A Testament of Human Resilience
The sun has not yet risen on Eyal checkpoint in the northwestern city of Qalqilya.
Already hundreds of Palestinians queue up and wait to cross into Israel and begin the workweek.
In the coming hours, roughly four thousand Palestinians from the Qalqilya region and the northern West Bank will pass through the encaged L-shaped corral, through the single turnstile all destined for work in Israel’s cities and towns.
Prisoners for Peace
On Tuesday August 13th, 26 “low risk” Palestinian prisoners were released to their families by the Israeli government, a “gesture of good faith” made by Israeli Primer Minster Netanyahu to President Abbas amidst the peace talks that are set to resume in Jerusalem on Wednesday.
These kinds of prisoner releases have been commonplace in the years preceding the landmark Oslo agreement-each event garnering massive media attention and the reiteration of a narrative of Israeli benevolence and victimization.
A Second Nakba?
August 1, 2013: Thousands gathered throughout Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories in protest of the Prawer Plan and the displacement of approximately 40,000 Bedouin in the Negev region of Israel.
A “day of rage” was called and demonstrations were held in both northern and southern Israel as well as the Gaza strip, Ramallah, and East Jerusalem.
Clashes broke out in the contested capital as protestors marched from Damascus gate through the Palestinian neighborhoods of East Jerusalem and back to the entrance of the Old City.
Occupied Bodies
Since 1967 Israel has maintained an unofficial policy of detaining Palestinian and Arab war victims in mass graves and cemeteries.
Today at last 348 bodies are held prisoner by the Israeli government their families unable to retrieve their remains.