Image: Israeli police detain a man as Bedouins protest in the southern Negev Desert against a forestation project by the Jewish National Fund (JNF), on January 12, 2022. (AHMAD GHARABLI / AFP)

Why tree planting in the Negev sparked protests, riots and a coalition crisis
Times of Israel

“The slender saplings, placed into soil churned up by tractors, seem far too innocuous to spark a coalition crisis. But where and how they’re planted turns out to matter on a national scale. The Jewish National Fund, a quasi-governmental body that oversees 13 percent of Israel’s land, began several days of planting trees on disputed land in the Negev on Sunday (January 9). The response was immediate: protests by Bedouin residents that escalated into clashes. Many Negev Bedouin live in unrecognized townships scattered across Israel’s southern desert. The government has sought to relocate them into planned, recognized cities, but most Bedouin have refused, insisting on the right to stay where they are.”

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Image: A Palestinian man holds up the remains of a refrigerator with family photos on it at the site of the Salhiya family's demolished home. (Reuters)

'War crime': Israel widely condemned for Sheikh Jarrah demolition
Middle East Eye

“Israel has been widely criticised for the overnight demolition of a Palestinian home in the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood of occupied East Jerusalem. Palestinian groups and international rights organisations condemned the tearing down of the home of the Salhiya family, which left 18 people homeless including children, as a ‘war crime’. The demolition was carried out overnight on Wednesday (January 19) by a large Israeli security operation, which violently raided the home of Mahmoud Salhiya before arresting him with a number of his relatives and supporters. It followed an eviction order by Israel's Jerusalem municipality which argued that the Salhiyas have no right over the land."

Read CMEP's statement on the Salhiya home being demolished here.

Image: Family members of Ismail Hassan, displaced by war in the Red Sea port city of Hodeidah, eat lunch at their shelter in Sanaa, Yemen January 17, 2022. Picture taken January 17, 2022. (Reuters/Khaled Abdullah)

Yemeni family lives in abandoned shop as war, hunger drags on
Reuters

“Ismail Hassan, a Yemeni father of ten, houses his family in an abandoned shop and scavenges recyclable items from rubbish bins to feed them. Living in the capital Sanaa after fleeing his hometown four years ago, Hassan is one of millions of Yemenis battling with increasing poverty and hunger as peace eludes the seven-year conflict and cash-strapped aid organisations struggle to keep assistance flowing. The World Food Programme (WFP) has since January reduced food rations for 8 million people due to funding shortages, warning the cuts would push more people into starvation."