From Mondoweiss – After about two months of detention, Israeli authorities released Israeli activist Jonathan Pollak on February 20. Pollak was arrested after right-wing group Ad Kan  filed a suit against him  for protesting in the West Bank and allegedly “attacking IDF soldiers”. During his detention, Pollak refused to pay a NIS 500 bail (around $145) set by a Jerusalem judge for, in Pollak’s words, refusing to “recognize the legitimacy of the Israeli system.”... Palestinian journalist Ahmad Al-Bazz interviewed Pollak following his release.

From Middle East Eye – In 2012, the UN made a prediction that by 2020, Gaza would be unlivable. We explore the reality on the ground as we approach the new year. Subscribe to our channel: http://ow.ly/AVlW30n1OWH

A group of right-wing Israeli settlers broke into an uninhabited Palestinian house in the southern occupied West Bank city of Hebron on Tuesday and stole wooden furniture, presumably to be burned during bonfire celebrations for the Jewish holiday of Lag BaOmer. A spokesperson for Hebron-based activist group Youth Against Settlement, Issa Amro, told Ma’an that the houses belonged to the the Al-Sayyid Ahmad and Tahboub families, who have been banned from accessing their homes in Hebron’s Old City since Israeli forces sealed the area around al-Shuhada Street in 1994. The holiday of Lag BaOmer, which will take place on Wednesday evening, commemorates the death of second-century Jewish mystic Simeon bar Yochai, and is traditionally celebrated with bonfires It is not uncommon for young Israelis celebrating Lag BaOmer to steal wood from construction sites and other locations ahead of the holiday. Local Palestinian house and shop owners in Hebron’s Old City have been banned from acc...

A video has emerged apparently showing an Israeli soldier dropping a knife on the ground and forcing a terrified Palestinian girl to pick it up before she is arrested. The video was circulated widely in Palestinian media and on social networks on Tuesday, the same day that two more Palestinian teenagers were shot dead by Israeli occupation forces, who claimed that the youths had attempted to carry out stabbings. Israel further escalated violence on Wednesday by carrying out a revenge demolition of a Palestinian home in Jerusalem. Forced to pick up knife The Palestinian news outlet Donia Al-Watan said the video was recorded by a Palestinian who witnessed the incident at an Israeli military checkpoint south of Bethlehem in the occupied West Bank on Tuesday. Several outlets identified the girl in the video as 14-year-old Sabreen Mujahid Sanad. The 3-minute video appears to have been filmed from a vehicle stopped at the checkpoint. At the beginning, a man in civilian clothes...

This video shows Israeli forces using a dog to attack and injure 20-year-old Ahmad Shteiwi as he participated in an anti-occupation protest in the West Bank village of Kufr Qaddoum, near Nablus, in March 2012. It is one of numerous instances of Israeli forces setting dogs on unarmed Palestinian civilians, including children – a violent tactic reminiscent of US police practices against Black citizens. The Palestinian human rights group Al-Haq and Dutch lawmakers are calling on the Netherlands to immediately halt the annual export of dozens of police and military dogs to Israel. Such dogs “are intentionally used by Israeli occupying forces to terrorize and bite Palestinian civilians, especially during protests and night house raids,” Al-Haq director Shawan Jabarin wrote to Dutch foreign minister Bert Koenders and trade minister Lilianne Ploumen earlier this month. more

From the Electronic Intifada - Warning: This article contains graphic videos and images of violence. Two more Palestinians were shot dead Wednesday following alleged knife attacks, while the Israeli army and government began implementing a rash of new measures approved by the so-called security cabinet late Tuesday night. Among the decisions made, Israeli police and Border Police will enforce closures on Palestinian neighborhoods in occupied East Jerusalem..... ....Later that evening, Ahmad Shaaban, 23, from the Ras al-Amud neighborhood in East Jerusalem allegedly attacked a woman at the central bus station in West Jerusalem. Shaaban was killed on the spot, while the woman is reported to have sustained light to moderate wounds. However, the Israeli account has been disputed. Qpress, an online Palestinian outlet for news about Jerusalem, published a recording it said was an Israeli eyewitness telling media that Shaaban was unarmed and doing nothing when shot. It provide...