IMEU Institute for Middle East Understanding
The use of nonviolent means by Palestinians to defend their rights, land, and livelihoods has a long and diverse history. It goes back more than a hundred years and continues up until today. More often than not, Palestinian nonviolence has been met with a violent response, first by British authorities, and then by Israel. In recent years, another major nonviolent Palestinian initiative has been the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement (BDS).
Natalie Portman has decided against receiving an honor in Israel and canceled her trip to accept the prize, according to the organization honoring the actress. The Genesis Prize, which honors notable individuals "who inspire others through their dedication to the Jewish community and Jewish values," has canceled its annual ceremony in Israel in June following the actress' apparent decision to not take part in the event.
on April 19, 2018
In a field south of Haifa, near an Arab village that was depopulated and abandoned in 1948, children read the lyrics of nationalist anthems from their iPhones, while their elders sat beneath awnings, listening to dignitarites and musicians.
on April 19, 2018
Seventy years ago, the world changed around my family. The establishment of the state of Israel represented self-determination for Jews, but a catastrophe — “nakba” in Arabic — for Palestinians. In the area around the Mediterranean city of Haifa, where my family has lived for six generations, only 2,000 Palestinians of a population of 70,000 remained.
on April 18, 2018
Monday should have been Hussein Madi’s 14th birthday. Instead, his family sat mourning him in a tent in Gaza. The boy was shot dead three days earlier by Israeli troops, his relatives say, the youngest of 30 Palestinians killed in an ongoing protest at the border with Israel.
on April 10, 2018
Over the past eight days, tens of thousands of protesters in Gaza have breathed life into a place that is slowly being depleted of it. We have come together, chanting and singing a lullaby we’ve all longed for—“We will return”—bringing all that we have left to offer in an attempt to reclaim our right to live in freedom and justice.
on April 6, 2018
Media coverage of Israel's massacre of Palestinian protesters during the first weekend of multiweek demonstrations in Gaza offered textbook examples of how syntax and word choice shape, and even distort, representations of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Even if the facts are accurately stated, the ways in which sentences are constructed, and the extent to which details are contextualized, can subtly lead readers astray.
on April 6, 2018
Israel’s killing of 18 Palestinian protesters in Gaza last Friday was entirely predictable. It was also entirely avoidable. The victims were taking part in the annual Land Day march commemorating the 1976 killing of six Palestinians who were protesting Israel’s confiscation of thousands of acres of their land.
on April 4, 2018
Israeli forces shot dead 14 Palestinians and injured over a 1,000 more along the Gaza border on Friday, as thousands of Palestinians demonstrated in “The Great March of Return” on the 42nd anniversary of Land Day. The Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza confirmed that 14 Palestinians were killed on Friday.
on March 30, 2018
On Wednesday (March 21), 17-year-old Ahed Tamimi entered Ofer military court with bright pink socks tucked underneath the metal shackles that held her feet together. In a prison-issued jacket that was too big for her, she smiled from cheek to cheek. The Israeli judge presiding over her case accepted a plea bargain that would mean she will serve an eight month prison sentence.
on March 27, 2018