Creating new perspectives since 2009
Items by Jessica Purkiss
-
International Day of Rage against ethnic cleansing of Bedouin
On Saturday, protests were held worldwide in global defiance of a bill currently going through Israel’s Knesset. The bill, known as the Prawer Plan, aims to forcibly relocate up to 70,000 Bedouin into Israeli government regulated towns and cities. In an act of solidarity with the Bedouin communities, thousands of…
-
Christmas greetings from Bethlehem
The festive season has begun. In Bethlehem, a large Christmas tree stands tall in Manger Square. The tree is a gift to the Palestinians from USAID, the lead US government agency primarily responsible for administering civilian foreign aid. Just five minutes down the road, in Aida Refugee Camp, clashes between…
-
Israel steps up its assassination policy in West Bank
Bashir Habanin’s house is full of the things he has made. As a professor of Décor at Khadoury Technical College in Tulkarem, West Bank, he was always making furniture to decorate the home he shared with his parents and siblings. On 7 November, after leaving his job at the college,…
-
Palestinian Christians in the Holy Land
In the Palestinian Christian village of Iqrit, only the church was left standing. On Christmas Eve 1951, Israeli troops destroyed the village. The houses were turned to rubble and the residents scattered. “Choosing Christmas Eve to demolish our village holds religious connotations; they wanted to insinuate that this land is…
-
Settlement construction rose by 130% in 2013
As people across the world welcome in the New Year, they will also reflect on the year just past. For Palestine and Israel, 2013 was a year that saw the resumption of “peace talks”. The US-brokered talks are projected to continue until April 2014, at the end of which Secretary…
-
Dutch business giants join boycott, causing Israel concern
In the wake of the recent termination of cooperation with Israeli companies linked to settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories by three Dutch business giants, Dutch Foreign Minister Frans Timmermans has declared that the Netherlands rejects boycotts and sanctions against Israel. Despite Israel being responsible for the settlements and the…
-
With their husbands behind bars, Palestinian women find new ways of becoming pregnant
As 26 families celebrate the recent return of their sons, brothers and fathers from Israeli jails, Hana al Za’ani is awaiting an arrival of a different kind from her home in Beit Hanoun, Gaza. The former prisoners were the second group of releases authorized by Israel as a “gesture” in…