“….our policy is clear, we want to restore calm but in return we are preparing for a broad military operation if necessary, these are my instructions to the army.”
Benny Gantz, Former Chief of Staff of the Israeli occupying army and the Head of Blue White party, in an interview with Kan Radio on 11 July
“We should not accept any violation to our sovereignty, any violation to our sovereignty must be confronted with force, the violation is not an issue which happens once, and therefore we should have reacted by force and waged a strong attack including assassinations.”
III. Human Rights Defenders
Yair Lapid, MK Blue White party against Omar Shaker, the Israel and Palestine Director of Human Rights Watch (Twitter, 26 July)
“Omar Shaker must be deported, he is not a ‘Human Rights activist’, he is an anti-Semite BDS activist, and it is the right of the state of Israel to deport whoever is working against it.”
IV. The Indigenous Palestinian Citizens of Israel
Likud party published a video on 30 July blaming Benny Gantz, Head of Blue White party, for speaking in the video about his intent to cooperate with Palestinian MKs
“ Gantz, what kind of coalition you wish to establish with the National democratic assembly? To establish a Palestinian State..to withdraw from all lands? What kind of cooperation you want to do with Ahmad Tibi who perceives Arafat as the teacher who glorified martyrs? Or with Ayman Odeh who supports the terrorist Marwan Barghouthi?”
Miri Regev, Minister of Culture and Sports, MK Likud, on the decision of the Israeli ‘Supreme Court’ to halt funding to al-Midan Theatre in Haifa (Facebook, 22 July)
“Justice has come to light. After four years of fighting against al-Midan Theatre, the high court of justice acknowledged that we won. This theatre, which dared to allow a play for the terrorist (prisoner Walid Daqa, a Palestinian citizen of Israel) who murdered the soldier Moshe Tama was not at all a theatre in the recent years but a platform for inciters against soldiers and against the State of Israel, It’s not art, it is incitement….”
V. President Mahmoud Abbas and the Palestinian Leadership
Gilad Erdan, Minister of Internal Security, Minister of Strategic Affairs and Minister of Information, MK Likud (Twitter, 16 July)
“This week I revealed to the government that the “terrorist in the suit” Abu Mazen not only incites for terror, finances and supports terrorists, but now together with the Palestinian Authority they have strengthened their support to BDS…”
Nitsana Darshan-Leitner, Chairwoman of Israeli Law Center Shurat Hadin, on the ruling of the district court to hold the Palestinian Authority responsible for attacks carried out during the second Intifada (Channel 20, 8 July)
“It is a historic victory. These were the first unprecedented cases filed against the Palestinian Authority. We claimed at the beginning that the Palestinian Authority is a terror organization which supports terror and terror operations, and the court found out that it is actually responsibility for terror attacks carried out by terror organizations such as the PLO, Hamas and Islamic Jihad. This proves that Intifada was not a popular revolt but an organized war against the Israeli civilians. Arafat tried to achieve what he could not accomplish through Oslo accords that is terror and suicide attacks and gun fire. The Palestinians aim was to kill Jews in Israel, therefore it will pay a dear price.”
Miri Regev, Minister of Culture and Sports, MK Likud (Facebook, 8 July)
“Terrorists remain terrorists. The Jerusalem district court ruled today an unprecedented decision that the Palestinian Authority bears responsibility for the attacks carried out during the second Intifada by terrorist organizations that were sponsored by the Palestinian Authority, and therefore it will be forced to pay compensations regarding 17 cases of damage filed on behalf of the affected people by ‘Shurat Hadin’. I welcome this judicial decision and the achievement of ‘Shurat Hadin’.…: the Palestinian Authority was and remains a supporter to terror as well as its president – in the past and today.”
Mordhay (Moti) Yogev, MK United Right (Twitter, 8 July)
“The mask has been removed – again. (The) District Court judge Moshe Drori revealed in his ruling the real face of the ‘Partner’ : ‘The Palestinian Authority, Abu Mazen, Arafat … all strived for one purpose: killing Jews and Israelis and harming the State of Israel.’ Do you want to make peace with those despicable killers? Do you want to hand over parts of the land of Israel to those murderers?”
VI. Additional Examples
Benjamin Netanyahu, Prime Minister MK Likud in a speech on 10 July on the 40th anniversary of the establishment of the illegal Settlement Council in the West Bank
“ ….we will never evacuate any town in Israel in any political settlement…we don’t displace people, this is absurd, you all know what happened when we made the evacuation, did we get peace in return? We got terror and rockets…”
Bezalel Smotrich, MK United Right (Twitter, 29 July)
“A powerful hand against anyone who attacks our soldiers and police. But I do care if the attackers are Arabs or Jewish. There is no comparison between the brother and the enemy. On the one hand if they are Jewish it hurts me much more. On the other hand I treat my brothers differently even if they violate the law…”
Ayalet Shaked, Former Minister of Justice and Head of United Right party (Twitter, 22 July)
“In a tour with Regavim movement, the Palestinian Authority controls Area C through unlicensed construction and agriculture. The upcoming Security Minister and Prime Minister must allocate necessary resources to enforce the law against the illegal construction and stop the takeover.”
Itamar Ben Gvir, Member of Oztma Yehudit party (part of the United Right party) on the arrest of Mahmoud Qatusa, a Palestinian man that was unjustly accused of kidnapping and raping a Jewish child (Twitter, 10 July)
“Nationalist terror is terror by all means! I reiterate that: whoever rapes a Jewish female based on nationalist motives as part of his war against the people of Israel- he must die in an electric chair…”
Benjamin Netanyahu, Prime Minister and MK Likud tweeted (Twitter, 10 July):
“As I requested and in coordination with the Mayor of Jerusalem, Moshe Lion, and the security apparatuses, the memorial in Issawiya was removed in memory of a terrorist. We will not allow it!”
Benjamin Netanyahu, Prime Minister MK Likud tweeted (Jpost, 7 July)
“A new study of DNA recovered from an ancient Philistine site in the Israeli city of Ashkelon confirms what we know from the Bible – that the origin of the Philistines is in southern Europe. The Bible mentions a place called Caphtor, which is probably modern-day Crete. There’s no connection between the ancient Philistines & the modern Palestinians, whose ancestors came from the Arabian Peninsula to the Land of Israel thousands of years later.”
Bezalel Smotrich, MK United Right, in support of Regavim, an illegal Settler Organization, which organized a campaign for raising Palestinian flags in Area C claiming that it is threatened by Palestinian control (Twitter, 7 July)
“The time has come for us to wake up and stop the Arab takeover of our homeland. These flags are not dangerous, but the thousands of houses and roads and trees that the Arabs are building and paving and planting against our will – yes! Responsibility lies on the shoulders of one person- Netanyahu.”
Michael Ben Ari, leader of the extremist Otzma Yehudit party, kicked off his party’s electoral campaign by calling for the expulsion of Palestinians (Jpost, 5 July)
“We want to resettle our enemies in their countries. They said they disqualified me for this. We’ll give them a bottle of mineral water and even a sandwich. We’ll find them countries of origin they can go to. They told us this is racist.”
Mordhay (Moti) Yogev, MK United Right (Twitter, 4 July)
“The Palestinian takeover of Area C is a ticking political bomb. Also, in the opinion of those who support the partition of the country, this dangerous process means eliminating the need for negotiations. I urge the Prime Minister, the Minister of Defense and the Likud members to confront this challenge. We are losing control over the fate of our country.”
In a Video titled “The State of Terror Behind the Doors” produced by Regavim, an illegal Settler Organization, the leaders of illegal Settlement Councils described the Palestinian State as a ‘Terror State’ and warned against the Palestinian Authority’s control over “Judea and Samaria” (Facebook, July 2)
The report includes examples of official Israeli incitement against Palestinian prisoners, martyrs and their families, the Palestinian population in Gaza, the indigenous Palestinian citizens of Israel, Human Rights defenders, as well as against the President of the State of Palestine and the Palestinian leadership.
I. Palestinian Prisoners, Martyrs, and their Families
Uzi Dayan, MK Likud (Twitter, 22 July)
“To destroy the houses of terrorists – even if they did not kill anyone!…terror does not take a break, postponing the response reduces the power deterrence.”
Oded Forer, MK Yisrael Beitenu (Twitter, 17 July)
“Congratulations to the Prime Minister who prevented enacting the death penalty law for terrorists despite his commitment and promises. The privileges enjoyed by terrorists in the jail are the result of the failure of the Prime Minister and the Interior Security Minister who are not stopping the summer camp [good conditions]that the terrorists receive, and allow them to have developed TVs, visits and mobiles.”
Benjamin Netanyahu, Prime Minister MK Likud (Israel’s army radio Glz , 7 July)
“….we should never release any single prisoner.”
II. The Ongoing Israeli Assault on Gaza
Benjamin Netanyahu, Prime Minister MK Likud (Twitter, 3 July)
“….our policy is clear, we want to restore calm but in return we are preparing for a broad military operation if necessary, these are my instructions to the army.”
Benny Gantz, Former Chief of Staff of the Israeli occupying army and the Head of Blue White party, in an interview with Kan Radio on 11 July
“We should not accept any violation to our sovereignty, any violation to our sovereignty must be confronted with force, the violation is not an issue which happens once, and therefore we should have reacted by force and waged a strong attack including assassinations.”
III. Human Rights Defenders
Yair Lapid, MK Blue White party against Omar Shaker, the Israel and Palestine Director of Human Rights Watch (Twitter, 26 July)
“Omar Shaker must be deported, he is not a ‘Human Rights activist’, he is an anti-Semite BDS activist, and it is the right of the state of Israel to deport whoever is working against it.”
IV. The Indigenous Palestinian Citizens of Israel
Likud party published a video on 30 July blaming Benny Gantz, Head of Blue White party, for speaking in the video about his intent to cooperate with Palestinian MKs
“ Gantz, what kind of coalition you wish to establish with the National democratic assembly? To establish a Palestinian State..to withdraw from all lands? What kind of cooperation you want to do with Ahmad Tibi who perceives Arafat as the teacher who glorified martyrs? Or with Ayman Odeh who supports the terrorist Marwan Barghouthi?”
Miri Regev, Minister of Culture and Sports, MK Likud, on the decision of the Israeli ‘Supreme Court’ to halt funding to al-Midan Theatre in Haifa (Facebook, 22 July)
“Justice has come to light. After four years of fighting against al-Midan Theatre, the high court of justice acknowledged that we won. This theatre, which dared to allow a play for the terrorist (prisoner Walid Daqa, a Palestinian citizen of Israel) who murdered the soldier Moshe Tama was not at all a theatre in the recent years but a platform for inciters against soldiers and against the State of Israel, It’s not art, it is incitement….”
V. President Mahmoud Abbas and the Palestinian Leadership
Gilad Erdan, Minister of Internal Security, Minister of Strategic Affairs and Minister of Information, MK Likud (Twitter, 16 July)
“This week I revealed to the government that the “terrorist in the suit” Abu Mazen not only incites for terror, finances and supports terrorists, but now together with the Palestinian Authority they have strengthened their support to BDS…”
Nitsana Darshan-Leitner, Chairwoman of Israeli Law Center Shurat Hadin, on the ruling of the district court to hold the Palestinian Authority responsible for attacks carried out during the second Intifada (Channel 20, 8 July)
“It is a historic victory. These were the first unprecedented cases filed against the Palestinian Authority. We claimed at the beginning that the Palestinian Authority is a terror organization which supports terror and terror operations, and the court found out that it is actually responsibility for terror attacks carried out by terror organizations such as the PLO, Hamas and Islamic Jihad. This proves that Intifada was not a popular revolt but an organized war against the Israeli civilians. Arafat tried to achieve what he could not accomplish through Oslo accords that is terror and suicide attacks and gun fire. The Palestinians aim was to kill Jews in Israel, therefore it will pay a dear price.”
Miri Regev, Minister of Culture and Sports, MK Likud (Facebook, 8 July)
“Terrorists remain terrorists. The Jerusalem district court ruled today an unprecedented decision that the Palestinian Authority bears responsibility for the attacks carried out during the second Intifada by terrorist organizations that were sponsored by the Palestinian Authority, and therefore it will be forced to pay compensations regarding 17 cases of damage filed on behalf of the affected people by ‘Shurat Hadin’. I welcome this judicial decision and the achievement of ‘Shurat Hadin’.…: the Palestinian Authority was and remains a supporter to terror as well as its president – in the past and today.”
Mordhay (Moti) Yogev, MK United Right (Twitter, 8 July)
“The mask has been removed – again. (The) District Court judge Moshe Drori revealed in his ruling the real face of the ‘Partner’ : ‘The Palestinian Authority, Abu Mazen, Arafat … all strived for one purpose: killing Jews and Israelis and harming the State of Israel.’ Do you want to make peace with those despicable killers? Do you want to hand over parts of the land of Israel to those murderers?”
VI. Additional Examples
Benjamin Netanyahu, Prime Minister MK Likud in a speech on 10 July on the 40th anniversary of the establishment of the illegal Settlement Council in the West Bank
“ ….we will never evacuate any town in Israel in any political settlement…we don’t displace people, this is absurd, you all know what happened when we made the evacuation, did we get peace in return? We got terror and rockets…”
Bezalel Smotrich, MK United Right (Twitter, 29 July)
“A powerful hand against anyone who attacks our soldiers and police. But I do care if the attackers are Arabs or Jewish. There is no comparison between the brother and the enemy. On the one hand if they are Jewish it hurts me much more. On the other hand I treat my brothers differently even if they violate the law…”
Ayalet Shaked, Former Minister of Justice and Head of United Right party (Twitter, 22 July)
“In a tour with Regavim movement, the Palestinian Authority controls Area C through unlicensed construction and agriculture. The upcoming Security Minister and Prime Minister must allocate necessary resources to enforce the law against the illegal construction and stop the takeover.”
Itamar Ben Gvir, Member of Oztma Yehudit party (part of the United Right party) on the arrest of Mahmoud Qatusa, a Palestinian man that was unjustly accused of kidnapping and raping a Jewish child (Twitter, 10 July)
“Nationalist terror is terror by all means! I reiterate that: whoever rapes a Jewish female based on nationalist motives as part of his war against the people of Israel- he must die in an electric chair…”
Benjamin Netanyahu, Prime Minister and MK Likud tweeted (Twitter, 10 July):
“As I requested and in coordination with the Mayor of Jerusalem, Moshe Lion, and the security apparatuses, the memorial in Issawiya was removed in memory of a terrorist. We will not allow it!”
Benjamin Netanyahu, Prime Minister MK Likud tweeted (Jpost, 7 July)
“A new study of DNA recovered from an ancient Philistine site in the Israeli city of Ashkelon confirms what we know from the Bible – that the origin of the Philistines is in southern Europe. The Bible mentions a place called Caphtor, which is probably modern-day Crete. There’s no connection between the ancient Philistines & the modern Palestinians, whose ancestors came from the Arabian Peninsula to the Land of Israel thousands of years later.”
Bezalel Smotrich, MK United Right, in support of Regavim, an illegal Settler Organization, which organized a campaign for raising Palestinian flags in Area C claiming that it is threatened by Palestinian control (Twitter, 7 July)
“The time has come for us to wake up and stop the Arab takeover of our homeland. These flags are not dangerous, but the thousands of houses and roads and trees that the Arabs are building and paving and planting against our will – yes! Responsibility lies on the shoulders of one person- Netanyahu.”
Michael Ben Ari, leader of the extremist Otzma Yehudit party, kicked off his party’s electoral campaign by calling for the expulsion of Palestinians (Jpost, 5 July)
“We want to resettle our enemies in their countries. They said they disqualified me for this. We’ll give them a bottle of mineral water and even a sandwich. We’ll find them countries of origin they can go to. They told us this is racist.”
Mordhay (Moti) Yogev, MK United Right (Twitter, 4 July)
“The Palestinian takeover of Area C is a ticking political bomb. Also, in the opinion of those who support the partition of the country, this dangerous process means eliminating the need for negotiations. I urge the Prime Minister, the Minister of Defense and the Likud members to confront this challenge. We are losing control over the fate of our country.”
In a Video titled “The State of Terror Behind the Doors” produced by Regavim, an illegal Settler Organization, the leaders of illegal Settlement Councils described the Palestinian State as a ‘Terror State’ and warned against the Palestinian Authority’s control over “Judea and Samaria” (Facebook, July 2)
6 aug 2019
A new Palestinian-developed mobile driving app helps Palestinian drivers uncover routes to towns and villages and avoid new checkpoints in the West Bank, services that the mainstream providers like Google Maps and Waze often fail to offer in an occupied region scattered with the regime’s settlements and military bases.
Launched in June, the app, called Doroob Navigator, is the brainchild of 39-year-old Mohammad Abdel Haleem, the CEO of Doroob Technologies, which is funded by Ramallah-based software firm Ideal, also controlled by Abdel Haleem.
“We had to design our maps completely from scratch. The wall, checkpoints, settlements … existing mapping software could never account for the complexity here,” said Abdel Haleem.
The app has garnered 22,000 users in just two months, and according to its developer, it might be monetized in the future in part via a delivery feature.
As with mainstream platforms like Waze and Google Maps, Doroob Navigator allows users to report traffic trouble, but its advantage over the two commonly-used apps is that it also enables users to include pop-up Israeli police and military checkpoints or road closures.
With this enormously helpful feature, Doroob Navigator creates a more precise picture of the traffic reality for Palestinian drivers.
The newly-developed app combines reports from its users with manual inputs by its engineering staff in an attempt to help drivers avoid crippling checkpoint traffic and circumvent Israeli settlements.
Some three million Palestinians live in the West Bank along with some 450,000 Israeli settlers, who can generally drive in the region without major restriction using the so-called “bypass roads” built to avoid Palestinian towns. Most Palestinians cannot enter and drive through Israeli settlements.
“Other apps might say the only way to drive between certain Palestinian cities is to cut through a settlement,” Abdel Haleem said, adding, “We’re trying to change that.”
He said the app is also available in the besieged Gaza Strip, though most active users are in the occupied West Bank.
“We need applications like this that help us move within Palestine,” said Nicolas Harami, 31, who uses the app while driving from his home in East Jerusalem to Ramallah and other West Bank cities. “Other applications do not understand our situation,” he added.
About 600,000 Israeli settlers live in over 230 settlements built since the 1967 occupation of the Palestinian lands.
Settlements are illegal under international law and are a stumbling block to the resolution of the Palestine issue.
Launched in June, the app, called Doroob Navigator, is the brainchild of 39-year-old Mohammad Abdel Haleem, the CEO of Doroob Technologies, which is funded by Ramallah-based software firm Ideal, also controlled by Abdel Haleem.
“We had to design our maps completely from scratch. The wall, checkpoints, settlements … existing mapping software could never account for the complexity here,” said Abdel Haleem.
The app has garnered 22,000 users in just two months, and according to its developer, it might be monetized in the future in part via a delivery feature.
As with mainstream platforms like Waze and Google Maps, Doroob Navigator allows users to report traffic trouble, but its advantage over the two commonly-used apps is that it also enables users to include pop-up Israeli police and military checkpoints or road closures.
With this enormously helpful feature, Doroob Navigator creates a more precise picture of the traffic reality for Palestinian drivers.
The newly-developed app combines reports from its users with manual inputs by its engineering staff in an attempt to help drivers avoid crippling checkpoint traffic and circumvent Israeli settlements.
Some three million Palestinians live in the West Bank along with some 450,000 Israeli settlers, who can generally drive in the region without major restriction using the so-called “bypass roads” built to avoid Palestinian towns. Most Palestinians cannot enter and drive through Israeli settlements.
“Other apps might say the only way to drive between certain Palestinian cities is to cut through a settlement,” Abdel Haleem said, adding, “We’re trying to change that.”
He said the app is also available in the besieged Gaza Strip, though most active users are in the occupied West Bank.
“We need applications like this that help us move within Palestine,” said Nicolas Harami, 31, who uses the app while driving from his home in East Jerusalem to Ramallah and other West Bank cities. “Other applications do not understand our situation,” he added.
About 600,000 Israeli settlers live in over 230 settlements built since the 1967 occupation of the Palestinian lands.
Settlements are illegal under international law and are a stumbling block to the resolution of the Palestine issue.
