Al Jazeera English, March 26, 2011 It was Egypt that got me thinking about the Boycott Divestment Sanctions (BDS) movement in a serious way. I was already conducting a quiet targeted boycott of settlement goods—silently reading labels at the grocery store to make sure I wasn’t buying anything that came from over the Green Line. …
Souciant, March 17, 2011 It was cold outside and pouring rain. The cafe was packed, upstairs and down. “It’s really a commune here, huh?” the woman next to me said as I sat down. I smiled, nodded, and asked if it would annoy her if I plugged my laptop in. The wire would run right …
Tablet, March 11, 2011 On a Friday night, Filipino congregants are praying in a tiny, unmarked church tucked off a nameless alley in south Tel Aviv. The church is one room, with wood laminate floors and plastic chairs. Burgundy banners read “Elohim” and “Yahweh” in Roman letters. A Star of David made of spoons hangs …
Al Jazeera English, March 11, 2011 Yafit Cohen is a wife and mother of four – her youngest child is just a few months old. Cohen makes her way up the stairs, slowly, easing her baby carriage around a gaping hole. “Watch out,” she says to me. I look down. I can easily imagine her …
Guernica, March 8, 2011 This morning, I woke to the news that a woman had been stabbed to death in South Tel Aviv. Two men—dubbed migrant workers by the Hebrew press, but referred to as “African descent” in the English-language media, suggesting they were probably asylum seekers—were briefly held under suspicion for the crime. They …
Al Jazeera English, March 7, 2011 Last week, as Israeli president Shimon Peres was calling a South Tel Aviv school to congratulate it for its role in Oscar-winning documentary, the state was preparing to expel 120 of the school’s students, including a twelve-year-old girl who starred in the film. “Strangers No More” was produced and …
Mondoweiss, February 28, 2011 The Huffington Post, February 28, 2011 It’s big news here in Israel that “Strangers No More“– a documentary film that focuses on a South Tel Aviv school attended by zarim, Hebrew for foreigners or strangers–has won an Oscar. “Thank you most of all to the exceptional immigrant and refugee children from …
Al Jazeera English, February 25, 2011 Siham Monder was 14 when Syrian residents of the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights took to the streets for a strike and protests that spanned six solid months of 1982. “Now I’m 43,” Monder says. “And I remember that every day in that period there was a conflict with the [Israeli …
Al Jazeera English, February 6, 2011 As Egyptians take to the streets to demand their freedom, I ask a Muslim in Yafo if we’ll see the same in Israel. “I don’t think so,” he answers. “Even with all the mess here, we have democracy.” Do we? And for how much longer? As we speak, the …
Al Jazeera English, January 31, 2011 As massive protests rocked neighboring Egypt, the Sunday edition of a popular Hebrew-language daily announced the arrival of “the New Middle East.” While most Israelis aren’t ready to make such bold claims, they’re keeping a close eye on Egypt, watching with a mixture of excitement, admiration, uncertainty, and fear. …