One activist's diary of the arrests and violence that Israeli police used against Palestinian protesters in East Jerusalem on Nakba Day, 2013. By Sahar Vardi Scene 1: A few dozen Palestinians march down Bab A-Zahara Street with a police van behind them, they head toward Damascus Gate for the Annual commemoration of the Nakba. Police cavalry pass the marchers, turn around, block the sidewalk on which the protesters are marching and start galloping towards them. Another line of border policeman prevents those who managed to pass from walking toward Damascus Gate, but they’re too late, half the protest is already…

As Noam Sheizaf's recent headline states, "the Nakba's memory is more present than ever in Israel."  The Nakba, literally, "the catastrophe," is the name given to the massive deportation of more then 700,000 Palestinians from what became the State of Israel in 1948. Sheizaf goes on to point out how efforts, such as the "Nakba law," which authorizes the finance minister to withdraw funds from organizations commemorating the day, have backfired and effectively injected Nakba consciousness into the global discourse. From Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and throughout the West Bank and Gaza, activists marched to assert a history which is no longer…

Many Palestinians have despaired of complaining about violations against them. Yesh Din's new report, "The Road to Dispossession," shows why. By Yesh Din, written by Yossi Gurvitz April 14, 2011 was a special morning for the Hizme family from the village of Turmusaya: it was one of the few days they were allowed to work their land, which unfortunately for them is close to the illegal outpost Adei Ad. They received the necessary permits from the army. Even so, some 90 minutes after they started working, IDF personnel showed up and asked them to leave, so as not to "cause problems…

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…

Police make rare arrests in connection to settler violence against Palestinians. But the circumstances surrounding the shooting were unique, and likely played no small role in pushing police to investigate seriously. Update (April 3): Police released all of the suspects and cleared them of wrongdoing, according to The Jerusalem Post.  In a rare display of law enforcement against violent Jewish settlers, Israeli police raided the notorious illegal outpost of Esh Kodesh early Tuesday morning. Police arrested five settlers, including an active duty soldier, in connection with the near-fatal shooting of a young Palestinian man from the nearby village of Qusra…

When the police say the residents of Qusra fabricated the incident, they are actually saying the residents committed the felony of a false report. But so far, not a single Qusra resident has been interrogated for false complaints.  By Yesh Din, written by Yossi Gurvitz At the end of last week, the police came out with an unusual announcement, claiming that the torching of six cars in the village of Qusra some ten days ago was "fabricated." We reacted immediately (Hebrew), and reporter Yigal Mosco of Channel 2 had some select words for the police (Hebrew), noting their claims were…

In the second half of January at least five unarmed Palestinian civilians were shot and killed by IDF fire in the West Bank and Gaza. The following report shows a dramatic downward trend in the rate of indictments served against IDF soldiers for alleged offenses in 2012, a year in which only one indictment was served against a soldier accused of abusing a Palestinian. By Yesh Din In the wake of recent events, Yesh Din has published a new data sheet about criminal accountability of IDF soldiers in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. The data indicates a clear downward…

J14 leader Daphni Leef has been charged with rioting, more than half a year after she was violently arrested during an attempt to reignite the protest movement of the summer of 2011. Her trial will begin on January 23. By Leehee Rothschild Look at this photo of Daphni Leef. Look at her, thrown at the floor, crushed under uniformed men - uniforms which define them as the guardians of law and order and give them the authority and power to use reasonable strength, allowing them to define what's reasonable. Look at them triding on her, pulling her, dragging her, beating…

With at least 60,000 now in the country and 2,000 to 3,000 more coming every month, African refugees, for all the trauma they have been through, are unassimilable in this country. The first in a three-part series. On Friday, with the headlines screaming of Eritreans raping a 15-year-old Israeli girl,  I went with a photographer friend to the Hatikva neighborhood in South Tel Aviv to get a sense of how the Jewish residents were feeling toward the Africans, and vice versa. I was surprised to see no hatred on the faces of the Israelis nor fear on the faces of the Africans. Everyone looked calm, doing their Friday afternoon…

The head of Israel Police's West Bank division claims that he is incapable of indicting settlers in the West Bank. His reason? The location.  The IDF issued temporary eviction orders on Thursday to 12 Jewish residents of the West Bank accused of planning attacks against Palestinians and the IDF.  The eviction orders range from anywhere between three and nine months. It is not clear where these people will reside during their eviction period and whether they are permitted to be in other parts of the West Bank or if they must be on the other side of the Green Line. No…

Before the intimidation of school girls by ultra-Orthodox enforcers became a national and international story, the local police were determined to remain neutral. If you meet the police in Beit Shemesh, you can understand why the town's mainstream Jewish majority is afraid of the ultra-Orthodox (Haredi) extremists, and why the Haredi extremists are afraid of no one. At the start of October, over the High Holidays, the stories of these Haredim harassing the not-sufficiently-Orthodox girls from Orot elementary school  were spreading through the country's English-speaking religious community. (Many of the girls at Orot are children of American immigrants, such as Na'ama Margolese, the tearful, frightened "star" of last weekend's TV news segment that set off nationwide outrage this past week.) But the story…

This is one of the rare days when all four of the Israeli dailies lead with completely different headlines. Haaretz leads with Netanyahu's trip to the United States; the PM is "set to discuss a package of benefits in exchange for extending the temporary settlement freeze." Senior administration officials slovenly remind his highness that the benefits are still on the table. This, in a nutshell, is Obama's "tough love" for Israel: When the carrot doesn't work, try... more carrots. Haaretz notes in passing the PM's flight will cost us taxpayer one million dollars. Other headlines of interest include the police…