The following are exclusive photos taken on board the Estelle, as the ship was sailing toward the Gaza Strip in an attempt to break Israel's siege on the coastal territory. The Israeli navy took over the ship before it reached its destination, and arrested some twenty activists, among them three Israeli citizens. Huge efforts were made by the IDF Spokesperson's Office to curtail media coverage of the story. The ship was brought into the Ashdod Port after dark, more than ten hours after the Israeli forces took it over. Later that night, the Israeli citizens under arrest were brought to…

Olive harvests in the West Bank, protests against settler violence, refugees from Israel to Germany demonstrate for the their rights, and more: Activestills images tell the stories of the week.                    

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gave his much-anticipated speech at the United Nations General Assembly today. He started off by leaning casually on the podium and surveying the people in the hall. At one point he punctuated his speech with the idiomatic expression, "Yeah, right!" He gratified his fans on Twitter by lubricating their virtual drinking game with several much-anticipated references to the Holocaust (#drink!), radical Islam (#drink!) and - most of all - Iran (#drink #drink #drink). In fact, Iran inspired Netanyahu to draw a diagram so that his simple-minded audience would understand how close that state was to developing…

Palestinians call for the release of their relatives from Israeli jails, Al-Araqib residents recover from another demolition, and Occupy Wall Street marks its one-year anniversary. Activestills images tell the stories of the week. 

Demonstrations against the imprisonment of refugees and asylum seekers, protests in Ramallah over the high cost of living, an anti-war candlelight vigil, and more. Activestills images tell the stories of the week.    

A new regular feature from the Activestills photography collective. Each week, we will bring you a selection of our most compelling images from movements for political and social change throughout Palestine and Israel.           Activestills is a collective of Israeli, international and Palestinian photographers, united by a conviction that photography is a vehicle for political and social change. To stay updated on our latest images, like Activestills on Facebook  or follow @activestills on Twitter. You can also visit our flickr photostream.

Introducing: A new regular feature from the Activestills photography collective. Each week, we will bring you a selection of our most compelling images from movements for political and social change throughout Palestine and Israel.                       Activestills is a collective of Israeli, international and Palestinian photographers, united by a conviction that photography is a vehicle for political and social change. To stay updated on our latest images, like Activestills on Facebook  or follow @activestills on Twitter. You can also visit our flickr photostream.

Text by: Rami Gudovitch All photos by: Activestills.org “Do you know, Rami, that I was in 'Mustafa Mahmoud?'” Regina, a 12-year-old South Sudanese girl, asked me after she and her family were released from 27 days in an Israeli prison. Her father, a tall man with noticeable facial scars from the torture he underwent in Khartoum, affirms her words, handing me an old newspaper clipping from Egypt, dated 2005. I cannot read Arabic, but I can see her mother, laying on the ground, surrounded by police officers in one photo, and the little body of a child covered by a…

Photos by: Oren Ziv, Yotam Ronen, and Keren Manor/Activestills.org Al-Araqib is one of the 45 “unrecognized” Bedouin villages in the Negev desert of southern Israel. Since July 27, 2010, the village has been demolished 39 times. Despite daily harassment, ongoing house demolitions and the Israeli government's determination to forcefully transfer the Bedouin population out of their historical land, the residents of Al-Araqib continue to struggle. Following the 1948 War, the Bedouin population in the Negev (Naqab) Desert, in southern Israel, was forced to change its way of life. Prior to that time, Bedouins wandered freely in the deserts which are…

The women of the Palestinian village of Susya tell their stories through the lens of a camera. A participatory photography project coordinated by Activestills.  By Activestills Around 400 people from 45 shepherds’ and farmers’ families are living in the Palestinian village of Susya, located in Area C (which is under Israeli military and civil control) in the South Hebron Hills. They have lived in this region on a seasonal basis since at least the 19th century. In 1986, the Israeli Civil Administration expelled the residents of Susya from their original village and declared the zone to be an archeological site on…

"Our children are ready!"  The Temple Institute, an ultra-nationalist Jewish organization that is obsessed with rebuilding Solomon's Temple exactly on the spot where the Dome of the Rock is located today in Jerusalem's Old City, released the video below just in time for Tish'a b'Av (the Ninth of Av according to the Jewish calendar). On this day, Jews traditionally spend the day fasting and mourning the destruction of the ancient temple - as well as a long list of other tragedies that are alleged to have befallen the Jewish people on that day. Or they gather to greet Mitt Romney…