Today, I am introducing a recording of an event on Israel-Palestine organized by members of the history department at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The event took place on May 19th, 2021 and was co-sponsored by the Jadaliyya e-zine as well as the New Books Network.

Here is the text of the event poster: When it comes to Palestine, there is a sharp disconnect between the ways academics specializing in the contemporary Middle East frame the dispute, and the discussions by journalists and mainstream media outlets. The current crisis must be placed within its longer context that includes decades of occupation of Palestinian territory by the Israeli military and Israeli settlers. This panel seeks to reframe the issue by providing scholarly, historical perspectives on the multiple factors that have led to the current events taking place in the Jerusalem neighborhood Sheikh Jarrah, which are now expanding outward. Furthermore, this panel will speak not to intellectual abstractions, but will provide academic contexts to pragmatic concerns that journalists and readers should understand and consider when reporting on or reading about the current situation in Palestine today.

Panel Moderator: 

Dr. Sarah Shields is Professor of Middle East History at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Panelists:

Ussama Makdisi is Professor of History and the first holder of the Arab-American Educational Foundation Chair of Arab Studies at Rice University.

Sherene Seikaly is Associate Professor of History at the University of California, Santa Barbara. She is the editor of the Arab Studies Journal, co-founder and co-editor of Jadaliyya e-zine, and editor of Journal of Palestine Studies.

Mouin Rabbani is a researcher and analyst specializing in the Arab-Israeli conflict and the contemporary Middle East, and co-editor of Jadaliyya.

Podcast Host:

Samee Siddiqui is a PhD Candidate at the Department of History, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

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