This week: African asylum seekers continue their struggle in Israel, Afghan asylum seekers march in Brussels, Palestinians block traffic and plant trees, activists promote joint struggle while opposing normalization, visitors express solidarity in the Jordan Valley, and officials demolish homes in South Africa.
Thousands of African asylum seekers gather in Levinsky Park in south Tel Aviv for an open-mic meeting in the fifth day of Strike For Freedom, Israel, January 7, 2014. (photo: Oren Ziv/Activestills.org)
Volunteers from Physicians for Human Rights treat African asylum seekers at the mobile clinic at Holot detention centre, Negev, Isreal, on January 10, 2014. (photo: Yotam Ronen/Activestills.org)
Women asylum seekers and their children protest against a new detention center and call on the Israeli government to recognize their refugee rights, Tel Aviv, January 15, 2014. (photo: Yotam Ronen/Activestills.org)
Hundreds of Afghan asylum seekers and supporters hold a march in Belgium, January 11, 2014. The 3-day march from Brussels to Gent intends to raise awareness of the precarious situation of Afghan asylum seekers who demand protection from Belgium. Many of them had been denied asylum and some were deported back to Afghanistan despite the prevailing insecurity there. Hundreds of Afghans have been occupying a church in the center of Brussels for the last weeks, and have been protesting for months to get a legal status and protection. (photo: Anne Paq/Activestills.org)
Palestinian activists block the entrance to the Israeli settlement El’azar, built on land belonging to the West Bank village of Al Khader, January 13, 2014. All Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories are illegal under international law. (photo: Ryan Rodrick Beiler/Activestills.org)
Israeli forces interrupt an olive tree planting activity of Palestinians, accompanied by Israeli solidarity activsts, on land between the Israeli settlements Efrat and El’azar belonging to the Palestinian village of Al Khader, January 13, 2014. All Israeli settlements on occupied Palestinian territory are illegal under international law. (photo: Ryan Rodrick Beiler/Activestills.org)
Sheikh Sayyah At-tori of Al Araqib speaks at the second Hebron conference under the headline: ‘Together against the occupation and colonialism! Yes to joint struggle, no to normalization’, Hebron, West Bank, January 11, 2014. (photo: Ahmad Al-Bazz/Activestills.org)
A vigil supporting the African asylum seekers’ struggle, organized by students at the Hebrew University, Jerusalem, January 14, 2014. (photo: Tali Mayer/Activestills.org)
Palestinians demonstrate against Israeli-Palestinian normalization, Nablus, West Bank, January 12, 2014. On Thursday January 9, 2014, Palestinian activists tried to prevent a meeting of the organization Minds of Peace in the West Bank city of Ramallah. (photo: Ahmad Al-Bazz/Activestills.org)
A solidarity visit by Palestinian and international activists to Al-Hemmeh community, Jordan Valley, West Bank, January 13, 2014. (photo: Ahmad Al-Bazz/Activestills.org)
A women stands at the entrance of her home after it was marked by the by the City of Cape Town’s Anti-Land Invasion Unit in Marikana community. On January 7, 2014, the City of Cape Town’s Anti-Land Invasion Unit came into the Marikana Land Occupation and demolished peoples’ homes. Over the next few days, they demolished 42 homes out of more than 100. (photo: Shachaf Polakow/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.