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.
In the weeks after Shireen was killed, and in the face of countless efforts to discredit them, their experience, and their testimonies, these journalists persevered. Amidst all the trauma and grief they were experiencing, from losing a hero and friend, they chose to speak up, and continued telling the truth.
The Illinois state investment board voted to divest from Unilever because its subsidiary Ben & Jerry’s has decided to stop selling in occupied Palestinian territories. “We find the IIPB’s punitive actions against companies exercising their free speech rights to engage in boycott to be patently unjust,” write a group of Illinois rabbis and cantors.
On Monday Ben & Jerry’s announced that it would stop selling ice cream in Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory. The Israeli government has promised to fight the move “with all our might” and ask every state in the U.S. to target the company. Palestine activists say the move is yet another sign of how BDS is entering the mainstream.
Israel’s Education Minister announced a ban this week on human rights groups from entering Israeli public schools, a move seen by many as a response to a bombshell report from B’Tselem calling Israel an “apartheid state”. But it didn’t stop the organization from speaking to 12th grade students at the Hebrew Reali School in Haifa this past Sunday. “The Israeli government will have to contend with us until the apartheid regime ends,” B’Tselem director Hagai El-Ad tweeted.
Israel’s shooting of a 24-year-old Palestinian who was trying to hold on to a generator used in construction in occupied territories has been viewed globally. It increases pressure on Americans to shut off the spigot of aid. One thing will stop Israel from ethnic cleansing of West Bank that requires shooting Palestinians: US pressure. But US press and liberal Zionists come up short.
Fatah and Hamas reached consensus in July to hold municipal elections on October 8th. The agreement came about amid reconciliation efforts aimed at ending internal Palestinian political divisions. Hani el-Massri, a Palestinian political analyst based in Gaza, believes this election cycle is the last best chance to settle the division.