More than 300 Palestinians showed up at an Israeli military base in the West Bank recently, hoping they could win the lifting of security bans that prevent them for entering Israel. But they were also anxious. Talking in small groups, they recounted past experiences where some had been asked to spy on their neighbors in exchange for a permit — a gut-wrenching choice.
on April 30, 2018Early in the morning on March 30, my 7-year-old son, Ali, saw me preparing to leave the house. This was unusual for our Friday routine. “Where are you going, Dad?” “To the border. To participate in the Great Return March.”
on April 28, 2018Political analyst Diana Buttu provides insight on the ongoing protests by Palestinians in occupied East Jerusalem provoked by increased restrictions imposed on Muslims who want to worship at the Noble Sanctuary mosque complex, the third holiest site in Islam, by Israel's occupying army.
on July 27, 2017Israeli bombs. Israeli drones. Israeli-imposed power cuts. And no way to leave. Everyday life in Gaza is shaped by Israeli policy, which has turned the coastal enclave into a maximum security prison where the inmates are fathers, mothers and children whose only crime is being born in Gaza.
on July 19, 2017Using a variety of methods, Israel imposes severe restrictions on Palestinian movement within and to and from the occupied territories. These policies cause serious hardships for millions of Palestinians, preventing them from getting to work, school, accessing medical care, visiting family and friends, and severely hampers the Palestinian economy.
on June 6, 2017One year ago, my mother came to my house for a visit. She was late. We sat together on a mattress. She opened her cigarette pack, took out two cigarettes, and we smoked together. It was hot that day. She told me that she just returned from the doctor.
on November 29, 2016Israeli officials detained, interrogated and deported five American campaigners trying to enter the country to "observe the conditions under which Palestinians live," according to a U.S. rights group. The activists were trying to "gain a better understanding of the situation on the ground," according to the U.S. Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation.
on August 4, 2016Israeli authorities closed the streets of the southern occupied East Jerusalem neighborhood of Jabal al-Mukabbir with large cement blocks on Friday, witnesses said. Locals told Ma’an Israeli police forces closed the street connecting the neighborhood to the Sur Baher neighborhood, a main road leading to Jabal al-Mukabbir.
on June 17, 2016Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from Jerusalem, Israel, the occupied West Bank, and Gaza Strip attended prayers at Al-Aqsa Mosque on the second Friday of the holy month of Ramadan, despite widespread measures taken by Israel against Palestinian freedom of movement across the occupied territory.
on June 17, 2016