IMEU Institute for Middle East Understanding
The beating of 19-year-old Maysam Abu Alqian by plainclothes Border Police officers in central Tel Aviv on Sunday was depressingly familiar, both in the incident itself and its aftermath. Alqian, a Bedouin resident of Hura in the Negev Desert who works at a Tel Aviv supermarket, had stepped out of the store to take out the trash, when he was asked by the two plainclothes officers to present his ID.
on May 23, 2016
Israeli forces on Wednesday morning uprooted and burned 47 olive tree saplings that were planted in the occupied East Jerusalem neighborhood of Silwan last month to mark the 40th anniversary of Land Day. Majdi al-Abbassi, a spokesperson for the Wadi Hilweh Information Center, said Israeli police and intelligence officials stormed a tract of land in Silwan's Ras al-Amud area...
on April 6, 2016
Palestinian-American Profiles
Ahmad Abuznaid, co-founder and Legal and Policy Director of Dream Defenders, is empowering the next generation of Palestinian-American youth organizers to mobilize alongside other communities of color. Founded after the killing of Trayvon Martin in 2012 and headquartered in Florida, Dream Defenders is a non-profit organization that provides trainings for youth (primarily ages 13-35) around Palestine, campaign strategy, power mapping, mass incarceration, the school to prison pipeline, and more.
on January 13, 2016
New and disturbing details on the deadly shooting of a Bedouin man by an Israeli police officer have come to light, after +972′s Hebrew site Local Call reported that the Police Investigations Department (PID) intends to close the case on grounds of “insufficient evidence.” According to the findings, the officer in question was found to be lying in a polygraph test, and a DNA test concluded...
on January 10, 2016
An IDF commander ordered soldiers to fire live ammunition directly at Palestinian teenagers who broke through part of the separation fence, resulting in the killing of 14-year-old Yousef a-Shawamreh last year. This, despite the fact they they posed no immediate danger, according to a B’Tselem report released Wednesday criticizing the military’s decision to close the investigation without indictment.
on June 18, 2015
As the debate about excessive police force against unarmed civilians rages throughout the U.S., the Obama administration is involving itself again in the case of an American teen severely beaten by members of the police force of Israel, a U.S. ally with whom there already exist increased tension.
on May 11, 2015
The Missouri History Museum canceled a speakers panel on activism because it included voices on Palestine, according to emails released by the St. Louis Jewish Voice for Peace. Sourik Beltran originally proposed the event in February and titled it: “From Ayotzinapa to Ferguson: A Dialogue on Solidarity and Inter-Movement Collaboration.”
on March 26, 2015
The use of attack dogs by the Israel Defense Forces in the West Bank has been provisionally halted, following an investigation which found that a dog was unnecessarily used to arrest a Palestinian youth. IDF Judea and Samaria Division Commander Brigadier Tamir Yadai ordered the halt on Thursday. It will continue until the protocol for the use of dogs is reviewed and practiced.
on March 5, 2015
When Khaled al-Ja’ar called the police to report drug dealers in his neighborhood, he never thought they would kill his son. Now he is turning to Israel’s top court to demand that his son’s killer, who has since been released and put back on the job, be arrested and prosecuted.
on March 5, 2015