This week: May Day marches from Tel Aviv to Boston, reprisals for the stabbing death of a settler by a Palestinian, protests against domestic violence, demonstrations against settlement expansion, celebrations for hunger striker Samer Issawi, and demolitions of Palestinian properties continue.                            

Last week I went to the Friday demonstration in the West Bank village of Bil'in for the first time. Some of the people who know me found it hard to believe. "Only now? Next week they will be marking eight years of demos, and only now you come, Ami?" Yeah. I guess I’m what you call a “couch-leftist.” My battle is done in my home, my sword is my keyboard. I’m proud of that sword, I must say. But for the past year I’ve been feeling it isn’t enough. I live a privileged life in a suburb of Tel Aviv.…

As Egypt’s currency continues to fall and the IMF strings for a bailout package that will end fuel and food subsides, popular anger has turned on the country's first democratically elected president. Now, out on the streets of Cairo, protesters are being confronted by the same forces they fought in order to overthrow Mubarak in 2011. By Jesse Rosenfeld CAIRO – Concrete walls have replaced the barbwire at the end of my street, sealing off the banks, the Parliament and western embassies from the rest of Cairo’s downtown. With nothing but lines of riot police and armored vehicles filling the concrete cordon,…

Crowd control measures have killed 10 protesters since 2005. Meet 'the skunk,' the tear gas canister and the rubber-coated bullet - just some of the measures the IDF uses against civilian Palestinian protesters in the West Bank.  At least ten Palestinians have been killed by crowd control measures used by the IDF since 2005; 46 more were shot to death using live ammunition. These numbers, published by Israeli human rights organization B’Tselem, refer only to civilian protesters and not to people killed during IDF military operations or to Palestinians who were shot to death at checkpoints or near security fences.…

B'Tselem released a new report on the crowd control weapons used by the Israeli army. The report also details the relevant orders of the military and the Israel Police which regulate the use of these weapons, and which the security forces refuse to divulge. In addition it surveys the implementation of the regulations in the field and the detrimental results of violating them. Dozens of Palestinians have been seriously injured by use of these weapons. Additionally, security forces have killed at least 46 Palestinians in the West Bank when firing live ammunition at stone-throwers.   Israel’s Use of Crowd Control…

New light is shed on the shooting death of non-violent demonstrator Bassem Abu Rahme in Bil'in in 2009: A soldier who served in the same brigade as the shooter testifies how the incident was perceived by other soldiers. The testimony strengthens the claim that the shot was fired against army regulations. "The guy who shot him… was kind of pleased with the whole thing, he had an X on his launcher." On April 17, 2009 Bassem Abu Rahme was killed by an extended-range tear-gas canister that hit him directly in the chest. Abu Rahme, one of the most prominent figures…

A recent article on Ynet, and excellent analysis by Ali Abunimah on the Electronic Intifada, yields this gem of a quote (emphasis Abunimah's): One soldier admits that the presence of cameras – presumably in the hands of Palestinian and other videographers – inhibits the soldiers from being even more abusive: T. says the cameras on the ground undermine the forces’ efforts. “A commander or an officer sees a camera and becomes a diplomat, calculating every rubber bullet, every step. It’s intolerable, we’re left utterly exposed. The cameras are our kryptonite.” Of course, Abunimah acknowledges that the presence of cameras does…

With all eyes on Gaza, Israeli police forces shoot tear gas into an elementary school. Twenty-nine children were hospitalized and 19 people were arrested after police attempted to place eviction notices on several buildings in the Bir Hadaj village in the Negev.  Sometimes all a schoolteacher can do is hold up his cellphone and film children fleeing the playground, or being carried off by other teachers. Sleman Abu Laqia, of the village Bir Hadaj in southern Israel, found himself in this situation Monday morning. The schoolyard was supposed to serve as a safe zone for the children, while police stormed…

Thirteen anti-occupation activists were awoken by police officers early Sunday morning to receive closed military zone orders, preventing them from joining Palestinians in weekly demonstrations in the West Bank. By Leehee Rothschild Israeli police officers distributed closed military zone orders for four West Bank villages early Sunday morning to 13 prominent activists in groups such as Anarchists Against the Wall, Ta'ayush, and the Sheikh Jarrah Solidarity Movement. In most cases, the military orders were delivered personally, but for some activists who happened not to be home, they were left under their doors. In some cases, the officers came to look…

On Saturday, Palestinian families in the Hebron Hills found themselves subject to state violence yet again, this time in the form of a tear gas attack. Their crime: harvesting olives on their land. By Alon Aviram It’s that time of the year again and the olive trees are ripe and ready for harvest. I found myself last Saturday picking olives alongside Palestinian families and Israeli activists from Ta'ayush in the village of Tarqumiya, northwest of Hebron. As the morning light crept over us, the only sounds to be heard were those of intermittent conversations, of hands sifting through coarse olive branches…

Jawaher Abu Rahmah, 36, died the morning after inhaling massive amounts of tear gas at a protest in Bil'in last year. The exact cause of her death, however, is still unclear. Why has the army refused to open an investigation into the matter and where does the case stand? A report from one of the family's legal representatives. By Emily Schaeffer We may never know what caused Jawaher Abu Rahmah's death on January 1, 2011. Following the incident the IDF Spokesperson’s Office launched a disinformation campaign asserting first that she was not at the Bil’in demonstration that preceded her death,…

UPDATE: An Israeli woman arrested during Friday's demonstration in Nabi Saleh, who refused to sign an order forbidding her from entering Nabi Saleh for two weeks as a condition of her release, has today been released without conditions. **** Two dozen Palestinian, Israeli and international activists were arrested at a protest marking one week since the killing of Mustafa Tamimi; IDF fires tear gas, "skunk spray" on protesters with start of demonstration.  Of the two dozen people who were arrested at Friday's weekly demonstration in the West Bank village of Nabi Saleh, most - the Israelis and internationals - were…

Mustafa Tamimi of Nabi Saleh died yesterday morning in Beilinson Hospital. There's no debate over the cause of death: Tamimi was shot in the head at close range during the weekly demonstration in his village. The weapon: a high force, long range tear gas canister. According to a number of witnesses, backed up by photographs, the canister was fired point-blank, in total contravention of army regulations, from a distance of less than ten meters. The shooter: an Israeli soldier, from a Jeep. It's not every day that the authorities come in possession of such a picture, which can supply more…