The IDF clarifies that instead of removing an illegal outpost, it prefers to defend it – and Palestinian farmers pay the price. By Yesh Din, written by Yossi Gurvitz In January 2001, as most of us were busy with the events of the Second Intifada, several outlaws built the Tapuach Ma'arav outpost in the West Bank. The outpost is about two kilometers away from the settlement of Kfar Tapuach, famous mostly because it was created by the supporters of Rabbi Meir Kahane, and also provided refuge (Hebrew) for the murderer Eden Nathan-Zada, who in 2005 killed four Israeli Palestinians in…

Two of the most well-spoken public figures in Israel are MK Ahmad Tibi and former settler leader Dani Dayan. Dr. Tibi is known to lecture to the Knesset plenum in prose, and is considered one of the MKs with the best command of the Hebrew language. Dayan, on the other hand, has the uncanny ability to make even the most die-hard two-state advocate question their political belief system. But just because two people are elegant and gifted orators doesn't mean they can't get into an old fashion, tit-for-tat Twitter battle -- and that's exactly what happened today. I've translated the…

In a recent article, seasoned veteran of the Zionist Left Uri Avnery claimed that the influx of Russian-speaking immigrants to Israel, living in self-imposed ghettos, is what pushed the country to the right politically. Lia Tarachansky counters that the Russian-speaking community never 'mingled' with other Israelis because it was never invited to do so, and that Avnery is ignoring the many contributions the immigrants made to the country. By Lia Tarachansky I was born in Kiev into a shifting, uncertain reality. While I was only learning to read, my parents split, the Chernobyl nuclear reactor blew up and the Soviet Union collapsed. I…

On Sunday, three Palestinian boys were detained by the IDF in Hebron, along with a Swedish activist who seems to have tried to calmly prevent their arrests. (Footage of the arrest is below, and highly disturbing to watch). According to the International Solidarity Movement, who put out a report on Sunday and has since been updating, the children were released a few hours later, but the Swede is still being held and attempts are being made to deport him. According to sources from Youth Against Settlements and B'Tselem with whom I spoke, the children were detained because settlers from the extremist…

Following the murder of a settler from Yitzhar on Tuesday, dozens of Israeli settlers from the region attacked several Palestinian villages. They threw stones at Palestinians, at cars and buses, smashed windows and burned houses. These videos, taken by B'Tselem photographers from the villages Asira al-Qibliya and Urif, show how IDF forces allow the riots against the Palestinian farmers to take place. In several cases the soldiers talk to the rioters or try to shove them away. In others, they simply provide escorts for them as they throw stones or storm the villages. Video from Asira al-Qibliya: Video from Urif: Video from Asira al-Qibliya (An officer…

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…

Most Jewish Israelis will admit the 'occupation' is bad, but few have ever gotten a taste of what it feels like to be anywhere near the receiving end of it. No matter how liberal an Israeli you are, if you have not experienced it in some way, first hand, the concept of Israeli occupation has an entirely different meaning to you than someone who has. This article was originally published in The Forward on April 15, 2013. Veteran Israeli journalist Amira Hass stirred up a controversy in the media here with an op-ed in Haaretz on April 3 that opens: “Throwing stones is the birthright and…

Settlers threw a stone, and then another one, at a Palestinian's head. Then they killed his sheep. The chances they will be indicted for attempted murder are slim. By Yesh Din, written by Yossi Gurvitz At the beginning of March, K., a Palestinian resident of the village of Al Mughayer, took his herd to pasture. As readers of this blog may have noticed, many of the incidents reported here take place in pasture lands; it's a part of the attempt by the settlers to prevent Palestinians from working their land or grazing it. As soon as the Palestinians abandon the…

Fallout from Amira Hass’s article on Palestinian stone-throwing shows that as far as Israelis are concerned, any and every form of resistance against the occupation is illegitimate. The Yesha Council – the regional council for West Bank settlements, which operates also as the settlers’ political and lobbying arm – filed a complaint with the Jerusalem Police against the Haaretz daily newspaper and its reporter in the occupied territories, Amira Hass. Hass this morning published a piece discussing the logic of stone-throwing and persecution in the occupied territories. Quotes: Throwing stones is the birthright and duty of anyone subject to foreign rule. Throwing stones…

Much of the Israeli public believes Palestinians lie constantly. This time, Yossi Gurvitz witnesses and documents evidence in real time. By Yesh Din, written by Yossi Gurvitz One of the problems with reporting what happens in the West Bank to the Israeli public is that it has grown accustomed to thinking that Palestinians lie. All of them. All the time. Without taking a break. This isn’t the place to examine this social construct – one suspects it exists because it is so convenient. Because it makes it easy to ignore every complaint with a shrug – and certainly Palestinians have been…

Israeli soldiers are the ones who make the prolonged dispossession of the Palestinians possible. If the army wasn’t there, violent settler attacks could not take place. By Yesh Din, written by Yossi Gurvitz One morning in late February of this year, J., a resident of a village in the Nablus district, went to work in his field along with his two cousins, M. and A. (We are not using the complainants's full names for the same reason members of the Shin Bet are only known by a single name: the fear, perfectly justified in this case, that by exposing complainants’…

After deciding to visit a few wildcat Jewish settlements in the West Bank, I felt anxious. Will they recognize us for the Tel Aviv leftists that we are? Will they become enraged at our questions? Might we face violence? Arriving at the settlement gate, however, I am struck by just how much the place resembles the kibbutz I lived on just a few years ago. But by the end of our journey, it becomes clear that we are not welcome. By Edo Konrad The first and only time I had ever spoken to an ideological settler was during the summer…

There are many injustices under the occupation: small ones and big ones. There is theft and murder and never ending oppression. There is Shuhada Street, and they all exist there. By Leehee Rotschild On the Friday before last, Palestinian protestors accompanied by Israeli and international solidarity activists wanted to mark "Open Shuhada Street Day" in Hebron. Shuhada Street has been closed to Palestinians since the Baruch Goldstein massacre in 1994, including residents who live on the street and have to climb onto their rooftops to adjacent streets in order to leave their houses. Meanwhile, settlers living in the area come…