50 Years Too Many

Simon KAPWEPWE (standing), Foreign Minister of Zambia, addressing the Seminar on Apartheid, Racial Discrimination and Colonialism. 4/Aug/1967 (UN Photo)

Unlike South Africa, the world is giving Israel a pass on apartheid

A UN Security Council resolution rejecting South Africa’s 1983 constitution shows that there is precedent and necessity to act against Israel’s Nation-State Law. In a referendum on November 2, 1983, White voters in apartheid South Africa approved a new constitution to restructure their political system. In addition to consolidating executive power with the presidency, a tricameral parliament…

By Amjad Iraqi July 26, 2019

'My family had agricultural land near Hadera that was taken in 1948. We could see the land from our house, as well as the sea, but we couldn't reach them.' Khulud Sa'adi, from Atil, near Tulkarem, West Bank. (Miki Kratsman)

Fifty faces of occupation

A new exhibit by B’Tselem marks 50 years of occupation with portraits of 50 Palestinians born in the occupied territories, who have never known a day of freedom in their lives. There is a checkpoint next to my house. It determines my life’s routine. It is a source of constant worry: whenever my children are on their way…

By Orly Noy November 21, 2017

Druze villagers threshing corn in Majdak Shams, Golan Heights, 1967. (Moshe Milner/GPO)

The Syrian refugees Israelis prefer to forget

As opposed to Palestinian refugees, the fate of the Syrians expelled from the Golan Heights by Israel in 1967 was covered up and hidden from public awareness. Even today, most Israelis believe the area was largely empty of Syrians, and anyone who may have been there fled voluntarily. By Irit Gal Among the Syrian refugees fleeing their burning country…

By Haokets July 18, 2017

Latest

An Israeli soldier attempts to block the view of a photographer as Israeli soldiers search Palestinian men in the West Bank city of Hebron, June 22, 2017. (Wisam Hashlamoun/Flash90)

The Israeli media has kept us in the dark for 50 years

Since 1967, the Israeli media has hid the ugly, everyday reality in the occupied territories. But even if they really knew, would Israelis still choose to end 50 years of military rule over the Palestinians? By Yizhar Be’er According to the democratic-liberal-utopian model, let us assume for a moment that every citizens has access to all the information…

By +972 Magazine July 5, 2017

(Left to Right) PLO Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Jordan’s King Abdullah, and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak at the start of peace talks at the White House, September 1, 2010. (GPO)

Decades of failed peace talks: How Israel negotiates with itself

For 50 years Israel has maintained full control over the entire land, economy, borders, movement and natural resources between the river and the sea. The only thing Palestinians have to offer Israel in peace talks is international legitimacy. But Israel doesn’t need peace to gain legitimacy — it needs an endless peace process.

By Noam Sheizaf June 28, 2017

A diaspora Jewish activist sits beside a Palestinian woman at the Sumud Freedom Camp, Sarura, West Bank, May 19, 2017.

I was taught to hate Palestinians — until I met one

I grew up believing the Arabs wanted to throw us into the sea. Then I met a Palestinian from Gaza, and started to question everything I was ever taught. By Osnat Ita Skoblinski As a young girl I believed that Arabs were evil. My belief wasn’t based on personal experience — it was just common knowledge. As…

By +972 Magazine June 26, 2017

Dozens of women block traffic on Rothschild Boulevard to protest violence against women, central Tel Aviv, July 17, 2017. (Yotam Ronen/Activestills.org)

This summer’s wave of protests gives us reason to be optimistic

From asylum seekers demanding their wages to protests against the Gaza blackout to raising awareness over disappeared Yemenite babies, this summer’s protests give us every reason to stay optimistic about this place. It’s hot outside. The Israeli summer often brings with it a new wave of social and political protests, and yet it looks like summer 2017 will be…

By Haggai Matar June 24, 2017

Palestinian and Israeli demonstrators release hundreds of balloons marking International Women's Day during a protest march against the occupation, Beit Jala, West Bank, March 4, 2016. (photo: Oren Ziv/Activestills.org)

Want to end the occupation? Start talking to settlers and Mizrahim

The very people the Left categorically rejects — Mizrahim and settlers — are exactly whom they need to make peace. By Avi Dabush Three weeks ago, I attended the Peace Now rally in Tel Aviv’s Rabin Square, standing among the “peace camp” and meeting many people whom I love and value. They are committed, devoted,…

By +972 Magazine June 23, 2017

IDF soldiers take part in the first Independence Day parade in Jerusalem following the Six-Day War, May 1968. (Moshe Baier/Yehudit Garinkol Collection, CC 2.5)

What we choose to ignore about the 1967 War

The sins of the 1967 War are still with us. Not only in the continuing crime of the occupation and the new victims it takes, but also in the unanswered questions and the still unaccounted for victims. By James J. Zogby In June of 1967, I was in the midst of my final weeks in…

By +972 Magazine June 17, 2017

Palestinians walk through an Israeli checkpoint in the West Bank. (Sebi Berens/Flash90)

Bloated time and the death of meaning

The occupation is a cold metal that kills with savage cruelty the most important thing life affords us: time.

By +972 Magazine June 14, 2017

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a Knesset ceremony marking the 50th anniversary of the 1967 Six Day War and the start of settlement in the West Bank, June 6, 2017. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Netanyahu vows to occupy the West Bank forever

If Israel is not willing to relinquish military control over the West Bank, then it is saying that there can be no two-state solution. Benjamin Netanyahu last week promised that Israel will never relinquish security control over the West Bank, even as part of a two-state peace deal, which is to say that the Israeli…

By Michael Schaeffer Omer-Man June 13, 2017

Jewish nationalist activists from anti-miscegenation group Lehava protest in Rishon Lezion, August 17, 2014. (Activestills.org)

Palestinians are the glue that holds Ashkenazim and Mizrahim together

Sixty-nine years after the founding of the state, the hatred between Mizrahim and Ashkenazim is the greatest threat to Israeli society. Instead of properly dealing with it, all our energy is spent on sowing a collective hatred toward Palestinians. By Iris Hefets Whenever “the occupation” is mentioned, someone will invariably ask about difference between Ariel University,…

By +972 Magazine June 11, 2017

A Palestinian demonstrator from the West Bank village of Deir Jarir, northeast of Ramallah, waves a Palestinian flag as he sits on a pile of rocks during clashes with Israeli soldiers following a march against construction on Palestinian land by members of the Jewish settlement of Ofra on April 26, 2013. (Issam Rimawi/FLASH90)

Ending the occupation isn’t enough

Progressive Israelis and Palestinians have a crucial task: mounting a political movement that gives us an effective voice in forging the future of our country. By Jeff Halper As we reach the 50th “anniversary” of Israel’s occupation, it is hard to discern on the horizon either a workable political program or a focused political movement…

By +972 Magazine June 10, 2017