Fifty reasons to join a growing coalition united in creating a more just future in the region, in order to make the 50th year of the occupation its last.
By Talia Krevsky and Isaac Kates Rose
1. January 1: The onset of the 50th year of violating the Fourth Geneva Convention through Israel’s military occupation over Palestinian territories, would have been enough.
2. January 3: Demolition of 49 structures by the IDF’s Civil Administration on land belonging to the village of Khirbet Tana, would have been enough.
3. January 3: Withholding 20 percent of asylum seekers’ salaries until they leave the country, would have been enough.
4. January 4: Demolition of Palestinian water cisterns and farming structures in the village of Tuqu’, would have been enough.
5. January 4: Knesset legislation to annex the settlement of Ma’ale Adumim, would have been enough.
6. January 5: The stabbing of a Bedouin man in Ashdod by a religious Jewish man, would have been enough.
7. January 8: A truck ramming attack by a resident of East Jerusalem, killing four Israeli soldiers and wounding 13 others, would have been enough.
8. January 8: Settler violence against activists from the NGO Ta’ayush, would have been enough.
9. January 8: Netanyahu’s illicit deal with the publisher of the Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth, would have been enough.
10. January 10: The destruction of 11 homes in the Arab town of Qalansuwa, would have been enough.
11. January 11: Preliminary approval of a Knesset bill to ban Israeli NGO, Breaking the Silence, from lecturing in schools, would have been enough.
12. January 18: Violent clashes in Umm al-Hiran that killed two and wounded leading Arab Knesset member, Ayman Odeh, would have been enough.
13. January 20: The inauguration of Donald Trump, who promised to unilaterally move the Israeli Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, would have been enough.
14. January 22: Construction approval for an additional 566 homes beyond the Green Line in Jerusalem, would have been enough.
15. January 25: Collective punishment in Jabal Mukaber through home demolitions, raids, arrests, and revocation of permits, would have been enough.
16. January 26: The High Court’s ruling that the Civil Administration may demolish Palestinian structures in Firing Zone 918, would have been enough.
17. January 26: The Shin Bet’s detainment and interrogation of three Bedouin activists on the way to a friend’s funeral, would have been enough.
18. February 1: Uprooting 1,000 Palestinian-owned olive trees to build a bypass road for settlers in order to “serve the public good,” would have been enough.
19. February 2: The simulated evacuation of Amona in exchange for a new settlement with 3,000 homes, would have been enough.
2o. February 6: The passing of Israel’s land expropriation bill to retroactively legalize thousands of housing units in 16 settlements, would have been enough.
21. February 6: Cyclical violent escalation on Israel’s border with Gaza involving rocket fire and retaliatory IDF attacks, would have been enough.
22. February 8: Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat’s decision to close down Barbur Gallery in Jerusalem, for having hosted a lecture by Breaking the Silence, would have been enough.
23. February 9: The detainment of the New Israel Fund’s Vice President, Jennifer Gorovitz, at Ben Gurion Airport, would have been enough.
24. February 12: The advancement of the ‘Muezzin Law’ to ban loudspeakers from mosques throughout the country, would have been enough.
25. February 13: The Israel Police’s dissemination of deceptive text messages to thwart Arab schoolchildren from nonviolently protesting, would have been enough.
26. February 15: Routine night raids by IDF soldiers, warning residents against participating in protests and demonstrations, would have been enough.
27. February 20: Israeli ministers voting down three bills concerning the LGBTQ community on the eve of LGBT Rights Day, would have been enough.
28. February 20: The mayor of Petah Tikva’s decision to cut off electricity to dozens of apartments that house Sudanese and Eritrean asylum seekers, would have been enough.
29. February 21: IDF Sgt. Elor Azaria’s 18-month sentence for manslaughter, would have been enough.
30. February 22: Indefinite detainment of Palestinian journalists, among them Omar Nazzal, without trials, would have been enough.
31. February 23: The fact that permits to exit Gaza have dropped by 44 percent, would have been enough.
32. February 24: Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked’s political appointment of four right-wing Supreme Court Justices, would have been enough.
33. February 24: Israel’s refusal to grant Human Rights Watch’s Israel and Palestine director a work permit, would have been enough.
34. February 24: The 23rd year since the Ibrahimi Mosque massacre in Hebron, where Shuhada Street remains segregated, would have been enough.
35. March 3: Ongoing unbridled settler violence against civilians in the occupied territories, would have been enough.
36. March 8: Banning entry and residence visas to non-Israelis who call for a cultural, academic, or economic boycott of Israel, would have been enough.
37. March 8: Women human rights defenders’ call for action to halt the ever-shrinking space for Israeli civil society organizations, would have been enough.
38. March 9: Legislation by Netanyahu’s Communication Ministry to give his government exclusive control over broadcast media, would have been enough.
39. March 9: Gaza’s unemployment rate rising to over 42 percent, would have been enough.
40. March 13: Construction approval for yet another new settlement, Geulat Zion, would have been enough.
41. March 16: Awarding the Israel Prize to the director of the City of David Foundation, which seeks to ‘Judaize’ East Jerusalem, would have been enough.
42. March 22: Education Minister Naftali Bennett’s refusal to grant left-wing Israeli artist, Yair Garbuz, the Israel Prize, would have been enough.
43. March 22: MK Gilad Erdan’s ongoing incitement against Arab citizens, BDS supporters, and Israeli media sources, would have been enough.
44. March 24: The U.S. Senate’s approval of staunch settlement supporter, David Friedman, as ambassador to Israel, would have been enough.
45. March 24: An Israeli police officer assaulting a Palestinian truck driver, would have been enough.
46. March 26: Israeli authorities’ baseless charges against nonviolent peace activist, Issa Amro, would have been enough.
47. March 27: Displacement of families from the shepherding community of a-Ras al-Ahmar for military training, would have been enough.
48. March 28: Culture Minister Miri Regev’s new McCarthyist committee to increase government oversight of films critical of its policies, would have been enough.
49. March 28: Religious right-wing lawmakers’ insistence on visiting the Temple Mount immediately, would have been enough.
50. Enough of despairing lists like these. Join the coalition this Saturday night in Jerusalem. On April 1 we start writing the List of Resistance: united for peace, justice, freedom, and dignity for all.
Talia Krevsky is the former Foreign Relations Coordinator at Breaking the Silence, a translator for Kerem Navot, and a member of Standing Together. Isaac Kates Rose is a Jerusalem-based member of All That’s Left, Free Jerusalem, and an organizer with the Center for Jewish Nonviolence.
