land expropriation

Samuel's Tomb in the Palestinian village of Nabi Samwil, occupied West Bank, April 28, 2014. (Keren Manor/Activestills)

Israel seizing West Bank heritage sites ‘piece by piece’

The army is expropriating thousands of dunams in Sebastia and Nabi Samwil, using archaeology as a pretext to further isolate Palestinian communities.

By Shatha Yaish July 24, 2026

An Israeli soldier ignores a Palestinian woman as he protects a settler grazing cows on agricultural lands belonging to the Palestinian village of Susiya, in Masafer Yatta, January 31, 2026. (Avishay Mohar/Activestills)

Jews have historical ties to Palestine. Israel is still a settler-colonial project

The debate over origins is irrelevant to defining the nature of the Zionist regime, which is built on the dispossession and erasure of the Palestinians.

By Sleman Altehe June 10, 2026

Israeli army forces demolish Palestinian homes and property in She'ab al-Bottom in Masafer Yatta, in the West Bank, July 8, 2024. (Basel Adra/Activestills)

Our film is going to the Oscars. But here in Masafer Yatta, we’re still being erased

As the world watches ‘No Other Land,’ Israeli settlers are raiding and burning our villages while soldiers arrest us, abuse us, and demolish our homes.

By Basel Adra February 10, 2025

Latest

Palestinian residents of Kafr Laqef organize the Friday Muslim prayer on their lands to protest against the Israeli construction, December 20, 2019. (Ahmad Al-Bazz)

Settlers are seizing ‘empty’ land. The Palestinian owners are fighting back

When Israel took over Ahmad Qaddoura's land in the 1980s, it rejected his petition to stop the expropriation. Now, a nearby settlement is using the land to build a factory.

By Ahmad Al-Bazz January 7, 2020

Sheikh Sayeh Abu Madi’am in the unrecognized Bedouin village of Al-Araqib in al-Naqab, which Israeli authorities have demolished 173 times. (Oren Ziv/Activestills.org)

Sent to prison for trespassing on his own land

Israeli authorities have demolished Al-Araqib over 100 times. Before heading to prison for rebuilding and staying on his land, the village’s leader says he knows justice is on his side. “I have a good feeling I’ll be in prison alongside Netanyahu,” Sheikh Sayeh Abu Madi’am jokes, sitting in a tent in the unrecognized Bedouin village of…

By Oren Ziv December 11, 2018

Israeli border policemen detain a Palestinian man at a checkpoint in Beit Enoon, near the West Bank city of Hebron, April 4, 2016. (Wisam Hashlamoun/FLASH90)

Guess which of these human rights Israel guarantees to Palestinians

The right to equality? The right to free movement in and out of the country? How about the right to freedom from arbitrary arrest and exile? Or the right to marriage and family? By Fady Khoury Everyone on Facebook is playing a game where they post nine concerts they’ve been to and one they haven’t.…

By +972 Magazine April 29, 2017

The Shepherd Hotel in East Jerusalem’s Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood, which was seized under Israel’s Absentee Property Law, is demolished in order to build a Jewish apartment complex, January 9, 2011. (Yossi Zamir/Flash90)

This isn’t Israel’s first ‘land theft law,’ it won’t be the last

Israel has a long and rich history of using the law to dispossess Palestinians of their land. Anyone willing to see what’s taken place over the past 70 years shouldn’t feign outrage at the latest ‘land theft law.’ Congrats to the Israeli Knesset for passing the settlement “regulation law” (also known as the “normalization law”…

By Orly Noy February 8, 2017

Israeli authorities uproot olive trees in order to pave a settler bypass road, Izbat Tabib, West Bank, January 16, 2017. (Keren Manor/Activestills.org)

WATCH: Palestinians and Israelis fight land West Bank land grab

Several weeks ago, Israeli activists tried to reach the Palestinian village of Izbat Tabib to take part in protests against land confiscations. The Israeli army had decided to uproot hundreds of Palestinian olive trees in order to build a settler road. Soldiers would not let the activists’ bus pass through the checkpoint, declaring the area a closed military zone.…

By Social TV January 29, 2017

Israeli soldiers provoke Palestinian farmers and volunteers while planting olive trees and tiling soil to protest the recent Israeli military order that would confiscate about three Dunams of Palestinian private lands for 'security reasons' for the nearby settlement of Yitzhar, Asira Al-Qibliya village, near Nablus, West Bank, January 26, 2017. (Ahmad al-Bazz/Activestills.org)

PHOTOS: Palestinians plant trees to defy Israeli land confiscation

Palestinian farmers and volunteers plant olive trees to protest an Israeli military order to confiscate Palestinian land for one of the most extreme settlements in the West Bank. Photos and text by Ahmad al-Bazz / Activestills.org The Israeli army on Thursday tried to prevent some 50 Palestinian farmers and volunteers from planting olive trees and tilling…

By Activestills January 26, 2017

Riyad Abu Hanieh sits near one of his olive trees that was uprooted for the sake of building a settler-only road, near Qalqilya, West Bank, January 8, 2017. (Keren Manor/Activestills.org)

PHOTOS: Israeli authorities uproot olive trees to build settler-only road

The Nabi Elias bypass road, which will serve Israeli settlers, requires the confiscation of 25 acres of Palestinian land. Photos and text by Keren Manor / Activestills.org Civil Administration contractors accompanied by Israeli soldiers uprooted around 250 Palestinian-owned olive trees Sunday near the West Bank city of Qalqilya, as part of a larger plan to build a…

By Activestills January 8, 2017

Israeli security forces detain a Palestinian protester in Nabi Elias, where dozens of Palestinians and several Israelis protested against plans to expropriate agricultural land to build a settler-only bypass road. (Ahmad al-Bazz/Activestills.org)

WATCH: Soldiers prevent Palestinians, Israelis from protesting together

Israeli activists had hoped to join Palestinians to protest a new settler-only road that would uproot hundreds of olive trees. The Israeli army saw to that. By Ahmad al-Bazz and Haggai Matar, Photos by Ahmad al-Bazz and Keren Manor / Activestills.org The Israeli army prevented dozens of Palestinians and Israelis from protesting together against the expropriation…

By Activestills January 7, 2017

Palestinian farmers clash with Israeli settlers after they set fire to Palestinian agricultural fields in Burin village near Nablus, October 3, 2015. (Ahmad Al-Bazz/Activestills.org)

In the West Bank, even calling the fire dept. has an ethnic dimension

How does the IDF deal with brush fire? Depends whether it threatens Jewish or Palestinian property. By Yossi Gurvitz, written for Yesh Din In the beginning of May 2016, S., a resident of the West Bank village of Sur, returned to his village and immediately noticed heavy smoke billowing from his land. Normally in such…

By +972 Magazine September 10, 2016

Much of the time spent waiting in Qalandiya checkpoint is spent in narrow, fenced lanes that resemble cattle holds. (Activestills.org)

Most Israeli Jews think there’s no occupation. So what is it?

A recent poll finds that 72 percent of Jewish Israelis believe Israel’s control over the Palestinian territories does not constitute occupation. So what do you call military rule over a captive population that didn’t vote for the army to be there? Depending on who you speak to, the word “occupation” is either the most loaded…

By Natasha Soffer-Roth May 11, 2016