Lebanon

Palestinian men try to pass through the Qalandiya checkpoint on the last Friday of Ramadan, September 3, 2010. (Oren Ziv/Activestills.org)

Fortress Israel and the quiet dignity of Palestinian resistance

Peter Beinart’s interrogation at Ben Gurion Airport made headlines not because of his clout as a public intellectual, but thanks to the quiet dignity of Palestinian children, women and men who have endured Fortress Israel for years. I first lost my father in the heat of a Jericho summer, 20 years ago this week. He disappeared, or so it…

By Samer Badawi August 21, 2018

Palestinian citizens of Israel take part in the March of Return to the village of Lubya in northern Israel, May 6, 2014. (Oren Ziv/Activestills.org)

The Palestinian teens in Israel who dream of their own Return March

Seventy years after its residents were turned into refugees, the descendants of Saffuriya, a Palestinian village in the north, are imagining what a life of real coexistence could look like alongside the Israeli Jews who have lived there since the Nakba.

By Social TV May 4, 2018

Soldiers from the IDF's Egoz Reconnaissance Unit, which specializes in guerrilla warfare in southern Lebanon. (Illustrative photo: IDF Spokesperson/Flickr)

Another unnecessary war

The following is a prediction best left unfulfilled. Faced with the drums of war, one must remain resolute, even if there is no certainty that war will break out. Too much is at stake. And if war does not break out now, it will at a later time. It will materialize one way or another. By…

By +972 Magazine February 7, 2018

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President Donald Trump with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu prior to Trump's departure to Rome at the Ben Gurion International Airport in Tel Aviv on May 23, 2017. (Kobi Gideon/GPO)

Israel’s threats could push it into unnecessary war with Iran

Endless threats and the inclination toward a preventative strike are likely to push Israel into an arms race and a much wider and unnecessary war of attrition with Iran. By Shemuel Meir Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu are striving together to cancel the JCPOA nuclear agreement with Iran. Even Netanyahu’s new mantra, that he only…

By +972 Magazine November 13, 2017

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu looks through binoculars during his visit to the border with Syria, August 18, 2015. (Amos Ben Gershom/GPO)

As Mideast borders open, Israel is more isolated than ever

Over the past decade, Middle Eastern countries have viewed their borders as a physical obstacle. The recent warming of relations between Arab states has led to increase in trade, leaving Israel more regionally isolated than ever before. By Moran Zaga Over the last month, border crossings have opened along both the Jordan-Iraq and Iraq-Saudi Arabia…

By +972 Magazine September 18, 2017

Lebanese President Michel Aoun, September 15, 2015. (photo: Imadmhj/CC BY-SA 4.0)

Why it took Lebanon two years to elect a president

The problem with Lebanese electoral politics is far less sectarian than we are often led to believe. And you thought the American elections were a headache? By Aurélie Daher At last! The Lebanese parties finally decided on October 31 to give the country a new president, after the position had been vacant since the last…

By +972 Magazine November 3, 2016

Illustrative photo of a prisoner (Shutterstock.com)

Israel puts Palestinian prisoner advocate in administrative detention

Hasan Safadi placed under administrative detention for six months, after being accused of affiliation with an illegal organization and visiting an enemy state. Israeli authorities placed a Palestinian prisoners’ rights activist under administrative detention for six months beginning last Friday, 40 days after he was first detained and taken in for interrogation. Hasan Safadi, who…

By Edo Konrad June 13, 2016

The Beirut skyline. (Shutterstock.com)

From Haifa to Beirut: ’48 Palestinians challenge regional isolation

It is difficult to comprehend what it means for Palestinians who have only an Israeli passport to live in the Middle East, isolated from the region around them. An interview with one of a handful of activists challenging that reality by crossing seemingly forbidden borders.

By Michael Schaeffer Omer-Man February 20, 2016

Dov Yermiya. (Still from Avi Dabach's 'The Last Zionist').

Saying goodbye to Israel’s oldest dissident Zionist

He was an officer in the IDF, a supporter of a bi-national state, and fundraised money to build a school in a Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon. Until his very last day, Dov Yermiya remained a man of contradictions. By Avi Dabach Dov Yermiya, who passed away two weeks ago at the age of 101,…

By +972 Magazine February 11, 2016

Yazan Halwani, joined by local students, working on the mural of Fares in Dortmund, Germany. (Photo by Alex Volkel)

The Syrian child who became a symbol in Beirut — and Germany

Twelve-year-old Fares al-Khodor sold roses in West Beirut for five years until he was killed in an airstrike during a visit to his hometown in Syria. Touched by the massive outpouring from people who knew him in Lebanon, artist Yazan Halwani brought his memory all the way to Germany. By Avi Blecherman Yazan Halwani, a…

By +972 Magazine October 1, 2015

Protests in Lebanon demanding that the government resume trash collection in Beirut, August 29, 2015. (Joelle Hatem /CC 2.0) Demonstrators have also begun to demand an end to the sectarian nature of their government.

Five years on: Why the Arab Spring is here to stay — and win

Despite highly destructive counter-revolutionary forces like a-Sisi in Egypt and ISIL in Iraq and Syria, there are grassroots movements across the region demanding governments that serve the people — all of the people. By Yoav Haifawi* On Friday, August 28, 2015, demonstrators in southern and central Iraq (those parts of the country not under “Islamic…

By +972 Magazine September 16, 2015

An Israeli soldier holds a drone. Israeli corporations have benefited as the government has poured money into developing security and defense systems. (IDF CC BY-NC 2.0)

How the IDF’s hi-tech revolution cheapens Palestinian lives

The IDF is developing new technology that will eventually cut down on the need for soldiers to go to the front lines. What does this mean for the Palestinians whose lives will hang on the decision of a machine? The Israeli army is optimistic that there will be no need for soldiers to be stationed…

By Natasha Roth-Rowland June 3, 2015

Soldiers from the IDF's Egoz Reconnaissance Unit, which specializes in guerrilla warfare in southern Lebanon. (Illustrative photo: IDF Spokesperson/Flickr)

Israel sells its story on a new Lebanon war, and the ‘Times’ bites

If you’re going to publish ominous warnings portending the killing of scores of civilians, shouldn’t you verify the grounds and ask why? In an article published on the New York Times website today, Israel sells the author, Isabel Kershner, the pretense for its next war: its claims that Hezbollah has dramatically beefed up its military infrastructure along Israel’s…

By Noa Yachot May 13, 2015