unarmed resistance

Mohammed Khatib, a Palestinian activist, is carried by the crowd celebrating in front of the Modiin Illit settlement following last week's moving of a section of the Separation Wall from lands belonging to the West Bank village of Bil'in, near Ramallah, July 1st, 2011. The village has started holding regular protests against the building of the Separation Wall on its lands and the occupation since 2005. Anne Paq / Activestills.org

Popular resistance in Palestine: Decline and hope for change

A decade ago popular protests against the separation wall, settlements, and occupation were the great promise of the Palestinian struggle. Now a new book takes a look at why these demonstrations were never actually able to bring out the Palestinian masses to the streets, and what activists can learn for the future. By Thimna Bunte…

By +972 Magazine March 7, 2016

A young Palestinian is seen injured during a protest against the wall in Bilin, april 2004 (photo: Anne Paq/Activestills)

‘The New York Times’ investigates a Palestinian hobby

You thought Palestinians throw stones because of the occupation? Think again. The New York Times on Sunday published one of its most out-of-context items from the West Bank in recent years – and it has published many of them. The piece consists of a study of “the culture of stone-throwing,” which apparently has become part of…

By Noam Sheizaf August 5, 2013

Palestinian youth throw stones near Ofer Military Prison [illustrative], May 15, 2012 (Oren Ziv/Activestills.org)

Settlers accuse ‘Haaretz’ of calling for violence against them

Fallout from Amira Hass’s article on Palestinian stone-throwing shows that as far as Israelis are concerned, any and every form of resistance against the occupation is illegitimate. The Yesha Council – the regional council for West Bank settlements, which operates also as the settlers’ political and lobbying arm – filed a complaint with the Jerusalem Police…

By Noam Sheizaf April 3, 2013

Latest

Reframing non-violent resistance: An act of moral piracy

When we allow non-violence to be distorted as illegitimate, we fail to uphold our most cherished principles. It is not a strange phenomenon for morality to be the object of contestation. Competing groups often battle for the moral high ground when presenting their case to the outside world in a customary appeal for support. Far…

By Omar H. Rahman January 10, 2012

Naksa Day demonstration, Qalandiya checkpoint. Photo by Anne Paq/Activestills.org

Rhetoric, reality and Twitter in the West Bank

Twitter is changing the nature of breaking news from West Bank demonstrations. It is exposing Israel’s heavy handed crowd control methods which often break the army’s own internal codes of conduct. Naturally, some so called ‘supporters of Israel’ are having a hard time rationalizing Israel’s behaviour, therefore attacking Twitter users as biased, misinformed or even…

By Joseph Dana June 6, 2011

WATCH: Private Israeli security guard attacks protesters with live fire

Israeli private security opens live fire on unarmed Israeli and Palestinians demonstrators. Army arrives and throws tear gas on the demonstrators. This morning, roughly 40 unarmed Palestinians among with four Israelis, held a demonstration at an illegal Israeli quarry built on the land of the villages of Ni’ilin and Budrus. As the demonstrators approached the quarry they could see an Israeli…

By Joseph Dana June 4, 2011

Taking on Thomas Friedman over unarmed resistance

Thomas Friedman of the New York Times published an opinion piece last week in which he argued that the Palestinians need to embrace unarmed resistance. I wrote a letter to the Times gently telling Mr. Friedman that the Palestinian have already begun to embrace unarmed resistance. The New York Times did not publish the letter. Reading Thomas…

By Joseph Dana June 1, 2011

The West Bank Village of Nabi Saleh Covered in Tear Gas on International Human Rights. Photo: Joseph Dana

Disconnect: Int’l Human Rights Day in Tel Aviv versus the W. Bank

Before the first heavy rains hit Israel yesterday, thousands people gathered in central Tel Aviv to mark international Human Rights Day. The occasion brought together various Israeli NGOs and thousands of concerned citizens in the spirit of presenting a face of Israel that supports human rights and progressive values. Placards were carried through the streets…

By Joseph Dana December 11, 2010

What Haaretz expose on High-Velocity Tear Gas Projectiles lacked

Haaretz is reporting today something which has been known for weeks, the IDF has illegally reintroduced high-velocity tear gas canisters to their arsenal of weapons used to crush weekly Palestinian non-violent demonstrations in the West Bank. This is in violation of the IDF’s own directives that such tear gas canisters should not be used in West…

By Joseph Dana December 8, 2010