For just a moment yesterday, one might have thought that the demonstrations worked, or that the hoax newspaper announcing the end of segregation on Shuhada St was not a hoax after all. For a moment, one might have mistakenly assumed that Palestinians are actually walking that main road in Hebron’s city center, with its closed shops and racist graffiti sprayed on them, and the local population locked in their homes and tormented by settlers. But this too was a hoax. A Purim hoax. Once again settlers celebrated Purim by marching on the Jewish-only street merrily disguised as Palestinians. Segregation was kept: fake Arabs – in, real ones – out.
PHOTO: Settlers dress as Arabs for Purim in apartheid Hebron
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.