palestine
Gaza's Graveyards for The Living: Now Flooded with Sewage Water
There are now at least 900 tunnels operating between Gaza and Egypt. That flourishing business is a distressing signal of Gaza’s economic isolation. To work in these tunnels is considered the most dangerous job in Gaza. It's known as “the trade of...
Open Hillel Campaign Stirs the Pot on BDS-Jewish Relations
There’s a saying within the American Jewish community, a common self-effacing in-joke: “For every three Jews, you’ll find four opinions.” Far from being just a way to draw a cute yuck during an open mic night your local shul, the joke harkens back to a...
Religiosity Is Killing in Mississippi
Fifty-eight percent of Mississippi's residents describe themselves as “very religious.” The state also lays claim to both the highest teen birthrate and the highest HIV rate in young adults. In this experience we call life, there are plenty of...
'The Gatekeepers' Is the Most Boring Movie You Should See This Year
'The Gatekeepers' is an astonishingly boring film that you should probably see. Astonishingly boring because people make interesting documentaries about such boring shit that it has become part of the strategy to presume your lack of interest and turn...
The Director of 'The Gatekeepers' Talks About Israel's Terrifying Security State
'The Gatekeepers' was shown in festivals to widespread acclaim last year but hasn’t been widely available in the US until this month, so I thought it would be a good time to talk to Dror Moreh about his film, the settlers, and Israel’s best hopes for...
Dov Hikind Hates Judith Butler and Loves Israel
Dov Hikind was in his element in front of Brooklyn College, the idyllic school that is now ground zero for a raging controversy over academic freedom. Brooklyn's state assemblyman, an alumnus of the school, was sputtering mad at Brooklyn College for...
I Couchsurfed with Settlers in the Holy Land
A couple of months ago, my friend was on a rant (albeit, a very coherent one) about how CouchSurfing's website supports Zionism by allowing settlers in the West Bank to list their location as "Judea and Samaria"—the Israeli name for most of the...
The Israeli Election: Settlers Are Here to Stay
All the Israelis I spoke to wanted more of the West Bank for themselves, weirdly.
Living the American Dream in the West Bank
Prospective settlers of Hashmonaim receive a handy FAQ sheet: “Is this area over the ‘Green Line?’ ” reads one question. “Geographically and tax-wise, yes,” the sheet explains. But because it’s guarded by armed men and the Israeli government sanctions...
Bab al-Shams: The Short Life of a Palestinian Settlement
On Friday morning, a small group of Palestinians drove up into the hills between Jerusalem and the large Jewish settlement of Maale Adumim. By Friday around lunchtime, they had announced to the world that the village of Bab al-Shams had been...
Christmas in Palestine
I spent Christmas in Bethlehem, Christ's birthplace, first in the international tourist hotspot of Manger Square, then in the hills surrounding it where there's fewer Nativity scenes and more posters honoring Palestinian martyrs and Fatah graffiti.
George Bush and Tony Blair Are Officially War Criminals
We talked to the commissioner of the Kuala Lumpur War Crimes Commission, which, unlike the International Criminal Court in the Hague, has found George W. Bush and Tony Blair responsible for crimes against peace.