The new Israeli government shows that Zionism is finally a nightmare for Jews. Israeli leftwingers report that they are “under attack,” “afraid,” and blacklisted, and that anti-occupation activists will be subject to violence of the sort Palestinians have always faced. And the “Reform movement is enemy number one” for the new government.

The Israeli colonial regime dominates every aspect of Palestinians’ lives — and in many cases, even after they die. Those who dare to resist are arrested, tortured, or summarily executed, and the indignities they suffer in life extend into their death, manifested in one of Israel’s most morbid colonial practices: withholding the bodies of the slain. 

The smear campaign against UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese is the latest in a pattern of attacks aimed at silencing criticism of Israel and undermining the work of the United Nations.

“Light in Gaza: Writings out of Fire” is a hopeful gift from Gaza, reminding us that all of Israel’s power has not, and will not, defeat the Palestinian will to rise and the determination to create a new society where all can thrive.  

This holiday season as people around the world enjoy one of the most basic human rights of worshiping and observing their religion in the manner they see fit, it will come as no surprise that many Palestinians living under Israeli domination will not be able to do the same.

Last week, His Beatitude Theophilos III, Greek Patriarch of Jerusalem, led the annual interfaith lighting of a Christmas tree inside Jerusalem’s Jaffa Gate. The lighting this year took place at the Imperial Hotel, a Greek Orthodox property that Israeli settlers sought to occupy earlier this year.

“This simple ceremony of the lighting of a tree shows us the way and shines as a sign of hope in the darkness,” he said. For Palestinians, the celebration of Christmas—on town squares, in churches, and in homes—is itself a creative act of nonviolent resistance.

In two reports from Israel, NPR’s Daniel Estrin interviews three Jewish Israelis about the conflict and Zero Palestinians and characterizes the outgoing government as “liberal” when it killed hundreds of Palestinians this year. Estrin also grants prominence to fears about the new government banning soccer games on Saturday. Such reporting, based entirely inside the Israeli Jewish experience, reflects anti-Palestinian framing and ought to be an embarrassment to any mainstream American outlet.

Kairos Palestine, the most extensive Palestinian Christian ecumenical movement, hosted 180 participants in the West Bank town of Beit Sahour for its 13th annual international conference.

Suad Amiry’s new novel takes us into the intimate lives of its Palestinian protagonists before 1948, offering a fresh take on the Nakba’s tumultuous events and the decades that followed it.

Every year thousands of Christians from around the world travel to Bethlehem to celebrate Christmas. But just 46 miles away, an entire community of Palestinian Christians is banned from traveling to the city, even for the holidays.