This week: Solidarity with Palestinian prisoners, opposition to Yair Lapid, preserving Tel Aviv’s beaches, resisting the occupation’s obstacles, Tel Aviv’s ‘Slutwalk’, and the targeting of a Palestinian photographer.
A Palestinian suffers from tear gas inhalation during clashes with Israeli soldiers in the Old city of Hebron after the funeral of Maysara Abu Hamdiyeh who died two days earlier in Israeli custody, Hebron, West Bank April 4, 2013. Hamdiyeh died shortly after being transferred from prison to ‘Soroka’ hospital in late March, suffering from throat cancer which had spread to his spinal cord. Before his death, he had complained of medical neglect by the Israeli prison authorities. (Photo by: Anne Paq/Activestills.org)
Demonstrators attempt to block Road No.1 in Jerusalem during a solidarity protest with Palestinian prisoners on April 4, 2013. (Photo by: Guest photographer Tali Mayer/Activestills.org)
Palestinian youths clash with Israeli soldiers in the Old City of Hebron after the funeral of Maysara Abu Hamdiyeh who died two days earlier in Israeli custody, Hebron, West Bank April 4, 2013. Hamdiyeh died shortly after being transferred from prison to ‘Soroka’ hospital in late March, suffering from throat cancer which had spread to his spinal cord. Before his death, he had complained of medical neglect by the Israeli prison authorities. (Photo by: Anne Paq/Activestills.org)
Relatives of Amer Nasser, a 17-year-old Palestinian shot by Israeli soldiers, mourn during his funeral in the West Bank town of Anabta near Tulkarm on April 4, 2013. Amer and Naji Balbis were killed by Israeli soldiers during clashes that erupted after the death of Maisara Abu Hamdiyeh, a Palestinian prisoner, who died in Israeli custody. (Photo by: Oren Ziv/ Activestills.org)
Palestinian members of the Al Aqsa Brigade are seen at the entrance to the cemetery during the funeral of Maysara Abu Hamdiyeh who died two days earlier in Israeli custody, Hebron, West Bank April 4, 2013. (Photo by: Anne Paq/Activestills.org)
Public housing activists and other social activists protest in front of the house of the the new Minister of Finance, Yair Lapid, following his controversial Facebook statement about a supposed middle class income of 20,000 NIS and his intention to continue the erosion of welfare stipends in 2014’s budget. (Photo by: Oren Ziv/Activestills.org)
Protesters hold signs and shout slogans during a march against the Tel Aviv municipality’s plan to expand the current promenade by cementing over an 8m-wide stretch of sand the length of the Tel Aviv shoreline, April, 5, 2013 . The cost of the project is estimated at 150 million NIS and was approved by the municipality despite strong opposition from different ecological groups who exposed the devastating effect the project would have on the ecosystem of the area, and favors real estate companies interest over public interest. (Photo by: Shiraz Grinbaum/Activestills.org)
Israeli riot policemen arrest a Palestinian youth during clashes in solidarity with Palestinian prisoners, Issawiya, East Jerusalem, April 5, 2013. (Photo by: Oren Ziv/ Activestills.org)
Weekly demonstration in Kfer Qaddum, a West Bank village located east of Qalqiliya, January 25, 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: Yotam Ronen/Activestills.org)
Protesters hold a banner that reads: “The SlutWalk” during a rally in Tel Aviv on April 5, 2013. Protesters shouted slogans condemning discrimination against women based on their choice of dress or appearance. The ‘SlutWalk’ rallies began in 2011 in Canada when a Toronto Police officer, suggested that to remain safe, “women should avoid dressing like sluts.” (Photo by: Keren Manor/Activestills.org)
PHR mobile clinic in Jenin Refugee Camp on April 6, 2013. PHR operate regular mobile clinics in isolated villages in the West Bank. The clinics operate at specific locations and in a limited capacity, mostly supplying preliminary care and triage services and is operated by volunteer doctors, nurses and helpers. (Photo by: Keren Manor/Activestills.org)
Mohammad Al-Azza rests in the hospital the morning after being shot in the face with a rubber-coated steel bullet by Israeli forces in Aida Refguee Camp. Beit Jala, West Bank, April 9, 2013. Al-Azza underwent two surgeries to remove the bullet, which lodged in his cheek below his right eye and fractured his skull. He is expected to make a full recovery. (Photo by: Ryan Rodrick Beiler/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.