The state of human rights in Israel and Palestine

“Israel’s trusting that people will be ignorant.” Nada Kiswanson, a Palestinian-Swedish lawyer and representative of Al-Haq in The Hague, has been receiving persistent death threats since February 2016.

Who’s sending death threats to Palestinian advocates in The Hague?

In an interview with +972, the Hague representative of Al-Haq, a Palestinian human rights group, talks about the slew of threats she and her organization have received for months, and why she believes the Israeli government is behind them. In a small ceremony in The Hague on April 1, 2015, the Palestinian Authority officially signed…

By Amjad Iraqi August 17, 2016

Yudith Oppenheimer, executive director of Israeli NGO Ir Amim (Photo: Matt Surrusco/+972)

‘Palestinians are losing their right to Jerusalem’

+972 speaks with Yudith Oppenheimer, executive director of Israeli NGO Ir Amim, about the possibility of two national capitals in a shared Jerusalem and how the city should or could be divided between Israelis and Palestinians. Sitting in her West Jerusalem office, above the traffic on King George Street, Yudith Oppenheimer, 52, remembers the Jerusalem…

By Matt Surrusco September 15, 2013

Al-Haq director Shawan Jabarin (Photo: Matt Surrusco/+972)

‘The occupation has no future’

+972 speaks with Shawan Jabarin, general director of Palestinian human rights NGO Al-Haq, about how and why the organization decided to start using the term Apartheid, and what role accountability and international intervention could play in guaranteeing human rights. Sitting on a green leather couch in his Ramallah office not far from Al-Manara Square, Shawan…

By Matt Surrusco August 6, 2013

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Attorney Michael Sfard in his Tel Aviv law office, July 23, 2013. (Photo: Matt Surrusco)

‘The peace process has become a major enemy of human rights’

+972 speaks with Michael Sfard, human rights attorney and legal counsel and co-founder of Yesh Din – Volunteers for Human Rights, about litigating key human rights cases, past and pending, and the ‘mighty price to be paid’ when advocating Palestinian rights from within the Israeli legal system. With Palestinians and Israelis expected to restart negotiations…

By Matt Surrusco July 28, 2013

Jessica Montell, executive director of B'Tselem (Photo: Oren Ziv)

‘Settlements ignite a chain reaction of human rights violations’

+972 speaks with Jessica Montell, of B’Tselem – The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories, about the settlements and occupation staring the Israeli public in the face, and communicating the human rights message effectively, at home and abroad. From her fourth floor office window in Jerusalem, Jessica Montell can see the red-tiled…

By Matt Surrusco July 21, 2013

Adallah acting executive director Suhad Bishara (Photo: Courtesy)

‘When I look at the Prawer Plan, I see another Nakba’

+972 speaks with Suhad Bishara, of Adalah – The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, about the challenges of fighting for Palestinian rights in Israel and deciding when not to take legal action in Israeli courts – if doing so would undermine the Palestinian narrative. When looking at Israel’s Prawer-Begin Plan to evict tens…

By Matt Surrusco July 14, 2013

Sari Bashi, executive director of Gisha (Photo: Matt Surrusco)

Applying runners’ wisdom to the fight for human rights

+972 speaks with Gisha’s executive director Sari Bashi about changing the Israeli policy of restricting Palestinian freedom of movement, one legal victory at a time, and transforming Israeli public perceptions of Palestinians in Gaza. Behind her desk in her Tel Aviv office, Sari Bashi has two things hanging on her wall. On the left is…

By Matt Surrusco July 7, 2013

ACRI executive director Hagai El-Ad at the Human Rights Day march in Tel Aviv, December 11, 2009 (Keren Manor/Activestills.org)

‘Occupation will never be consistent with human rights’

+972 speaks with the Association for Civil Rights in Israel’s executive director Hagai El-Ad, discussing bittersweet legal victories, the downward trajectory of civil rights in Israel and how ACRI is facing its greatest challenge, winning over the Israeli public. Hagai El-Ad’s change in career paths came from a self-realization that his destiny was not in…

By Matt Surrusco June 30, 2013