Month in Pictures: August 2012

A four-year-old Palestinian child in intensive care at West Jerusalem’s Hadassah hospital, 18 August, a day after Israeli settlers threw a molotov cocktail at the taxi in which the boy’s family was traveling on the road from Bethlehem to Hebron. Four other family members, including the boy’s parents, and the driver were seriously injured in the attack.

JC ActiveStills

The month of August marked the end of the month of Ramadan and the Eid al-Fitr holiday. Israeli forces continued to demolish Palestinian property in the occupied West Bank, where several villages in the South Hebron Hills have been subject to comprehensive demolition orders for the establishment of a “military firing zone.” Meanwhile, settlers continued to attack Palestinians and their property; a taxi carrying a family traveling from Bethlehem was fire-bombed by Israeli settlers, causing life-threatening injury to several of those in the car.

Also this month, a mob of Jewish Israelis attacked a group of Palestinian youths in Jerusalem’s Zion Square, nearly killing one of the teenagers, as hundreds looked on. Days later, Israeli police repeatedly shocked with a taser-like weapon a handcuffed Palestinian man from Jerusalem at a Tel Aviv water park after he challenged the police’s harsh treatment of other Palestinians at the park.

Palestinian political prisoners Bilal Diab and Woroud Qasem were released from prison while others continued open-ended hunger strikes.

Palestine refugees were among those killed and injured during shelling of the Yarmouk refugee camp in Damascus, Syria on 2 August; Palestinian refugees in Syria are fleeing to nearby countries.

The Gaza Strip was subjected to closure and other forms of collective punishment after 16 Egyptian soldiers will killed by unknown persons in the Sinai Peninsula at the beginning of the month. Meanwhile, Israel continued to bomb Gaza and prevent Palestinian farmers from exporting their goods.

An Israeli judge ruled that American activist Rachel Corrie was responsible for her own death after an Israeli bulldozer ran her over as she was defending a Palestinian home in the Rafah area of the southern Gaza Strip in 2003. The ruling was the culmination of a seven-year civil suit opened by the Corrie family. Meanwhile, a former Israeli soldier is to serve a mere 45 days in prison on charges related to the death of a woman and her daughter who were shot while carrying white flags during the winter 2008-09 attacks on Gaza, dubbed “Operation Cast Lead” by Israel.

Mourners carry the body of Eid Hijazi during his funeral in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, 5 August. Hijazi, identified by a Palestinian security official as a member of the Popular Resistance Committees, was killed in an Israeli air strike earlier that day.

Eyad Al Baba APA images

A Hamas training camp following an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City, 28 August.

Majdi Fathi APA images

Mohammad Mousa Abu Ghanam in front of one of his animal shelters which was demolished earlier in the day by the Israeli army in the village of Susiya in the West Bank’s South Hebron Hills, 28 August. Most structures in the village have been subject to demolition orders, putting the whole village at risk of being totally demolished.

Anne Paq ActiveStills

Anti-Palestinian, Hebrew-language graffiti on a home in the West Bank village of Dura al-Qara, near Ramallah, 29 August.

Issam Rimawi APA images

A road sign on which the Arabic place names were spray-painted over, presumably by Israeli settlers, in the West Bank’s Jordan Valley, 8 August.

Ahmad Al-Bazz ActiveStills

Palestinian Authority police (right) coordinate with Israeli border police (left) to control Palestinian access to Jerusalem, at the Bethlehem checkpoint on the last Friday of Ramadan, 17 August.

RRB ActiveStills

Palestinian in the Sur Baher neighborhood of East Jerusalem celebrate Aws Ibrahim Hamada’s release after 10 years in Israeli prison, 13 August 2012.

Mahfouz Abu Turk APA images

Bilal Diab is released at Jalame checkpoint near the occupied West Bank city of Jenin after 77 days of hunger strike in Israeli detention, 9 August.

Saif Dahlah AFP Photo

Former political prisoner and hunger striker Khader Adnan (R) participates in a demonstration in the West Bank city of Nablus in solidarity with hunger striking Palestinian prisoners, 2 August.

Ahmad Al-Bazz ActiveStills

The parents and sister of Rachel Corrie, an American activist who was killed by an Israeli bulldozer while defending a Palestinian home in Gaza, at a Haifa courthouse where a judge ruled that the Israeli army beared no responsibility for Corrie’s death, 28 August.

Amir Cohen Reuters

Israelis collect gas masks distributed by the government in a West Jerusalem shopping mall, 28 August. The distribution of gas masks comes after weeks of increasing threats of war on Iran.

JC ActiveStills

Palestinian protesters help a journalist injured by Israeli soldiers during a demonstration against Israel’s expropriation of village land belonging to the West Bank village of Kufr Qaddoum, near the West Bank city of Nablus, 3 August.

Nedal Eshtayah APA images

Jewish settlers seen behind Israel’s wall observe the weekly demonstration against the wall and settlements in the West Bank village of Bilin, 10 August.

Ahmad Al-Bazz ActiveStills

Children attempt to stop Israeli soldiers from arresting Nariman Tamimi, an activist from Nabi Saleh village in the West Bank, during the violent dispersal of the village’s weekly protest against the occupation, 24 August.

Oren Ziv ActiveStills

Palestinians protest violence against women at the spot where a woman was allegedly murdered by her husband in the West Bank city of Bethlehem earlier that week, 1 August.

Issam Rimawi APA images

Israeli soldiers hold riot shields with anti-occupation slogans written on them by Palestinian activists at a weekly demonstration against the wall in al-Masara village in the West Bank, 31 August.

RRB APA images

A young demonstrator from Um Fagarah village at a protest in front of Avigai settlement outpost, in the West Bank’s South Hebron Hills, demanding justice for slain peace activist Rachel Corrie and an end to home demolitions, 28 August. Um Fagarah is one of 12 villages located in a newly-declared military firing zone which are slated for cemolition.

Anne Paq ActiveStills

Palestinian youths hold a candlelight vigil in the West Bank city of Ramallah on 8 August after 16 Egyptian soldiers were killed in an ambush in the Sinai peninsula.

Issam Rimawi APA images

Supporters of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine hold a rally in the West Bank city of Ramallah marking the 11th anniversary of Israel’s assassination of party leader Abu Ali Mustafa, 27 August.

Issam Rimawi APA images

Palestinian demonstrators in the West Bank city of Nablus bang on pots during a protest against rising prices and taxes.

Nedal Eshtayah APA images

A billboard in Gaza City urges residents to buy Palestinian products and boycott Israeli goods as part of a campaign launched by the Ministry of Economy in Gaza, 28 August.

Majdi Fathi APA images

Mayor Bashaer Othman, 15, at her desk at the town hall of the West Bank village of Allar, north of Tulkarem, 30 August. Othman became mayor as part of a municipal program encouraging youth to gain political and professional experience during summer break.

Nedal Eshtayah APA images

Dalal al-Zabin after she gave birth to a child conceived via in vitro fertilization, West Bank city of Nablus, 13 August. Al-Zabin’s husband, Ammar al-Zabin, has been in Israeli prison since 1998.

Nedal Eshtayah APA images

Palestinian Muslims perform a night prayer known as Tarawih during Ramadan at a mosque in the West Bank city of Ramallah, 7 August.

Issam Rimawi APA images

Palestinian Sufi artists perform mystic songs about peace, brotherhood and love during a celebration in Gaza City, 28 August.

Majdi Fathi APA images

A Palestinian boy harvests grapes in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, 9 August. The Israeli blockade and ongoing military operations prevents Palestinian farmers from exporting their produce.

Ashraf Amra APA images

Palestinian Woroud Sawalha (right) and Kenya’s Cherono Koech compete in the women’s 800m heats at the London 2012 Olympic Games, 8 August.

Olivier Morin AFP/GettyImages

Palestinian jockeys race in the West Bank city of Nablus in front of an audience of hundreds, 21 August.

Nedal Eshtayah APA images

Palestinians enjoy a ride in an amuseument park on the third day of Eid al-Fitr, marking the end of the month of Ramadan, Gaza City, 21 August.

Majdi Fathi APA images

Palestinian boys enjoy the Gaza seafront, 28 August.

Ashraf Amra APA images

The Electronic Intifada welcomes photographic contributions from readers. If you have high-quality images for consideration for the next edition of the Month in Photos, email info A T electronicintifada D O T net.

Tags