By Adalah - The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel A new Adalah report documents the parallels between two Palestinian villages, Al-Araqib in Israel and Susiya in the West Bank, which share a single story of struggle against home demolitions and forced displacement. The report sets out the methods of displacement used by Israel to expel Palestinian communities from their land on both sides of the Green Line, and examines the legal context in which it takes place. Read more: PHOTOS: Palestinians commemorate Nakba Day with rallies and protests Remembering the Nakba, understanding this is a shared land…

Until we find a way of measuring the efficacy of one form of protest or another, surely we must encourage all forms and enable all those who desire change to express their desire in the way they think will be most effective. By Yonatan Preminger Roee Ruttenberg’s recent post criticized the way a group of “pro-Palestinian” activists in Berlin disrupted a concert by the Israeli choral group Gevatron. The gist of his article is that the protesters were childish attention-seekers, and that this form of protest is ineffective. This piece raises a thorny question: how are we to gauge the…

In Berlin this week, a concert performed by the mostly-octogenarian Israeli choral group, Gevatron, was interrupted by pro-Palestinian activists. The individuals donned red shirts and shouted slogans, while unfurling banners and signs and confronting the audience attending the benefit for the Jewish National Fund (JNF). The group that posted the video, DirectActionBerlin, just opened their account last week, putting up - you guessed it - just one video. I was tempted not to even post about this, lest this forum gives this stunt - or others like it - any more attention or publicity than I think they deserve. But I…

Despite being sent there by the state in the 50s, the residents of Umm al-Hiran face immediate evacuation and destruction of their homes, in order to make way for Hiran, a settlement for national-religious Jews.  Last month, I visited along with a group of other +972 bloggers the village of Umm al-Hiran, in the northeastern part of the Negev, a few kilometers south of the Green Line. Residents were anxiously waiting a decision regarding the fate of their village, which was up for destruction by state authorities. Umm Al-Hiran is one of roughly 40 unrecognized Bedouin villages, some of them predating the state…

After two decades of legal struggle, the Ruweidi family from Silwan has been granted recognition by the courts that they are indeed the rightful owners of their home. The decision rejects the Jewish National Fund's claim that the home is the property of the State of Israel. Moriel Rothman contributed to this report. The Jerusalem District Court ruled in favor of the Ruweidi family from East Jerusalem last week (May 2), accepting the claim that their home is not "absentee property," as the Jewish National Fund has sought to prove in court since the 1990s. The Ruweidi family will thus be…

After having their homes destroyed by the State over 30 times in the last two years, the residents of al-Arakib can do little else but watch as a forest is built on the ruins of their homes.  The Jewish National Fund resumed cultivating land Monday morning in al-Arakib, an unrecognized Bedouin village in southern Israel which the quasi-governmental agency has earmarked for a large forestation project. A week ago, the families in the village got word that the JNF would return and asked for activists to come and support them. JNF equipment, escorted by heavy police presence, showed up Monday…

In 2004, Israeli officials were up in arms about an impending Bedouin Intifada. But the Bedouin didn't rebel and now, despite plans to expel tens of thousands of them from their homes in the West Bank and the Negev, things remain relatively quiet. Why? As Israel steps up its expansionist policies both inside and outside the Green Line, the Bedouin community has come under particularly intense pressure. Inside Israel, the state seeks to Judaize the Negev (Naqab) desert. This “development” includes last  year’s Prawer plan, which recommends that Israel relocate between 30,000 and 40,000 Bedouin citizens, ripping them from their…

In a tweet that was later deleted, the Jewish National Fund says Bedouins in unrecognized villages are "living on someone's land illegally." The JNF has been taking part in evacuations of Palestinians in East Jerusalem and in foresting actions aimed at preventing the Bedouin from accessing their lands; last month, a JNF board member resigned, citing "violation of human rights" by the organization In recent months, we have reported here on the Jewish National Fund's role in attempts to take over Palestinian homes in East Jerusalem and in the evacuations of Palestinian Bedouins from their homes in the Negev desert.…

Some of you may have been following the campaign to thwart the eviction of the Sumarin family in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Silwan by activists from Sheikh Jarrah Solidarity and Rabbis for Human Rights (both Israel and North America), reported on our site here. As part of the effort to raise awareness, a group of activists staged a protest in front of the Jewish National Fund building in Jerusalem on Monday in order to send the message that the JNF is being "held captive by the settlers," as they put it, since it continues to work to acquire and repossess land in…

A recent comment by the Jewish National Fund makes it clear that previous statements by its US office were lies This post was updated. The Jewish National Fund (KKL-JNF), one of the most respected and well-known institutions in Zionist history, has become involved in a controversy over the attempted evacuation of an East Jerusalem family from its home. After denying its major part in the affair, the JNF has now gone back to threatening legal action against the Sumarin family, unless all family members leave their home in Silwan immediately. Over the last two decades, Silwan, the biggest Palestinian neighborhood…

By +972 staff Legendary folklorist, singer, songwriter and long time political activist Pete Seeger has officially announced his support for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions against Israel, a press release by the Israel Committee Against House Demolition (ICAHD) said today. According to the press release, Seeger, 91, took part in a virtual rally sponsored by the Arava Institute in the Negev last November, despite requests from BDS groups not to participate. In January, he met with representatives of the BDS movement at his home, who elaborated on the relations between the Jewish National Fund and the Institute. After the meeting, Seeger…

Following the 11th demolition of the Bedouin village of Al Arakib yesterday (January 31), a protest was held outside the Jewish National Fund building in Jerusalem today. A group of upwards of 100 people gathered in the cold and rain at 2pm today with the message, in Hebrew, Arabic and English: "There is no such thing as an unrecognized village, there are only government lies." Here are some photos I shot: