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Israeli soldiers, settlers and Palestinian demonstrators during a protest against Israeli settlement building in Al-Thaalaba village, near Yatta, August 21, 2020. (Wissam Hashlamoun/Flash90)

Why Israel’s goal of pacifying the Palestinians is failing

Israel relies on a counterinsurgency strategy of economic gestures and local policing to stabilize its rule. But growing resistance shows why it can't prevail.

By Nur Arafeh February 16, 2023

Jenin governor Akram Rajoub in his office, West Bank, September 2022. (Yuval Abraham)

‘We built the Palestinian Authority with blood. We won’t give up on it’

As armed confrontations escalate in Jenin, Governor Akram Rajoub addresses criticisms of the PA's failures as a government under Israeli occupation.

By Yuval Abraham September 26, 2022

Palestinians look at a car with bullet holes after Israeli security forces killed three Palestinians who were allegedly behind recent shooting attacks against Israeli soldiers and civilians, Nablus, occupied West Bank, February 8, 2022. (Nasser Ishtayeh/Flash90)

Triple West Bank assassination recalls darkest days of the Intifada

A joint report with The Intercept and Local Call investigates how Israeli forces carried out what appears to be their first assassination in the West Bank in 15 years, after they killed three Palestinian militants in Nablus.

By Jesse Rosenfeld, Oren Ziv and Ahmad Al-Bazz February 15, 2022

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(L to R) Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat, U.S. President Bill Clinton, Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, and Jordanian King Hussein bin Talal at the White House after signing the Oslo II Agreements, Sept. 28, 1995. (Avi Ohayon/GPO)

The colonial idea that built the Palestinian Authority

Israel tried for years to create a body that would control Palestinians on its behalf. It was the liberation movement's leaders that helped it succeed.

By Tariq Dana July 25, 2021

Palestinians take part in a protest following the death of Palestinian activist Nizar Banat who died a short time after being arrested by Palestinian Authority force, in the West Bank city of Ramallah, June 24, 2021. (Flash90)

As protests grow, the PA turns its repression on Palestinian journalists

Journalists report being targeted with violent assaults, phone theft, and verbal threats amidst the Palestinian Authority's crackdown on West Bank protests.

By Dima Abumaria July 6, 2021

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas delivers a speech regarding the Middle East peace plan, at the Palestinian Authority headquarters, in the West Bank city of Ramallah, January 28, 2020. (Flash90)

The Palestinian leadership chooses captivity

Devoid of strategy, the PA has returned to its role as a subcontractor of the occupation. Luckily, the richest source of Palestinian power is in its grassroots.

By Amjad Iraqi November 21, 2020

Border police officer stands in front of Palestinian as they wait to cross from Qalandiya checkpoint outside Ramallah, West Bank, into Jerusalem to attend the Ramadan Friday Prayer in the Al-Aqsa Mosque, July 26, 2013. Photo by: Yotam Ronen/Activestills.org

Israel’s problem isn’t Palestinian nationalism — it’s Palestinians themselves

Most of the circumstances that made the Israeli-Palestinian conflict ripe for resolution — or at least made the peace process attractive to both parties — have all but disappeared over the past decade. Many Israelis were likely happy to read The New Yorker article titled “The End of This Road: The Decline of the Palestinian National Movement” earlier…

By Noam Sheizaf August 20, 2017

Palestinian demonstration for the release of prisoners, Ofer military prison (photo: Activestills)

How the hunger strike could bring Palestinian prisoners back to the fore

The fixation on Barghouti’s op-ed bio distracts from the strike’s impact on Palestinians, which is as much about restoring political direction as it is about attaining prisoners’ rights. In 2015, the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) created the “Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners.” Nicknamed after the renowned South African leader who spent…

By Amjad Iraqi April 20, 2017

The father of Basel al-Araj says a last goodbye to his son as he is buried, Al Walaja, West Bank, March 16, 2017. (Activestills.org)

PHOTOS: Thousands mourn Palestinian killed by Israeli army

Palestinians from across the West Bank flock to the village of Al-Walaja to pay their final respects to Basel al-Araj, who was killed by the Israeli army last week near Ramallah. Photos and text by Anne Paq and Faiz Abu Rmeleh/Activestills.org Thousands of Palestinians came from across the West Bank on March 16 to attend the funeral…

By Activestills March 19, 2017

Palestinian workers stand in line next to a portion of the separation wall, waiting to cross through the checkpoint in Bethlehem into Israel, November 11, 2009. (Miriam Alster/Flash90)

New entry law a reminder that Palestinians live in Israel’s prison

The reality in the West Bank is one that resembles a prison, where the prisoners are held for as long as humanly possible. Their release will carry a price — and Israelis are not willing to pay it. The Knesset passed a law Monday night denying entry visas or residency rights to foreign nationals who call for boycotts against Israel or the…

By Noam Sheizaf March 7, 2017

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas seen during the funeral ceremony for Shimon Peres, Mount Herzl, Jerusalem, September 30, 2016. (Emil Salman/Flash90)

Israelis will pay the price for shunning Palestine’s Shimon Peres

One day Mahmoud Abbas, who suppresses his own people to protect Israelis, will also pass away. That’s when the Palestinian pressure cooker will explode. Arabs and Jews in Israel, Palestine, and the Arab world at large, I promise you that next time Shimon Peres dies, Joint List head Ayman Odeh and the rest of the Joint…

By Samah Salaime October 9, 2016

Israeli soldiers search Palestinians in the West Bank city of Hebron, September 19 2016. (Wisam Hashlamoun/Flash90)

Dear Israelis, how would you like your Palestinian?

When the Israeli establishment prevents Palestinians on either side of the Green Line from struggling nonviolently, what other options are left? So what do all these Arabs do when they aren’t willing to bow before the establishment? The last few days have provided a slew or examples of the Zionist establishment’s attempts to mold the Palestinian…

By Rami Younis September 22, 2016

Members of the Palestinian Presidential Guard in a motorcade in Bethlehem, March 22, 2013. (Oren Ziv/Activestills.org)

The fiction of autonomy in Ramallah is making the occupation stronger

A nearly averted shootout outside Abbas’s house in Ramallah has led to renewed talks about restoring Palestinian autonomy in parts of the West Bank. But outside the framework of a peace process, such steps only help the occupation endure. Israeli and Palestinian security forces came dangerously close to a direct, armed confrontation in late December…

By Michael Schaeffer Omer-Man April 6, 2016