Khan Al Ahmar is a collection of ragtag Bedouin tents and corrugated tin shacks, perched on a windswept, nondescript stretch of land outside Jerusalem. Like other unremarkable Bedouin villages in the West Bank, it is the subject of intense Israeli focus. For nearly a decade, Israel has tried to remove the residents of Khan Al Ahmar, demolish the village and take over the land. The effort is part of Tel Aviv’s plan to extend settlements through a 12 sq km area between Jerusalem and the mega-settlement of Maale Adumim, an area known as the E1, and the land where the villagers have lived for decades falls right in the middle of the new development. If successful, the Israeli plan would sever the West Bank in two, further detach Jerusalem from Palestinian areas and create an impossible hurdle for a two-state solution.
The 180 residents of Khan Al Ahmar, all members of the Jahalin Bedouin tribe, have taken on the formidable Israeli military’s efforts to destroy their village and are fighting them in the law courts. Every time the military issues a demolition order, they fight back via the legal system. Since 2009, the Israeli high court has issued several orders to postpone the demolition. This changed in September, giving the military the authority to demolish the village. Then something remarkable happened.
With an impending demolition order, Palestinian activists from around the West Bank descended on the village. Joined by international and Israeli activists, they have been non-violently confronting Israeli bulldozers and soldiers sent to level Khan Al Ahmar. The village is breathing new life into the Palestinian resistance movement against the Israeli occupation after several difficult years. It worked, too, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu indefinitely postponing the bulldozing of the village, although the following day he claimed it was only a temporary reprieve of “several weeks”.
It hasn’t always been this way. Just a year before the Arab uprisings, there was a sense of urgency on Friday mornings in Palestine. Across the West Bank, several villages would stage protests against the Israeli separation barrier, settlements and the occupation as a whole. Hundreds of international activists and a handful of Israeli supporters would join the villagers as they confronted heavily armed Israeli soldiers.
But that was then. Over the years, the movement has lost momentum – in the West Bank, at least. Israel arrested hundreds of Palestinians, often raiding villages that held protests and taking away dozens of children in the middle of the night as a means of applying pressure. At its best, the Palestinian Authority offered hollow words of support for this village struggle, possibly afraid of the power of a non-violent movement that could one day threaten its claim to power. In Gaza, however, perhaps with a sense of how little there is to lose, Palestinians have coalesced around the idea of non-violent resistance since the Great March of Return nearly seven months ago. Every Friday morning, hundreds and sometimes thousands of Palestinian hold mass demonstrations along the borders with Israel.
The power of non-violent civil action has been central to the Palestinian struggle against occupation. While most equate Israel-Palestine with cyclical outbursts of violence – in Gaza, during the second intifada or through extremist acts – non-violence has shaped the contours of the occupation. Throughout the 1980s, Palestinian civil society organised boycotts of everything from Israeli vegetables to universities. In a bid to shut down the West Bank economy, which has always been vital to the maintenance of the Israeli occupation, Palestinians would strike for days. These actions culminated in the first intifada, one of the crowning examples of non-violent resistance in the 21st century.
Watching apartheid South Africa crumble as a result of similar tactics and subsequent worldwide support, Israel took a forceful hand in stamping out resistance in the first intifada. The Oslo process followed but when the second intifada exploded, popular protest was quickly drowned out by violence targeting Israeli civilians. Instead of images of women and children protesting, the world saw images of burning Israeli buses and restaurants.
As the second intifada slowly died out, small villages across the West Bank picked up the mantle of non-violence from 2005. Facing the prospect of losing their land to the Israeli separation barrier or settlements, these villages confronted the occupation head-on.
When social media came onto the scene, protests were beamed across the world. All of a sudden, the occupation narrative – the one that posits Israel and Palestine as relative equals striving for peace and security – was challenged. Palestinians, devoid of their rights in a military occupation, were seen in their struggle for land and freedom. The intense global focus on the Middle East and the Arab uprisings only intensified the Palestinian struggle on the ground.
Khan Al Ahmar is bringing this struggle back to the forefront and this week achieved a remarkable result when Mr Netanyahu halted the demolition, albeit temporarily. The power of non-violence to force a change in Israeli strategy was on clear display. Oren Ziv, a photographer who has been staying in the village for the past month, wrote in the Israeli magazine +972: “A month ago, not a single person in Israel, the West Bank, or even around the world would have believed that the struggle of a few hundred activists could succeed in delaying – if not defeating completely – Netanyahu’s decision to demolish the village.”
It is unclear what will happen in the David and Goliath struggle over Khan Al Ahmar but the success the villagers enjoyed this week underlines the power of non-violence in Palestine. Throughout modern history, occupied and brutalised people standing up for their rights in the face of military aggression have had remarkable results. While it can take time to defeat the subjugation in Israel and Palestine, history is on the side of non-violent resistance.
Joseph Dana is the editor of emerge85, a project exploring change in the emerging world and its global impact
The specs: 2018 Maxus T60
Price, base / as tested: Dh48,000
Engine: 2.4-litre four-cylinder
Power: 136hp @ 1,600rpm
Torque: 360Nm @ 1,600 rpm
Transmission: Five-speed manual
Fuel consumption, combined: 9.1L / 100km
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Mina Cup winners
Under 12 – Minerva Academy
Under 14 – Unam Pumas
Under 16 – Fursan Hispania
Under 18 – Madenat
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How Tesla’s price correction has hit fund managers
Investing in disruptive technology can be a bumpy ride, as investors in Tesla were reminded on Friday, when its stock dropped 7.5 per cent in early trading to $575.
It recovered slightly but still ended the week 15 per cent lower and is down a third from its all-time high of $883 on January 26. The electric car maker’s market cap fell from $834 billion to about $567bn in that time, a drop of an astonishing $267bn, and a blow for those who bought Tesla stock late.
The collapse also hit fund managers that have gone big on Tesla, notably the UK-based Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust and Cathie Wood’s ARK Innovation ETF.
Tesla is the top holding in both funds, making up a hefty 10 per cent of total assets under management. Both funds have fallen by a quarter in the past month.
Matt Weller, global head of market research at GAIN Capital, recently warned that Tesla founder Elon Musk had “flown a bit too close to the sun”, after getting carried away by investing $1.5bn of the company’s money in Bitcoin.
He also predicted Tesla’s sales could struggle as traditional auto manufacturers ramp up electric car production, destroying its first mover advantage.
AJ Bell’s Russ Mould warns that many investors buy tech stocks when earnings forecasts are rising, almost regardless of valuation. “When it works, it really works. But when it goes wrong, elevated valuations leave little or no downside protection.”
A Tesla correction was probably baked in after last year’s astonishing share price surge, and many investors will see this as an opportunity to load up at a reduced price.
Dramatic swings are to be expected when investing in disruptive technology, as Ms Wood at ARK makes clear.
Every week, she sends subscribers a commentary listing “stocks in our strategies that have appreciated or dropped more than 15 per cent in a day” during the week.
Her latest commentary, issued on Friday, showed seven stocks displaying extreme volatility, led by ExOne, a leader in binder jetting 3D printing technology. It jumped 24 per cent, boosted by news that fellow 3D printing specialist Stratasys had beaten fourth-quarter revenues and earnings expectations, seen as good news for the sector.
By contrast, computational drug and material discovery company Schrödinger fell 27 per cent after quarterly and full-year results showed its core software sales and drug development pipeline slowing.
Despite that setback, Ms Wood remains positive, arguing that its “medicinal chemistry platform offers a powerful and unique view into chemical space”.
In her weekly video view, she remains bullish, stating that: “We are on the right side of change, and disruptive innovation is going to deliver exponential growth trajectories for many of our companies, in fact, most of them.”
Ms Wood remains committed to Tesla as she expects global electric car sales to compound at an average annual rate of 82 per cent for the next five years.
She said these are so “enormous that some people find them unbelievable”, and argues that this scepticism, especially among institutional investors, “festers” and creates a great opportunity for ARK.
Only you can decide whether you are a believer or a festering sceptic. If it’s the former, then buckle up.
'THE WORST THING YOU CAN EAT'
Trans fat is typically found in fried and baked goods, but you may be consuming more than you think.
Powdered coffee creamer, microwave popcorn and virtually anything processed with a crust is likely to contain it, as this guide from Mayo Clinic outlines:
Baked goods - Most cakes, cookies, pie crusts and crackers contain shortening, which is usually made from partially hydrogenated vegetable oil. Ready-made frosting is another source of trans fat.
Snacks - Potato, corn and tortilla chips often contain trans fat. And while popcorn can be a healthy snack, many types of packaged or microwave popcorn use trans fat to help cook or flavour the popcorn.
Fried food - Foods that require deep frying — french fries, doughnuts and fried chicken — can contain trans fat from the oil used in the cooking process.
Refrigerator dough - Products such as canned biscuits and cinnamon rolls often contain trans fat, as do frozen pizza crusts.
Creamer and margarine - Nondairy coffee creamer and stick margarines also may contain partially hydrogenated vegetable oils.
Formula Middle East Calendar (Formula Regional and Formula 4)
Round 1: January 17-19, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 2: January 22-23, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 3: February 7-9, Dubai Autodrome – Dubai
Round 4: February 14-16, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 5: February 25-27, Jeddah Corniche Circuit – Saudi Arabia
Specs
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Gearbox: 10-speed automatic
Power: 405hp at 5,500rpm
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Fuel economy, combined: 11.2L/100km
Price: From Dh292,845 (Reserve); from Dh320,145 (Presidential)
On sale: Now
More on animal trafficking
Jordan cabinet changes
In
- Raed Mozafar Abu Al Saoud, Minister of Water and Irrigation
- Dr Bassam Samir Al Talhouni, Minister of Justice
- Majd Mohamed Shoueikeh, State Minister of Development of Foundation Performance
- Azmi Mahmud Mohafaza, Minister of Education and Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research
- Falah Abdalla Al Ammoush, Minister of Public Works and Housing
- Basma Moussa Ishakat, Minister of Social Development
- Dr Ghazi Monawar Al Zein, Minister of Health
- Ibrahim Sobhi Alshahahede, Minister of Agriculture and Minister of Environment
- Dr Mohamed Suleiman Aburamman, Minister of Culture and Minister of Youth
Out
- Dr Adel Issa Al Tawissi, Minister of High Education and Scientific Research
- Hala Noaman “Basiso Lattouf”, Minister of Social Development
- Dr Mahmud Yassin Al Sheyab, Minister of Health
- Yahya Moussa Kasbi, Minister of Public Works and Housing
- Nayef Hamidi Al Fayez, Minister of Environment
- Majd Mohamed Shoueika, Minister of Public Sector Development
- Khalid Moussa Al Huneifat, Minister of Agriculture
- Dr Awad Abu Jarad Al Mushakiba, Minister of Justice
- Mounir Moussa Ouwais, Minister of Water and Agriculture
- Dr Azmi Mahmud Mohafaza, Minister of Education
- Mokarram Mustafa Al Kaysi, Minister of Youth
- Basma Mohamed Al Nousour, Minister of Culture
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Ain Issa camp:
- Established in 2016
- Houses 13,309 people, 2,092 families, 62 per cent children
- Of the adult population, 49 per cent men, 51 per cent women (not including foreigners annexe)
- Most from Deir Ezzor and Raqqa
- 950 foreigners linked to ISIS and their families
- NGO Blumont runs camp management for the UN
- One of the nine official (UN recognised) camps in the region
