We're back with another extended interview from "The shepherd and the settler," produced by the Unsettled team for the BBC World Service.

Aviv Tatarsky is a researcher for Ir Amim and one of the founders of Engaged Dharma Israel. Aviv was with our producer Max Freedman when he visited Rashash to report "The shepherd and the settler." Listen to the full documentary to hear Aviv's close encounter with a settler on an ATV, then return to this episode to learn about how Aviv uses meditation to challenge the occupation, and why he no longer calls himself a "peace activist."

Unsettled is produced by Asaf Calderon, Emily Bell, Ilana Levinson, and Max Freedman.

This is the first in a series of extended interviews from "The shepherd and the settler," produced by the Unsettled team for the BBC World Service.

Muhammad Jahaleen is a 30-year-old Bedouin shepherd in the occupied West Bank, living with his family in a remote place called Rashash. Listen to "The shepherd and the settler," then return to this episode for more of Muhammad's story and more details about his life under threat from the settlement next door.

Unsettled is produced by Asaf Calderon, Emily Bell, Ilana Levinson, and Max Freedman. This episode was reported by Max Freedman.

Unsettled producer Max Freedman spends the day in Rashash, a small herding community in the West Bank, with a Bedouin shepherd named Muhammad.

Muhammad's family has been herding sheep and goats in Rashash for 30 years, and in Palestine for generations. But since Israeli settlers recently moved in nearby, it has become difficult for Muhammad to graze his flock undisturbed. After watching this conflict in action, Max sets out to understand what he saw in Rashash.

"The shepherd and the settler" originally aired on September 16, 2020 as part of the "Rulebreakers" series, a collaboration of the BBC World Service and the Sundance Institute. This story was produced by Max Freedman, Ilana Levinson, and Emily Bell, with editing by Ilana Levinson.

Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn is one of the most iconic historically Black neighborhoods in the United States. But Bed-Stuy is changing. Fifty years ago, schools in Bed-Stuy's District 16 were so overcrowded that students went to school in shifts. Today, they're half-empty. Why?

"School Colors" is a new podcast from Unsettled producer Max Freedman exploring how race, class, and power shape American cities and schools. Listen to the first episode here, then find "School Colors" in your podcast app and subscribe. More information at www.schoolcolorspodcast.com.

CREDITS

Producers / Hosts: Mark Winston Griffith and Max Freedman
Editing & Sound Design: Elyse Blennerhassett
Original Music: avery r. young
Production Associate: Jaya Sundaresh

Israel’s blockade of the Gaza Strip shapes people’s lives in many different ways. In this episode, we focus on the chronic energy shortage. Because energy is needed for much more than turning on the lights; water, sewage, and hospitals, schools, farms, and factories — they all depend on a steady supply of electricity.

First, producer Max Freedman speaks with Tania Hary, executive director of Gisha, to learn why Gaza’s energy infrastructure can only meet about half of the demand. Then, the story of Majd Mashharawi: a young engineer and entrepreneur who is harnessing Gaza’s most plentiful natural resource — sunlight — to bring power to her people.

This episode of was produced and edited by Max Freedman with Ilana Levinson. Original music by Nat Rosenzweig. Additional music from Monem Awad and Blue Dot Sessions.

BIOS

As a resident of war-torn Gaza, Majd Mashharawi observed the acute need for access to construction material in order to rebuild damaged buildings and infrastructure. She strove to meet this need by founding GreenCake in 2015,a company that creates environmentally friendly bricks from ash and rubble. In the summer of 2017, she developed SunBox; an affordable solar device that produces energy to alleviate the effects of the energy crisis in Gaza, where access to electricity has been severely restricted, sometimes to less than three hours of electricity a day. With SunBox, she was able to provide electricity to hundreds of people and recently awarded MIT Pan Arab competition for that. She received her BSc in Civil Engineering from the Islamic University of Gaza. In 2018 she was selected as one of the most creative people in business and spoke at TEDwomen 2018.

LINKS

Too many conversations about Gaza begin and end with one word: Hamas. And conversations about Hamas too often rely on reductive talking points.

In this episode, producer Max Freedman speaks with Tareq Baconi, author of the new book Hamas Contained: The Rise and Pacification of Palestinian Resistance. They discuss the origins of Hamas, its position in the Palestinian political landscape, and its governance of the Gaza Strip.

This episode was produced and edited by Max Freedman. Fact-checking by Asaf Calderon. Music by Nat Rosenzweig and from Blue Dot Sessions.

Hilmi Hammad was 18 years old in 1948 when Israeli forces entered his village. He became one of about 200,000 Palestinian refugees who ended up in the Gaza Strip at the end of the 1948 war. The site where Hilmi's village once stood is located today in the center of Israel, and though Hilmi has spent his life in Gaza, his home is still in that village, to which he hopes to return.

In the second episode of Gaza, a series from Unsettled, we hear from Hilmi and his son Isam. Isam was born in Gaza and is one of the organizers of the Great March of Return. Isam and Hilmi shared with us their history and talked to us about what it means to be Palestinian refugees in Gaza, still dreaming of returning to their native village.

This episode was produced and edited by Asaf Calderon, with help from Ilana Levinson. Fact-checking by Ilana Levinson and mixing by Max Freedman. Music by El Far3i and from Blue Dot Sessions. Unsettled theme music by Nat Rosenzweig. Artwork for our Gaza series by Marguerite Dabaie.

Preview image: Palestine Open Maps

American and Israeli politicians, religious leaders, and dignitaries met in Jerusalem on May 14, 2018 to mark the United States moving its embassy there. While they celebrated with songs about peace, thousands of Palestinians assembled at the fence that separates Israel from the Gaza Strip for the Great March of Return. This mass demonstration was originally planned to last six weeks, but has continued to this day. How did it all begin, and who are the protestors that continue to risk their lives to participate?

In the first episode of Gaza, a series from Unsettled, we hear about the Great March of Return from one of its organizers and two young participants.

This episode was edited and produced by Ilana Levinson, with help from Asaf Calderon and Sophie Edelhart. Music from Blue Dot Sessions. Unsettled theme music by Nat Rosenzweig. Artwork for our Gaza series by Marguerite Dabaie.

Photo credit: Issam Adwan

In January, Unsettled is launching a series about the Gaza Strip. As Gaza has kept coming up in the news this past year, you’ve probably had questions - and so have we.

Why did thousands of people risk so much to take part in the Great March of Return? Why does a majority of the population identify as refugees, even many who were born in Gaza? How are Gazans innovating in order to survive? How can art be used to upend conventional narratives about Gaza and its people?

These are just a few of the questions we'll try to address in Gaza, a series from Unsettled. Coming in January 2019. Subscribe to Unsettled wherever you get your podcasts.

Music from Blue Dot Sessions. Illustration by Marguerite Dabaie.

> I feel like in some ways, for the first time in my life, I’m standing on my own two feet. Because I know the truth about where I’m from.

A few years ago, you would have found Ita Segev in the Israeli army, training to patrol the West Bank. Today, Ita is a transfeminine performance artist and anti-Zionist activist in New York City. In this episode, Ita tells her story: how gender and Zionism shaped her early years, and how learning the truth about her home created space to understand and express her true self.

This episode was produced and edited by Yoshi Fields. Original music by Nat Rosenzweig. Additional music from Blue Dot Sessions.

Ita Segev makes performance, writes, performs/acts and does advocacy & community building work, mainly around the intersection of her transfeminine and anti-Zionist Israeli identities.

She is currently developing a show titled Knot in My Name as a Brooklyn Art Exchange artist in residence for 2018/2019 and is a BDS supporting artist council member at Jewish Voice for Peace. 

You can read more about her sociopolitical context and personal story on Condé Nast’s Them magazine and connect on IG @itaqt for cute looks and upcoming shows.

Photo credit: Niyoosha Ahmadi Khoo