It has become clear that the Christian presence in the Holy Land is in grave danger from Jewish fundamentalists empowered by the new Israeli government.

Jerusalem has emerged as a second front in Israel’s counterinsurgency strategy, prompting Itamar Ben-Gvir to ramp up the Israeli state’s never-ending war on the city and its people.

Events in Jerusalem over the past few days show that Ben Gvir’s declared war on East Jerusalem has already begun, as Israeli authorities crack down on Palestinians across the city.

Phil Weiss speaks to Matthew Teller about his new book, Nine Quarters of Jerusalem: A New Biography of the Old City.

The next escalation is already here. 

It feels very different from previous cycles of resistance and repression, as if Palestine is on the brink of something closer to an uprising.

While the many possible futures of Palestinian resistance remain formless and kaleidoscopic, the colonial constant ensures that resistance will have a future.

Two Palestinians were shot and killed by Israeli forces in separate events in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem. Israeli forces shot and killed 20-year-old Aref Lahlouh was shot and killed near the city of Qalqilya in the West Bank, claiming that he attempted to stab soldiers. 17-year-old Mohammad Ali was killed during confrontations in the Shu’fat refugee camp.

2022 was the deadliest year for Palestinians living under Israeli occupation in decades. We kept a record of all those who were killed by Israeli state and settler violence. These are their names, faces, and stories.

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.

Human rights defender and lawyer Salah Hammouri was deported from his homeland on December 18, after the Israeli government revoked his Jerusalem residency under the Israeli “breach of loyalty” law.

It is only a matter of time before the Israeli military and security apparatus unleashes its next wave of collective punishment in response to the Jerusalem twin bombings. We are merely waiting before the calm inevitably gives way to the storm.