![Ibraheem Hamed, a Palestinian television cameraman from Watan TV, stands in the station's studio in the West Bank city of Ramallah February 29, 2012. Israeli soldiers raided two Palestinian television stations, including Watan TV, in the occupied West Bank on Wednesday, seizing transmitters the military said were interfering with air traffic communications. The Israeli military said Watan TV and Alquds educational television, which is also based in Ramallah, had been asked repeatedly by Israel to stop using](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/almpics/2014/07/RTR2YMEI.jpg/RTR2YMEI.jpg?h=f7822858&itok=NuD85vdu)
Asmaa al-Ghoul is a columnist for Al-Monitor's Palestine Pulse and a journalist from the Rafah refugee camp based in Gaza.
![Ibraheem Hamed, a Palestinian television cameraman from Watan TV, stands in the station's studio in the West Bank city of Ramallah February 29, 2012. Israeli soldiers raided two Palestinian television stations, including Watan TV, in the occupied West Bank on Wednesday, seizing transmitters the military said were interfering with air traffic communications. The Israeli military said Watan TV and Alquds educational television, which is also based in Ramallah, had been asked repeatedly by Israel to stop using](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/almpics/2014/07/RTR2YMEI.jpg/RTR2YMEI.jpg?h=f7822858&itok=NuD85vdu)
![Palestinian militants of al-Nasser Brigades hold weapons during a news conference on cross-border escalation between Palestinians and Israel, in Gaza City July 5, 2014. With Israel having mobilised ground forces outside Gaza on Thursday in a threat to invade, Egypt tried to mediate a truce. Israel and the Islamist Palestinian Hamas movement each said the other had to back down first. REUTERS/Mohammed Salem (GAZA - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST) - RTR3X7MR](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/almpics/2014/07/RTR3X7MR.jpg/RTR3X7MR.jpg?h=f7822858&itok=651tfR0d)
![Asmaa al-Ghoul](https://www.al-monitor.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/authors/2016/asmaaalghoul.jpg/asmaaalghoul.jpg?h=55541bb6&itok=zoLMHrdv)
Asmaa al-Ghoul
![A Palestinian militant inspects a crater caused by what police said was an Israeli air strike in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip June 29, 2014. Israeli army said on Sunday it targeted "terror sites" including, concealed rocket launchers and weapon manufacturing sites in response to earlier rockets fired from Gaza into Israel. A rocket fired from the Gaza Strip struck a factory in southern Israel on Saturday, setting it on fire, but Israeli officials said there were no serious injuries. REUTERS/Ibrah](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/almpics/2014/07/RTR3W9J3.jpg/RTR3W9J3.jpg?h=c2c5b897&itok=TPYdcnVv)
![Asmaa al-Ghoul](https://www.al-monitor.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/authors/2016/asmaaalghoul.jpg/asmaaalghoul.jpg?h=55541bb6&itok=zoLMHrdv)
Asmaa al-Ghoul
![Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas gestures as he speaks during a conference in the West Bank city of Ramallah June 19, 2014. Israeli forces traded gunfire with Palestinians on Thursday, the military said, in the fiercest street battles in the occupied West Bank since a search began for three Israeli teenagers missing for a week. Abbas roundly condemned the kidnappers on Wednesday and promised to hold to account those responsible. His words in turn were denounced by Hamas and other factions, who accused hi](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/almpics/2014/06/RTR3UPWQ.jpg/RTR3UPWQ.jpg?h=c2c5b897&itok=m3eOLQ0l)
![Asmaa al-Ghoul](https://www.al-monitor.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/authors/2016/asmaaalghoul.jpg/asmaaalghoul.jpg?h=55541bb6&itok=zoLMHrdv)
Asmaa al-Ghoul
![Palestinian youths take a nap as they wait with other passengers to cross into Egypt at Rafah border crossing in the southern Gaza Strip August 12, 2013. Egypt has sharply cut the number of Palestinians allowed to enter from the Gaza Strip since its military ousted Islamist president Mohamed Mursi last month, the tiny enclave's Islamist Hamas rulers said on Monday. An Egyptian official said the curbs were "not a punishment" for Hamas's Islamist leanings but an effort to reduce civilian traffic as Egypt has](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/almpics/2014/06/RTX12IVN-1.jpg/RTX12IVN-1.jpg?h=c2c5b897&itok=cDXzjA45)
![Asmaa al-Ghoul](https://www.al-monitor.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/authors/2016/asmaaalghoul.jpg/asmaaalghoul.jpg?h=55541bb6&itok=zoLMHrdv)
Asmaa al-Ghoul
![Palestinians lean against a car as Israeli soldiers take part in an operation to locate three Israeli teens in the West Bank City of Hebron June 17, 2014. Israel decided on Tuesday to widen a crackdown on Hamas in the West Bank after troops detained more than 40 members of the Palestinian Islamist group in sweeps conducted in tandem with a search for the three missing Jewish teenagers. REUTERS/Amir Cohen (WEST BANK - Tags: POLITICS MILITARY) - RTR3UAUQ](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/almpics/2014/06/RTR3UAUQ.jpg/RTR3UAUQ.jpg?h=f7822858&itok=udhY7k8K)
![Asmaa al-Ghoul](https://www.al-monitor.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/authors/2016/asmaaalghoul.jpg/asmaaalghoul.jpg?h=55541bb6&itok=zoLMHrdv)
Asmaa al-Ghoul
![A Palestinian protester holding a Palestinian flag heads a soccer ball next to Israeli border police during a demonstration in solidarity with hunger-striking Palestinian prisoners held by Israel, outside Israel's Ofer military prison near Ramallah June 11, 2014. Israel's parliament has given initial approval to a law to enable the force-feeding of Palestinian prisoners on a hunger strike, drawing defiance from activists who said on Tuesday it would not deter the inmates. REUTERS/Mohamad Torokman (WEST BAN](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/almpics/2014/06/RTR3T7KO.jpg/RTR3T7KO.jpg?h=c2c5b897&itok=ErKIwMx3)
![Asmaa al-Ghoul](https://www.al-monitor.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/authors/2016/asmaaalghoul.jpg/asmaaalghoul.jpg?h=55541bb6&itok=zoLMHrdv)
Asmaa al-Ghoul
![Palestinian women walk near a mosque in a street in the Gaza Strip March 13, 2014. REUTERS/Mohammed Salem (GAZA - Tags: POLITICS SOCIETY RELIGION) - RTR3GYYE](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/almpics/2014/06/RTR3GYYE.jpg/RTR3GYYE.jpg?h=c2c5b897&itok=rVfPlyGa)
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Asmaa al-Ghoul
![A Palestinian farmer harvests barley on a farm near the border of southern Gaza Strip with Israel April 28, 2014. REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa (GAZA - Tags: AGRICULTURE) - RTR3MW43](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/almpics/2014/04/RTR3MW43.jpg/RTR3MW43.jpg?h=c2c5b897&itok=uU_tSjge)
![Asmaa al-Ghoul](https://www.al-monitor.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/authors/2016/asmaaalghoul.jpg/asmaaalghoul.jpg?h=55541bb6&itok=zoLMHrdv)
Asmaa al-Ghoul
![Artist Damien Hirst's 'Where there's a will there's a way,' which shows antiretroviral drugs in a medicine cabinet, is seen as it is displayed at a gallery in New York, February 4, 2008, before the (RED) Auction at Sotheby's to benefit HIV/AIDS relief programs in Africa. The auction, arranged by Bono and Damien Hirst, will be on Valentines Day, February 14. REUTERS/Chip East (UNITED STATES) - RTR1WOB4](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/almpics/2014/04/RTR1WOB4.jpg/RTR1WOB4.jpg?h=c2c5b897&itok=KvIJCug-)
![Asmaa al-Ghoul](https://www.al-monitor.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/authors/2016/asmaaalghoul.jpg/asmaaalghoul.jpg?h=55541bb6&itok=zoLMHrdv)
Asmaa al-Ghoul
![Senior Fatah official Azzam Al-Ahmed (L) speaks with head of the Hamas government Ismail Haniyeh as they announce a reconciliation agreement during a news conference in Gaza City April 23, 2014. The Gaza-based Islamist group Hamas and President Mahmoud Abbas's Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) agreed on Wednesday to implement a unity pact, both sides announced in a joint news conference.REUTERS/Suhaib Salem (GAZA - Tags: POLITICS) - RTR3MC0Q](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/almpics/2014/04/RTR3MC0Q.jpg/RTR3MC0Q.jpg?h=c2c5b897&itok=0FUCC51h)
![Asmaa al-Ghoul](https://www.al-monitor.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/authors/2016/asmaaalghoul.jpg/asmaaalghoul.jpg?h=55541bb6&itok=zoLMHrdv)
Asmaa al-Ghoul
![Senior Hamas leader Moussa Abu Marzouk (R) hugs senior Hamas leader Mahmoud Al-Zahar in Gaza City April 21, 2014. Abu Marzouk arrived at the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip on Monday to take part in unity talks with rival Fatah movement of President Mahmoud Abbas, which are planned for Tuesday, Hamas officials said. REUTERS/Mohammed Salem (GAZA - Tags: POLITICS TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY) - RTR3M230](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/almpics/2014/04/RTR3M230.jpg/RTR3M230.jpg?h=f7822858&itok=cItMrzAm)
![Asmaa al-Ghoul](https://www.al-monitor.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/authors/2016/asmaaalghoul.jpg/asmaaalghoul.jpg?h=55541bb6&itok=zoLMHrdv)
Asmaa al-Ghoul