colonialism

Israeli soldiers hold down an Israeli activist during a demonstration in the West Bank village of Nabi Saleh. (photo: Activestills)

The untold story of Jewish anti-Zionists in Israel

For nearly as long as Palestinians have resisted their displacement, small groups of Jews have joined them. Ran Greenstein’s ‘Zionism and Its Discontents’ brings to life the complex, often contradictory story of those Israelis who saw Palestinian and Jewish liberation as one and the same. Zionism and Its Discontents: A Century of Radical Dissent in Israel/Palestine (Pluto…

By Joshua Leifer April 8, 2018

Palestinians protesting in Gaza during the start of the 'Great Return March.' March 30, 2017. (Mohammed Emad / Activestills.org)

Where is Palestine’s Gandhi? Marching in Gaza

Rather than ask when the Palestinians will produce a Gandhi, we must ask when Israel will produce a leader that does not subjugate an occupied population through lethal violence. By Neve Gordon For decades Zionists have blamed the Palestinians for Israel’s ongoing colonial project. “If only the Palestinians had a Mahatma Gandhi,” many Israeli liberals have exclaimed, “then the…

By +972 Magazine April 1, 2018

Members of Kibbutz Amir, June 30, 1940. (Zoltan Kluger/GPO)

Even inside Israel, colonialism is far from over

The attempt to bar Arabs from buying land in one of the wealthiest, more liberal towns in Israel is a disturbing reminder of Israel’s colonial past — and present. It keeps happening over and over again. A Jewish town somewhere in Israel finds a way to prevent Arab citizens from buying homes, using its swimming…

By Edo Konrad March 18, 2018

Latest

A Palestinian woman suffers from tear gas inhalation during a demonstration against the occupation held one day before International Women's Day, at Qalandia checkpoint, West Bank, March 7, 2015. (Anne Paq/Activestills.org)

The impossible return home

Our trip back to Israel-Palestine, the first since my daughter’s birth, was also the first time our family would be separated. The Israeli border, the crossing to the place where her father and I met and fell in love, would be the first thing to come between us. I didn’t get a haircut in 2017 and it’s…

By Mya Guarnieri Jaradat January 4, 2018

Palestinian men carry black flags at a protest marking 100 years since the Balfour Declaration outside the British Consulate in East Jerusalem, November 2, 2017. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

The danger of ignoring Arab opinion: 100 years since Balfour

Following the Balfour Declaration, two academics set out to understand what the people of Palestine wanted for their own future. What comes across from their report is the recognition that local, in this case largely Arab, opinions mattered. The British and French were undeterred. By James J. Zogby In 1919, following the first World War, the…

By +972 Magazine November 12, 2017

Bedouins collect their belongings from the ruins of their demolished homes in the Bedouin village of Umm al-Hiran, January 18, 2017. (Hadas Parush/Flash90)

For Arab citizens, ‘Jewish and democratic’ means demographic war

While much of the world justly focuses on land theft in the occupied territories, we must not forget that Israel uses the pretense of ‘Jewish and democratic’ to actively dispossess its own Arab citizens. Israeli citizens who may be feeling doubtful about the efficiency of their country’s institutions should take a hard look at the…

By Orly Noy August 22, 2017

Family and friends carry the body of Muhammad Taha during his funeral ceremony in Kfar Qasim in central Israel, June 6, 2017. (Flash90)

Colonialism’s latest victim

The Palestinian man killed in Kafr Qasim this week was just the latest casualty of a colonial system whose masters feel forever threatened by the natives they rule over. By Marzuq Al-Halabi The killing of a Palestinian man in Kafr Qasim by an Israeli security guard earlier this week was more than just a regrettable incident that raised…

By +972 Magazine June 10, 2017

An Israeli soldier tries to prevent a photograph being taken of construction on the separation wall, Bethlehem, January 7, 2006. (Nati Shohat/Flash90)

Israel: State of denial

The Israeli government has fashioned the occupation into a ‘permanently temporary’ state of affairs — and made a policy of denial one of its cornerstones. By Gershon Shafir Military occupation is a rare phenomenon in today’s world. A half-century-long occupation, like Israel’s control of Palestinian territories captured in 1967, is even rarer. Grappling seriously with…

By +972 Magazine June 10, 2017

‘Balfour at Jewish colonies’, 1925. (Photo by American Colony, Jerusalem)

The colonialist skeletons in Israel’s closet

Modern believers in the meaning, importance and necessity of Israel as a safe home for Jews had best come to terms with its less-than-organic birth — it did not magically appear on the sands of an empty landscape. By David Sarna Galdi A day before the Paris peace summit last month, director general of Israel’s…

By +972 Magazine July 3, 2016

Labor chairman Isaac Herzog (Photo by Activestills.org)

Why Herzog’s diplomatic plan looks an awful lot like apartheid

Looking closely at Labor’s plan, the logic behind it becomes clear: since it is difficult to envision a Palestinian state in the foreseeable future, Israel should no longer be ashamed of putting Palestinians in Bantustans. By Neve Gordon On Sunday night, Israel’s Labor Party unanimously approved their leader’s diplomatic plan. Labor’s premier Isaac Herzog laid…

By +972 Magazine February 11, 2016

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited the Druze community, on the occasion of the Nabi Shueib holiday, at the home of Druze spiritual leader Sheikh Muafak Tareef in Julis and at the Yad LeBanim building in Daliyat al-Karmel, April 25, 2013. (Moshe Milner/GPO, C.C. 2.0)

Israel’s Druze reject Netanyahu’s divide-and-conquer policies

A newly-approved Druze town is slated to be built atop destroyed Palestinian villages. But the Druze community refuses to let the government sow discord among Israel’s ethnic minorities under the guise of development. With great fanfare, the Prime Minister’s Office released a press statement Tuesday announcing that the National Planning Council had approved the prime minister’s initiative…

By Natasha Roth-Rowland January 6, 2016

Masked Israeli Border Police officers (Illustrative photo: Oren Ziv/Activestills.org)

Israel’s most repressive law is about to get worse

Using the Emergency Regulations to outlaw Palestinian political movements is a preview of what’s coming. In June 1951, member of Knesset and future prime minister Menachem Begin participated in a meeting of the Knesset’s Constitutional, Law, and Justice Committee on whether Israel should adopt administrative detentions as a legitimate security practice. During the discussions, Begin…

By Amjad Iraqi November 29, 2015

Palestinian relatives mourn the death of 18-month-old Ali Dawabshe, after he was killed in an arson attack by Jewish settlers, Duma, West Bank, July 31, 2015. (photo: Oren Ziv/Activestills.org)

No way to defeat Jewish terrorism without ending the occupation

For the extreme right, violence against Palestinian civilians is not solely a result of racism — it is, first and foremost, a form of control. The vast majority of settlers are not violent, although different levels of violence toward the Palestinian population in the occupied territories have accompanied the settlement enterprise since its inception. These…

By Noam Sheizaf August 2, 2015