separation wall

Palestinians use a rope to climb over the separation barrier from the al-Ram village into East Jerusalem, January 12, 2026. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

The Palestinians dying for work

Israel shut its borders to West Bank laborers after Oct. 7. But desperation means thousands are finding a way in — and Israeli police keep shooting them.

By Charlotte Ritz-Jack June 12, 2026

A rooftop water tank in Kufr 'Aqab, July 24, 2024. (Noa Pinto)

The taps have run dry in Jerusalem’s largest Palestinian neighborhood

Long neglected by the Jerusalem Municipality, Kufr ‘Aqab residents now receive only a few hours of water a week — and the authorities refuse to help.

By Noa Pinto August 15, 2024

An Israeli soldier closes an agricultural gate in the West Bank wall after Palestinian farmers crossed through during the olive harvest near the village of 'Azzun 'Atma, occupied West Bank, October 19, 2022. (Anne Paq/Activestills)

‘Israel always sold the occupation as legal. The ICJ now terrifies them’

Palestinian lawyer Diana Buttu unpacks the ICJ opinion on Israel's military regime, and the lessons of turning international law into action.

By Ghousoon Bisharat July 23, 2024

Latest

Israeli security forces guard as Palestinians make their way through a checkpoint to attend Friday prayer of the holy fasting month of Ramadan in Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa mosque, near the West Bank city of Bethlehem, April 29, 2022. (Wisam Hashlamoun/Flash90)

The permit regime is Oslo’s enduring legacy. It must be abolished

The separation logic enshrined by the Oslo Accords birthed a cruel system of Israeli control, whose security justifications collapsed into openly racist ones.

By Yael Berda September 21, 2023

Rabbi Leo Dee at the funeral of his daughters Maia and Rina at the Gush Etzion Regional Cemetery in Kfar Etzion on April 9, 2023. The sisters were killed in a shooting attack in the Jordan Valley; their mother, Lucy, later died of her wounds sustained in the same attack. (Noam Revkin Fenton/Flash90)

A British-Israeli tragedy, born out of the occupation

To omit the violent context in which the Dee family killings occurred is to condemn countless more Palestinians and Israelis to the same fate.

By Ben Reiff April 11, 2023

Israeli police stand opposite Palestinians in Shuafat Refugee Camp as they protest a days-long lockdown imposed by Israel, occupied East Jerusalem, October 12, 2022. (Oren Ziv/Activestills)

PHOTOS: A day of civil disobedience in Shuafat Refugee Camp

Days into a near-total lockdown imposed by Israel, Palestinian residents of the East Jerusalem camp staged a mass strike and protest, only to be attacked by security forces.

By Oren Ziv October 12, 2022

A man paints a mural of Palestinian Ahed Tamimi on a part of the West Bank separation wall in the West Bank city of Bethlehem, July 25, 2018. (Wisam Hashlamoun/Flash90)

Israel arrests artists behind Ahed Tamimi mural on separation wall

Israeli police rejoice after arresting two Italians and a Palestinian who painted a giant mural of Ahed Tamimi on the separation wall in Bethlehem. Two Italian citizens and one Palestinian were arrested by Israeli Border Police officers on Saturday after graffitiing a portrait of Ahed Tamimi, who was released from prison the following day, on part of the…

By Haggai Matar July 29, 2018

Reducing Israel’s separation barrier to an aesthetic failure

A new video series about ‘design flaws’ tackles the question of why the world is so irked by Israel’s separation barrier. Surely it’s not the fact that it cages in millions of people and annexes roughly 10 percent of the West Bank. No, it’s just a matter of aesthetics. In a video clip published online…

By Lisa Goldman April 23, 2018

Border Police wrestle a protester during a demonstration against the wall in Walajeh, August 2011. (Activestills.org)

In one Palestinian village, the whole story of the occupation

Encircled by the separation barrier, threatened with demolition orders, and deemed illegal aliens in their own homes, the residents of the Palestinian village of Walajeh are fighting for their lives. From the village of Walajeh, one can see much of Jerusalem. The round roof of Teddy Stadium, where the city’s soccer teams play. The towers of…

By Joshua Leifer March 19, 2018

Demonstrators pose for a picture during a march against the separation wall and home demolitions in Walaje, West Bank, September 16. (Haggai Matar)

Hundreds of Palestinians, Israelis march to support village encircled by wall

Israel’s separation wall will surround the village on nearly all sides, which will separate its villagers from some 250 acres of agricultural land. Over 500 Palestinian and Israeli demonstrators marched Saturday to protest the construction of the separation wall and house demolitions in the West Bank village of Walaje, south of Jerusalem. The march started at the…

By Haggai Matar September 17, 2017

Dozens of Palestinians hold a mass prayer to protest the planned demolition of 14 buildings in their village of Walajeh, West Bank, August 18, 2017. (Ahmad Al-Bazz/Activestills.org)

In Walajeh, Palestinian residents mobilize against Israeli demolitions

Villagers temporarily stopped one round of demolitions earlier this month by blocking bulldozers from entering the village, but local activists expect the demolitions will eventually take place. Photos & text by: Ahmad Al-Bazz / Activestills.org Dozens of Palestinian residents of Walajeh, a Palestinian village nestled between Jerusalem and Bethlehem, demonstrated last Friday against the planned…

By Activestills August 21, 2017

Palestinian farmers negotiate with Israeli soldiers at a military gate in the northern West Bank, demanding the Israeli army ease restrictions to allow them to more easily enter and exit, Deir Al Ghusun, July 9, 2017. (Haidi Motola/Activestills.org)

PHOTOS: How Israel’s wall keeps Palestinian farmers off their land

Palestinian farmers, along with Israeli and international activists, demonstrate in front of a military gate in the northern West Bank, calling to relax Israeli restrictions on access to their land. Photos and text by Ahmad Al-Bazz and Haidi Motola / Activestills.org Approximately 100 Palestinian farmers protested on Sunday morning in front of an Israeli military gate in…

By Activestills July 10, 2017

Palestinians from the West Bank cross through Qalandyia checkpoint to attend the second Friday prayers in Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa Mosque, June 9, 2017. Israeli authorities allowed women of all ages and men over 40 to enter Jerusalem without permits on Fridays during the month of Ramadan only. (Ahmad al-Bazz/Activestills.org)

After Ramadan, back to your regularly scheduled occupation

During the month of Ramadan, Palestinians were more freely able to pass between the West Bank and Jerusalem. Now it’s back to the old rules of military occupation. Text by Ahmad al-Bazz / Activestills.org The final Friday of Ramadan was also the final day in which Israel temporarily “relaxed” its restrictions on Palestinian movement in…

By Activestills June 25, 2017