Demonstrations against the Prawer-Begin Plan continue on a second ‘Day of Rage’ with hundreds demonstrating in the Negev, and standing off with police. Omar Naammeh stood alone about 50 feet back from the concentration of approximately 700 protestors, mostly youth, on a dusty elevation overlooking Lehavim Junction, along the Tel Aviv-Beer Sheva highway, south of Rahat in the Negev. “The people here began to recognize they will lose their homeland,” said Naammeh, 60, of Beer Sheva, explaining what he believes has motived a growing number of Bedouin citizens of Israel to demonstrate against the Prawer-Begin Plan. The proposed policy would…

Palestinians flock to Jerusalem for Friday prayers during Ramadan, protests and prayers in the Bedouin village Al-Araqib; plus, Sudanese immigrants portray their experience in theater, and weekly West Bank demonstrations continue.                  

Activists declared a "day of rage" across Israel and Palestine on August 1, the second such day of protests against an Israeli plan that would see the displacement of some 30,000 Bedouin citizens from their villages in the Negev. Tens of thousands of Bedouin citizens of Israel live in "unrecognized" villages. Because the Israeli government does not recognize their claims to the lands they live on, they do not receive basic services such as connections to water lines and the power grid. Click here for +972′s full coverage of the Prawer Plan According to the plan, which the government did not…

My Name is Rachel Corrie, a play based on the diaries and emails of Rachel Corrie, is now showing in Jerusalem. The play tells the story of Corrie, a young American woman who traveled to the Gaza Strip during the Second Intifada, who was crushed to death by a bulldozer as she was trying to prevent the demolition of a Palestinian home. Although the play has received much praise, it has also caused a storm at the Khan Theater in Jerusalem. Jerusalem's Municipality even threatened to cut the Khan's budget should the play go on as planned, angering many actors.

Can Israeli, Palestinian and American negotiators learn from their mistakes in order to bring about a peaceful resolution to the conflict? New negotiations offer hope like a quarter-drop of water splashed onto scorched and desiccated earth. How quickly such a drop can be absorbed as if it never was, and ground into the dust by the overwhelming forces of failure. Once, hope went beyond a drop: in 1993, the Oslo Accords were a shining symbol of progress. After years of despair and death, it has become synonymous with failure for many. Yet it is the only model for agreements actually…

It takes especially opaque blinders, or immense willpower and ignorance to visit one of the most egregious scenes of military occupation and settler violence without noticing the injustice taking place before your eyes. Even the world's most learned minds can walk through life with blinders on. One of the world's most well-known physicians, Dr. Mehmet Oz, visited Hebron on Monday. But the renowned cardiothoracic surgeon and television host did not learn about one of the most shocking and extreme iterations of military occupation and settler domination during his visit. He did not meet with local Palestinians to hear about their hardships…

If Israel doesn't follow through with release of all pre-Oslo Palestinian prisoners, including citizens of Israel, 'we'll create pressure – and we'll try to stop these negotiations,' Palestinian Prisoners' Club head Qaddura Fares says, adding that after previous releases, he has little hope. By Marian Houk "No, I am not satisfied," Qaddura Fares said crisply, the morning after the Israeli Cabinet voted on Sunday to release 104 Palestinian prisoners, the vote having been delayed for hours so Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu could persuade the unconvinced. "I think there are a lot of reservations about the process, the procedure,” Fares said. The vote…

Second thoughts  on the 'peace process' resuming tonight.  Maybe I’m trying to make something good out of a bad situation – I’ve written (here and here) that the Palestinians were getting screwed in these peace talks – but now I’m thinking that Abbas may have done the right thing by agreeing to negotiate with Netanyahu, even without Netanyahu’s agreement that the baseline be the ’67 borders. Oudeh Basharat wrote a very wise column in Haaretz today, arguing that point: Abbas is conducting his policies with one eye on the national interest and the other on the needs of his population.…