Sawsan Khalife'

Recent Articles

Illustrative photo of an Israeli riot police officer giving orders to an Arab woman in Umm el-Fahm. (Nati Shohat/FLASH90)

Conditional rights, conditional citizenship

Palestinian citizens of Israel have never known what it means to be welcome citizens in the country of their birth. In a much-discussed video message to Palestinian citizens of Israel last week, Prime Minister Netanyahu lauded the achievements of Arabs in the arts, business, politics and the legal world. “Israel is strong because of our…

By Sawsan Khalife' August 1, 2016

Israeli left-wing activists march to protest the recent incitement against "Breaking the Silence" and other left wing NGOs, in central Tel Aviv, December 19, 2015. (photo: Oren Ziv/Activestills.org)

Why the state won’t be able to break Breaking the Silence

The state’s attempt to bring down one of Israel’s most important anti-occupation organizations may backfire in a big way. An Israeli court is set to decide next week whether the Israeli anti-occupation organization Breaking the Silence will be forced to reveal the identity of a soldier whose anonymous testimony raised suspicions of war crimes. By…

By Sawsan Khalife' May 20, 2016

Hanan al-Hroub. (YouTube screenshot)

Palestinian teacher wins $1M prize while West Bank colleagues strike

Hanan al-Hroub wins global teaching prize worth one million dollars at the height of a mass strike by Palestinian teachers for higher salaries and better terms. Hanan al-Hroub, a Palestinian teacher from Bethlehem, won $1 million for her work promoting nonviolence through learning on Sunday night. Al-Hroub, who teaches in both the West Bank city…

By Sawsan Khalife' March 14, 2016

The anti-occupation protest proceeds along Route 60 in the West Bank, November 27, 2015. (Mustafa Bader/Activestills.org)

Why Palestinians aren’t standing up for Israeli leftists

The Israeli Left with which most Palestinians are familiar speaks the same language as the Right — of segregation and safeguarding a racist regime. The ‘other Left’ needs to develop a new discourse, and we should all hope it succeeds. The Left in Israel has been subject to what appears to be a serious and…

By Sawsan Khalife' January 18, 2016

Israeli police forces at a checkpoint restrict Palestinians from entering Jerusalem's Old City, October 6, 2015. (Yotam Ronen/Activestills.org)

The heavy price of segregation and occupation

In Jerusalem nowadays, Palestinians stay on the east side, Israelis on the west, and Netanyahu’s right-wing government is smack in the middle racking up political points. Much of the violence taking place at the moment begs the question: who actually benefits from the occupation? We know it’s not the Palestinians, and it’s definitely not the…

By Sawsan Khalife' October 9, 2015

‘What’s the number of your room, child?’

Attacking and imprisoning Palestinian children has shaped Palestinian generations for decades. The more rights-deprived the childhood, the more hungry for freedom adulthood will be. By Sawsan Khalife’ In this video (around the six-minute mark), an Israeli soldier is seen chasing a Palestinian child with a broken arm during the weekly demonstration held in Nabi Saleh in…

By Sawsan Khalife' August 29, 2015

Israeli soldiers blindfold and arrest a young Palestinian man in Hebron. (photo: Activestills.org)

Administrative detention being used to push controversial ‘terror law’

A new bill that paves the way for putting Israeli citizens in administrative detention could one day affect activists, human rights workers, and Palestinian citizens of Israel. By Sawsan Khalife’ A week after the Shin Bet recommended that Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon sign off on administrative detention for two Jewish Israelis following the attack in the…

By Sawsan Khalife' August 16, 2015