Gideon Levy

Unknown individuals - probably settlers from the nearby settlement - have started working land that belongs to Azmout, a Palestinian village near Nablus. A protest has been launched.

A conversation with one of the relatively few Syrian residents of the Israeli Golan who is actively supporting the rebels who are fighting Assad's regime.

Rather than protecting the IDF, the new law will cement its image. An army that needs laws to prevent criticism of it is an army with a problem.

Until last week's 'price tag' incident, villagers in Akbara had not felt the effect of rising racism in neighboring Safed. But vandalism and graffiti saying 'don't touch our girls' was a stinging reminder Israel in 2013.

It's nearly two decades since the country held its first post-apartheid national election. Inequality and racism persist, but still, the country is an amazing success story.

Three young Palestinians decided to throw a fire bomb at an IDF guard tower in response to the death of a Palestinian prisoner. One was killed, one wounded and one arrested.

In a Bedouin community in the Negev, Hussein a-Sariya is mourning the loss of his three sons who drowned in the Mediterranean last week.

There have been crueler military actions, more wicked army operations, but there was never anything quite like the IDF’S Operation Cast Lead.

27 Palestinian children never made it to school this week; IDF troops lay in ambush for them on the streets of Hebron.

In the Al-Fawar refugee camp near Hebron, the hope shared over a decade ago by a few has disappeared, without a trace.

'Suddenly,' Jo Berry says, 'I began to see the human face. The image of the terrorist faded and was replaced by the image of a man.'

Two Palestinian boys remain a stone's throw from death, almost a week after being shot at the protest demonstration commemorating the funeral of Arafat Jaradat.

Attorney Sabbagh explains that a suspect coming into the Shin Bet interrogation rooms is like someone who comes to the doctor with a broken pinky and is immediately given a comprehensive examination of his entire body.

The struggle to save Lutfia, an 84 year-old Palestinian refugee, is being conducted by her brother Abed Abdi, a respected Palestinian artist who resides in Haifa.

Bassam Tamimi returned to the West Bank village of Nabi Saleh this week after completing his ninth sentence in an Israeli jail. The Palestinian activist explains why he now believes in one state for all.

The residents of Burin and neighboring villages set up a camp to protest frequent settler attacks. The IDF quickly arrived to 'educate' them.

Karam Amarin saw his cousin Salah fall suddenly and didn't hear the IDF's bullet whistle as it hit his head, near the Azza refugee camp in the West Bank.

After the semester's final exam, Samir Awad and his friends from Budrus went down to the separation fence, where teenagers often provoke soldiers to see how they respond. It ended with live bullets in his back.

Israel made a decisive statement regarding what it wants: it wants only to be left alone, a quiet, good life, peaceful and bourgeois, and to hell with all those pesky nagging issues; Lapid epitomizes this attitude.

Where is hatred when you need it? Where is the fervor and the fire − or at least a little smoke? There was none of that in this election campaign, anywhere.

He radiates a likable simplicity, forthrightness and modesty, but no great charisma.

Many Arab residents of this mixed city fear their new religious neighbors' goal is to drive them out - a claim the 'settlers' vehemently deny.

Largest party in the Knesset and Kadima-affiliated mayors, council heads and their deputies, nearly all men, were this week crammed into a too-small room at a pre-end-of-term party.

This week Tzipi Livni went back to her alma meter, Bar-Ilan University - where Netanyahu gave his famous 'two-state solution' speech in 2009 - to galvanize support for her Hatnuah party.

What exactly happened before a Hebron teen was shot dead by a border policewoman?

When Stephen Hawking visited here in 2006 he received the royal treatment; but then he decided to criticize Israel.

If Israel had pursued peace along with its policy of hunting down weapons in the region, maybe there would be no room for criticism. But when heading off weapons supplies becomes the only aim, it prompts a burning question: By what right?

Nothing makes an Israeli happier than a good deal (honest or not). But who talks about education, our anti-democratic legislation or weapons exports?

No single role model, not an intellectual, not a warrior, nor a politician. Class of 71, you children of the heart of the city and country: The group picture at the halfway point, is drab and depressing.

The fear campaign calling upon Obama to bomb Syria has one real goal in mind. It's not helping Syria's civilians. It's a strike on Iran.

The end of the world? Why? Arabs and Jews already live together today, but discrimination, inequality, past tensions, racism, nationalism and mutual fear hinder relations between them.

If the Palestinians focus on demanding 'one person, one vote', Israel won't have a leg to stand on. What can it say - that the Palestinians aren't human?

Teach us, dear South Africans, black, white and colored, how yesterday’s enemy becomes today’s partner. How to drive away the fear, erase the hatred, atone for the injustice and create new justice.

The soldier hiding behind the army places full responsibility on the most moral army in the world.

Samer Issawi has sustained his hunger strike for eight months and counting. Israel is bored.

Coming to Amira Hass' defense after her controversial op-ed on Palestinian stone-throwing, Gideon Levy argues that the criticism against Hass laid bare the hypocrisy, or the ignorance, of large swaths of Israeli public opinion.

From the prison guards and from Shin Bet personnel nobody expects any measure of compassion or humanity. But where are the doctors?

Tense coexistence turned into shared routine, one pool for two nations. Heaven forbid new refugees should arrive. Now the old refugees would surely come out with foaming rage against them.

Had Israel acted rationally, it would have preserved its ties with Ankara. Turkey was right.

Obama barely finished his speech before it was engulfed in waves of sour, skeptical, judgmental negativity from our studio analysts. If anyone tries to talk about hope, peace and justice, they’ll tell you how 'naive’ and 'childish’ it is.

No American president or Israeli statesman has ever delivered a speech like this. It deserves to enter the history books - and Israel's textbooks.

Maybe it's just a fantasy that Israel will be subject to U.S. pressure and end the occupation, but the alternative is a nightmare.

There's no other way to understand what Obama said in his interview with Channel 2 on the eve of his visit here.

Israel's new power triumvirate is nearly identical in both their privileged backgrounds and their phoniness.

UNICEF has published a report no less harsh, this time with respect to Israel’s treatment of Palestinian children. Now, you can no longer say it was because of anti-Semitism.

The fruits of Netanyahu's policies are now on parade; The recent wave of attacks on Arabs are directly related to the devastating impact of his tenure.

Israel’s new politicians, so breathlessly anticipated, are even worse than their antecedents.

The same society that was so upset by the fate of a single prisoner, Gilad Shalit, does not even begin to grasp the depth of distress the Palestinians feel over the thousands of their people who are in prison.

Now you demonstrate? After all, we've already told you we no longer care what happens to you.

Before anyone utters the words 'peace process,' Israel should consider making what used to be known as 'confidence-building measures.' Otherwise, talk of peace is just empty words.