Britain Palestine Project

What drives a society to justify violence in its own name?Following a screening of Planet Israel: A Cautionary Tale, director Gillian Mosely joins the Britain Palestine Project for a powerful and thought-provoking Q&A.Drawing on psychology, history, and lived experience, Planet Israel explores how trauma, identity, and political narratives shape Israeli society—and how these forces contribute to the ongoing war in Gaza.In this discussion, Gillian reflects on:The role of trauma and “collective psychology” in shaping public attitudesWhy so many Israelis support the war effortThe concept of responsibility—and whether trauma can ever justify violenceMedia narratives and the “parallel realities” shaping perceptionThe role of international pressure and shifting global opinionWhether there is still hope—and what it might take to break the cycleGillian also shares insights into the making of the film, audience reactions, and the challenges of bringing such a project to screen.🎬 Planet Israel: A Cautionary Tale is now available in the US via Kinema, with a UK cinema launch at Curzon Soho (14 May) and wider release from June.🔗 Find out more / host a screening:https://planetisrael.co.uk🎧 Listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts & more — just search Britain Palestine Project#Palestine #Israel #Gaza #Documentary #MiddleEast #HumanRights #Politics #War #Trauma #Journalism #BritainPalestineProject

After decades of failed negotiations and a rapidly shifting reality on the ground, is it time to rethink the framework for peace?

In this episode, we’re joined by Professor Yossi Mekelberg (Chatham House, University of Roehampton) to explore the idea of an Israeli–Palestinian confederation — a model that seeks to reconcile the increasingly entrenched one-state reality with the enduring need for two states.

Drawing on decades of research and policy engagement, Yossi examines why past peace efforts have stalled, what has changed since Oslo, and whether a new political structure could offer a more realistic path forward.

 In this episode, we explore:

• Why the traditional two-state model is becoming harder to implement

• The “one-state reality” on the ground — and what it means in practice

• What an Israeli–Palestinian confederation could look like

• How shared governance, open borders and joint institutions might function

• The role of settlements, refugees, and Jerusalem in any future agreement

• Why trust, reconciliation and public buy-in are essential to any solution

• Whether political leadership — on either side — is capable of delivering change

 Key takeaways

• The status quo is unsustainable: The current trajectory is worsening conditions on the ground and making traditional solutions harder to achieve.

• A confederation bridges realities: It attempts to combine two-state principles with the lived reality of deep territorial and demographic entanglement.

• Reciprocity is key: Any viable solution must balance rights — including for settlers and refugees — in a way both sides can accept.

• Peace is not just technical: Political agreements alone are not enough — rebuilding trust and humanising the “other” is essential.

• Leadership matters — but so do people: Change may depend as much on public pressure and shifting narratives as on formal negotiations.

📣 About the speaker

Professor Yossi Mekelberg is an associate fellow with the Middle East and North Africa Programme at Chatham House and a guest professor at the University of Roehampton. His expertise spans Middle East politics, Israeli politics, and the peace process.

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What does recognition actually mean - and what does it change?

In this special live episode recorded at Manchester Punk Festival, Diana Safieh is joined by international law expert Dr Emma Luce Scali (University of Manchester, UN consultant) to unpack one of the biggest political headlines of the year: Britain’s recognition of the State of Palestine.

But beyond the announcement - what does recognition actually do?

Drawing on international law, political reality, and lived Palestinian experience, this conversation cuts through symbolism to examine power, enforcement, and what meaningful change would really look like on the ground.

• What it actually means to be a “state” in international law

• Why recognition is important - but not enough on its own

• The gap between legal status and lived reality in Palestine

• How international law works (and why enforcement is its biggest weakness)

• What the International Court of Justice has said about occupation, apartheid, and illegality

• Why settlements are not just symbolic - but structural and permanent

• The role of economics: aid, trade, debt, and financial control

• Why aid alone can reinforce, rather than resolve, injustice

• What obligations states like the UK already have under international law

Watch or listen on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts - just search Britain Palestine Project.

🌐 www.britainpalestineproject.org📱 Follow us on Instagram, LinkedIn, Bluesky & Upscrolled📩 Join our mailing list for campaigns and events

🎧 In this episode, we explore:📺 Watch / Listen🔗 Find out more

with Stav Salpeter (Gisha – Legal Center for Freedom of Movement)

What does it take to leave Gaza for life-saving medical treatment - and why is it so often impossible?

Diana Safieh is joined by Stav Salpeter, Director of International Relations at Gisha, an Israeli human rights organisation working to protect the freedom of movement of Palestinians, particularly in Gaza.

Drawing on legal cases, on-the-ground realities, and international law, Stav exposes the systemic barriers preventing critically ill patients from accessing urgent care - and why this is not a logistical failure, but a political one.

From the collapse of Gaza’s healthcare system to the legal battles required for even a single patient to leave, this conversation lays bare a system where access to healthcare is controlled, delayed, and too often denied.

• The role of Gisha and its legal advocacy on freedom of movement

• How Gaza’s healthcare system has been systematically degraded

• The bureaucratic and political barriers to medical evacuation

• The closure of the Gaza–West Bank medical corridor

• The human cost behind the statistics: real patient cases

• The role (and limitations) of third-country evacuations

• Israel’s obligations under international humanitarian law

• What international pressure can realistically achieve

Patients often face weeks or months of bureaucratic delays for permits - even in urgent cases - despite conditions that require immediate treatment.

• Only 20 out of 677 health service points were fully functioning (March data)

• Severe shortages of medicine, fuel, electricity, and staff

• Medical professionals have been killed, detained, or denied entry

This creates a public health crisis where evacuation becomes essential - not optional.

Despite claims otherwise, the obstruction of medical evacuations is rooted in policy decisions, not geography or capacity.

• At least 18,500 people are currently waiting for medical evacuation

• Even under “best case” scenarios, current systems would take over a year to meet existing needs

Even when open, far fewer patients than promised are able to leave, and access remains inconsistent and unpredictable.

• Many cannot travel without a companion (often denied)

• Parents must decide whether to leave children behind

• Fear of not being allowed to return discourages evacuation

Access to treatment often requires multiple court petitions, even for children.

• One cancer patient only accessed treatment after six legal petitions

• His son, with a similar condition, died waiting

Before October 2023, around 1,500 patients per month accessed treatment via the Gaza–West Bank corridor.This route is now completely closed due to policy decisions.

Under the Fourth Geneva Convention, an occupying power must ensure access to medical care.Israel disputes its status as an occupying power, limiting its obligations in practice.

“It’s much cheaper to kill people with bureaucracy than with bombs.”

• Pressure governments to reopen the Gaza–West Bank medical corridor

• Advocate for increased third-country medical evacuations

• Challenge restrictive visa and documentation requirements

• Continue raising awareness and pushing for accountability

Stav Salpeter is Director of International Relations at Gisha – Legal Center for Freedom of Movement. Her work focuses on legal advocacy and policy change to ensure Palestinians’ access to fundamental rights, including healthcare.

Key Topics Covered
Key Takeaways1. Medical evacuation is a life-or-death issue2. Gaza’s healthcare system is on the brink of collapse3. The biggest barrier is political - not logistical4. The numbers are staggering - and growing5. The Rafah crossing is not a sufficient solution6. Patients face impossible choices7. Legal battles determine who lives and dies8. A functioning system already existed - and was shut down9. International law is clear - but contested10. Bureaucracy is being used as a tool of control🎯 What Can Be Done?📢 About the Guest

What is happening to Christian communities in the Holy Land-and why is their presence rapidly declining?

Diana Safieh is joined by activist and researcher Miranda Pinch, fresh from a recent visit to the West Bank. Drawing on decades of engagement with Palestine, Miranda offers a first-hand account of the realities facing Palestinian Christians today-challenging common narratives and exposing the structural pressures driving displacement.

From East Jerusalem to Hebron, from Christian schools to shrinking communities, this conversation explores how occupation, policy, and economic constraints are reshaping one of the world’s oldest Christian populations.

Miranda Pinch is a long-time advocate for Palestinian rights. The daughter of a secular Jewish refugee from Nazi Germany, she was raised with a strong awareness of injustice and its consequences.

• Former Ecumenical Accompanier (EAPPI) in Hebron

• Member of the Holocaust Survivor Descendants Network

• Communications Lead for Liberal Democrat Friends of Palestine

• Advisory Forum member, Britain Palestine Project

• Founder member of CAMPAIN (Campaign Against Misrepresentation in Public Affairs)

• Director of Balfour to Banksy: Divisions and Visions in Palestine (2017)

• 📉 Decline of Palestinian ChristiansOnce around 8% of the population, Christians now make up less than 2%-and under 1% when excluding immigrants.

• 🏙 Life under occupationRestrictions on movement, land, housing, and employment are contributing to emigration and fragmentation.

• ⛪ Pressure on churches and institutionsChurches face new taxation pressures, legal disputes over land, and financial strain.

• 🎓 Education and resilienceChristian schools remain vital spaces of empowerment-serving both Christian and Muslim students.

• 🚧 Checkpoints, permits, and daily lifeFrom arbitrary closures to humiliating searches, daily realities shape whether people can work, study, or stay.

• 🧠 Misinformation and global narrativesMiranda challenges claims that Christians are thriving, highlighting how statistics can obscure displacement and annexation dynamics.

• 🤝 Christian–Muslim relationsContrary to common assumptions, divisions are not religious but political-rooted in occupation and “divide and rule” dynamics.

• The decline of Christians in the Holy Land is not incidental-it is shaped by structural pressures.

• Palestinian Christians share many of the same challenges as their Muslim neighbours.

• Education, especially for women, remains a key site of resilience.

• International silence-particularly from churches-remains a major concern.

• Advocacy, accurate language, and political engagement are essential tools for change.

Miranda’s call to action is clear:

• 📣 Speak out-challenge misinformation

• 🏛 Lobby your MP and local institutions

• ⛪ Engage your church or community

• 📤 Share this episode and amplify Palestinian voices

In this new spin-off series, Chair Andrew Whitley and Trustee Sir Vincent Fean sit down for a candid, unscripted conversation on the latest developments shaping Palestine, Israel and Britain’s role in the region.

Recorded every two months, each episode focuses on the most pressing issues of the moment - from diplomatic shifts and legal developments to UK policy decisions and global political trends that could reshape the landscape.

There’s no fixed script. Just informed analysis, decades of diplomatic experience, and honest reflection on what’s happening - and what it means.

If you want context beyond headlines, and insight grounded in international law, diplomacy and lived experience, this is your quarterly briefing.

In the first episode of the Britain Palestine Project Situation Report, Chair Andrew Whitley and Trustee Sir Vincent Fean discuss the latest developments shaping the situation in Palestine and Israel and the role Britain and the wider international community should be playing.

In a candid and unscripted conversation recorded on 5 March, Andrew and Vincent examine the humanitarian and political situation in Gaza, the accelerating dynamics in the West Bank, and the policy choices facing the UK government. They also reflect on the implications of international law, the role of European states, and the pressures shaping Israeli domestic politics.

The conversation draws on decades of diplomatic and policy experience to explore what meaningful action could look like and why maintaining international attention on Palestine remains essential even as global crises shift the headlines.

Andrew WhitleyAndrew Whitley is founder and executive director of Geo-Political Advisory Services (GPAS), a UK-based consultancy working on the alleviation of armed conflict in the Middle East and Asia. He previously served as Policy Director and interim Chief Executive of The Elders, was a journalist with the BBC and Financial Times, and founded Human Rights Watch’s Middle East and North Africa division. At the United Nations he held senior posts at UNCTAD, the Department of Peacekeeping Operations and UNRWA.

Sir Vincent FeanSir Vincent Fean served in the British Diplomatic Service from 1975 to 2014. His final posting was as British Consul-General in Jerusalem (2010–2014). He previously served as Ambassador to Libya and High Commissioner to Malta. Vincent advocates equal rights for Israelis and Palestinians and British government recognition of the State of Palestine alongside Israel on pre-June 1967 lines. He is a Trustee of the Balfour Project.

Key themes discussedThe impact of wider regional tensionsThe humanitarian situation in GazaThe relationship between Gaza and the West BankSettlement expansion and the E1 projectInternational law and accountabilityIsraeli domestic politicsThe role of the UK governmentAbout the speakers

Professor Peter Beinart joins the Britain Palestine Project to discuss his latest book, Being Jewish After the Destruction of Gaza (Knopf, 2025), and to reflect on what this moment demands morally, politically and spiritually.

Beinart describes Gaza not only as a humanitarian catastrophe, but as a moral and theological crisis for Jewish communities worldwide.

A central theme of the conversation is Beinart’s argument that systems of legal supremacy - whether in Israel/Palestine, apartheid South Africa, the segregated American South, or Northern Ireland - always frame equality as existential threat.

Drawing on examples from South Africa and Northern Ireland, he argues that liberation must be mutual: both the oppressed and the oppressor are diminished by inequality.

He reflects candidly on personal consequences, including the loss of friendships, and the unique backlash faced by dissenting Jewish voices.

Beinart stresses that antisemitism is real and must be confronted - but warns against its weaponisation to silence Palestinians and critics of Israeli policy.

He warns that without genuine political change, Gaza risks becoming permanently unliveable, reinforcing displacement rather than rebuilding.

Peter Beinart is Professor of Journalism and Political Science at the Newmark School of Journalism, City University of New York.

🎧 Listen to the full episode on the Britain Palestine Project podcast.📖 Being Jewish After the Destruction of Gaza is available now.

If you found this conversation meaningful, please consider supporting the Britain Palestine Project to help us continue hosting urgent and challenging discussions like this one.

In this episode, we explore the “Britain Owes Palestine” campaign, a landmark demand for historical accountability and justice. A group of Palestinians has submitted a detailed 400-page legal petition to the UK government, arguing that Britain must formally acknowledge, apologise for, and make reparations for its actions in Palestine from 1917 to 1948 — actions they say laid the foundations for the modern Israeli-Palestinian conflict and continue to reverberate today.

Drafted by a team of leading international lawyers and historians, including Ben Emmerson KC, Danny Friedman KC, Avi Shlaim, John Quigley and Victor Kattan, the petition sets out what its sponsors describe as “incontrovertible evidence” of violations of international law during Britain’s Mandate — from the Balfour Declaration to alleged systemic repression, unlawful occupation policies, and the impact of partition.

Led by 91-year-old philanthropist Munib Al Masri and 13 other petitioners whose lives were shaped by colonial-era violence and displacement, the campaign seeks more than an apology: it demands a reckoning and tangible reparative justice.

Join us as we unpack the historical claims, legal arguments, and broader implications of this bold push for accountability, historical truth, and what justice might look like a century on.

Dr Victor Kattan is a public international law scholar and a member of the expert legal team behind the Britain Owes Palestine campaign, which calls on the UK to acknowledge and make reparations for its actions during the Mandate period. He is an Assistant Professor at the University of Nottingham and Deputy Director of the Nottingham International Law and Security Centre. His research focuses on the history of international law, colonial responsibility, and the legal foundations of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and he is the author of From Coexistence to Conquest.

In this episode of the Britain Palestine Project Podcast, host Diana Safieh is joined by Rabbi Dr Dana Sharon and Anton Goodman from Rabbis for Human Rights, an Israeli NGO grounded in Jewish ethical and religious values.

The conversation explores how faith-based activism is being used to confront and resist extremist settler violence, forced displacement, and systemic human rights abuses faced by Palestinian communities in the West Bank - particularly in Area C.

Speaking in a personal capacity, Dana and Anton reflect on the moral, theological, and practical dimensions of their work, from protective presence and olive harvest accompaniment to advocacy within Israeli institutions.

About the Speakers

Rabbi Dr Dana SharonDirector of the Rabbis Network at Rabbis for Human Rights. Ordained at Hebrew Union College, where she now teaches, Dana is also a board member of Women of the Wall. She works across Jewish denominations to ground human rights advocacy in religious and ethical traditions.

Anton GoodmanOrthodox Jewish activist and Director of Partnerships at Rabbis for Human Rights. Anton works extensively in the West Bank on protective presence, humanitarian accompaniment, and advocacy. He is a member of the Global Diplomacy Lab and has published widely on conflict resolution.

🎧 Listen, subscribe, and shareThis episode is available on YouTube and all major podcast platforms.Search Britain Palestine Project wherever you listen.

Host: Lara Bird-Leakey Guest: Dr. Yusra Suedi, Lecturer in International Law, University of Manchester; Visiting Professor, Geneva Graduate Institute

In this important episode of International Law in Crisis?, Lara Bird-Leakey sits down with Dr. Yusra Suedi to unpack one of the most fraught legal and geopolitical flashpoints of our time — the United States’ recent use of force against Venezuela.

Recent U.S. military operations, including lethal strikes against alleged drug networks and the detention of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, have sparked fierce international debate. Critics argue these actions stretch or violate foundational principles of international law, including the prohibition on the use of force, sovereignty, and the narrow conditions under Article 51 of the UN Charter for lawful self-defense. 

What constitutes a legitimate claim of self-defense under international law? Can the activities of transnational criminal organisations — such as drug cartels — ever amount to an “armed attack” justifying the use of force by another state? And what legal and normative thresholds must be met before force can be lawfully used beyond a state’s own borders? 

In this conversation, Dr. Suedi challenges prevailing narratives that seek to justify the U.S. actions on legal grounds. She argues that no credible legal justification exists for the U.S. strikes under the accepted definitions of self-defense, as drug trafficking does not meet the stringent international law threshold of an armed attack. Accepting such reasoning, Suedi explains, would dangerously expand the exception to the rule against the use of force, undermining the UN Charter’s core protections. 

Dr. Suedi also addresses how non-state actors - including organised criminal groups - are treated under international law, the legal distinction between law enforcement and armed conflict, and the broader implications for the international order if powerful states bypass legal constraints for political or economic ends.

Dr. Suedi is a Lecturer in International Law at the University of Manchester, where she directs the LLM programmes in International Law. She also serves as Visiting Professor at the Geneva Graduate Institute and holds a PhD in Public International Law from the University of Geneva. Yusra writes on legal theory and practice at her blog Simplified Approaches to International Law (SAIL), where she explores complex legal issues with clarity and insight.