Occupied Thoughts

In this episode of Occupied Thoughts, journalist and human rights activist Basel Adraa joins FMEP's Sarah Anne Minkin to discuss the acceleration of threats and violence from the Israeli army and settlers in Masafer Yatta, both inside of Firing Zone 918, which is under special unique threat of expulsion and forced population transfer, and outside of it, including in A-Twani, Basel's village. See www.fmep.org for resources on the many incidents and developments Basel discussed. 

Basel Adraa is an activist, journalist, and photographer from the village of A’Twani who publishes on +972 and Humans of Masafer Yatta on Instagram and Substack. Basel's Twitter: @basel_adra

Sarah Anne Minkin, PhD is the Director of Programs and Partnerships at FMEP. Her Twitter: @saminkin.

Original music by Jalal Yaquoub.

In this episode of FMEP’s Occupied Thoughts podcast, Jessica Montell, Executive Director of the Israeli human rights organization HaMoked, joins FMEP’s Lara Friedman to discuss the latest version of Israel's new procedures -- published, updated, and due to be implemented on October 20, 2022 -- governing all entry of foreigners solely to the West Bank. As Hamoked has noted in its September 14, 2022 analysis of the new regulations, this new version includes a few substantive changes, but "most of the flaws remain and some even exacerbated." Hamoked further notes: "the new procedure is highly restrictive and needlessly hampers the entry of foreign passport holders to the oPt and their ability to stay there without interruption….All this, without any legal basis or reasonable grounds, and contrary to Israel’s obligation to act for the benefit of the protected population living under occupation.”

For more information and resources, please visit: https://fmep.org/resource/24402/

In this episode of "Occupied Thoughts," FMEP's non-resident fellow Dr. Maha Nassar is joined by Dr. Basil Farraj to discuss Palestinian political prisoners, which is a central issue for Palestinians living under Israeli occupation. Their discussion examines on how Israel's "carceral regime" is a key component of Israel's occupation, how arbitrary "administrative detention" is a key tool within that regime, how military courts system functions, and the effects all of this has on Palestinians and their struggle for liberation.

For more information and further resources, please visit: https://fmep.org/resource/palestinian-political-prisoners-and-israels-carceral-regime/

On this episode of Occupied Thoughts, FMEP's Kristin McCarthy is joined by Amy Cohen of Ir Amim to unpack the threat that land registration poses to Palestinians. Though land registration is a complex and bureaucratic process, Ir Amim characterizes it as one of (if not the) most pressing modes of dispossession facing Palestinians living in East Jerusalem. Listen to understand why and how Israel is cynically exploiting land registration to grow settlements, expropriate more land, and push Palestinians out of the city.

For resources mentioned in this podcast, please visit: https://fmep.org/resource/a-settler-tool-a-catch-22-for-palestinians-land-registration-in-east-jerusalem/

During the 2022 Democratic Party Primaries Israel-aligned funders invested tens of millions of dollars to defeat progressive candidates who, as part of a broader rights-based, democratic agenda, support Palestinian rights. To examine this phenomenon and its implications, FMEP non-resident Fellow Dr. Maha Nassar will host political strategist Rania Batrice, FMEP President Lara Friedman, and analyst Dr. Yousef Munayyer in conversation to address questions like: How does Israel/Palestine show up in Democratic Party politics today? How deep is the embrace of Palestinian rights among progressive candidates and in the grassroots? What has pushback from Israel-aligned funders (from both parties) looked like and how may it manifest in the future, and what does it mean for progressive organizing and candidates in the future?

Original music by Jalal Yaquoub.

In this episode of Occupied Thoughts, FMEP's Lara Friedman speaks with Israeli journalist Noam Sheizaf about the deepening love affair between the American and Israeli "new right" - a topic that Noam examined in his recent article in +972 Magazine, An Israeli home for America’s New Right.

Noam Sheizaf is a Tel Aviv based journalist, the founding editor of +972 Magazine where he still writes, along with Haaretz and other publications. Noam recently completed a documentary about Hebron, titled "H2: The occupation Lab," that premiered at the Doc Aviv film festival in Tel Aviv.

Lara Friedman is President of FMEP.

Original music by Jalal Yaquoub.

In this episode of FMEP’s Occupied Thoughts podcast, FMEP’s Lara Friedman speaks with Omar Shakir, Israel and Palestine Director at Human Rights Watch, about Israel’s further targeting of Palestinian human rights/civil society, with the "ratification" 8/17/22 of Israeli decisions to designate 6 Palestinian NGOs as terror organizations, and Israel's move 8/18/22 to raid and shut down the groups. Further resources/links: https://fmep.org/resource/this-is-not-a-drill-israel-brings-the-hammer-down-on-the-palestinian-ngo-sector-ft-omar-shakir/

In this episode of Occupied Thoughts, FMEP’s Sarah Anne Minkin speaks with FMEP Fellow Jehad Abusalim about the aftermath of the most recent escalation, the relationship between the Nakba and the ongoing violent realities of Gaza, and questions of how to talk about and envision Gaza within broader frameworks of Palestinian liberation and freedom. 

Jehad Abusalim is the Education and Policy Coordinator of the Palestine Activism Program at the American Friends Service Committee. He is completing his PhD in the History and Hebrew and Judaic Studies joint program at New York University. His research focuses on Arab and Palestinian intellectual discourse on Zionism, antisemitism, and the plight of the Jewish people in Europe between 1870 and 1948. Jehad also studies the social and political history of the Gaza Strip, focusing on the continuing impact of the Nakba on life in Gaza before and after 1948. Mr. Abusalim has been published in the Washington Post, al-Jazeera, the New Arab, and Vox. 

Sarah Anne Minkin, PhD is FMEP’s Director of Programs & Partnerships. She leads FMEP’s programming, works to deepen FMEP’s relationships with existing and potential grantees, and builds relationships with new partners in the philanthropic community. She is an affiliated faculty member at University of California, Berkeley’s Center for Right-Wing Studies. 

Resources from Jehad Abusalim: 

Twitter profile: @JehadAbusalim, and his threads about the recent Gaza assault. 

Most recent publication, the co-edited anthology Light in Gaza: Writings Born of Fire, published by Haymarket books. 

May 2021 Washington Post article, The Gaza cease-fire is no excuse for the world to look away

May 2020 Journal of Palestine Studies article, The Great March of Return: An Organizer's Perspective

An AFSC resource for learning more about Gaza: https://gazaunlocked.org/

Original Music by Jalal. Yaquoub.

FMEP President Lara Friedman speaks with Dr. Lana Tatour about the recent Israeli Supreme Court decision that opens a legal path for the Israeli government to revoke citizenship of Palestinian citizens of Israel, and what this decision both reflects and demonstrates about the fragile status of Israel's Palestinian citizens.

Dr. Tatour is an assistant professor in global development at the School of Social Science, University of New South Wales, Australia. She was the 2019–20 Ibrahim Abu-Lughod Postdoctoral Fellow at the Center for Palestine Studies at Columbia University. She is currently completing a book provisionally titled Ambivalent Resistance: Palestinians in Israel and the Liberal Politics of Settler Colonialism and Human Rights. Follow her on Twitter at @Lana_Tatour.

Links to articles mentioned in this podcast & further resources can be found here: https://fmep.org/resource/israeli-supreme-court-opens-door-to-legalized-ethnic-cleansing-inside-the-green-line

In mid-July, President Biden is expected to make his first visit as President of the United States to Israel and the Persian Gulf. What is the point of his visit? What does it mean for U.S. policy vis-a-vis Israel and the Gulf? What does it mean for Palestinians? To explore these and other questions, FMEP and Jewish Currents held a conversation with U.S.-based experts Peter Beinart (CUNY), Dana El Kurd (University of Richmond), Lara Friedman (FMEP), and Trita Parsi (Quincy). 

Participants: 

​​Peter Beinart teaches national reporting and opinion writing at the Newmark J-School and political science at the CUNY Graduate Center. He is editor-at-large for Jewish Currents, an MSNBC political commentator, and a fellow at the Foundation for Middle East Peace. He is also a nonfiction author and former Rhodes Scholar. His first book, The Good Fight, was published by HarperCollins in 2006. His second book, The Icarus Syndrome, was published by HarperCollins in 2010. His third, The Crisis of Zionism, was published by Times Books in 2012. Peter tweets at @PeterBeinart

Dana El Kurd is an assistant professor at the University of Richmond, a non resident senior fellow at the Arab Center Washington, and non resident fellow at the Middle East Institute in the Palestine program. Her work focuses on authoritarianism, international intervention, and state-society relations in the Arab world. Her book, Polarized and Demobilized: Legacies of Authoritarianism in Palestine, was released in January 2020 with Oxford University Press. She tweets at @danaelkurd.

Lara Friedman is the President of the Foundation for Middle East Peace (FMEP). With more than 25 years working in the Middle East foreign policy arena, Lara is a leading authority on U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East, with particular expertise on Israel/Palestine and the role of the U.S. Congress. In addition to her work at FMEP, Lara is a Contributing Writer at Jewish Currents and a non-resident fellow at the U.S./Middle East Project (USMEP). Prior to joining FMEP, Lara was the Director of Policy and Government Relations at Americans for Peace Now, and before that she was a U.S. Foreign Service Officer, serving in Jerusalem, Washington, Tunis and Beirut. She holds a B.A. from the University of Arizona and a Master’s degree from Georgetown’s School of Foreign Service; in addition to English, Lara speaks French, Arabic, Spanish, (weak) Italian, and muddles through in Hebrew. Lara tweets at @LaraFriedmanDC

Trita Parsi is an award-winning author and the 2010 recipient of the Grawemeyer Award for Ideas Improving World Order. He is an expert on US-Iranian relations, Iranian foreign policy, and the geopolitics of the Middle East. He has authored three books on US foreign policy in the Middle East, with a particular focus on Iran and Israel. He was named by the Washingtonian Magazine as one of the 25 most influential voices on foreign policy in Washington DC in both 2021 and 2022, and preeminent public intellectual Noam Chomsky calls Parsi “one of the most distinguished scholars on Iran.” He tweets at @tparsi.

Original music by Jalal Yaquoub.