Ariel Sharon

Israeli Border Police detain Palestinians who attempted to enter Israel illegally after hiding in a van at a checkpoint north of Jerusalem, March 30, 2026. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

Palestinians out, foreign workers in: How Israel is remaking its labor force

Long a cornerstone of Israel’s low-wage economy, Palestinians from the West Bank and Gaza have been frozen out since October 7 — replaced by an influx of migrant workers in highly precarious conditions.

By Charlotte Ritz-Jack and Dana Mills May 6, 2026

Israeli forces fire a water cannon on residents of the settlement of Kfar Darom in Gaza, who barricaded themselves on the roof of the synagogue during its evacuation, Aug. 18, 2005. (Zamir Yossi/GPO)

How Israel’s Gaza ‘disengagement’ planted the seeds of today’s genocide

Enraged by the 2005 withdrawal, the national-religious camp worked to brand territorial concession as a disaster — with ethnic cleansing as the only solution.

By Daniel Levy September 10, 2025

A Palestinian boy on a donkey looks at Israeli army vehicles as they park during an Israeli military training in the northern Jordan valley, West Bank, on December 8, 2016. (Keren Manor/Activestills)

Classified document reveals IDF ‘firing zones’ built to give land to settlers

In a top-secret meeting held in 1979, revealed here for the first time, then-Agricultural Minister Ariel Sharon explained that firing zones were meant to create 'land reserves' for settlements, as part of his larger plan of establishing 'ethnic borders' between Jews and Palestinians.

By Yuval Abraham July 11, 2022

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Palestinians protesters clash with Israeli forces during a demonstrations at the Israel-Gaza fence, near Shuja'iyya neighborhood of Gaza City, July 19, 2019. (Hassan Jedi/Flash90)

Annexation aims to cut Palestinians out of Israel’s demographic equation

Israel's West Bank plans are driven by the logic of the Gaza Disengagement: control Palestinian land while shirking responsibility for its people.

By Yehuda Shaul July 28, 2020

Former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon speeks with Benjamin Netanyahu (L) during a Knesset session. (Flash90)

The biggest myth about Israeli politics

It’s tempting to believe that non-politicians are the antidote to bad politicians, but it’s also wrong. In 2011, the Israeli pop singer Roni Superstar released a song called “Adoni” — literally “my lord,” or colloquially, “sir.” For sarcastic overtones, “His highness” will also do. Here is my free translation: “His Highness will tell me what…

By Dahlia Scheindlin April 24, 2019

Palestinian, Israeli, and foreign activists attempt to block Israeli equipment brought to prepare for the demolition of Khan al-Ahmar, July 5, 2018. (Oren Ziv/Activestills.org)

The demolition of Khan al-Ahmar is more than just a war crime

While the imminent destruction of Khan al-Ahmar is an utmost humanitarian concern and quite possibly a war crime, many are overlooking the strategic importance of this tiny hamlet for the future of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The residents of Khan al-Ahmar have spent the past several weeks waiting for Israeli bulldozers to arrive to demolish their entire village and forcibly…

By Edo Konrad July 9, 2018

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

Ehud Barak speaks at Haaretz's Israel Conference for Peace at the David InterContinental hotel in Tel Aviv, Tuesday, July 8, 2014. (Flash90)

Don’t call it a comeback: Really, please don’t come back

Ehud Barak isn’t the ‘only hope’ to defeat Netanyahu. He is, however, the most dangerous prime minister Israel has ever had. It seems Ehud Barak is planning a return to politics: posters have appeared calling on him to “run” (where exactly is unclear), and now even Haaretz columnist Gideon Levy reluctantly voiced the opinion that…

By Dimi Reider September 8, 2016

Labor chairman Isaac Herzog (Photo by Activestills.org)

Go ahead Herzog, join the coalition

The fact that the head of Israel’s opposition could soon join forces with Netanyahu may actually bode well for the Israeli Left and Palestinian citizens alike. The Israeli media has been beside itself this week with the possibility that the head of the opposition Isaac Herzog, leader of the Labor Party cum Zionist Union, may…

By Dahlia Scheindlin May 18, 2016

Labor chairman Isaac Herzog (Photo by Activestills.org)

The life and death of the Israeli peace camp

Labor Party leader Isaac Herzog is channeling the same tropes and spin Ehud Barak used to destroy the peace process 15 years ago. Will we have to wait another decade and a half for him to admit what he’s done? On a balmy evening in October of 2000, Ehud Barak, then the Israeli prime minister…

By Edo Konrad February 13, 2016

File photo of masked Israeli soldiers in Hebron. (Oren Ziv/Activestills.org)

Israelis only understand force — and it makes them angrier, polls show

New polls find that a majority of Jewish Israelis support the ‘voluntary transfer’ of West Bank Palestinians, a majority want to strip East Jerusalem Palestinians of Israeli residency. It’s true that most peace efforts followed war and violence — but not because the Israeli public wants them. Even in times of crisis, a brave leader can…

By Dahlia Scheindlin October 29, 2015

A partly constructed portion of Israel's separation wall, in Walaja, December 7, 2010 (Anne Paq/Activestills.org)

Wave of stabbings show Israel’s wall isn’t about security

If the separation barrier neither stops terrorists nor marks an actual border between Israel and Palestine, then what is it actually for? The vast majority of stabbing attacks carried out inside Israel over the past couple of weeks have been carried out by West Bank Palestinians. Most of the attackers did not have permits to…

By Michael Schaeffer Omer-Man October 11, 2015

Two caravans form a new Israeli settler outpost on land belonging to the West Bank village of Jayyous, January 28, 2013. The structures were placed just one week prior, and are already being connected to water lines from the nearby settlement Zufin. The location was likely chosen to disrupt implementation of a 2009 Israeli court decision to re-route the separation barrier, returning a portion of Jayyous's land to the other side of the fence, including the area that the outpost now occupies. (Photo by: Ryan Rodrick Beiler/Activestills.org)

The lie Israel sold the world — settlement ‘outposts’

The Israeli government’s policy proves that the outposts are effectively settlements – only you’ll never hear them being called that. “The outposts are not ‘hilltop youth.’ It is a carefully planned seizure of strategic points, the outposts have been coordinated with the prime minister.” – Adi Minz, former Yesha Council Chairman, 2004. By Yossi Gurvitz for…

By +972 Magazine April 3, 2015