Britain Palestine Project

We hear from child psychotherapist Teresa Bailey, a founding member of the UK Palestine Mental Health Network. Drawing on decades of experience in children’s mental health services and recent advocacy with colleagues in Gaza, Theresa delivers a searing and compassionate account of what war does to a child’s mind and body.

Teresa explores the catastrophic mental health impact of Israel’s war on Gaza’s children. From trauma-induced mutism to the neurological effects of starvation, from shattered trust in parental safety to the impossibility of healing amid ongoing bombardment, this talk explains why this war is not just about land, but about destroying the very possibility of future generations.

Teresa shares the heart-wrenching questions asked by Palestinian children and uplifts the heroic work of Palestinian clinicians and the community's power of resilience.

This episode contains graphic themes and emotional content. Listener discretion advised.

Teresa Bailey is a semi-retired consultant child and adolescent psychotherapist. She has worked in the NHS for over 30 years, edited the Journal of Child Psychotherapy, and is now series editor for Independent Psychoanalytic Approaches with Children and Adolescents. She is a founding member of the UK Palestine Mental Health Network and leads a campaign for child psychotherapists to speak out against the genocide in Gaza.

Join Lara in this episode as she is joined by Dr Alonso Gurmendi, a LSE Fellow in Human Rights and a decolonisation expert. In his work, Alonso uses a critical approach to examine the state structures and ideologies which have perpetuated colonialism and have allowed for the illegal occupation and genocide of Gaza. Describing the world as “bombable” and “unbombable” areas, he explains that any meaningful conversation about Palestine must be centred first on the “human” before we can meaningfully talk about their “rights”. 

Alonso has gone viral over recent months for his uncensored, candid, and digestible commentary of the ongoing genocide in Gaza, and his ability to communicate the various ongoing international legal processes to a wide audience. For doing so, he has received much criticism, yet continues to be a pioneering voice in the academic world calling for justice for Palestinians. 

In this conversation, Alonso explains how, through his exploration of different social media platforms, he is using academic writing and legal research to create engaging videos which deconstruct the genocide in Gaza - reaching audiences who would never read an academic paper, but who want to understand the historic and legal roots of the ongoing genocide. He cuts through mainstream media and calls out Palestinian racism and Zionist propaganda.

Live streaming ICJ public hearing’s, making video essays on genocide and commenting on the developments in domestic and international law and politics, Alonso is combating the mainstream narrative 

Find Alonso:

On X: https://x.com/Alonso_GD 

On Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/alonsogurmendi 

On YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDVUdcG6EoWXv9nksUf8eiQ 

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/39wuN5ytvIrsbyrfReUGA2?si=d9fc3c4e364942db 

Substack: https://britainpalestineproject.substack.com/ 

Website: https://britainpalestineproject.org/

*DISCLAIMER: views shared are of the individual guests, and do not necessarily represent the position of The Britain Palestine Project. 

Professor Menachem Klein speaks on the radicalisation of Israeli society and its support for war crimes in Gaza. Klein, a veteran in unofficial Israeli-Palestinian negotiations and a signatory of the Geneva Agreement, discusses the historical and social transformations leading to the current conflict. He identifies three key structural changes in Israeli society: the establishment of an apartheid-like regime, elite transformation, and internal civil unrest. Klein suggests that both Israeli and Palestinian leaders have historically misjudged each other’s strengths and motivations, contributing to ongoing conflict. He emphasizes the need for a two-state solution based on equality and partnership, with open borders and shared sovereignty. The webinar also discusses the broader implications of U.S. support for Israeli policies and the potential undermining of international law. Audience questions cover a range of topics, including the right of return for Palestinians, the role of U.S. foreign policy, and strategies for influencing Israeli public opinion. Klein calls for increased civil society pressure on politicians and the development of new, collaborative solutions to the conflict.Prof. Menachem Klein is active in many unofficial negotiations with Palestinian counterparts. In October 2003 Prof. Klein signed together with prominent Israeli and Palestinian negotiators the Geneva Agreement – a detailed proposal for a comprehensive Israeli-Palestinian peace accord. He is Senior Fellow in Bruno Kreisky Forum for International Dialogue and board member of Palestine – Israel Journal. Previously he was board member of B’tselem, The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories.

Dr. Dalal Iriqat; Raji Sourani; Dr. Zahira Jaser (Universityof Sussex); Dr. Victor Kattan (University of Nottingham).

Gaza: Universal Jurisdiction and the Fight Against ImpunityRaji Sourani – Human rights lawyer; Director, Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR)Justice from Within: Palestinian Agency amid the Shifting Landscape of International SupportDr. Dalal Iriqat – Associate Professor of Diplomacy and Strategic Thinking, Arab American University (Ramallah)Followed by joint Q&A

The Humanitarian Impact of LawlessnessSam Rose – Director of Strategic Planning, UNRWA; Acting Director of UNRWA Operations in Gaza, followed by Q&A

Upholding the Rule of LawBaroness Brenda Hale (Former President of the UK Supreme Court) and Baroness Helena Kennedy KC (Human rights lawyer and Member of the House of Lords)Michael Sfard – Israeli human rights lawyer

Opening and Welcome, by Chair Professor Adam SutcliffeContext and Aims of the Conference, by Andrew Whitley, Chair of Trustees, Britain Palestine Projectfollowed byH.E. Dr. Husam Zomlot – Head of the Palestinian Mission to the UK

The illegal occupation is the umbrella under which all other crimes that Israel commits sit. So, why don’t we talk about the occupation enough?

In our third episode, join Lara as she speaks to Dr Dalal Iriqat to discuss whether there can be a diplomatic path to the end of the genocide in Palestine. Dr Iriqat is an Assistant Professor of Diplomacy and an expert in conflict resolution, who has published significant literature regarding the political future of Palestine.

In this episode Lara and Dalal cover a variety of themes and topics, including the occupation of Palestine as the root cause of the current genocide, apartheid and annexation; the reasons for including all actors in the path towards a peaceful and sustainable agreement and the dangerous language around humanitarian aid and dependency.

Join Lara and Dalal as Dalal talks about the conversations that she had with policy makers and politicians while she was in the UK.

Lara Bird-Leakey is joined by Dr Victor Kattan, Assistant Professor of Public International Law at the University of Nottingham and expert on the crime of apartheid.

In January 2024 Victor co-wrote an article with Gerrard Kemp considering apartheid as a form of genocide in the context of the case of South Africa v Israel. In this analysis, the authors consider that the link between the crime of genocide and apartheid has never been adjudicated on, but that there are clear and obvious links between the two.

Throughout the episode, Lara and Victor discuss the historic origins of the crime of apartheid, how courts have developed this in practice, and the hesitancy of the ICJ to want to use the term apartheid in both the South Africa case or their Advisory Opinion.

What does this mean for Palestine?