Current Analysis Judging the Judge On July 2, 16-year old Palestinian Mohammed Abu Khdeir was abducted, beaten and burned alive, apparently by a group of Jewish Israelis [http://www.timesofisrael.com/suspects-arrested-in-killing-of-east-jerusalem-teen/]. News of this “torture and murder by fire,” prominent American commentator Jeffre Jamie Stern-Weiner • 6 min read
Current Analysis Under-the-Radar Palestinian Connections With intensity unknown since the second intifada [http://www.merip.org/mer/mer217] and at a daily cost of $12 million to the Hebron economy alone, Israel is cracking down on the West Bank in its search for three missing Israeli settler youth. The result is a growing Palestinian chorus: Stop Israeli- Raja Khalidi • 4 min read
Current Analysis Three Updates on Palestinian Political Prisoners Update 1 on prisoners and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, from the halls of the State Department: Last week, the United States considered releasing Jonathan Pollard, an American convicted of espionage on behalf of Israel, in exchange for Israel doing, as political analyst Yousef Munayyer put it, “ Amahl Bishara • 4 min read
Current Analysis A Darkly Intimate Thriller The first time I watched Omar [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2852406/], the latest Oscar-nominated work [http://www.merip.org/mero/interventions/paradise-nows-understated-power] by Palestinian director Hany Abu-Assad [http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0009463/?ref_=tt_ov_dr], I nearly leapt out of my seat as Max Weiss • 3 min read
Current Analysis Breaking “America's Last Taboo” American Zionism has made any serious public discussion of the past or future of Israel -- by far the largest recipient ever of US foreign aid -- a taboo. To call this quite literally the last taboo in American public life would not be an exaggeration. Abortion, homosexuality, the death penalty, eve Alex Lubin • 9 min read
Current Analysis Viral Occupation When Israeli security forces arrived in the middle of the night at the Tamimi house in Nabi Salih, the occupied West Bank, the family was already in bed. The raid was not unexpected, as news had traveled around the village on that day in January 2011: Soldiers were coming to houses at night, demandi Rebecca L. Stein • 13 min read
Current Analysis Inquiring Into International Commissions of Inquiry A Palestinian political prisoner, Arafat Jaradat, died in Israeli custody on February 22. The Shinbet, Israel’s internal intelligence service, claims that Jaradat, 30, died of natural causes. Palestinian authorities suspect foul play, and the Palestinian prime minister in the West Bank, Salam Fayya Lori Allen • 4 min read
MER Article The Cost of Living Crisis in the West Bank In September 2012, declining living standards ignited a firestorm of street protests and strikes in the West Bank. The immediate spark was a sharp increase in fuel prices, alongside an increase in the value-added tax (VAT) rate. It seems that the protesters had a message for Palestinian Authority (P Numan Kanafani • 9 min read
Current Analysis An All-Consuming Occupation On June 6, 2012, the Jerusalem Development Authority launched its fourth annual Jerusalem Festival of Light in the Old City. The previous year’s show had been a resounding success, according to sponsors quoted in the Jerusalem Post, with over 250,000 visitors enjoying “art installations bursting wit Rebecca L. Stein • 8 min read
Current Analysis The Problem of Privilege “To believe in a democratic Jewish state today is to be caught between the jaws of a pincer,” writes Peter Beinart in his widely circulated and hotly debated op-ed [http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/19/opinion/to-save-israel-boycott-the-settlements.html?_r=3&pagewanted=all]. Indeed -- but it was ever t Shira Robinson • 4 min read
Current Analysis Beinart's Boycott The New York Times has done it again. For the second time in a month its op-ed page features an article calling for a (qualified) boycott of Israeli products. The latest installment [http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/19/opinion/to-save-israel-boycott-the-settlements.html?_r=1&ref=opinion&pagewanted=all Joel Beinin • 2 min read
MER Article Why Does the Occupation Continue? Shir Hever, The Political Economy of Israel’s Occupation (Pluto, 2010). There is a latter-day tendency to see the 44-year Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories as the organic outward growth of the Zionist idea -- as though the aspiration to hold the entirety of the land, embedded in Lab Max Ajl • 12 min read
