News stories by Jillian Kestler-DAmours

JIFTLICK, Occupied West Bank, Sep 14 (IPS) - In the Jordan Valley, contrasts are stark. Lush green agricultural fields and fenced-in greenhouses belong to the Israeli settlements that dot the landscape and benefit from the area's abundant water supply on one hand. On the other, Palestinian farmers denied access to their lands and other resources by the Israeli authorities struggle to cultivate the most basic crops and make a living wage.

HAR BRACHA SETTLEMENT, Occupied West Bank, Aug 14 (IPS) - Large spools of black tubing and plastic-wrapped water tanks lay strewn across a dusty construction site. A handful of Palestinian labourers, speaking quietly in Arabic, shuttle the items to the two unfinished, three-storey apartment blocs behind them.

TEL AVIV, Jun 24 (IPS) - Tesfahiwet Medin holds a university degree and experience as a nurse. But six years after escaping the violent dictatorship in his native Eritrea, the 39-year-old says he feels like a part of him is missing, as he's been prevented from continuing in his profession in Israel.

ISTANBUL, Jun 06 (IPS) - Few imagined that the symbolic act of standing in front of bulldozers in Istanbul's Gezi Park in an effort to block a development project near the city's central square would have caused the reaction it did.

OCCUPIED EAST JERUSALEM, May 26 (IPS) - Thick locks hug the front gates of shuttered shops, now covered in graffiti and dust from lack of use.Only a handful of customers pass along the dimly lit road, sometimes stopping to check the ripeness of fruits and vegetables, or ordering meat in near-empty butcher shops.

JERUSALEM, May 24 (IPS) - Public discussions about sexuality and gender diversity are difficult to start in many places. But a new multimedia project that is garnering buzz in Palestine aims to reverse this trend and open up dialogue within Palestinian society around these historically taboo issues.

DEIR GHASSANEH, Occupied West Bank, May 17 (IPS) - A reddish-brown dome sits atop an ancient stone house, used hundreds of years ago for prayer. It peeks out from the surrounding trees as the rolling green valleys and hills of the central West Bank stretch out into the distance.

ASIRA AL-QIBLIYA, Occupied West Bank, May 16 (IPS) - Ibrahim Makhlouf reaches for two wooden planks lying in the hallway and places them expertly in an L-shape along the seams of his front door.

KHAN AL-AHMAR, Occupied West Bank, Apr 29 (IPS) - Dozens of metal and wooden tents cling to the rocky hillside, just outside of Jerusalem along the road leading to the Dead Sea, while the unmistakable red roofs of Israeli settlements peak out from behind opposite hilltops.

ABEYAT, Occupied West Bank, Apr 24 (IPS) - Hind Ibrahim Abeyat has spent most of her life separated from her father. "Every house in Palestine has something – someone in prison, a martyr," the 19-year-old told IPS from her family home in Abeyat village, near Bethlehem.