What we're paying attention to in Israel-Palestine

Dear Friend,

We’re just over a day into a mutual ceasefire between Hamas and Israel, and our team is taking a momentary sigh of relief. Still, we know that the ceasefire does not address the forced displacement of Palestinian families in East Jerusalem, which lies at the core of recent events in Israel-Palestine. Nor will it stop the rising tide of grassroots organizers across the region and internationally, who are mobilizing against ongoing dispossession, systemic discrimination, police violence and military atrocities.

We've been deep in the trenches. Weeks before Israeli forces rampaged through the Al-Aqsa mosque compound during prayers on the last Friday of Ramadan, we were reporting on the forcible displacement of Palestinian families in Sheikh Jarrah and the popular struggle that rose up to save the community. We tracked how Israeli forces ramped up their repression of protestors in Sheikh Jarrah and, later, at Al-Aqsa. We also covered the provocations of Jewish Israeli supremacists as they penetrated the national discourse and sent their followers into Palestinian neighborhoods of Jerusalem. Our reporting demonstrated how, at every possible opportunity for de-escalation, Israeli authorities chose violence.

The grassroots response was, against all odds, remarkable. Sheikh Jarrah became a rallying cry and united Palestinians from East Jerusalem, the West Bank, inside Israel and the Gaza Strip in one of the greatest displays of people power in the region in decades. Recognizing the weight of the moment, we published a consolidated and running list of strikes and demonstrations so that readers understood the power of the street even as politicians and military commanders dominated the headlines.

When Gaza came into the crosshairs, we ensured that Israeli and international audiences heard directly from Palestinians on the ground who were being bombed. Our Outreach Associate in Gaza, Fadi Abu Shammalah, provided powerful testimonials on BBC World Service and the Mehdi Hasan Show on MSNBC and wrote in Time Magazine about the impossible role of parenting in the midst of daily aerial bombardments. Meanwhile, Local Call (co-published with 972 Advancement of Citizen Journalism) featured a series of articles from writers and activists in Gaza, opening a space for a perspective that most Hebrew-language outlets ignored outright.

Challenging misleading media narratives and providing deeper context has been front and center in our efforts. Rula Salameh, our Education and Outreach Director in Palestine, provided crucial framing in her New York Times op-ed and Local Call contributor Rami Younis exposed the mainstream Israeli media’s incitement against Palestinian citizens of Israel. Mohammed El Kurd, the protagonist of our 2012 documentary My Neighbourhood (co-directed by Julia Bacha and Rebekah Wingert-Jabi), centered the conversation on the long history of forced displacement in the region with interviews on CNN, MSNBC, CBSN and beyond. It has been heartening to see active outreach from outlets inviting our team to speak on BBC News Persian, Al Jazeera, CNN, NPR, Democracy Now ! and more.

Meanwhile, as "mixed cities" in Israel including Haifa, Jaffa, Lydd and beyond experienced sustained terror and violence, Local Call provided context that was almost completely missed by Israeli and international reporting. Oren Ziv’s in-depth report on Lydd traced the evolution of recent events to the city’s long history of discrimination and police violence, and more recently, ultra-nationalist Jews moving to the city in large numbers. It’s within this context that Israeli police were seen colluding with radical Jewish nationalists in violence across Israel.

This has been a harrowing and painful time for many in the region, as well as those watching from afar. One silver lining has been the significant shift in discourse that we've been seeing -- from the grassroots to the international media and decision-makers -- with the conversation increasingly rooted in holding the Israeli government accountable for their policies and practices. While we have our work cut out for us, we'll be doing our small part to help sustain and support this momentum.

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Onward,

Daniel Nerenberg

Communications Associate, Just Vision