A new report compares and contrasts two of of Israel's largest and most important settlement projects: development towns built before 1967 and the settlements in the occupied West Bank. Text by Rachel Shenhav-Goldberg There are many ways of calculating the “cost” of the occupation. Since 2008, the Adva Center, a leading Israeli progressive think tank that monitors social and economic developments in Israel has for years published annual reports outlining the burden of the occupation on Israeli society. The organization's latest report, "Annexation Trumps Start-up Nation," tell the story of two Israeli settlement projects: the “development towns” established in far-flung areas of the country before the 1967 war,…

The Abu Assab family home, located in Jerusalem's Old City, is expected to be occupied by right-wing Jewish Israeli settlers. Nearly 200 Palestinian families in East Jerusalem are under threat of eviction by settler organizations. By Aviv Tatarsky Israeli police evicted a Palestinian family from their home in the Muslim Quarter of Jerusalem’s Old City Sunday morning. The home is expected to be occupied by right-wing Jewish Israeli settlers in the near future. [tmwinpost] The Abu Assab family had lived in the home for nearly 70 years. Seven members of the family, including a four-year-old child, were evicted on Sunday, with…

Flyers posted in villages near Gush Etzion warn Palestinian laborers they will be banned from nearby settlements should they cooperate with anti-occupation groups. Settlers in the southern West Bank posted flyers warning Palestinian laborers not to cooperate with Israeli human rights activists or organizations if they want to keep their jobs. [tmwinpost] Tazpit News Agency, a settler-aligned English-language news outlet, reported earlier this week that Israeli settlers in the Gush Etzion settlement bloc have been posting these intimidating flyers around Palestinian villages nearby. The flyers threaten to ban Palestinians who cooperate with human rights groups from working in settlements there. According to the…

Activists say the highway, which separates Israeli and Palestinian traffic with an 26-foot concrete wall, will 'strengthen Israeli rule, including by shutting out entire Palestinian areas.' Dozens of Palestinian, Israeli, and international activists Wednesday morning blocked a highway many have dubbed the “apartheid road,” Route 4370 in the occupied West Bank, which separates Israeli and Palestinian traffic with an 26-foot concrete wall. [tmwinpost] The activists managed to shut down the highway for 20 minutes before Israeli Border Police officers suppressed the demonstration with stun grenades and arrested two. One side of the road, which stretches between Route 437 and Route 1 just…

Israel is about to hold elections, but not everyone living under Israeli rule gets a vote. A breakdown of who has rights and who doesn't. On April 9, 2019, Israel will hold general elections. Israelis will head to the polls to choose their elected leaders and representatives. If they are unhappy with the way things are going, like citizens of democracies around the world, their votes will help shape the ideological and political direction of the government and the institutions it controls. [tmwinpost] In a vacuum, that sounds like fairly standard democratic practice. But there is nothing standard about Israel’s…

After a string of shootings left three Israelis dead, hundreds of settlers block roads across the West Bank, harassing Palestinian drivers and damaging their vehicles. By Meron Rapoport Israeli settlers threw stones at and blocked Palestinian vehicles late last week, hours after a Palestinian gunman killed two soldiers outside a settlement outpost near Ramallah. [tmwinpost] Hundreds of settlers blocked roads across the West Bank, harassing Palestinian drivers and damaging their vehicles. According to Israeli human rights group Yesh Din, settler attacks took place in 28 locations across the West Bank. Meanwhile, two Israeli soldiers were suspended over the weekend after they tried to release settlers who had been arrested…

Residents of Sheikh Jarrah are bracing for a new wave of evictions, ten years after Israeli settlers attempted to take over Palestinian homes in the embattled East Jerusalem neighborhood. The Sabag and Hamad families are refugees from Jaffa and Haifa, respectively. Expelled from their homes during the 1948 war, they have been living in the occupied East Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah, an area that was at least partially owned by Jews before the war, since 1956. They were resettled there by the Jordanian authorities and UNRWA, the UN agency responsible for providing humanitarian assistance to Palestinian refugees. [tmwinpost] Although their original…

Two years after +972 exposed Airbnb's operations in West Bank settlements, the company has announced it will be pulling all settlement listings from its site. By Edo Konrad and Yael Marom Airbnb announced that it would pull listings from settlements in the occupied West Bank on Monday evening. The decision comes two years after +972 and Local Call revealed that the San Francisco-based vacation rentals company included apartments, cottages, and caravans located on West Bank hilltops, while making no mention of the fact that they are in settlements on occupied land. [tmwinpost] All Israeli settlements are considered illegal under international law. Among the vacation…

Seven years after publishing a feature on Israeli settlers who support equal rights for Israelis and Palestinians, it's time to revisit the idea. There is nothing the Israel Right loves more than adopting the criticism of its rivals on the Left in order to justify its rule. Strangely, this criticism has turned into a main aspect of the language settlers use when describing their "coexistence" with the Palestinians in the occupied territories. [tmwinpost] Their argument goes as such: while Tel Aviv is a bubble where rich, liberal Jews love Arabs in theory only, in the West Bank we truly see the Palestinians as…

Twos hundred Israelis march against the eviction of the Shamanseh family from their home in Jerusalem's Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood. Passersby throw eggs, while settlers attack them with pepper spray. By Yael Marom Over 200 Israelis marched from central Jerusalem to the neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah Friday to protest the eviction of a Palestinian family from their homes. The demonstrators marched on West Jerusalem's thoroughfare until they crossed over into the Palestinian neighborhood, where they were met by dozens of local Palestinian protesters. [tmwinpost] The march comes less than a week after Israeli security forces evicted the Shamanseh family from their home,…

After an eight-year lull in evictions, Israeli authorities kick out the Shamanseh family from their home in Sheikh Jarrah. They had been living in the neighborhood for over 50 years. By Yael Marom Israeli security forces evicted a Palestinian family from their home in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah Tuesday morning, the first such eviction in eight years, allowing Israeli settlers to take over the property. [tmwinpost] Large police forces arrived at the Shamanseh family home at 6.a.m., along with a large truck to carry their belongings, following days of police visits to help prepare for the eviction. Three settlers swiftly entered the…

A closer look at Jerusalem's new construction plans are a testament to the fact that Israel cannot continue lording over hundreds of thousands of Palestinians without infringing on their basic rights. By Aviv Tatarsky After a considerably long lull, Prime Minister Netanyahu and Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat have rebooted their plan to build beyond the Green Line in the city. These days, the government is working to build 2,000 housing units in East Jerusalem — and that's only the beginning. Israeli building in the territories occupied in 1967 is usually tied to Israel's attempt to thwart all attempts to make East…

For five decades, the High Court has legitimized nearly every aspect of the occupation. It may take time, but one day the settlers will thank the court for 50 years of Israeli rule over the West Bank. We should be enraged at the Israeli Right's attempt to ban left-wing NGOs from filing High Court petitions on behalf of Palestinians. There is no doubt that the motivation behind the initiative is to allow the occupation to continue undisturbed. There is no doubt that there are Palestinians who benefit from these petitions, just as there are women, residents of Israel's periphery, and other oppressed groups who have…