Welcome to +972’s Sunday Recap! Here’s your wrap-up of the latest articles from our contributors, including our colleagues at Local Call. 

Gaza’s olive industry, which has long symbolized and been a source of resilience for Palestinians, has been decimated over the past year, with three-quarters of the Strip’s olive trees destroyed by Israeli attacks. Taghreed Ali and Ibtisam Mahdi spoke with several olive farmers, who, facing ongoing bombardment and water shortages during this year’s harvest, are desperately trying to salvage what remains of their crops.

Suha Arraf wrote about how Palestinian citizens in Israel’s north, whose communities suffer from a lack of bomb shelters and are located in close proximity to Iron Dome batteries, disproportionately bear the brunt of Hezbollah missile attacks – representing more than 58 percent of victims, despite comprising only one-fifth of the state’s population. 

On November 14, hundreds of Israeli police stormed the Bedouin village of Umm Al-Hiran, located in the Negev/Naqab desert in southern Israel, to complete its demolition. For Orly Noy, the destruction of Umm Al-Hiran captures the entire history of Zionism’s injustices against Palestinians, who are seen as merely temporary inhabitants of the land — moveable chess pieces in a game of demographic engineering.

Hadi Rami spoke with Palestinians who have fled Gaza to Egypt, a population that has exceeded 100,000 since the start of the war last year. Feeling stranded by the state and the PA, they describe a precarious existence in legal limbo, without residency status or refugee protections.

And a year after Yemen’s Houthis hijacked the Galaxy Leader, Magnus Fitz argues that the commercial vessel has been transformed into a symbol of resilience, as international efforts to counter the group have been largely ineffective. Moreover, with Hamas and Hezbollah debilitated, the Houthis have emerged as Iran’s premier non-state ally, set to continue to disrupt trade and strike Israel.

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