If it had not been stopped at an Israeli military checkpoint in the West Bank, the garbage truck carrying more than 70 Palestinian laborers seeking work would likely have been able to enter Israel without incident. But on April 13, the driver was held outside the Israeli settlement of Ariel for failure to carry a license fit for the vehicle, and upon further inspection…
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Israel’s top commander in the occupied West Bank boasted that the Israeli military is killing at rates not seen since 1967, according to comments published at Haaretz. In a recent closed meeting with members of the military, Avi Bluth, head of the Israeli military’s Central Command, defended loosening the rules of engagement for firing at Palestinians in the occupied West Bank…
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Syrian journalist Oudai Efnikher is deeply familiar with life under Israeli occupation. He was born in Kafer Hareb, a village in Syria’s Golan Heights, from which he and his family were expelled after Israel seized the territory during the 1967 Six-Day War. Now he is once again facing down Israeli forces, as they “take our land, kill our crops, and abduct our fathers.” “This is a slow…
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Nearly a dozen agents with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) surrounded Muslim community leader Salah Sarsour on March 30 after he left his home in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Born in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and serving as president of the Islamic Society of Milwaukee, the city’s largest mosque and Muslim institution, Sarsour is a husband, father, and grandfather described as a pillar of…
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This story originally appeared in Mondoweiss on April 19, 2026. It is shared here with permission.
The Israeli cabinet approved the construction of 34 new West Bank settlements last week, bringing the total number approved by the ruling coalition led by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu up to 103. The cabinet decision is the largest batch of new settlements approved in decades, breaking the record set by a previous landmark decision in June 2025, which approved 22 new settlements.
While the latest decision has been overshadowed by the regional conflagrations related to the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran, its timing indicates that Israel perceives a closing window for its ability to entrench its colonial project in its own backyard — the West Bank — in light of shifting realities that might see Iran emerging from the war intact and in a strengthened position regionally.
These developments come as Israel has reportedly been “coerced” to halt its onslaught against Lebanon by U.S. President Donald Trump, forcing it to accept a ceasefire with Hezbollah. Meanwhile, the very fact that the U.S. agreed to a temporary ceasefire with Iran was condemned by the entirety of the Israeli political establishment, both from within Netanyahu’s camp and from the Israeli opposition, who lambasted Netanyahu’s “failure” to overthrow the Iranian government.
While Israel will attempt to use the ceasefire in Lebanon to force the hand of the Lebanese government to accept the ongoing occupation of the southern part of the country, little military progress has been made against Hezbollah, which has reportedly rebuilt its military capabilities since it was bloodied by Israel in October 2024. Iran has also continued to show strength in the region through exerting control over the Straits of Hormuz,
Democratic Party leaders had a chance this week to push back against Israel’s violent expansionism and the Israel lobby’s massive political spending in the United States. Once again, Democrats chose instead to punt the issue despite plummeting public support for Israel, both among their base and the wider U.S. public, ahead of the midterms. At a meeting in New Orleans on April 9…
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