This week: Palestinians protest settlements as their construction continues unabated; activists participate in weekly demonstrations and celebrate milestones in the popular struggle; Israeli authorities raid Eritrean-owned shops in Tel Aviv; housing activists protest Israeli Finance Minister Yair Lapid, and Guy Fawkes marches in Boston.
Palestinians climb on an Israeli army jeep on July 7, 2013 near the West Bank village of Bi’lin during an action against settlements. (Photo by: Yotam Ronen/Activestills.org)
Palestinians and supporters demonstrate against the eviction of Palestinian families in Sheikh Jarrah and the taking over of the neighborhood by Jewish settler organizations. (Photo by: Keren Manor/Activestills.org)
Activists try to extinguish a fire, which started after the Israeli border police shot tear gas into the village of Nabi Saleh during the weekly demonstration, July 5, 2013. (Photo by: Oren Ziv/ Actviestills.org)
Tel Aviv municipality workers place a sign on a Eritrean shop as police and municipality officers raid shops and close them, July 10, 2013. (Photo by: Oren Ziv/Activestills.org)
An Eritrean couple stand as police and municipality officials make them sign papers after their shop’s property was confiscated during a municipality raid, July 10, 2013. (Photo by: Shiraz Grinbaum/Activestills.org)
Palestinian boys look at photos at an photo exhibition presenting the popular struggle against the Israeli occupation in the West Bank village of Kafr Qaddum, July 8, 2013. The exhibition was organized by Palestinian press photographers, as the village marks two years since the beginning of the weekly demonstrations. The photos of Yotam Ronen, a member of the Activestills collective, were presented in the exhibition. (Photo by: Oren Ziv/ Activestills.org)
Palestinians from the West Bank village of Kfer Qaddum celebrate two years of the popular struggle in their village, July 4, 2013. There have been regular demonstrations in Kfer Qaddum since July, 2011, protesting the blocking of the main road east of the village which used to link it to Nablus. (Photo by: Ahmad al-Bazz/Activestills.org)
A sign reads “Morsi = Bibi+ Lapid. The same revolution”, as public housing activists and others protest in front of the home of the Israeli Finance Minister, Yair Lapid in north Tel Aviv, July 4, 2013, following his intention to continue the erosion of welfare stipends in 2014’s budget. (Photo by: Oren Ziv/Activestills.org)
Activists of “Restore the Fourth”, march in Guy Fawkes masks during a rally in downtown Boston, MA on Thursday, July 4, 2013. The activists protested against the National Security Agency’s surveillance program recently uncovered by whistle-blower Edward Snowden. (Photo: Tess Scheflan/ Activestills.org)
Hani Amer, a Palestinian farmer, has lived in an open-air prison for over 10 years. His house is surrounded by the wall from the 4 sides. A combination of electrified fences, barbed wire, and concrete walls enclose the residence which sits on the edge of the Green Line. His family can cross the barrier only through a gate in the fence (left). (Photo by: Ahmad al-Bazz/Activestills.org)
Building of new illegal settlement units of ‘Elkana’ continues on the lands of the West Bank village of Mas’ha, near Salfit, July 06, 2013. (Photo by: Ahmad Al-Bazz/Activestills.org)
Our team has been devastated by the horrific events of this latest war – the atrocities committed by Hamas in Israel and the massive retaliatory Israeli attacks on Gaza. Our hearts are with all the people and communities facing violence.
We are in an extraordinarily dangerous era in Israel-Palestine. The bloodshed unleashed by these events has reached extreme levels of brutality and threatens to engulf the entire region. Hamas’ murderous assault in southern Israel has devastated and shocked the country to its core. Israel’s retaliatory bombing of Gaza is wreaking destruction on the already besieged strip and killing a ballooning number of civilians. Emboldened settlers in the West Bank, backed by the army, are seizing the opportunity to escalate their attacks on Palestinians.
This escalation has a very clear context, one that +972 has spent the past 13 years covering: Israeli society’s growing racism and militarism, the entrenched occupation, and an increasingly normalized siege on Gaza.
We are well positioned to cover this perilous moment – but we need your help to do it. This terrible period will challenge the humanity of all of those working for a better future in this land. Palestinians and Israelis are already organizing and strategizing to put up the fight of their lives.
Can we count on your support? +972 Magazine is the leading media voice of this movement, a desperately needed platform where Palestinian and Israeli journalists and activists can report on and analyze what is happening, guided by humanism, equality, and justice. Join us.