Author: Simon Speakman Cordall
Published on: 10/02/2026 | 00:00:00
AI Summary:
Ali Zbeedat, a longtime shopkeeper from Sakhnin in Israel’s north, decided he had enough. Recommended Stories list of 3 items list 1 of 3Here’s why Israel is allowing record murder rates in its Palestinian towns list 2 of 3Israel-Palestine head of Human Rights Watch quits over ‘blocked’ report list 3 of 3How Israel destroyed Gaza’s health system ‘deliberately and methodically’ end of list “We know where you go and where you walk. Tens of thousands of people, both Palestinian and Jewish Israeli, took to the streets of Tel Aviv and choking traffic in Jerusalem over the weekend. Zbeedat's case has caught the attention of Palestinian citizens of Israel, as well as wider Israeli society. Fertile ground Palestinian citizens of Israel make up approximately 21 percent of Israel’s overall population. They are descendants of Palestinians who were not forced out in the Nakba of 1948, when 750,000 people fled following the establishment of the State of Israel. To many that live in those communities, it is not that the state is actively working against them. Unemployment is endemic, and made worse after access to the occupied West Bank was restricted following the outbreak of Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza in 2023. According to 2024 figures, only 54 percent of Palestinian men and 36 percent of Israeli women in Israel have jobs, after already low employment levels plummeted in tandem with the genocide in Gaza. It makes fertile ground for organised crime, Touma-Suleiman said. Jewish Israelis rarely venture into territory considered dangerous and unsafe. Israeli President Isaac Herzog is preparing to name Ben-Gvir as task force addressing the issue. "At school, he will worry about one of his classmates or teachers being shot." Even if he had to go to the doctor or the pharmacist he would worry about a gang operating there.
Original: 1324 words
Summary: 301 words
Percent reduction: 77.27%