The position of the Civilian Security Officer is unique to Israel: a settler who gives orders to IDF soldiers as if he is an officer, but is not actually held responsible under the military system. So, to whom is he accountable? By Yesh Din, written by Yossi Gurvitz I remember my first Ravshatz (Hebrew acronym for: Civilian Security Officers in Coordination with the IDF -- CSO). It was in December of 1988, i.e. in the Bronze Age, and yours truly was three months out of basic training and found himself in a small and isolated settlement. The man who commanded…

Palestinians mourn youth killed by Israeli forces, activists resist house demolitions in the West Bank and separation wall construction in Jerusalem, and life goes on in Gaza. Activestills photographers present the stories of the week from their unique perspective.                        

Photos by Mareike Lauken and Keren Manor On January 17, the Israeli army destroyed 55 homes and animal shelters in the Al Maleh area. This large scale military operation happened simultaneously in two separate locations: Hamamat al-Maleh, and further up the valley in Al-Mayta. Al-Maleh and Al-Mayta are two marginalized villages located in the north of the Jordan Valley, near the Tayasir checkpoint. Of the 55 buildings demolished, 23 were family homes: five in Hamamat Al-Maleh (leaving 37 people homeless) and 18 in Al-Mayta (leaving 150 people homeless). In addition, 33 other buildings used to shelter the communities' animals were…

In September, a troupe of performers from the West Bank and Israel held a nine-day tour throughout the West Bank, promoting cultural resistance and staging innovative performance styles in an attempt to unify disparate Palestinian realities. By Marta Fortunato Al-Hadidiya, Jordan Valley, 12 December 2012 – Samir is on the verge of tears while he watches the Freedom Theatre actors performing the story that he himself just finished sharing with his community members. “I was grazing my sheep when the Israeli army arrived. I was blindfolded, handcuffed and brought to a military camp,” Samir tells. “There, some soldiers set dogs on me.…

Israeli authorities are attempting to impose new censored textbooks in Palestinian schools in East Jerusalem. Jalal Abukhater provides a sample of the changes and argues that censorship of Palestinian heritage and history is illegal, ineffective and dangerous. Students and parents are mounting protests. By Jalal Abukhater While the mainstream media has been dominated by big stories, others are not getting enough attention. For example, Israel’s Jerusalem Education Administration (JEA) recently decided to enforce the use of new, censored textbooks in all private schools in East Jerusalem. The JEA is a joint body of the Jerusalem municipality and the Israeli Ministry…

The government and the Zionist Federation casually double the size of the Jordan Valley settlement project, to very little attention from Israelis or the international community. Israel's de-facto annexation of the West Bank's only bridge to the rest of the Middle East takes a giant leap. The other day, Haaretz financial daily The Marker ran the following item: ‪The settlement department of the ZIonist Federation is pushing forward a new plan, set to be confirmed soon by the Agriculture Ministry, under which the agricultural areas allocated to the settlers [the reporter uses neutral mitayashvim, rather than the politically charged mitnachlim -…

According to a recent survey, most Israelis simply don't know that the Jordan Valley, the future Palestinians state's only non-Israeli border, is part of the occupied West Bank. This trend confirms that retaining an Israeli presence in the valley is not likely to become a wedge issue in Israel any time soon. A poll conducted by our esteemed Dahlia Scheindlin (for ACRI's Action a Day campaign) indicates a sweeping majority of Israelis - 63.5%, to be exact - think the Jordan valley is part of Israel; in other words, not part of the West Bank; or, in plain words, don't…