Images from a weekend in the Negev

By Hagai El-Ad

After the events of last week (and for an idea of how stressful it was, just read the news items posted last week on +972 Magazine…), I really needed a weekend off. I spent it hiking around and in the Timna Valley, in Israel’s south. There was no cellular reception, no MK Faina Kirshenbaum. This is what such a break looks like. I really love this place. Below are some photos I took over the weekend.

Editor’s note: Please scroll all the way to the bottom to read the continuation of this post.

Images from a weekend in the Negev

Images from a weekend in the Negev

Images from a weekend in the Negev

Images from a weekend in the Negev

Images from a weekend in the Negev

Images from a weekend in the Negev

Images from a weekend in the Negev

Some of these were taken in  Timna Valley’s Sasgon Basin where Adam Teva V’Din , and other environmental justice NGOs, are fighting destructive resort development. Full disclosure note for my favorite reader, Prof. Gerald Steinberg: my sister, Adv. Naama Elad, leads Adam Teva V’Din’s legal department. Now go investigate that!

Hagai El-Ad is the executive director of ACRI, the Association for Civil Rights in Israel.

End of article module for Members

TEST TEST GAL Our team has been devastated by the horrific events of this latest war. The world is reeling from Israel’s unprecedented onslaught on Gaza, inflicting mass devastation and death upon besieged Palestinians, as well as the atrocious attack and kidnappings by Hamas in Israel on October 7. Our hearts are with all the people and communities facing this violence.    We are in an extraordinarily dangerous era in Israel-Palestine. The bloodshed has reached extreme levels of brutality and threatens to engulf the entire region. Emboldened settlers in the West Bank, backed by the army, are seizing the opportunity to intensify their attacks on Palestinians. The most far-right government in Israel’s history is ramping up its policing of dissent, using the cover of war to silence Palestinian citizens and left-wing Jews who object to its policies.   This escalation has a very clear context, one that +972 has spent the past 14 years covering: Israeli society’s growing racism and militarism, entrenched occupation and apartheid, and a 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 a leading media voice of this movement, a desperately needed platform where Palestinian and Israeli journalists, activists, and thinkers can report on and analyze what is happening, guided by humanism, equality, and justice. Join us.

Make a Donation