A week in photos: November 29 – December 5

The Palestinian statehood bid, the ruins of Gaza, nurses strike in Israel, and more: Activestills images tell the stories of the week. 

A week in photos: November 29 - December 5
Hundreds of Palestinians gather to watch the speech by President Mahmoud Abbas in the bid for Palestine’s “non-member observer state” status at the United Nations, projected on the Israeli separation wall in the West Bank town of Bethlehem, November 29, 2012. Hours later, the UN General Assembly voted 138-9 in favor of the upgraded status for Palestine, with 41 nations abstaining. (photo by: Ryan Rodrick Beiler/Activestills.org)

 

A week in photos: November 29 - December 5
Palestinians celebrate in the West Bank city of Ramallah on November 29, 2012 after the General Assembly voted to recognize Palestine as a non-member state. The UN General Assembly voted overwhelmingly in support of statehood giving a major diplomatic triumph to President Mahmoud Abbas despite fierce opposition from the United States and Israel. (photo by: Yotam Ronen/ Activestills.org)

 

A week in photos: November 29 - December 5
Fadel Hammadi and his son Abed hold copies of the Koran as they sit on top of a mosque that was demolished by Israeli forces in the West Bank village of al-Mufaqara, south of Hebron, on December 4, 2012. (photo by: Oren Ziv/ Activestills.org)

 

A week in photos: November 29 - December 5
Citrus farmer Yusuf Jilal Arafat stands in front of his home, in which his 5-year-old daughter Runan was killed when 10 Israeli missiles struck this mostly agricultural area in the Al Zeitoun neighborhood of Gaza City, December 2, 2012. Arafat’s wife, four months pregnant, and 8-year-old son Jilal (in the black shirt) were found alive in the rubble. His children now suffer from frequent panic attacks at night. Arafat does not know why his home was targeted. (photo by: Ryan Rodrick Beiler/Activestills.org)

 

A week in photos: November 29 - December 5
Members of the family of Mohammad Ahmad, in front of the rubble of their three-story home demolished by an Israeli airstrike during the latest Israeli  offensive, Beit Hanoun, North Gaza, December 1, 2012. The home hosted six families and about 40 Palestinians, half of them children. (photo by: Anne Paq/Activestills.org)

 

A week in photos: November 29 - December 5
Residents stand atop a pedestrian bridge destroyed by Israeli air strikes in the Al Mughraqa area of the Gaza Strip, December 2, 2012. The bridge crossed an area regularly flooded by Israeli waste water. (photo by: Ryan Rodrick Beiler/Activestills.org)

 

A week in photos: November 29 - December 5
Nurses went on strike at Beilinson Hospital in the city of Petah Tikva on December 6, 2012, protesting poor employment conditions in the health care system and demanding the fulfillment of agreements signed with the government. (photo by: Yotam Ronen/Activesatills.org)

 

A week in photos: November 29 - December 5
A Palestinian youth throws back a tear gas canister shot by the Israeli army during the weekly protest against the wall and the occupation in the West Bank village of Bil’in, November 30, 2012. (photo by: Guest photographer Hamde Abu Rahma/ Activestills.org)

 

A week in photos: November 29 - December 5
Young Palestinian activists throw stones at an Israeli army bulldozer in the West Bank village of Kfer Qaddum on November 30, 2012 during the weekly demonstration against the occupation. (photo by: Yotam Ronen/Activestills.org)

 

A week in photos: November 29 - December 5
Ludmila sits in her apartment in Balfour Street 2, Bat Yam, near Jaffa, December 3, 2012. All of the residents in the building are under threat of eviction, after the court decided the building was not safe. Most of the residents of the building are immigrants from Russia, single mothers, and Holocaust survivors without alternative housing solutions. (photo by: Oren Ziv/Activestills.org)

 

A week in photos: November 29 - December 5
Solidarity visit in Batir village, near Bethlehem, West Bank, November 30, 2012. Israel’s plan to construct its separation wall across Batir’s lands threatens the ancient system of agriculture traditionally practiced by the farmers of the area.
The route of the barrier is still to be finalized, but if it is built along the valley floor, parallel to the railway, it will cut off Batir from much of its agricultural land, and villagers say it will destroy the way of life they have lived for millennia.
For more than 2,000 years, the village has farmed using a traditional irrigation system that villagers fear will be destroyed if the wall is built.  (photo by: Ahmad Al-Bazz/Activestills.org)

 

A week in photos: November 29 - December 5
A weekly vigil calling for the end of Israel’s occupation and to end U.S. support to Israel, held in downtown Chicago by Jewish Voice for Peace on Sunday, December 2, 2012. (photo: Tess Scheflan/ Activestills.org)

 

A week in photos: November 29 - December 5
A youth is seen through a Palestinian flag during the weekly protest against the occupation in the West Bank village of Nabi Saleh, November 30, 2012. (photo by: Oren Ziv/ Activestills.org)