This summer, 1,500 Israeli soldiers will attend Jewish summer camps across North America. They will act as ambassadors for Israel as it carries out ethnic cleansing across Palestine. The Jewish community must reject this normalization of genocide.
I met resistance fighters from the Tulkarem Brigade for an interview in the alleyways of Tulkarem refugee camp in the occupied West Bank. They talked about why they fight against Israel, and what their dreams are for the future.
After a year of near-constant Israeli military raids on their homes and private spaces, women are some of the most affected among the Palestinian residents of Nur Shams refugee camp in Tulkarem.
An Israeli airstrike on a residential building in Tulkarem killed 20 Palestinians in the first such attack in two decades. “We’ve been living through the occupation’s raids for more than a year now, but this was different,” says an eyewitness.
The UN Secretary-General condemned Israel’s massacre of dozens of Palestinians in Nuseirat after six UNRWA workers were among the slain. Meanwhile, Israeli forces killed 11 Palestinians in the West Bank within two days.
Palestinians in Nablus held a funeral procession for a Turkish-American activist killed by Israeli forces in Beita. Meanwhile, Israel continued to close its borders with Jordan for the second day in a row following a shooting at Allenby bridge.
For 10 days, the Israeli army imposed a siege on the northern West Bank city of Jenin, killing dozens of Palestinians. Hundreds of residents were forced to flee holding white flags, while others were trapped in their homes with no food or water.
The UN has said that Israel is now using “war-like tactics” against Palestinians in the northern West Bank. Meanwhile, Netanyahu has reiterated his insistence on maintaining an Israeli military presence along the Philadelphi Corridor.
The current operation in the West Bank is meant to test the boundaries of what Israel will be allowed to get away with. It is setting the stage for the forced ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people.