jaffa

An Israeli military police officer checks entry permits of Palestinians on a bus crossing the Allenby Bridge into Israel. (Moshe Milner/GPO)

What would Israelis do if Palestinians disappeared overnight?

In Ibtisam Azem’s ‘The Book of Disappearance,’ Israelis wake up one day to a country without any Palestinians. Azem speaks to +972 about how, with this sudden vanishing of ‘the enemy,’ she confronts some of the darkest chapters of Israel’s history. What would Israelis do if every Palestinian between the river and the sea disappeared at…

November 11, 2019

A photo of my Palestinian grandmother, Najwa Qattan. (Courtesy of Nooran Alhamdan)

My Palestinian sitty embodies the humanity Israel tries to deny us

My grandmother is not just a beacon of warmth and love. Not just my first best friend. She is a survivor. She is the compass that points to justice. By Nooran Alhamdan My grandmother was my first best friend. As soon as I’d be dropped off at her house, almost daily, the hotheaded and spoiled…

By +972 Magazine August 20, 2019

Bombed out buildings in Gaza City, May 5, 2019. (Mohammed Al Hajjar)

‘My kids think I’m a hero. They have no idea I’m also afraid’

When the bombs fall on Gaza, Abu Ali and his family, like two million other residents of Gaza, have nowhere to run. This is what it’s like to live under Israeli airstrikes. By Yael Marom It’s strange to think that less than a week ago Israel and Hamas were closer to war than they have…

By +972 Magazine May 9, 2019

Latest

A young Palestinian boy and girl stand near a painted mural in Balata Refugee Camp in the West Bank city of Nablus. (Miriam Alster/Flash90)

‘In Balata camp, every single child suffers from psychological problems’

Yafa Cultural Center is one of the few places left for Palestinian children from Balata refugee camp to cope with the violence they witness on a daily basis. With funding running low, the center is at risk of closing. When the door opens, I am surprised to see a six or seven-year-old boy on the other…

By Rami Younis February 11, 2019

Palestinians from the West Bank swim in the Mediterranean Sea during Eid al-Adha, Tel Aviv, August 22, 2018. (Oren Ziv)

On Eid, Palestinian children suddenly cease to be security threats

Tel Aviv’s beaches are packed with Palestinians from the West Bank and East Jerusalem this week, due to Eid al-Adha. Walking along the promenade, you can almost imagine what life would be like here without separation. By Oren Ziv Arabic. This was the main language spoken on the beach in Tel Aviv Wednesday. It was…

By Oren Ziv August 23, 2018

'My family had agricultural land near Hadera that was taken in 1948. We could see the land from our house, as well as the sea, but we couldn't reach them.' Khulud Sa'adi, from Atil, near Tulkarem, West Bank. (Miki Kratsman)

Fifty faces of occupation

A new exhibit by B’Tselem marks 50 years of occupation with portraits of 50 Palestinians born in the occupied territories, who have never known a day of freedom in their lives. There is a checkpoint next to my house. It determines my life’s routine. It is a source of constant worry: whenever my children are on their way…

By Orly Noy November 21, 2017

The beach in Jaffa with the Old City in the background. (Yaakov Lederman/Flash90)

The police brutality haunting Tel Aviv’s ‘backyard’

The shooting death of a young Palestinian man exposes simmering fault lines in Jaffa, where rapid gentrification has left much of the population blind to the world of police violence and intimidation in which their neighbors live.

By Edo Konrad September 20, 2017

Palestinian hip hop artist Tamer Nafar and Israeli musician Itamar Ziegler perform during a solidarity event for Palestinian poet Dareen Tatour, Jaffa, August 31, 2017. (Keren Manor/Activestills.org)

Palestinian poet’s show trial goes on stage for all to see

Hundreds of Palestinians and Jews came to show support for Palestinian poet Dareen Tatour last week, who has been under house arrest for almost two years for publishing a poem on Facebook. By Yoav Haifawi Hundreds of Israelis and Palestinians crowded the hall of Jaffa’s legendary Arab-Hebrew Theater last Wednesday to show their solidarity with Palestinian…

By +972 Magazine September 3, 2017

Jerusalem at the beginning of the 20th century. (Library of Congress)

Remembering the history Israel swept aside in 1948

In the late 19th century, travelers on the long road from Jaffa to Jerusalem could stop at a rest station to relax and have a cup of (overpriced) coffee. This past, and the story of Jerusalem opening itself to the world, has been lost in the Zionist retelling of history. By Yonathan Mizrachi There is…

By Haokets April 21, 2017

A Palestinian woman and children pass the slogan "Gas the Arabs! JDL" spray-painted on an exterior wall of the Cordoba School near Shuhada Street, Hebron, October 22, 2012. "JDL" stands for Jewish Defense League, an extremist group founded by Meir Kahane and designated as a terrorist group by the FBI. On February 25, 1994, JDL charter member Baruch Goldstein opened fire on Muslims at Hebron's Al-Ibrahimi Mosque (Cave of the Patriarchs), killing 29 worshippers and injuring 125. Afterwards, the JDL designated him "a martyr in Judaism's protracted struggle against Arab terrorism." (photo by: Ryan Rodrick Beiler/Activestills.org)

Unpacking anti-Arab racism in Israel

A new law aiming to silence the Muslim call to prayer is just one manifestation of efforts to erase Palestinian culture and identity. But language and heritage aren’t so easy to disappear. There is a building on Michelangelo Street in Jaffa, near where I used to live, which for a while featured the sentiment “We have no other country” graffitied…

By Natasha Roth-Rowland February 15, 2017

Palestinians, many of whom came from the West Bank, sit near the Mediterranean Sea during the last day of the Eid al-Fitr holiday as the sun sets in Jaffa, July 19, 2015.

Shared and shattered: Gentrification and Judaization in Jaffa

Over the past 70 years, the city of Jaffa has gone from being the ‘Bride of Palestine’ to the ‘Arab backyard’ of Tel Aviv. Today, as it undergoes rapid gentrification, Jaffa has become a central hub for both Palestinian and Jewish resistance. Israeli anthropologist Daniel Monterescu speaks to Fathom editor Alan Johnson about his new new book,…

By +972 Magazine February 4, 2017

Arab women protest the murder of two women in the city in the span of one week, October 28, 2016. (Haim Schwarczenberg)

No one is lifting a finger to protect Arab women

Before she was murdered by her ex-husband, Huda Abu Sarir was betrayed by the rest us. She was murdered because we raise men unstable men alongside strong, steadfast women. I drove into the tiny, empty Jaffa alleyway on my way to the home of Huda Abu Sarari, an Arab woman who was murdered by her ex-husband…

By Samah Salaime October 30, 2016

Israeli soldiers seen in Kafr Qasim in 1948. (GPO)

My grandmother was murdered in Kafr Qasim, now these are my demands

I think about the events that led up to the murder of my grandmother and 48 other women, children, and men, along with dozens of survivors who carry their trauma until today. Will we ever see true justice? By Reem Amer Everyone speaks of the Kafr Qasim massacre of 1956 as if it were an isolated…

By +972 Magazine October 29, 2016