A Palestinian resident of East Jerusalem found himself dehydrated in a Hebron hospital after border policemen and soldiers handcuffed, blindfolded and abadoned him in a car on a hot day in May.  By Yesh Din, written by Yossi Gurvitz About two weeks ago, A. was on his way from Hebron to Jerusalem. A is a resident of Abu Dis, and married to a resident of East Jerusalem; as such, he enjoys Israeli residency. But as he was about to find out, that didn't help him all that much. On his way home, A. passed through a checkpoint charmingly named "the…

On Sunday, three Palestinian boys were detained by the IDF in Hebron, along with a Swedish activist who seems to have tried to calmly prevent their arrests. (Footage of the arrest is below, and highly disturbing to watch). According to the International Solidarity Movement, who put out a report on Sunday and has since been updating, the children were released a few hours later, but the Swede is still being held and attempts are being made to deport him. According to sources from Youth Against Settlements and B'Tselem with whom I spoke, the children were detained because settlers from the extremist…

A Palestinian is attacked by a famous settler. Police detain the Palestinian, but not the settler – because it's already Shabbat. By Yesh Din, written by Yossi Gurvitz At the beginning of February, "I.", a resident of Tel Rumeida, was sitting in his yard with some friends. This was a Friday, twilight was setting in, and I. was sitting with his back to a path servicing the settlers. "B.", a famous settler with a long history of convictions and a longer list of detentions by the police, was passing by, and was identified by "I." A small number of other settlers…

Physicians are extremely worried by the deteriorating medical condition of Palestinian prisoner Samer Issawi, who has not put food in his mouth for more than half a year. Doctors are concerned by the state of Issawi's heart, which is weakening and losing rhythm, and are assessing that he might also be suffering from brain damage due to severe lack of minerals, in addition to partial failures of his lungs and kidneys. The Palestinian Prisoner's Club attorney, Jawad Boulus, who visited Issawi in the Kaplan Hospital in Petah Tikva this morning, told +972 that there is a growing risk of sudden…

How would you feel if you were suddenly forbidden from walking down the main street of your city? This theoretical scenario, inconceivable to most, is reality for the Palestinian residents of Hebron. Shuhada Street was a pivotal and vibrant main street in Hebron but since 2000, entry has been blocked for Palestinians – even those who live on it. The closure of Shuhada Street is just another example of Israel's undeclared racial segregation policies Israel Social TV is an independent media NGO working to promote social change, human rights, social justice and equality, and to mobilize its viewers towards activism.

After several days of small-scale demonstrations ahead of Obama's visit, Palestinians organized two larger events Wednesday morning as the American president landed at Ben-Gurion Airport. About 500 people rebuilt 15 tents on privately owned lands in the new village-outpost of "Bab Al-Shams," located at the heart of the much controversial E-1 area, where Israel intends to build thousands of new settler houses, isolating Jerusalem from the rest of the West Bank and cutting it in two. Bab Al-Shams was originally set up a few months ago, and dismantled by Israeli police several days later. Activists in the new Bab Al-Shams held…

If it had happened anywhere other than Hebron, one would have been justified in assuming that the scene unfolding was coordinated for a not-too-sophisticated film about "the conflict". Surely somewhere out of sight there is an entire movie crew ready for the director to yell "cut!", so that all actors on this bizarre and horrific set can trade the severity on their faces for laughter and ease during their coffee break. But this is Hebron, and the dramatic horror is very much real. In front of us is a small landing at the top of a hill overlooking the old…

I have posted in the past about the policy of ethnic separation around the Jewish houses in Hebron. Shuhada street - once the location of a central market - was first closed to Palestinian cars, and now even Palestinian pedestrians must walk along a tiny dirt road, while Jewish settlers and their guests get the rest of the street. The pretext might be security, but the policy (like in the rest of the West Bank) is ethnic segregation. Watch this B'tzelem video to see what's going on not far away, on the road near the Tomb of the Patriarchs: For more context on…

The riots made it clear that the distinctions between religious and secular Jews, or between the old established community and the newcomers were meaningless for the Arabs. That wasn't because in the eyes of Muslims all Jews should equally be put to the death, but because at the end of the 1920s, the Arabs felt that what all these currents held in common was more significant than their differences. By Hillel Cohen The 1929 events have become symbolic of Arab murderousness, at least in Jewish eyes. It's the proof that even without the 1967 occupation and the 1948 Nakba, Arabs have…

There are many injustices under the occupation: small ones and big ones. There is theft and murder and never ending oppression. There is Shuhada Street, and they all exist there. By Leehee Rotschild On the Friday before last, Palestinian protestors accompanied by Israeli and international solidarity activists wanted to mark "Open Shuhada Street Day" in Hebron. Shuhada Street has been closed to Palestinians since the Baruch Goldstein massacre in 1994, including residents who live on the street and have to climb onto their rooftops to adjacent streets in order to leave their houses. Meanwhile, settlers living in the area come…

This week: Palestinians protest for access to a segregated street in Hebron while Israeli settlers freely march on it during Purim; reactions to the death of prisoner Arafat Jaradat; a teen is shot by Israeli forces; and right-wingers mock hunger strikers at Ofer military prison.                        

Hundreds of Palestinian demonstrators, including foreign and Israeli activists, gathered in Hebron on Friday to mark the 19th anniversary since the IDF imposed a closure on the city's Shuhada Street. The closure followed the Ibrahimi Mosque Massacre, perpetrated by Israeli settler Baruch Goldstein, who went on a rampage inside the mosque and killed 29 Palestinian worshipers. The marchers first gathered at Bab Izzawiya near "Checkpoint 56," proceeding to Hebron's old city. They first stopped at a steel and concrete barrier blocking off Shuhada Street, which was scaled by several youths who planted several Palestinian national and political flags on top.…

Nothing can excuse the mauling of sheep or the uprooting of trees, yet this type of vandalism is protected by Israeli security forces in the West Bank on a regular basis. By Yesh Din, written by Yossi Gurvitz With some surprise, we learned a couple of days ago that one of our old files, from October 2011, has recently matured into an indictment. In December 2012, the police prosecution indicted two settlers for assaulting a Palestinian, Muhammad Al Qarajat, next to the settlement of Karmei Tzur. The two settlers, accompanied by a dog, attacked Al Qarajat who was guiding his…