What we're paying attention to in Israel-Palestine

Dear Friend,

We’re just weeks past Israeli elections and several days past Palestinian Authority President Abbas' decision to indefinitely postpone Palestinian legislative elections. One thing is clear: the status quo has further cemented and the space for new and dissenting voices is increasingly hemmed in.

One of the most consequential stories coming out of the region in recent weeks has been the harrowing ethno-national violence in Jerusalem. We examined the backdrop of the unrest, including Israel’s decision to ban Palestinians from gathering on the Damascus Gate steps during Ramadan. As Palestinians protested the decision and Israeli police responded with force, members of the Jewish supremacist group Lehava, bolstered by representatives now sitting in the Knesset, gathered in large numbers with the stated goal to attack Palestinians and leftists. Local Call editor, Orly Noy, was on the ground to provide a first-person narrative of the disturbing night.

Events at Damascus Gate can’t be delinked from ongoing Israeli policies to displace Palestinians in East Jerusalem and beyond. Israeli settlers, while running their own agenda, are increasingly used as a tool of dispossession by the Israeli government in places like Sheikh Jarrah and Silwan in Jerusalem and the South Hebron Hills in the West Bank.

At the same time, we continue to cover grassroots responses to COVID’s impact in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, even as PA President Mahmoud Abbas deepened his authoritarian hold of the online space before indefinitely postponing legislative elections. Stories about the Falha agricultural initiative show how women are supporting their communities during the pandemic by drawing on legacies of agricultural resistance. Meanwhile, community volunteers and non-profits are filling a rising need for eldercare within Palestinian cities.

And late last week, after a religious festival in northern Israel turned into a deadly stampede, Oren Ziv of Local Call was on the ground recording first-person testimonials and providing analysis about leaders' attempts to shirk responsibility. We also provided perspective from within the ultra-Orthodox community from our own Penina Pfeuffer, who expressed dismay about how her religious and political representatives snubbed health and safety regulations as they prepared for the annual event.

Finally, as Israel and the international community grapple with the implications of Human Rights Watch’s 213-page report determining that the Israeli government is guilty of the crime of apartheid, our partners at +972 Magazine are putting into context why HRW is joining other grassroots and international rights organizations to level this charge now.

We’re also commemorating seven years since we launched Local Call -- our Hebrew-language news outlet dedicated to covering stories of civil and human rights issues facing diverse communities across Israel-Palestine (co-founded and co-published with 972-Advancement of Citizen Journalism). Follow Just Vision on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter to catch Local Call highlights and, if you read Hebrew, follow Local Call directly and subscribe to our newsletter.

Onward,

Daniel Nerenberg

Communications Associate, Just Vision