War of Independence

A Palestinian refugee, Saleh Saleh Abu Rass, holds up a key from his original home in Be'er Sheva, located in southern Israel, during a rally, in Rafah refugee camp, southern Gaza Strip, May 12, 2013. (Abed Rahim Khatib/Flash 90)

Are Israeli Jews beginning to accept the right of return?

A number of new surveys shows that at least a fifth of Israel’s Jewish citizens are open to the idea of Palestinian refugees returning to their homes. So how do we reconcile this with the violence being meted out to Palestinians on the Gaza border? By Eléonore Bronstein and Eitan Bronstein Aparicio What is it…

By +972 Magazine April 18, 2018

The old church in Kfer Bir'im. (photo: Activestills.org)

How we learned to forget the villages we destroyed

‘Erased from Space and Consciousness’ is the product of years of meticulous research to raise awareness of the hundreds of villages Israel destroyed during and following the 1948 war. But is awareness enough to remedy the injustices of the past? By Tom Pessah Kadman, Noga: Erased From Space and Consciousness – Israel and the Depopulated Palestinian Villages…

By Haokets October 3, 2016

Irgun fighters training in 1947. (photo: Archive of Jabotinsky Institute in Israel/CC BY 2.5)

When Jewish militants dug underground tunnels

Seventy years ago it was the Zionist militias who dug underground tunnels and hid weapon caches among the civilian population. So why is it so difficult for Israelis to understand when Hamas does the same today? Whether we like to admit it or not, the Israeli press intentionally ignores the realities of Gaza. One would…

By Edo Konrad March 23, 2015

Latest

A Palestinian crying near rubbles of his home after the latest round of Israeli attacks against Al Shaja'ia, Gaza City, July 20, 2014. (Anne Paq/Activestills.org)

Why do Palestinians continue to support Hamas despite such devastating losses?

I know of many Palestinians who do not like Hamas. Yet for them, the Gaza war is about the siege – part of their own war of independence. Israelis refuse to get that. In The Fog of War, Errol Morris’ excellent documentary, former U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara speaks about a certain inability to…

By Noam Sheizaf July 22, 2014

Tourists riding camels in Israel [illustrative] (photo: flickr / idovermani CC BY 2.0)

In response: The benefits of academic Israel programs

In response to Olga Gershenon’s critique of one-sided programs that bring American academics to discover Israel, one writer counters that those very programs are actually a step in the right direction, both due to the openness by which they are run and by the people they attract. By Brent E. Sasley Olga Gershenson wrote a strong critique…

By +972 Magazine February 11, 2013

Traces of the Nakba: Book review of ‘Stone, Paper’

Despite attempts to conceal the memory of stones in the village of Hunin, papers in the kibbutz archives left a trail revealing the hidden war. In his bold book, Stone, Paper, Tomer Gardi places history in its present, as a driving political force, while rejecting the practice of historical writing. By Yehouda Shenhav | Translated…

By Haokets March 27, 2012