mixed cities

Construction in the city of Lod, central Israel, July 13, 2024. (Yossi Aloni/Flash90)

In the name of ‘urban renewal,’ Israel is trampling Lod’s 2,000-year-old heritage

The municipality is encouraging real estate sharks to tear up the city’s history in order to build towers that will likely drive out Palestinian residents.

By Tawfiq Da'adli December 22, 2025

Palestinians inspect the rubble of a building destroyed by Israeli warplanes, in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, October 8, 2023. (Abed Rahim Khatib/Flash90)

We’re facing unprecedented horror. Why is Biden adding fuel to the fire?

With the climate in Israel-Palestine reviving the fears of May 2021, the U.S. should be preventing further massacres, not allowing Israel to take revenge.

By Rami Younis October 9, 2023

Religious Israeli Jews visit the Old City of Akka, July 7, 2021. (Nati Shohat/Flash90)

Religious Zionists want to Judaize Akka. Palestinians are pushing back

Like other ‘mixed cities,’ Akka has long been a target of right-wing Jewish groups wanting to break up Palestinian communities across the country.

By Baker Zoubi June 12, 2023

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Israeli police arrest Palestinian citizens as armed settlers and police forces patrol the city of Lod/Lyd, May 13, 2021. (Oren Ziv/Activestills)

How Akka’s Palestinians fought back against Israel’s mass arrest campaign

Israeli police launched a repressive operation against Palestinian citizens following last year's violence in 'mixed cities.' Abandoned by local leaders, activists built their own initiatives to support detainees and their families.

By Vera Sajrawi November 28, 2022

Screenshot from 'Testimonies from Jaffa/Lydda - May 2021.'

FILM: Palestinians in ‘mixed cities’ recount the horrors of May 2021

In a series of testimonies, Palestinians from Jaffa and Lydd recount the terrifying days when settler and police violence overwhelmed their cities.

By +972 Magazine May 19, 2022

Palestinian Bedouin in the Naqab/Negev, protest on Road 31 near the village of Sawe al-Atrash, against an afforestation plan carried out by the Jewish National Fund (JNF), January 13, 2022. (Oren Ziv)

What’s behind the Israeli right’s renewed war on Palestinian citizens?

Having moved on from its failed bid to formally annex the West Bank, the Israeli right has trained its sights back on an old target.

By Meron Rapoport February 10, 2022

Israeli right wingers take part in the 'flag march' in the city of Lydd, December 5, 2021. (Oren Ziv)

Israeli settlers have a new target, and it’s not in the West Bank

A march by Jewish extremists in Lydd is a fresh reminder that the far right is intent on showing Palestinian citizens in ‘mixed cities’ who is in charge.

By Samah Salaime December 9, 2021

Over 150 Jews and Arabs attend the first-ever pride event in the mixed city of Lod, central Israel, July 26, 2018. (Oren Ziv/Activestills.org)

Mixed city holds Israel’s first ever Jewish-Arab pride event

Thursday’s event is the first pride event ever to include a speech by an Arab MK. ‘We cannot demand respect while disparaging the other. It is impossible to fight for my equality and not for that of others,’ MK Issawi Frej told the crowd. Over 150 members of the LGBTQ community and their supporters took part in a joint…

By Haggai Matar July 27, 2018

Palestinian resident of Lydd, Amad Abu Sharah, after he was attacked in the early hours of the morning, allegedly by religious Jews. (photo: ledawy.net)

Palestinian citizen attacked in suspected hate crime

Amad Abu Sharah was walking home from morning prayers when he was allegedly jumped by a group of men with sticks. (See update below) Amad Abu Sharah, a Palestinian citizen and activist from Lydd (Lod in Hebrew), was attacked in the early hours of Sunday morning at the entrance to his house on his way…

By Samah Salaime August 2, 2015

Hannah al-Naqib (right) as Israeli authorities demolish her home in Lod, February 10, 2015. (Photo by Oren Ziv/Activestills.org)

Demolishing Arab women’s homes is the easy way out

What are Arab citizens expected to do when the city only builds for Jews, and why do single mothers almost always pay the price? (Translated from Hebrew by Eppie Bat Ilan) On the surface, it was just another illegal dwelling demolished in the city of Lyd (“Lod” in Hebrew). The image of a violence, crime-ridden…

By Samah Salaime February 18, 2015

Israeli police officers stand guard as the home of Hana al-Nakib and her four children is demolished, in the city of Lod, February 10, 2015. (Yotam Ronen/Activestills.org)

Home demolitions: A reminder that the Nakba never ended

The destruction of Hanaa’ al-Naqib’s home in Lydd this week is a reminder that Israel’s dispossession of Palestinians didn’t end in 1948 — it has simply taken on new forms. We could hear the wailing all the way from the entrance to the besieged neighborhood. It was a heartbreaking sound. We quietly make our way…

By Rami Younis February 13, 2015

Israeli scouts protest against a far-right demonstration in Jaffa. (photo: Mati Milstein)

Jews, Arabs work to resist racist municipal election campaign

In the face of a nationalistic mayoral campaign by the local Likud chapter, a group of Jews and Arabs in Karmiel choose to focus on eliminating gaps, building public housing and creating a city where everyone can live together as equals. By Dov Caller and Alan Traister “If the Arabs keep coming, Jews will leave…

By +972 Magazine October 11, 2013

A matter of choice: Why optimism is integral to anti-occupation activism

Often times pessimism is caused by choosing to remain a spectator, and pretending to remain powerless instead of taking responsibility and deciding to act according to what one believes. But what does this mean, and how do you do it? By Tom Pessah In a recent +972 post, Noam Sheizaf wrote that “there is something…

By +972 Magazine December 12, 2012