A prisoner's release, a fight for academic freedom, a demolition threat, 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.

A Short film by Porter Speakman, Jr.

By Abir Kopty Lately I’ve been going to Jenin every two or three weeks with family members. We usually do our vegetable shopping in the city market. Last Saturday, on our way back from Jenin to Nazareth, we were surprised to find a new technology to check "suspicious" cars at the Israeli checkpoint. The checkpoint examination usually goes like this: There are about six lines of cars going out through the checkpoint. At each line, there are one or two "security" officers that ask for IDs, and decide whether the car and its riders do or do not constitute a…

Approximately 30 Palestinians, Israelis, and internationals gathered at the edge of Shu'fat refugee camp on Sunday to protest a new Israeli checkpoint, which opened on December 12 and that an Israeli activist likened to a form of "ethnic cleansing." Palestinian kids threw stones; Israeli police fired rubber-coated bullets at the children. A number of local Palestinian activists were reportedly arrested prior to the demonstration. The small group of protesters stood in the roundabout closest to the new checkpoint, holding signs and giving speeches. Israeli police approached and asked the group to move 20 meters back because the protesters were "bothering" them.…

There are roughly 22 checkpoints in and around Jerusalem. They mostly run along the municipal boundaries of the city and in some places go deeper into the West Bank, along the route of the barrier. I went to visit and document 13 of them: