No Gaga Here: Extreme Summer Camps in the Middle East

By Rebecca Borison While I grew up at a Jewish summer camp playing Gaga, kids growing up in slightly (read: very) different areas than me are partaking in slightly (read: very) different activities in summer camp. The Times of Israel recently published two separate articles on Extreme Summer Camps. The first article discusses a Hamas-run Gaza summer camp, where “activities include walking on knives, cleaning beaches and experiencing life as a security prisoner in an Israeli jail.” Five days later, the Times of Israel released a second article about a right-wing camp in Ramat Migron, where the girls learn “self-defense techniques, how to construct temporary dwellings and basic agriculture.” So we have two camps representing the extremes of Israelis and Palestinians. But let’s take a closer look at these camps. We’ll start with camp “We will live honorably”...

Continue reading

The Settlers' Intifada

by Jeremy Gillick Much of the West Bank is in turmoil following this morning's highly anticipated evacuation of the Orwellian "House of Peace" in Hebron. Though the evacuation itself was a success, as Israel's security forces took several hundred settlers holed up in the controversial house by surprise, removing them all within half an hour, it didn't take long for things to get ugly. According to Ynet, "Sources in the settler public announced the launching of a 'price tag' policy that will be implemented through stone throwing and attacks on Palestinian houses." Associated with a growing fringe of Jewish settlers known as the "hilltop youth," the "price tag" policy mandates acts of low-level violence against Palestinians and Israeli security forces in response to the dismantling of settlements and outposts in the West Bank. According to a recent...

Continue reading