Israeli teenager Natan Blanc was sentenced to a tenth prison term of 28 days for refusing to serve in the Israeli army last week. With the latest sentencing, he has been sent to prison more times than any previous conscientious objector in Israel. Earlier this year, supporters and activists held one of many regular support vigils on a hilltop overlooking the IDF's Prison 6, where he is currently being held.

Just over a year ago I started filming for a web series produced by National Geographic. My goal was to highlight the conflicting narratives and the different points of view while inspiring hope. As Obama is visiting the region, I no longer believe that he or other leaders will bring an end to this conflict. It must be people who lead the leaders. However, I have found that the majority of Israelis and Palestinians are indifferent and ineffective. Indifference is the greatest enemy to peace and justice. In this series, I try to understand why this conflict is still going on.…

The IDF video makes it appear extremely unlikely that border policewoman 'N.' was justified in shooting the Hebron teenager.  From the dark, fairly crude IDF video, there are so many things we don't know about the killing of 17-year-old Mohammed Salaymah by border policewoman "N." in Hebron a week ago. For one thing, we don't even know if N. was the only shooter; from the video it looks to me like two police officers might have fired at the boy. We don't know if Salaymah pulled a realistic-looking cigarette-lighter gun during the fight, which was N.'s stated justification for shooting…

The three Israelis killed on Thursday were innocent - but the State of Israel is not.   Where is the house that got hit with the rocket, I asked the guy behind the counter of a snack bar in Kiryat Malachi on Thursday. Go to the third traffic circle and make a left, he said.  I got to the street, parked my car and started walking toward the satellite dishes, TV truck and the crowd. It's a poor neighborhood on the edge of a poor town, across the street from open fields. The buildings are old, shabby tenements with dirt…

At 1:00 a.m. Monday morning, Israeli forces entered 'autonomous' Area A and arrested Ayman Nasser, a researcher at Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association. Two soldiers held Nasser's wife at gunpoint while other soldiers searched the house the couple shares with their four children, who range in age from three to 13.   Nasser is currently being held at a detention facility in Jerusalem. Addameer says that the his arrest represents Israel's "latest attempt... to target not only Addameer as an organization advocating for Palestinian prisoner's rights but also the targeting of Palestinian civil society in general." Since 1991,…

At any given time, about 200,000 missiles are aimed at Israel, Aviv Cochavi, chief of army intelligence, told the VIPs today at the Herzliya Conference. Two-hundred thousand missiles - another important fact that will go in one ear of the Israeli public and out the other. It plays havoc with a basic national conviction, so it will be discarded. It's a basic national conviction that if "the Arabs" could annihilate this country, they would, no matter the cost to themselves. That's why we bombed the Iraqi nuclear reactor, the Syrian nuclear reactor, and why we're probably going to bomb the Iranian reactors, or some of them anyway,…

Wel-l-l... Amazing headline in The Jerusalem Post today: "West Bank rabbis: Allow live fire at stone-throwers." Mind you, the whole country is outraged today at the spectacle of that mob of settler youths attacking that army base in the West Bank, throwing stones, hitting a commander in the head, but now West Bank rabbis, of all people, are calling to shoot them? Sure looks that way: "Anyone who faces a danger, including being pelted by stones or other dangers, must be allowed to open fire against attackers without having to worry about being tried or having their weapon confiscated," read a letter from the rabbis to Prime Minister…

On Sunday morning, thousands of mourners lined Ramallah's streets for the funeral procession of Mustafa Tamimi, a 28-year-old Palestinian who was killed by the Israeli army this weekend. The procession continued to Nabi Saleh, where hundreds attended Tamimi's burial. The army reportedly fired tear gas on some of the mourners, beat unarmed demonstrators, and arrested seven activists Hundreds of mourners proceeded to Nabi Saleh, Tamimi's village and the place he was shot by a tear gas canister during the weekly demonstration against the Israeli occupation and the illegal settlement encroaching on Nabi Saleh's land. Tamimi was shot in the face…

Never doubt that Israel means well. Read the talkbacks to the Jerusalem Post story on Mustafa Tamim's critical injury, then death during Nabi Saleh demonstration from IDF tear gas cannister to the face, reportedly fired at close range. From just the first five: illiniwek: "The only thing the illegal alien arab moslem terrorist understands is brute force so therefore, the IDF should be using live rounds with shoot to kill orders for any rock thrower regardless of age and gender..." John DeLancy: "...the Arab Muslmis are trying to kill Jews and the IDF hits back. Only, Hashem is protecting His people, the…