On August 11, the Israel Civil Administration (ICA) is expected to discuss construction of the Nahal Rabah cemetery in the occupied West Bank. Experts and activists claim the cemetery, which was approved without an environmental survey, will disrupt the region’s biodiversity in addition to harming Palestinian land. Jessica Buxbaum reports.
For more than two months, residents of Sinjar have protested the presence of armed groups following May’s clashes in Iraq’s Yazidi-majority district. Those clashes triggered—yet again—an exodus of Yazidi minorities seeking shelter in the Kurdish Region of Iraq (KRI). This comes as tens of thousands of Yazidis have already dealt with protracted displacement since the ISIS takeover of 2014. Alessandra Bajec reports from Iraqi Kurdistan.
Demonstrations—regularly met with violence from soldiers and Israeli settlers—have occurred almost weekly since Israel’s Supreme Court rejected a petition in May against the expulsion of more than 1,000 Palestinians from the rural West Bank enclave of Masafer Yatta. Jessica Buxbaum reports.
Al-Yusufiya cemetery in East Jerusalem remains under threat as the city’s government plans to build a promenade over the land, as part of a proposed "Bible Trail," a string of national parks, reports Jessica Buxbaum.
A rare recording featuring Palestinian artist Riad Awwad and poet Mahmoud Darwish has resurfaced, found amid a collection of 12,000 old cassette tapes in the West Bank, writes Atiyyah Khan.
The smear campaign against Lowkey has stepped up a gear over the past six months. In December, the rapper was booked for a gig in London’s Jazz Cafe. The venue came under pressure to call off the show, which celebrated the 10th anniversary of his album, Soundtrack to the Struggle, reports Kit Klarenberg.
Copyright Toward Freedom 2019
