This week: Palestinian and Israeli protests across the political, ethnic and religious spectrum; homes and property damaged and destroyed in Gaza, the West Bank and Israel; aid for those suffering; and a wedding under protest.
Hundreds of Palestinians demonstrate in solidarity with the Gaza Strip, Nablus, West Bank, August 15, 2014. (Ahmad Al-Bazz/Activestills.org)
Palestinians check the damage caused to the house of wanted Palestinian Zakaria al-Aqra, 24, who was killed by Israeli forces in the West Bank village of Qabalan, Nablus, August 11, 2014. Six people from his family were wounded and parts of his house were destroyed during the 8-hour operation. Qabalan village has been raided several times in the last two weeks by the Israeli army. (Ahmad Al-Bazz/Activestills.org)
Ibrahim Abu Odeh (Abu Alaa), 60 years old, stands at his window in the early morning, examining what’s left of his neighborhood. Next to him is one of the rooms of his house, completely destroyed. Beit Hanoun, Gaza Strip, August 12, 2014. Abu Alaa lives in a three-story building that has six apartments, occupied by his five married sons and their families, 33 people in total, 21 of them children. He was forced to flee his house with his family, along with the residents of Beit Hanoun due to the Israeli attack. They took shelter in the Jabalya Secondary School for Boys, in Jabalya Refugee Camp, but returned to their bombed home because of harsh condition in the school. Since then they have been living in their destroyed house without electricity or gas. (Basel Yazouri/Activestills.org)
Israeli activists dressed in white and wearing white masks, walk in Rothschild Boulevard in central Tel Aviv, during a direct action in solidarity with the victims of the Israeli attacks on Gaza, August 13, 2014. (Oren Ziv/Activestills.org)
Israelis of Kurdish origin demonstrate in solidarity with the Yazidi community in front of the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv, August 13, 2014. The Yazidi community in northern Iraq has recently been attacked by extremists of the Islamic State. The protesters called for U.S. intervention. (Yotam Ronen/Activestills.org)
Palestinian women argue with Israeli soldiers after a Palestinian youth was shot with live ammunition and was taken by the army during the weekly protest against the occupation in the West Bank village of Nabi Saleh, August 15, 2014. (Keren Manor/Activestills.org)
Right-wing supporters of the Organization for Prevention of Assimilation in the Holy Land (LEHAVA) shout slogans as they protest outside the wedding hall where Mahmoud Mansour, an Arab-Israeli, and Morel Malcha, a Jewish-Israeli, were married on August 17, 2014 in the Israeli city of Rishon Letzion. Police arrested at least seven right-wing protesters among over 300 who were protesting against the wedding. (Oren Ziv/Activestills.org)
Manmoud Mansour arrives at his family house together with his wife Morel Malcha, 23 (not seen), Jaffa, Israel on August 17, 2014, before their wedding celebration in the evening in Rishon LeZion. Morel was born Jewish and converted to Islam some months ago before marrying Mahmoud. (Yotam Ronen/Activestills.org)
Gazans receive food support from UNRWA during a ceasefire. Each family receives one bag of flour and another bag of rice. Gaza City, August 17, 2014. (Basel Yazouri/Activestills.org)
Eighteen Palestinians injured during the Israeli attack on the Gaza Strip are seen at Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv, a distance of around 70 kilometers from Gaza, before being taken to hospitals in Turkey by a Turkish military plane, Israel, August 13, 2014. (Yotam Ronen/Activestills.org)
An Israeli soldier photographs the scene in which a mortar shot from the Gaza Strip directly hit a house, southern Israel, August 21, 2014. (Yotam Ronen/Activestills.org)
An Israeli looks at dead cows after a mortar shot from the Gaza Strip hit a dairy farm, southern Israel, August 21, 2014.(Yotam Ronen/Activestills.org)
Israelis hold signs reading, “When there is no peace, war comes” during a demonstration calling for negotiations between Israel and the Palestine on August 16, 2014 in Tel Aviv, Israel. Thousands of demonstrators gathered Saturday evening for a pro-peace rally under the slogan, “Changing Direction: Toward Peace, Away From War.” (Oren Ziv/Activestills.org)
Related:
Wedding crashers: Do anti-miscegenation protesters hate or love Judaism?
10,000 protest in Tel Aviv for a just peace, end to occupation
PHOTOS: Israeli forces kill Palestinian and bulldoze his family house
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.
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