'What made Bab Al-Shams significant was the fact that it asserted that Palestinian activists would not simply react to injustices the occupation laid at our doorstep, but that we were determined to create our own realities on the ground.' By Irene Nasser Last week, I witnessed a remarkable victory for Palestinian unarmed civil resistance. Over a frigid January weekend, I joined hundreds of Palestinians in establishing Bab Al-Shams (literally ‘Gate of the Sun’), a new Palestinian village, erected on private Palestinian land near Jerusalem in the territory known as E1, which Israel has controversially slated for future settlement growth. The…

Hakem* believes that armed struggle and the strategic use of violence is the only way to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. He calls BDS 'silly' and says Hamas has gone soft. He calls Israel 'the entity' and says it must be dismantled. After that, Hakem adds, Jews are welcome to stay. The situation in the West Bank is increasingly hopeless. The cost of living is spiraling out of control. Steady work is hard to find. Israeli settlements keep growing. And with the West Bank carved up by the Oslo Accords and Gaza under blockade, a Palestinian state seems more out of…

By The Popular Struggle Coordination Committee UPDATE: Issa Amro was released on Sunday evening from Israeli prison after being held since Thursday. He had to pay NIS 1,500 upon being freed, and his terms of release include a  guarantee of NIS 5,000. He is prohibited from engaging in demonstrations for the next 3 months. Issa Amro, Coordinator of Youth Against Settlements, was stopped Thursday night by Israeli authorities at the Allenby Bridge. He was arrested and taken to the Hebron police station, where he was interrogated for hours on suspicion of involvement in organizing the women's action that took place in…