Blog

Cultural and political tours to Israel & Palestine

Our dreams are destroyed before they are completed. New demolition orders in Umm al-Khair.

– by Awdah Hathaleen – 27/6/2023 This article was first published in Humans of Masafer Yatta and we are grateful to share it here with the permission of the author. He is an activist and community advocate from the village of Um al-Khair in Area C of the occupied West Bank. Last Sunday, when I was on my […]

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Cultural and political tours to Israel & Palestine

Developing Coresistance in the South Hebron Hills

– by Erez Bleicher – 7/5/2023 I was hosted this past Friday in the occupied South Hebron Hills for the first of what will be monthly solidarity visits jointly organized by the Green Olive Collective and All That’s Left. These solidarity work days are an opportunity to stand in solidarity with Palestinian villages and materially […]

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Cultural and political tours to Israel & Palestine

The “New” National Guard and the Growing Reach of Occupation

– by Yahav Zohar – 2/4/2023 After weeks of widespread protests in opposition to the planned “Judicial Reform”, on March 27th Netanyahu backed down and deferred the legislation, upsetting many members of his coalition. It soon became clear that to keep far right leader Itamar Ben Gvir in his government, Netanyahu had that same night […]

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Cultural and political tours to Israel & Palestine

Cycling Beyond Borders: Dispatches from Palestine, Israel, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia

– by Fred Schlomka – 19/2/2023 During February and March 2023, Green Olive Managing Partner Fred Schlomka cycled across part of the the Middle East, through a region marked by division, segregation, and political tension. His journey crosses many regional boundaries and borders that reflect a tense history. Fred’s observations and reflections are a snapshot […]

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Cultural and political tours to Israel & Palestine

Saudi Arabian Normalization with Israel: Are the Floodgates Open?

– by Alexander Jones – 1/2/2023 Since 2019 when diplomatic relations were normalised between the UAE and Israel, half a million Israelis have visited the Emirates. In 2022, non-oil trade passed the US$2 billion mark in October. You can read more about these prior developments in our blog articles about normalisation, but looking to the […]

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Cultural and political tours to Israel & Palestine

Tour Guiding in a Time of Rising Authoritarianism

– collated by Erez Bleicher – 19/1/2023 Two weeks ago Green Olive tour guide Itamar Shapira was detained by Israeli Border Police in an incident that is emblematic of the current political moment and the broader trajectory of state policy in Israel. He was detained while leading a tour group through the Old City of Jerusalem […]

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Cultural and political tours to Israel & Palestine

Over the Falls: A Reflection About the New Government and the Grim Days Ahead

– by Yoav Peck – 12/1/2023 Here is a reflection from Yoav Peck, a Jerusalem organizational psychologist and co-director of community relations at the Israeli-Palestinian Bereaved Families Forum, about the incoming government and the dire political landscape. Annie Edson Taylor was an American schoolteacher who, on her 63rd birthday in 1901, survived a trip over Niagara […]

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Cultural and political tours to Israel & Palestine

In Masafer Yatta, Teachers Like Me Can’t Guarantee Our Students an Education

– by Awdah Hathaleen – 15/11/2022 Last week on November, 23rd occupation forces demolished a primary school in the village of Isfey in the South Hebron Hills of the West Bank. Members of Green Olive have close relationships in the region, including with the author of this article about the ways occupation impedes education there. We […]

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Cultural and political tours to Israel & Palestine

The Rise of the Israeli Far Right in Recent Elections

– by Yahav Zohar – 13/11/2022 Last Tuesday Israelis went to the polls for the fifth time in three and a half years, finally yielding what may be a stable government coalition. It is no surprise that this government will again be headed by Netanyahu, but what has been a surprise to many is the rise […]

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Cultural and political tours to Israel & Palestine

We Teach Life and Love: Dispatches from Aida Refugee Camp

– by Mustafa Alaraj –30/10/2022 Mustafa Alaraj is a resident and community advocate from the Aida Refugee Camp north of Bethlehem in occupied Palestine. He is one of the directors of the Aida Youth Center and a tour guide. The following dispatch is a transcript of an interview conducted with him by Erez Bleicher, discussing conditions […]

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Cultural and political tours to Israel & Palestine

Peace, Love, and the Occupied Palestinian Territories

– by Erez Bleicher – Israeli military authorities are continuing to develop the legal architecture of occupation into an ever more refined system of segregation. The occupation has always been a system predicated on the separation of people from land, olive trees from farmers, sheep from pastures, and families from homes. The Israeli army has […]

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Cultural and political tours to Israel & Palestine

What is going on with Israel’s strategic foreign policy?

A brief analysis of recent Israeli foreign policy: regional summits a year and a half on from the Abraham Accords, plus staying neutral in face of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine – by Alexander Jones – Israel’s strategic foreign policy goals have always been numerous and complex, if nothing else. As the first quarter of 2022 […]

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