The Congressional Briefing Series is an educational program conducted annually by the Middle East Institute’s Palestinian Affairs Program and the Foundation for Middle East Peace (FMEP) to brief members of Congress and their staff on the most pressing issues facing Israel and Palestine today.

Introduction to the Series 

MEI’s Khaled Elgindy and FMEP’s Lara Friedman speak with FMEP’s Sarah Anne Minkin about the intentions, structure, and content of this briefing series. Start here for a roadmap to the series: listen as a podcast or watch on YouTube.

Links to past MEI/FMEP Congressional Briefing Series: 2023; 2022; 2021.

Part 1 — How We Got Here

April 19, 2024  – See Recording & Resources Here

 This session assessed the current situation on the ground in Gaza, how we got here, including the events of October 7, as well as conditions in the West Bank, along the Israel-Lebanon border, and broader regional dynamics.

Panelists: Mkhaimar Abusada (Al-Azhar University of Gaza) & Mairav Zonszein (International Crisis Group); co-moderated by MEI’s Khaled Elgindy and FMEP’s Lara Friedman 

Part 2 — The U.S. Role & Responsibility

April 26, 2024  – See Recording & Resources Here

This session reviewed and analyzed the role Congress & the Executive have played vis-a-vis Israel and Palestine in general, and Gaza in particular, both before and since 10/7/23.

Panelists: Josh Paul (former official at the U.S. Department of State), Zaha Hassan (Carnegie Endowment for International Peace), Tess McEnery (Middle East Democracy Center); co-moderated by MEI’s Khaled Elgindy and FMEP’s Lara Friedman 

Part 3 — International Law & Humanitarian Crisis

May 3, 2024 / Recording & Resources

This session examined humanitarian conditions and issues of  international law and accountability, including the ongoing genocide case before the International Court of Justice. 

Panelists: Raz Segal (Stockton University), Sherine Tadrous (Amnesty International),  Chris Gunness (Former UNRWA spokesperson); co-moderated by MEI’s Khaled Elgindy and FMEP’s Lara Friedman 

Part 4 — What Comes Next?

May 10, 2024 / Recording & Resources

What comes next? This session examined the prospects for reconstruction and governance in Gaza as well as implications of the ongoing crisis for internal Palestinian politics and the future of the Palestinian national movement.

Panelists: Abdelhadi Alijla (Social & Political Scientist), Nour Odeh (Political Activist), Mouin Rabbani (Jaddaliya); co-moderated by MEI’s Khaled Elgindy and FMEP’s Lara Friedman 

Participant Biographies

Mkhaimar Abusada is an expert on Palestinian political attitudes and associate professor at Al-Azhar University of Gaza and formerly chaired the university’s political science department. He has authored one book, and many academic articles in local and internationally recognized academic journals. He has also written for Project Syndicate, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, and Washington Institute for Near East Policy. He received his PhD from the University of Missouri-Columbia in 1996. 

Abdalhadi Alijla is a Palestinian social and political scientist and science advocate. Abdalhadi is the author of the “ Trust in Divided Societies” by  Bloomsbury Academics and I.B.Tauris UK. , and co-editor of “Rebel Governance in the Middle East”. Abdalhadi is a Non-resident senior fellow at Arab Reform Initiative. He is the 2021 International Political Science Association Global South Award. He is a co-founder of Palestine Young Academy in 2020. He is an Associate Researcher and the Regional Manager of Varieties of Democracy Institute (Gothenburg University) for Gulf countries. He was a Post-doctoral fellow at the Orient Institute in Beirut (OIB). Since 2021, he is an associate fellow within SEPAD, sectarianism, proxies and de-sectorisation at Lancaster University. He was the Co-Leader of Global Migration and Human Rights at Global Young Academy. Abdalhadi has a PhD in political studies from the State University of Milan and an M.A. degree in Public Policy and Governance from Zeppelin University- Friedrichshafen, Germany.  He has been granted several awards and scholarships, including Gerda Henkel (2022), DAAD (2009), RLC Junior Scientist (2010), UNIMI (2012), ICCROM (2010), Saud AL-Babtin(2002) among others. He worked for many NGOs and INGOs in the Middle East and Europe such as Transparency International, GiZ, EU Maddad Fund for Syria Crisis, and UNV among others.  He is a member of the scientific and consultative committee of Center for Arab Unity Studies in Beirut. His main research interests are divided societies, Rebel Governance, Democracy, Social Capital, Middle East Studies,  and Comparative Politics.

Zaha Hassan is a human rights lawyer and a fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Her research focus is on Palestine-Israel peace, the use of international legal mechanisms by political movements, and U.S. foreign policy in the region. Previously, she was the coordinator and senior legal advisor to the Palestinian negotiating team during Palestine’s bid for UN membership, and was a member of the Palestinian delegation to Quartet-sponsored exploratory talks between 2011 and 2012. She regularly participates in track II peace efforts and is a contributor to The Hill and Haaretz. Her commentaries have appeared in the New York Times, Salon, Al Jazeera English, CNN, and others.

Tess McEnery is Executive Director of the Middle East Democracy Center. 

Josh Paul is the former Director of Congressional & Public Affairs in the Bureau of Political-Military Affairs in the U.S. Department of State, a position from which he resigned in October 2023 due to his disagreement with the U.S. policy of providing lethal arms to Israel in the context of the conflict in Gaza. He previously served in roles including as the desk officer for Iraqi Internal Security Forces in the Office of the Secretary of Defense; as a National Security Consultant to the Government of Iraq on behalf of the United States; as Security Sector Governance Advisor to the Palestinian Authority on behalf of the U.S. Security Coordinator, as a Military Legislative Assistant to a Member of the House Armed Services Committee. He is currently a Non-Resident Fellow at the organization Democracy Now for the Arab World (DAWN) and a recipient of the 2023 Callaway Award for Civic Courage.

Chris Gunness is the former spokesperson for UNRWA. He is the Founder and current Director of the Myanmar Accountability Project.

Nour Odeh is an independent media professional and communications consultant with 20 years of experience as a distinguished journalist. In 2012, Ms. Odeh became Palestine’s first female government spokesperson and she served in various capacities as a senior communications and public diplomacy advisor to the Palestinian leadership. Ms. Odeh writes opinion and analysis in English and Arabic and is a regular guest in international news outlets.

Mouin Rabbani has published and commented widely on Palestinian affairs, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and the contemporary Middle East. He was previously Senior Analyst Middle East and Special Advisor on Israel-Palestine with the International Crisis Group, and head of political affairs with the Office of the United Nations Special Envoy for Syria. He is Co-Editor of Jadaliyya Ezine.

Dr. Raz Segal is Associate Professor of Holocaust and Genocide Studies and Endowed Professor in the Study of Modern Genocide at Stockton University, where he also serves as director of the Master of Arts in Holocaust and Genocide Studies (MAHG). He is also founder and co-coordinator of the Refugee Studies Initiative at Stockton. Focusing on central and southeast Europe, Dr. Segal is engaged in his work with the challenges of exploring the Holocaust as an integral part of late modern processes of imperial collapse, the formation and occasional de-formation of nation-states, and their devastating impact on the societies they sought — and still seek — to break and remake. Dr. Segal has held a Harry Frank Guggenheim Fellowship, a Fulbright Fellowship, and a Lady Davis Fellowship at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. His publications include Genocide in the Carpathians: War, Social Breakdown, and Mass Violence, 1914-1945 (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2016; paperback 2020), and he was guest editor of the special issue on Genocide: Mass Violence and Cultural Erasure of Zmanim: A Historical Quarterly, vol. 138 (June 2018) (Hebrew). Dr. Segal has also published book reviews, op-eds, and larger articles on genocide, state violence, and memory politics in Hebrew and English in Haaretz and +972 Magazine.

Sherine Tadrous is the deputy director of advocacy and representative to the United Nations for Amnesty International. She leads a team of senior advocates to lobby for the protection and promotion of human rights around the world. Prior to that, Tadros was a Middle East correspondent and news anchor for Al Jazeera English and Sky News, where among other events she reported on the 2008 and 2014 Gaza Wars, the Arab Uprisings, and the rise of the Islamic State group in Iraq. The accolades for her work in human rights and journalism include a Peabody Award, an Emmy nomination, and several Royal Television Society Awards.

Mairav Zonszein is Senior Analyst on Israel-Palestine at the International Crisis Group. As journalist and commentator, Mairav has covered Israeli politics and U.S. foreign policy for over a decade. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The New York Review of Books, Foreign Policy, The Guardian, The Columbia Journalism Review, The Nation, The American Prospect, VICE, The Intercept, and more. She is a founding editor of +972 Magazine and a contributor to Jewish Currents. She has an MA in Nationalism Studies from the Central European University in Budapest.

Below or resources produced by FMEP following the horror of Hamas’ attack on October 7th and the ongoing war on Gaza.

Subscribe to FMEP’s weekly news roundup here. [Archives]

Ways to Support Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

Gaza

• Webinar [10/17]: “The Situation in Gaza: A Briefing” ft. Tania Hary (Gisha), Nour Odeh (Political Activist), Omar Shakir (Human Rights Watch) in conversation with Lara Friedman (FMEP)
• Webinar [10/30]: “Catastrophe in Gaza: What’s Next? — Part 1” ft. Inès Abdel Razek (Palestine Institute for Public Diplomacy), Fadi Quran (Avaaz), & Lara Friedman
• Webinar [11/1]: “Catastrophe in Gaza: What’s Next? — Part 2”  ft. Sari Bashi (Human Rights Watch), Amjad Iraqi (+972 Magazine), & Lara Friedman (FMEP)
• Webinar [11/3]: “Gaza, Israel and the 2023 War: Are there any red lines?” ft. Jamil Dakwar (Human Rights Lawyer & Adjunct Professor, New York University and Hunter College), Katherine Gallagher (Senior Staff Attorney, Center for Constitutional rights), Dr. Raz Segal (Associate Professor of Holocaust and Genocide Studies and Endowed Professor in the Study of Modern Genocide, Stockton University). In conversation with Khaled Elgindy (MEI) and Lara Friedman (FMEP)
• Podcast [11/7]: “Biden’s ‘Full Tilt’ Embrace of Israel and Its War on Gaza” ft. FMEP Fellow Peter Beinart speaks with Ben Rhodes, former Deputy National Security Advisor of the US.
• Podcast [11/10]: “The UN Tried to Silence Craig Mokhiber, He Resigned” ft. FMEP Fellow Peter Beinart speaks with Craig Mokhiber, formerly of the UN.
• Podcast [11/14]: “From Israel’s Blockade to the Siege on Al Shifa Hospital: Public Health in Gaza” ft. FMEP Fellow Dr. Yara Asi speaks with FMEP’s Sarah Anne Minkin
• Webinar [11/16]:”Repression in the Shadow of Israel’s War on Gaza Part 1: Five Israeli Human Rights Groups Sound the Alarm” ft. Tamara Newman, Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI); Jessica Montell, HaMoked: Center for the Defense of the Individual; Anat Litvin, Physicians for Human Rights – Israel (PHRI); Tal Steiner, Public Committee Against Torture in Israel (PCATI); Yahav Erez, Yesh Din with Lara Friedman (FMEP)
• Podcast [11/21]: “International Law & Israel/Palestine: A Primer” ft. FMEP Non-Resident Fellows Dr. Yara Asi and Rabea Eghbariah in conversation with Dr. Ardi Imseis (Assistant Professor and Academic Director, International Law Programs at Queen’s University Law School)
• Webinar [11/21] : “Repression in the Shadow of Israel’s War on Gaza Part 2: Israel’s Rapid Repression & Criminalization of Palestinian Life in the Wake of October 7th” ft. Hassan Jabarin (Adalah) and Ghousoon Bisharat (+972), in conversation with Peter Beinart (FMEP)
• Webinar [11/30]: “Assessing America’s Response to the Gaza Crisis: The White House, Congress, and the American Public” ft. Lara Friedman (FMEP), Shibley Telhami (University of Maryland) and Aaron Miller (Carnegie Endowment for Intl Peace), in conversation with Yousef Munayyer (Arab Center DC)

West Bank & East Jerusalem

• Recommended sources of information: “Following the Unfollowing Horror“
• Spot report on Masafer Yatta [10/29]
• FMEP’s Weekly Settlement Report [Subscribe | Archives]

Free Speech & the Weaponization of Anti-Semitism

• FMEP’s Weekly Legislative Roundup [Subscribe | Archives]
• FMEP’s Lawfare Micro Site

FMEP on the Record

• Lara Friedman’s appearance on Democracy Now! [10/30] – Part 1 / Part 2
• “Israel-Gaza: When will the world say ‘Enough’?” Lara Friedman on AJE UpFront [10/20]
• Lara Friedman on X:
  • On genocide
  • On the rules of war and international order
  • On funding for human rights defenders
• FMEP cited in the news.

FMEP & Project48 proudly present a very special podcast commemorating 75 years of the Palestinian Nakba. We are honored to share the voices of 10 powerful Palestinian artists, sharing their works and that of other iconic Palestinian creators.

Featured artists are: Ahmed Abu Artema, Hala Alyan, Suad Amiry, Zeina Azzam, Cherien Dabis, Fady Joudah, Tamer Nafar, Raja Shehadeh, Naomi Shihab Nye, and Waleed Zuaiter – reading their own work and that of other iconic Palestinian artists. Bios and links to the works of each artist can be found below.

The Nakba (Arabic for “catastrophe”) is the expulsion of over 750,000 Palestinians from their homes and land, and the destruction of Palestinian society during the creation of the State of Israel – a destruction that continues today. Learn more at: project48.com. For more programming from FMEP on the Nakba please visit: https://fmep.org/resource/nakba-resources/

This podcast was produced by Nadia Saah for Project48 and Kristin McCarthy for FMEP, and edited by Jeffrey Carton.

Published May 12, 2023

Project48 provides educational material, eyewitness testimonies, images, videos and artifacts that bring to life the Palestinian Nakba (“Catastrophe” in Arabic), its generational impact, and the struggle for return of Palestinian refugees. The Nakba refers to the expulsion of over 750,000 Palestinians during the creation of Israel as a Jewish majority country on land that had a two-thirds majority Palestinian Arab population. The Nakba is present-tense, as the displacement of Palestinians and the destruction of Palestinian life has been ongoing for over a century.

Participant Biographies & Works (alphabetical order)

Ahmed Abu Artema

Ahmed Abu Artema is a Palestinian writer and activist who believes in civil nonviolent struggle to achieve justice, freedom, and equality. Ahmed’s family was expelled from their home in the Ramle district in 1948, and he was born in 1984 in Rafah, Gaza, where he now lives with his wife and four children. As an independent journalist in Gaza, he has written for dozens of publications (and in English in several U.S. publications The New York Times, the Nation, and the Journal of Palestine Studies) and authored a book in Arabic called “Organized Chaos.” He has also contributed to several documentaries, including the Al Jazeera film “Which Rafah Are You From?” about the tragic separation of Rafah following the Camp David Accords and its impact of displacing thousands of families, including his own. In 2018 he was featured in a documentary film by Karim Shah produced by Al Jazeera news network, “Gaza: Between Fire and Sea.”

Ahmed read his poem, “If I Was A Bird.”

To follow Ahmed’s writing and poetry, see his author pages on Mondoweiss, Al Jazeera, and Electronic Intifada.

Hala Alyan

Hala Alyan is the author of the novel “Salt Houses,” winner of the Dayton Literary Peace Prize and the Arab American Book Award and a finalist for the Chautauqua Prize. Her latest novel, “The Arsonists’ City,” was published in March 2021 and was a finalist for the 2022 Aspen Words Literary Prize. She is also the author of four award-winning collections of poetry, most recently “The Twenty-Ninth Year.” Her work has been published by The New Yorker, The Academy of American Poets, LitHub, The New York Times Book Review and Guernica. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband and daughter, where she works as a clinical psychologist.

Hala read “The Interviewer Wants to Know About Fashion”

For more of Hala’s work, please visit: https://www.halaalyan.com/

Suad Amiry

Suad Amiry a Palestinian writer and architect, has been living in Ramallah since 1981. Born in Damascus, Amiry grew up between Amman, Damascus, Beirut and Cairo. She studied architecture in Beirut (at the American University of Beirut), Michigan, and Edinburgh. Amiry is author of Golda Slept Here, Mother of Strangers, Damascus, Menopausal Palestine: Women at the Edge, Nothing to Lose but Your Life, and the highly-acclaimed Sharon and My Mother-in-Law, which has been translated into 17 languages and was awarded the prestigious 2004 Viareggio Prize. She is the founder and Director of the Riwaq: Centre for Architectural Conservation. She lives in Ramallah with her husband, the academic and political activist Salim Tamari.

Suad read a poem from her book “Golda Slept Here”.

Zeina Azzam

Zeina Azzam is a Palestinian American poet, writer, editor, and community activist. She was selected as the Poet Laureate of the City of Alexandria, Virginia, in April 2022 and serves in this position for three years, from 2022 to 2025. Her full-length poetry collection, Some Things Never Leave You, will be published in June 2023 by Tiger Bark Press. Zeina’s chapbook, Bayna Bayna, In-Between, was published in 2021 by The Poetry Box, which nominated one of her poems (“Traveling with the Speed of Light”) for the Pushcart Prize. In November 2022, The KNOT Magazine also nominated  Zeina’s poem, “Death in War,” for a Pushcart. Her poetry appears in a number of literary journals including Pleiades, Mizna, Sukoon, Passager, Gyroscope, Barzakh, Pensive Journal, Split This Rock, Streetlight Magazine, Cutleaf Journal, Beltway Poetry Quarterly, and Voice Male. In addition, Zeina’s poems are published in anthologies and edited volumes such as Bettering American Poetry, Making Mirrors: Writing/Righting by and for Refugees, Resilient Kitchens: American Immigrant Cooking in a Time of Crisis, Making Levantine Cuisine: Modern Foodways of the Eastern Mediterranean, Tales from Six Feet Apart, and Gaza Unsilenced. Zeina participates regularly in poetry readings locally and nationally. She serves as a mentor for We Are Not Numbers, a writing program for youth in Gaza, and volunteers for humanitarian organizations that support Palestinian  development. She is also active in Grassroots Alexandria, a local group that advocates for the civil rights of vulnerable communities in Alexandria, Virginia, where she lives. Her educational background includes an M.A. in Arabic literature from Georgetown University, an M.A. in sociology from George Mason University, and a B.A. in psychology from Vassar College.

Zeina Azzam read three poems: “My Father Is Now a Memory”[published in, Bayna Bayna: In Between], “Colors for the Diaspora” [published in Lunch Ticket], and “A Refugee Grows Old” [published in Cordite Poetry Review] 

For more poetry by Zeina Azzam, please visit: https://www.zeinaazzam.com/

Cherien Dabis

Cherien read a selection from Ghassan Kanafani’s novella, “Returning to Haifa”

To learn more about Cherien and her body of work, please visit: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1435062/

You can follow Cherien on Twitter at: https://twitter.com/CherienDabis

Fady Joudah

Fady Joudah has published five poetry collections, received the Yale Series prize, a Guggenhiem Fellowship, the Griffin International poetry prize. His translations of the works Palestinian poets, Mahmoud Darwish, Ghassan Zaqtan, Maya Abu Al-Hayyat and others are widely acclaimed. His most recent translation is of The Blue Light, Hussein Barghouthi’s hybrid prose work. Joudah is also an essayist and a practicing physician of internal medicine in Houston, TX.

Fady read two poems, “Remove” and “Gemini” [published in Tethered to the Stars]

Read Fady’s article on “Remove”, published in the LA Review of Books “My Palestinian Poem that ‘The New Yorker’ Wouldn’t Publish“

Tamer Nafar

Tamer Nafar is an Palestinian rapper, actor, screenwriter and social activist. He is the leader and a founding member of DAM, the first Palestinian hip hop group.

Tamer read his poem, “Put Your Arm Around Me”
Follow Tamer across platforms here.

Raja Shehadeh 

Raja Shehadeh is a leading Palestinian author, most recently publishing “We Could Have Been Friends, My Father and I” in March 2023. He is also a lawyer and the founder of the pioneering Palestinian human rights organization Al-Haq. Shehadeh is the author of several acclaimed books including Strangers in the House, Occupation Diaries, and Palestinian Walks, which won the prestigious Orwell Prize.

Raja read an excerpt from his most recent book, “We Could Have Been Friends, My Father and I” .

For more books and articles by Raja Shehadeh, please visit: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/authors/242889/raja-shehadeh/

Naomi Shihab Nye 

Naomi read her poem, “Everything in Our World Did Not Seem to Fit”, published in Transfer
For more poetry and writing by Naomi Shihab Nye, please visit: https://www.simonandschuster.com/authors/Naomi-Shihab-Nye/1339809

Waleed F. Zuaiter 

Waleed F. Zuaiter is a BAFTA-nominated actor and Academy Award-nominated producer. Zuaiter will next be seen starring in the second season of SISTER/Sky’s global hit, Gangs of London. He was recently named amongst “The Esquire 40: Meet the Arabs Who are Changing Film and TV,” from Esquire Middle East. Waleed starred in HBO’s Critics Choice Award-winning film Oslo. Zuaiter also headlined the all-star cast in Channel 4’s Baghdad Central, earning Zuaiter a BAFTA nomination and winning the Seoul International Drama Awards Best Actor award (2020). In 2019, Zuaiter starred alongside Sacha Baron Cohen in the Golden Globe-nominated Netflix limited series The Spy, as Colonel Amin al-Hafiz. Zuaiter is the producer and co-star of Omar (2013), which was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film and won the Special Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival, the Grand Prize – Best Feature at the Dubai International Film Festival (2013), Best Film at the Asia Pacific Screen Awards (2013), and many other accolades across the globe. As a renowned stage actor, Waleed performed alongside Meryl Streep and Kevin Kline in Mother Courage at New York’s Public Theatre. His TV and film roles include, ‘Abboud’ on Netflix’s Altered Carbon, ‘Vincent’ on USA’s Colony ‘Sami’ in Here and Now opposite Sarah Jessica Parker, ‘Charlie’ in Mike Mills’ 20th Century Women opposite Annette Bening, ‘Kamran Barkawi’ in Babak Najafi’s London Has Fallen alongside Gerard Butler and Morgan Freeman, ‘President ‘Gamal Abdel Nasser’ in Ariel Vromen’s The Angel, ‘Professor Julian Reed’ in Tim Disney’s William and Saint Judy, opposite Michelle Monoghan.

Waleed read a poem by Mahmoud Darwish entitled, “I Come From There”

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Project48 provides educational material, eyewitness testimonies, images, videos and artifacts that bring to life the Palestinian Nakba (“Catastrophe” in Arabic), its generational impact, and the struggle for return of Palestinian refugees. The Nakba refers to the expulsion of over 750,000 Palestinians during the creation of Israel as a Jewish majority country on land that had a two-thirds majority Palestinian Arab population. The Nakba is present-tense, as the displacement of Palestinians and the destruction of Palestinian life has been ongoing for over a century.

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Part 1 – Beyond Oslo

This session examined the successes and failures of the Oslo process 30 years on and the extent to which the Oslo framework, including the two-state solution, remains relevant to a lasting peace settlement in Palestine/Israel.

Featuring: Omar Dajani, Dr. Maha Nassar, & Dr. Shibley Telhami

Recorded February 10, 2023. Click here to access a recording of this panel and further resources.

Part 2: Extremism in Israel

This session explored the rise and normalization of extremism and extremists in Israeli politics, particularly in light of the current far-right government of Benjamin Netanyahu, and what it means for Palestinian rights, prospects for peace, regional stability, and Israel’s standing in the international community.

Featuring: Amjad Iraqi (+972 Magazine), Natasha Roth-Rowland (+972 Magazine), and Shaul Magid (Dartmouth)

Recorded February 17, 2022. Click here to access a recording of this panel and further resources.

Part 3: Human Rights & Accountability

This session will look at human rights conditions in Israel and the occupied territories, as they relate to both the Israeli government and Palestinian political actors in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, as well as the broader question of accountability.

Featuring: Francesca Albanese (UN Special Rapporteur), Rabea Eghbaria (Harvard Law School), Shawan Jabarin (Al-Haq)

Recorded February 24, 2023. Click here to access a recording of this panel and further resources.

Part 4: Free Speech, Lawfare, & the Right to Protest

In this session we explored issues surrounding grassroots activism in protest of Israeli policies, including through calls for boycotts, divestment and sanctions (BDS), and the parallel rise in efforts, including in Congress and state legislatures, aimed at curtailing criticism of Israel/Zionism and/or advocacy for Palestinian rights and their implications for free speech and a healthy policy debate on Israel and Palestine.

Featuring: Suhad Babaa (Just Vision), Yousef Munayyer (Arab Center Washington DC), &  Dylan Saba (Palestine Legal)

Recorded March 3, 2023. Click here to access a recording of this panel and further resources.

Part 5: Internal Palestinian Politics

This session will look at the state of Palestinian politics and political institutions as well as the future of the Palestinian national movement, including the effects of the ongoing political division between Fatah & Hamas, the question of if, when and how to hold elections, prospects for internal political and institutional reforms, and the likely challenges of political succession (post-Abbas).

Featuring: Dr. Dana El Kurd (University of Richmond), Salem Barahmeh, and Khaled Hroub (Northwest University – Qatar)

Recorded March 10, 2023. Click here to access a recording of this panel and further resources.

Part 6:  The Role of Congress – Help or Hindrance?

This session explored the unique role played by Congress in shaping US policy toward Israel/Palestine and the various intended and unintended consequences of that role.

Featuring: Hassan El-Tayyab (FCNL), Rebecca Abou Chedid (Norton Rose Fulbright US LLP), and Josh Ruebner (IMEU)

Recorded March 17, 2023. Click here to access a recording of this panel and further resources.

Participant Biographies

(in alphabetical order, updated as new participants are added)

Amjad Iraqi is an editor and writer at +972 Magazine. He is also a policy analyst at the think tank Al-Shabaka, and was previously an advocacy coordinator at the legal center Adalah. In addition to +972, his writings have appeared in the London Review of Books, The Nation, The Guardian, and Le Monde Diplomatique, among others. He is a Palestinian citizen of Israel, based in Haifa.

Dr. Shaul Magid is a Professor of Jewish Studies at Dartmouth College, where he teaches Jewish Studies and Religion, rabbi of the Fire Island Synagogue in Sea View, NY, contributing editor to Tablet Magazine and editor of Jewish Thought and Culture at Tikkun Magazine. He is also a member of the American Academy for Jewish Research. Shaul received his rabbinical ordination in Jerusalem. Shaul’s academic work focuses on Jewish mysticism, Hasidism, and modern Jewish thought with specific emphasis on American Judaism, Jewishness, and collective identity.

Yousef Munayyer, PhD, is a non-resident Fellow at Arab Center Washington DC (ACW). He writes on the Arab-Israeli conflict and is a member of the editorial committee of the Journal of Palestine Studies. Some of his published articles can be found in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Nation, Boston Globe, Foreign Policy, Journal of Palestine Studies, Middle East Policy, and others. Dr. Munayyer holds a PhD in International Relations and Comparative Politics from the University of Maryland.

In this episode of “Occupied Thoughts,” FMEP’s Sarah Anne Minkin talks to Rabea Eghbariah, human rights attorney, doctoral student at Harvard Law School, and one of FMEP’s 2023-2024 Palestinian Non-Resident Fellows. Listen to Mr. Eghbaria discuss his background, his work as a human rights attorney and a scholar, and his analysis of this moment in time and history for Palestinians.

Watch on YouTube

Subscribe to “Occupied Thoughts” on iTunes | Soundcloud |Spotify

Recorded February 23, 2023

Rabea Eghbariah is a human rights attorney completing his doctoral studies at Harvard Law School. He worked as an appellate public defender before joining the Haifa-based Adalah Legal Center, where he argued major Palestinian civil and political rights cases. Rabea published on various subjects relating to Palestinians and Israeli law, including the censorship of online speech, the legal land regime, and the criminalization of Palestinian foragers. His writings appeared in the Yale Journal of Law and Technology, the Law and Political Economy Project, and the Journal of Palestine Studies, among others. Rabea previously served as an executive article editor of the Harvard Human Rights Journal and currently serves as an editorial member of Jadaliyya’s Palestine page.

For more information on Mr. Eghbaria’s research interests and publications (with links), see this page. Also see his newest publication, co-authored with Noura Erakat, “The Jurisprudence of Death: Palestinian Corpses & the Israeli Legal Process,” in Jadaliyya.

Sarah Anne Minkin, PhD, is the Director of Programs & Partnerships. She is an expert on the intersection between Israeli civil society and Palestinian civil rights and human rights advocacy as well as the ways that American Jews approach the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. 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. A graduate of Yale University, Sarah Anne earned her doctorate at the University of California-Berkeley and is an affiliated faculty member at UC-Berkeley’s Center for Right-Wing Studies.

In this episode of “Occupied Thoughts,” FMEP’s Dr. Sarah Anne Minkin talks to Dr. Yara Asi, Assistant Professor at the University of Central Florida in the School of Global Health Management and Informatics, and one of FMEP’s 2023-2024 Palestinian Non-Resident Fellows. Dr. Asi discusses her background, explains why and how the public health lens is so uniquely important to understanding Palestinians’ lives and experiences of oppression, and analyzes this moment in time and history for Palestinians.

Watch on YouTube

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Recorded February 21, 2023

Dr. Yara M. Asi is an Assistant Professor at the University of Central Florida in the School of Global Health Management and Informatics and a Visiting Scholar at the FXB Center for Health and Human Rights at Harvard University in her capacity as Co-Director of the Palestine Program for Health and Human Rights. She is also a Non-resident Fellow at the Arab Center Washington DC, a 2020-2021 Fulbright US Scholar to the West Bank, and the co-chair of the Palestine Health Justice Working Group in the American Public Health Association. She previously served as the Fall 2021 US Fellow at Al Shabaka Palestinian Policy Network. Her research agenda focuses on global health, human rights, and development in fragile populations. She has also worked with Amnesty International USA and the Palestinian American Research Center on policy and outreach issues. She has presented at multiple national and international conferences on topics related to global health, food security, health informatics, and women in healthcare, and has published extensively on health and well-being in fragile and conflict-affected populations in journal articles and book chapters. She has also written for The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Guardian, The Nation, +972 Magazine, The New Arab, and The Conversation, and has been featured on Al Jazeera, The World, and other outlets. Her forthcoming book with Johns Hopkins University Press will examine war as a public health crisis.

Sarah Anne Minkin, PhD, is the Director of Programs & Partnerships. She is an expert on the intersection between Israeli civil society and Palestinian civil rights and human rights advocacy as well as the ways that American Jews approach the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. 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. A graduate of Yale University, Sarah Anne earned her doctorate at the University of California-Berkeley and is an affiliated faculty member at UC-Berkeley’s Center for Right-Wing Studies.

Resources:

See these recent publications by Dr. Yasi:

• As a Researcher, I Study the Health of Palestinians. It’s Time to Pay Attention., New York Times, December 29, 2022
• How my family came face to face with settler violence on the road to Nablus, +972 Magazine, October 20, 2022
• Israel restricting medical permits for Palestinians is a mechanism of oppression, The New Arab, February 24, 2023

Follow Dr. Yasi on Twitter: @Yara_M_Asi

The Foundation for Middle East Peace and Al-Shabaka: The Palestinian Policy Network together present a 4-part series, Learning and Unlearning Palestine, where we will explore the dominant frameworks for understanding and working for Palestinian liberation. Use the links below to find out more about each installment and to access recordings and resources.

PART ONE: Who can speak on Palestine? (recorded January 30, 2023)

• Featuring: Dr. Maha Nassar (University of Arizona), Nour Joudeh (UC Berkeley), and Dina Matar (SOAS / University of London)
• Description: This conversation examines the history and current reality of the erasure of the Palestinian narrative, the delegitimization of Palestinian voices in mainstream spaces, and possibilities for change.
• Watch the video
• Listen to the podcast
• See more resources

PART TWO: Limited Paradigms (recorded February 8, 2023)

• Featuring Dr. Muhannad Ayyash (Mount Royal University), Dr. Lana Tatour (UNSW Sydney), and Dr. Yara Hawari (Al-Shabaka)
• Description:  This episode will examine various limiting paradigms that, in spite of their liberal facade, have sought to contain the Palestinian experience and limit critique on the Israeli settler colonial project. This will include a critique of the international law and apartheid frameworks.
• Watch the video
• Listen to the podcast
• See more resources

PART THREE: Normalizing and peacemaking as discourses of violence (February 27, 2023)

• Featuring: Inès Abdel Razek, Dr. Yara Hawari and Dr. Maha Nassar
• Description: This episode will explore how the “dialogue discourse” has been used to undermine the Palestinian liberation movement, including through the insistence to engage in “peace” projects.
• Watch the video
• Listen to the podcast
• See more resources

PART FOUR: Allyship & The Fight for Palestinian Liberation (March 8, 2023)

• Featuring: Saleh Hijazi, Nadya Tannous, and Tariq Kenney-Shawa (Al Shabaka)
• Description: This episode will explore what allyship and solidarity has looked like, and what it can and should look like moving forward.
• Watch the video
• Listen to the podcast
• See more resources

On October 22, 2021, the Israeli government declared six Palestinian human rights groups to be “terror organizations” – a designation that effectively outlaws the groups, criminalizes their work under Israeli law and enables Israel to seize assets, arrest staff, prohibit funding, and punish public expressions of support and solidarity. With this terror designation, the Israeli government has escalated its longtime efforts to crush the Palestinian organizations that document Israel’s ongoing violations of Palestinian human rights and seek to hold Israel accountable. 

On August 17, 2022, the Israeli government issued a declaration ratifying the designations, followed by raids at dawn targeting all 6 NGOs – confiscating property, welding doors shut, posting closure orders — along with a 7th NGO that had been previously designated by Israel.

Below is a list of FMEP resources (including podcasts, webinars, and more) analyzing the implications of that declaration.

• US gives green light to Israel’s attacks on human rights groups (Electronic Intifada) 8/26/22 citing FMEP’s Lara Friedman “‘I found the most troubling element of the US response to what happened last week to be the statement about waiting for more evidence,’ Lara Friedman of the Foundation for Middle East Peace said during the DAWN webinar. ‘Because waiting for more evidence is not a passive statement. It is an active green light and encouragement for Israel to crack down further on these groups in order to try to manufacture more circumstantial evidence,’ she added.Friedman pointed to the discredited secret dossier on the groups that was given by Israel to European diplomats in May 2021 and supposedly contained information that justified the terror designations. ‘That dossier consisted virtually entirely of circumstantial evidence in the form of statements made by Palestinians under interrogation after they had been arrested by Israelis for similar charges,’ Friedman said. ‘This is coercive interrogation,’ on top of an already coercive military court system that leaves Palestinians with no due process. In another recent event, Friedman noted that Israel operates a ‘plea bargain factory”’ in its military courts. Juana Rishmawi, a Spanish aid worker in her 60s, took a plea deal that saw her sentenced to 13 months in prison for her work with the Health Work Committees, which was declared illegal by Israel in early 2020. The Health Work Committees was not informed of the designation until Israel began an escalated campaign against it, arresting its director, Shatha Odeh, and closing its headquarters in Ramallah, the seat of the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank. ‘What [Rishmawi] pled guilty to effectively was unknowingly providing aid to an organization that Israel defines as a terrorist group,’ Friedman told the DAWN webinar. Israel held up Rishmawi’s plea agreement, made in a highly coercive context in which Rishmawi had no hope of actual justice, as proof against the targeted organizations.“
• Israeli Raids on Palestinian Civil Society Organizations — The Costs of International Inaction” 8/25/22 – featuring representatives of the 6 targeted Palestinian NGOs, moderated by Raed Jarrar (DAWN), and with moderators/discussants Zaha Hassan (Carnegie Endowment), Khaled El Gindy (Middle East Institute) and Lara Friedman (FMEP). Co-convened by the Middle East Institute, Foundation for Middle East Peace, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, DAWN, the International Crisis Group, Century International and USMEP.
• “Israel’s Unrelenting Campaign against Palestinian NGOs and the US Response” 8/23/22- Arab Center Washington DC video conversation featuring Jonathan Kuttab (Arab Center Washington DC), Susan Power (Al Haq), and Lara Friedman (FMEP), in conversation with Khalil Jahshan (Arab Center Washington DC).
• As Israel Raids Palestinian Human Rights Groups, US Response Is Muted (Jewish Currents 8/23/22) citing FMEP’s Lara Friedman: “‘In some ways, Congress did the same thing the administration did. They were shown evidence, they were clearly pressed by Israel to join in and support this, and they decided, ‘there isn’t enough evidence,’’ said Lara Friedman, the president of the Foundation for Middle East Peace. ‘But most of them didn’t decide to say anything to defend the right of NGOs to exist and operate.‘”
• Israel’s assault on Palestinian NGOs is shutting off access to international community (Middle East Eye 8/23/22) – citing FMEP’s Lara Friedman: “…’Most people looked at these designations when they first came out 10 months ago and understood this to be an effort to cut off international funding to them. If you cut off international funding to them, they’re no longer able to function,’ Lara Friedman, president of the Foundation for Middle East Peace, told Middle East Eye.” And “Friedman said that by not offering a clear rejection of Israel’s actions, ‘it’s like being guilty until proven innocent’. ‘It’s as if we’re going to basically operate in a space where we’re never going to stand up to Israel on this,’ she told MEE. ‘How long do you keep this process open before these organisations really can’t function anymore? At which point taking a position is irrelevant.‘”
• Twitter thread launched by FMEP’s Lara Friedman 8/23/22 tracking statements/tweets by members of Congress concerning the assault on Palestinian NGOs.
• Over 190 Organizations Demand International Community Stand Against Raids and Closures of 7 Palestinian Organizations 8/22/22– statement in support of the 7 Palestinian organizations organized by the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies, and signed by FMEP
• CIA unable to corroborate Israel’s ‘terror’ label for Palestinian rights groups (The Guardian 8/22/22) – citing FMEP’s Lara Friedman: “According to Lara Friedman, the president of the Foundation for Middle East Peace, the US government’s public stance is a mixed one. ‘A lot of us would have liked to see an affirmative rebuttal of the designations,’ she said. ‘They didn’t do that, but there’s been nothing undertaken by this administration that would suggest they are viewing these organizations as terrorist organizations.’ But, she added: ‘The US administration has had 10 months to convince Israel” to reverse the designations. “Instead, this is now Israeli law.’“
• Twitter thread from FMEP’s Lara Friedman 8/19/22: “Why is Israel attacking Palestinian human rights defenders? The same reasons it’s getting set to implement new restrictions on access to the West Bank for foreigners. The same reasons it has prioritized branding criticism of Israel/Zionism as “antisemitism” worldwide. This is about isolating & erasing Palestinians in the public consciousness. It is about delegitimizing Palestinians – as a people & a cause – & monopolizing the public narrative. It is about preventing the world from knowing what Israel is actually doing to Palestinians. It is about preventing any efforts to demand, let along enforce, accountability on Israel – by Palestinians or anyone. It is about ensuring that Israel is held to a different – lower – standard than other countries with respect to international law. In short, it is about assuring permanent Israeli impunity as it carries out policies that the world is belatedly recognizing as a form of apartheid to expand and cement permanent Israeli domination between the Mediterranean Sea & the Jordan River…all at the expense of the fundamental rights of millions of Palestinians whose crime ISN’T some vague association w/ terrorism, as Israel wants the world to believe, but rather IS their existence/persistence as Palestinians & their demand for rights as human beings.”

• Twitter thread from FMEP’s Lara Friedman 8/19/22: “If you saw the DOS response yesterday as sign Biden Admin is finally pushing back on Israel’s assault on Palestinian NGOs, you are mistaken. JI [Jewish Insider] gets the headline/analysis right: “State Dept. stops short of condemning Israeli raids on Ramallah-based NGOs.” [excerpts] “Price stopped short of condemning the operation or rejecting Israel’s rationale for it.” “Price told reporters that Israel had pledged to provide further information to the US supporting the raids and said that the U.S. would review that ‘on a timely basis and very carefully.’” What does “timely basis” mean? Well, Biden Admin has been sitting on Israel’s initial “evidence” dump for 10 MONTHS. They clearly assessed that it was BS and…decided to say NOTHING. Giving Israel a green light to expand the assault on Pal NGOs this week. And now Biden Admin will stay silent even longer: while it waits for more “evidence” from Israel, while it takes forever to assess that evidence, and – if past is precedent – when the results of that assessment will cause friction with Israel. Also see JPost [Jerusalem Post] framing/analysis: “Israel to justify its closure of 7 Palestinian NGO offices to US — Washington contacted Israeli officials for more information after security forces raided the offices of seven groups in the West Bank, Ned Price said.”
• Podcast (8/18/22): This is Not a Drill: Israel Brings the Hammer Down on the Palestinian NGO Sector, ft. Omar Shakir – 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.
• Twitter thread from FMEP’s Lara Friedman 8/18/22: “A thread on the Biden Admin & attacks on Palestinian NGOs: The Biden Admin owns a big part of Israel’s attack on Palestinian NGOs. The Biden Admin has had Israel’s “evidence” for almost a year. It clearly knows this “evidence” is BS — otherwise there is zero doubt they  would have validated Israel’s designations/designated the groups themself. But knowing the evidence was BS, they appear to have taken the politically & morally cowardly approach of staying silent — a approach that amounts to foreign policy gross negligence/complicity. Make no mistake: This is a Chekov’s gun situation. Israel put the gun on the table last October. The Biden Admin saw that gun and decided to do nothing to pressure Israel to remove it. Now, the Biden Admin cannot claim surprise when Israel aims/fires that gun at Palestinian human rights defenders. Or later, when Israeli aims/fires more widely at the Palestinian rights sector. Or later, when other illiberal govts clamp shut down NGO critics. The only question is: will the Biden Admin, which claims to care about human rights, finally, belatedly, weigh in now to convince Israel to put down the gun?  They can if they want — and it could make a difference… but as always, the cost of weighing in now will be far higher than it would have been before Israel fired the gun, and before  Israel & the US entered elex seasons (which Israeli officials probably had in mind when they chose their moment). But the cost of NOT weighing will be far higher — for human rights, for rule of law, and for the viability of civil society worldwide.”
• Podcast (1/14/22): “Israel Again Tries & Fails To Connect Palestinian NGOs to Terrorism” featuring Oren Ziv, photojournalist, a founding member of the Activestills photography collective, and a staff writer for Local Cal, in conversation with FMEP’s Lara Friedman.
• (11/16/21) Funders for Palestine (including FMEP): Open Letter to Defend Democracy and the Rights of Palestinian Civil Society  Press release, including:

  “The cynical weaponization of anti-terrorism laws poses an existential threat both for Palestinian human rights defenders and those defending human rights globally,” said Lara Friedman, president of the Foundation for Middle East Peace, a philanthropic organization that promotes a just resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. “The breadth of signers of this letter underscores funders’ shared recognition of the urgency of challenging this dangerous tactic, and of the moral obligation to defend partners on the ground who, in essence, have been singled out for attack because they have done their work defending human and civil rights too well.”

• Podcast (11/9/21): “Israel’s Anti-Terror Law & Pegasus are Terrorizing Palestinian Human Rights Defenders,” featuring Ubai Aboudi, director of Bisan Center for Research and Development, in conversation with FMEP’s Lara Friedman.
• Webinar (11/5/21): “The Terrorism Smear: Israel’s Move to Shut Down Palestinian Human Rights Work,” featuring leading human & civil rights experts Jamil Dakwar (ACLU), Rabea Eghbariah (Adalah), and Dima Khalidi (Palestine Legal), together with Lara Friedman, discussing the work of the targeted Palestinian NGOs, the context and impact of this terror designation, reactions from governments and NGOs in the U.S. and the EU, and expectations of impact.
• Churches for Middle East Peace webinar (11/5): Unpacking the Designation of Six Palestinian NGOs as Terrorist Organizations, featuring CMEP Executive Director, Rev. Dr. Mae Elise Cannon in conversation with Lara Friedman, President of Foundation for Middle East Peace, and Mike Merryman-Lotze, Director of the Israel/Palestine Program at the American Friends Service Committee.
• Podcast (11/4/21): “Secret Israeli dossier provides no proof for declaring Palestinian NGOs ‘terrorists’” featuring journalist Oren Ziv with FMEP’s Sarah Anne Minkin
• Podcast (11/3/21): “Terror Designations — Israeli Capital Punishment for Palestinian NGOs” featuring human rights attorney Michael Sfard with Lara Friedman
• Podcast (11/2/21): “Show us the evidence” featuring human rights attorney and Member of Knesset Gaby Lasky with FMEP non-resident fellow Peter Beinart
• Webinar (10/29/21): “Israel’s Designation of Six Palestinian NGOs as “Terrorist”: Costs and Consequences.“ Special webinar featuring representatives from the six targeted Palestinian NGOs: Ubai al-Aboudi (Bisan Center for Research and Development), Fuad Abu Saif  (Union of Agricultural Work Committees), Sahar Francis (Addameer), Shawan Jabarin (Al-Haq), Tahreer Jaber (Union of Palestinian Women’s Committees), Khaled Quzmar (Defense for Children-International). Co-moderated by MEI’s Khaled Elgindy & FMEP’s Lara Friedman, This event was co-sponsored by FMEP with the Middle East Institute (MEI), Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN), Century International, the International Crisis Group (ICG), Human Rights Watch (HRW), the Carter Center, and the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR).
• Podcast (10/29/21) featuring Shawan Jabarin, General Director of Al Haq, with FMEP non-resident fellow Peter Beinart, “Spotlight on Al Haq“
• Podcast (10/27/21) featuring award-winning Palestinian journalist Daoud Kuttab with FMEP’s Lara Friedman: “Using ‘Terrorism’ Charges to Target NGOs: Lessons from the Case of Mohamed Halabi”
• Podcast (10/26/21) featuring Omar Shakir (Human Rights Watch) and FMEP’s Lara Friedman: “Not Without Precedent: Unraveling the History of Israel’s Escalating War on Palestinian Solidarity Work“
• Podcast (10/22/21) featuring Sarit Michaeli (B’Tselem), Inès Abdel Razek (PIPD), and FMEP’s Lara Friedman: “Israel Declares War on Palestinian Human Rights Defenders”
• Lara Friedman’s comment (10/22/21) on Israeli designation of Palestinian NGOs as terrorists: “Israel moves to weaponize an approach I’ve long dubbed “6 degrees of terrorist contamination” — Israel declares leading Palestinian NGOs to be PFLP-affiliates. This “6-degrees-of-terrorist-contamination” approach is NOT about targeting terrorism. It is about shutting down Palestinian NGOs that challenge Israeli policies — NGOs that nobody seriously alleges actually are involved in/support/incite/finance terror. This approach has long been marshaled by Israel & some of its defenders against well-known, highly respected NGOs for involvement in activities that cannot by any definition be characterized as terrorism, or as directly by terrorist group, or as benefiting a terrorist group. And to be clear: Israel & some of its defenders have long sought to use this 6-degrees approach as a silver bullet to delegitimize & destroy all NGOs that dare collect/report data on or seek to challenge Israeli violations of Palestinian rights (see: NGO Monitor).”
• Lara Friedman’s Twitter thread tracking statements, responses, and other resources related to Israeli designation of 6 Palestinian NGOs as “terrorists,” including from Israeli, Palestinian, and international NGOs, UN and government voices, and other prominent voices (started 10/22/21, updated constantly).
• Lara Friedman’s Twitter thread (10/24/21) tracking how Israel ignores actual terrorism in the pasts of Jewish Israelis in right-wing journalism, activism, and politics.
• Lara Friedman’s Twitter thread (10/23/21) documenting how illiberal governments around the world use “terrorism” charge to attack human rights defenders and civil society sector.

The Foundation for Middle East Peace (FMEP) and the Middle East Institute (MEI) and are proud to release “Israel, Palestine & the Role of Congress: An Accelerated Learning Series.” Co-hosted by FMEP’s Lara Friedman and MEI’s Khaled Elgindy, this learning series takes a deep dive into 8 key topics in the U.S. relationship with Israel and the Palestinians. These series – which ran during February to March 2021 – was originally presented exclusively for members of the House and Senate and Congressional Staff, and is now being released as an educational tool for the public at large. You can listen to a podcast with Lara and Khaled introducing the series here.

Part 1 – Israel & Palestine: Why It Matters in Congress

Recorded February 5, 2021. Video & resources available here

Featuring: Salem Barahmeh (Palestine Institute for Public Diplomacy), Zaha Hassan (Carnegie Endowment), & Shibley Telhami (Brookings/University of Maryland)

In this session we explore the basics of the Israel-Palestine conflict, including the often distorted lens through which it is viewed and the unique role that Congress plays in shaping America’s Israel-Palestine policy.

Part 2 – Human Rights, Occupation & Democracy

Recorded February 12, 2021. Video & resources available here.

Featuring: Issa Amro (Youth Against Settlements), Hagai El-Ad (B’Tselem), & Noura Erekat (Rutgers University)

In this session we look at human rights conditions in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories, with a particular focus on Occupation — what it is, how it affects the lives of Palestinians in the West Bank, Gaza Strip, and East Jerusalem, what it means for Israel’s own citizens and the status of Israel’s democracy.

Part 3 – Settlements, Annexation & the 2-State Solution

Recorded February 19, 2021. Video & resources available here.

Featuring: Zena Agha (Middle East Institute), Rashid Khalidi (Columbia University), & Daniel Seidemann (Terrestrial Jerusalem)

In this session we focus on Israel’s 53 year-old project of building settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, and what this means on the ground in terms of both de facto and de jure annexation of land beyond Israel’s internationally recognized sovereign borders.

Part 4 – The Gaza Strip

Recorded February 26, 2021. Recording & resources available here.

Featuring: Tania Hary (Gisha), Omar Shaban (PalThink), and Jehad Abusalim (American Friends Service Committee)

In this session we examine the situation in the Gaza Strip, including how the Gaza Strip came to be isolated from the West Bank and besieged by Israel, the role of Hamas and related Palestinian political dynamics, and the humanitarian situation in light of repeated Israeli military campaigns, more than a decade of blockade, and now COVID.

Part 5 – Palestinian Refugees and the Role of UNRWA

Recorded March 5, 2021. Video & resources available here.

Featuring: Illana Feldman (George Washington University), Gwyn Lewis (UNRWA), Diba Abu Nejila (humanitarian professional)

In this session we focus on Palestinian refugees – one of the core issues of the conflict and which under the Olso Accords was to be resolved in the context of permanent status talks between Israelis and Palestinians. We will examine how Palestinians became refugees, the role and development of UNRWA as the organization responsible for Palestinian refugees, and the debate around the continued status of many Palestinians as refugees today.

Part 6 – Free Speech & Right to Protest

Recorded March 12, 2021. Video & resources available here.

Featuring: Dima Khalidi (Palestine Legal), Yousef Munayyer, PhD (Arab Center Washington DC),  and Hadar Susskind (Americans for Peace Now).

In this session we examine current attempts to curtail criticism of Israel, Zionism, and advocacy for Palestinian rights and their implications for free speech and a healthy policy debate on Israel and Palestine.

Part 7 – U.S. Aid to Israel and the Palestinians

Recorded March 19, 2021. Recording & resources available here.

Featuring: Joel Braunold (S. Daniel Abraham Center for Middle East Peace), Seth Binder (POMED), and Carol Daniel Kasbari (Middle East Institute)

In this session we dig into the role that U.S. foreign assistance plays in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, including condition-free assistance to Israel and the far-reaching conditions, restrictions, vetting, and oversight imposed on aid to the Palestinians.

Part 8 – Palestinian Politics & Governance

Recorded March 26, 2021. Recording & resources available here.

Featuring: Sam Bahour (Applied Information Management), Dana El Kurd (Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies), and Omar Rahman (Brookings Doha Center).

In this session we explore issues related to internal Palestinian politics, including the question of if, when and how to hold elections, political and institutional reforms, political succession (post-Abbas), and prospects for Fatah-Hamas reconciliation.

Speaker Biographies

(in alphabetical order)

Diba Abu Nejila is a humanitarian protection professional with twelve years’ experience in the humanitarian and development sector, with extensive experience from emergencies, in the early recovery phase and during cessation of hostilities. She is an accomplished trainer in international law, humanitarian principals and protection, and has specific expertise in gender and gender-based violence, including sexual violence and sexual exploitation and abuse.  In addition, she is a certified member and trainer at the World Youth Alliance. Diba is a Palestine refugee from Gaza, and has worked for ten years with UNRWA in Gaza working on gender, neutrality and protection, and is one of the first female UNRWA Area Chiefs in Gaza. She received her Master’s Degree in Public Administration as a Fulbright scholar at the University of Arizona.

Jehad Abusalimis from Gaza, Palestine. He is the Palestine activism education and policy associate at the American Friends Service Committee in Chicago. He is also a Ph.D. candidate at the History and Hebrew and Judaic Studies joint program at New York University, studying Arab intellectual writings on Zionism from the first half of the twentieth century.  Jehad also studies the social and political history of the Gaza Strip, focusing on the impact of the Nakba on life in Palestine’s Gaza district and 1950s political life in the Gaza Strip.  His writings appeared in +972 Magazine, Al-Jazeera English, Middle East Eye, Journal for Palestine Studies and Vox, and contributed to the anthologies Gaza as Metaphor and Palestine: a Socialist Introduction. He’s currently editing a forthcoming anthology tentatively entitled Gaza: Reimagining the Boundaries of Possibility.

Zena Agha is a non-resident scholar at the Middle East Institute. She previously served as the US Policy Fellow for Al-Shabaka; the Palestinian Policy Network based in New York. Her areas of expertise include climate change and Palestinian adaptive capabilities, British and Zionist colonial cartography and Palestinian counter-mapping efforts, satellite imagery over Palestine-Israel and Israeli spatial practices.  Agha’s writing has appeared in several international publications including The New York Times, Foreign Policy, The Nation, The Independent and Foreign Affairs and her media credits include the BBC World Service, Voice of America and BBC Arabic.  Zena is the recipient of numerous fellowships including the Library Innovation Lab at the Harvard Law School and the Asian American Writer’s Workshop. She was awarded the Kennedy Scholarship to study at Harvard University, completing her Master’s in Middle Eastern Studies.

Issa Amro is an internationally recognized human rights defender in Hebron, Palestine. Nicknamed “the Palestinian Ghandi,” Amro is the founder and coordinator of Youth Against Settlements (YAS) – an organization working to strengthen the Hebron community’s steadfastness against the expansion of illegal settlements and document Israeli human right violations. In 2009, Amro won the One World media award for his involvement in B’Tselem’s “Shooting Back” campaign (using cameras to document abuses in Hebron). In 2010, Amro was named by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) human rights defender of the year in Palestine. In January 2021, Amro was indicted by Israeli military courts on six counts relating to his activism against the occupation. Amnesty International has termed the charges (now indictments) “baseless” and stated that they are “solely related” to Amro’s work as a human rights defender.

Sam Bahour is an American-Palestinian writer and management consultant living in Ramallah. Sam does business consulting as Applied Information Management (AIM), specializing in business development with a niche focus on the information technology sector and start-ups. He is also the Chairman of Americans for a Vibrant Palestinian Economy. He helped establish PALTEL and the PLAZA Shopping Center. Until recently, he served on the board of trustees of Birzeit University and was the University’s treasurer.  He is also a Director at the Arab Islamic Bank and a board member at Just Vision. Bahour is co-editor of HOMELAND: Oral History of Palestine and Palestinians (Olive Branch Press). He writes frequently on Palestinian affairs and his work is posted at www.epalestine.com.

Salem Barahmeh is the Executive Director of the Palestine Institute for Public Diplomacy (PIPD). He is currently a Non-Resident Fellow at the US Middle East Project and previously worked as an international affairs advisor to Dr. Hanan Ashrawi at the PLO and the Palestine Investment Fund. He has also worked at Portland Communications in London, as a Policy and Public Affairs Advisor to Gulf governments, and for the Palestinian Embassy to the United States. Salem received a BA in Government from Lawrence University and an MA in Law and Politics from King’s College London.

Seth Binder is the Advocacy Officer at POMED. Previously, he served as the program manager and research associate at the Center for International Policy’s (CIP) Security Assistance Monitor program, where he focused on U.S. security assistance and arms sales policy. Among others, he has authored articles and publications on U.S. security assistance to Palestine, Yemen, and Tunisia and has been quoted in numerous outlets including TIME, Al-Jazeera, and Foreign Policy. He is the co-author of Mohammed VI’s Strategies for Moroccan Economic Development (Routledge Press, 2020) and “The Moroccan Spring and King Mohammed VI’s Economic Policy Agenda: Evaluating the First Dozen Years,” a chapter in The Birth of the Arab Citizen and the Changing of the Middle East. Seth received his B.A. in History from Oberlin College and M.A. in International Relations from Syracuse University’s Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs where he received certificates in Advanced Study in Middle Eastern Affairs and International Counterterrorism.

Joel Braunold is the managing director of the S Daniel Abraham Center for Middle East Peace having consulted leading organizations, funds and foundations on public policy and issues surrounding financing of violence prevention and peacebuilding in the domestic and international contexts. He served as the Executive Director of the Alliance for Middle East Peace, during which he built its global footprint, impact and brand leveraging over $50 million into the field of peacebuilding. He has worked regularly with the US State Department, USAID, the National Security Council and Congress on the needs of the peace building community. Outside the US, Joel works with national governments and multilateral institutions. Joel is an alumnus of the Harvard Kennedy School of Government and holds a BA(Hons) in philosophy from Bristol University. He is a board member of the Alliance for Peacebuildng, is the recipient of the Avi Schaefer Peace Innovation Prize, is a senior fellow for the Alliance for Youth Movements and holds Honorary Life Membership to the National Union of Students (UK). He was selected as an Emerging Leader by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs for their class of 2018.

Carol Daniel Kasbari, Ph.D, is a social scientist with an interdisciplinary doctoral degree in conflict analysis and resolution with 20+ years of experience designing and leading programs in the field of conflict mitigation, peacebuilding, advocacy, and nonviolent resistance in very complex international environments focusing on the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region and Europe. She is a Non-resident Scholar with MEI’s Program on Palestine and Palestinian-Israeli Affairs, has participated in several second track negotiations of Palestinians and Israelis, and led hundreds of dialogue sessions among adversaries in different political contexts, including Palestine, Israel, Jordan, Iraq, Turkey, Cyprus, Greece, and Bosnia. She was a consultant for UNESCO’s division of Freedom of Expression, Democracy and Peace for eight years, where she led media and education programs in the Middle East. And later on, she worked with the EU program for peace to lead and design educational programs and workshops for critical media consumption at several academic institutions in Arabic and English. In 2009, she led CMM programs funded by USAID and international NGO’s such as Search for Common Ground and Catholic Relief Services, where she ran multimillion-dollar programs on conflict sensitive reporting and peace journalism and trained hundreds of media professionals, facilitators and advocates from the region. She acquired her Ph.D. from the School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution (Carter School), at George Mason University in Virginia, where she currently teaches as an adjunct professor. Her research captures the effects of “everyday resistance on relations of power in the Occupied Palestinian Territories” and she currently writes for peer reviewed academic articles on decolonizing resistance, the immediate outcomes of everyday resistance, and peacebuilding through the lenses of local ordinary citizens. She received numerous awards such as the John Burton award for her academic excellence twice, and James H. Laue Scholarship for her service to the field of conflict resolution. She also received the George Mason Provost fellowship for conducting her field research and in 2019 and the prestigious dissertation Award of the AAUW (American Association of University Women) in addition to the George Mason’s advisory board scholarship. She has written several papers and presentations, as well as a number of op-eds in The Washington Post, The New York Times, and local media outlets in the Middle East.

Hagai El-Ad is the executive director of B’Tselem בצלם بتسيلم, the Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Previously he was director of the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI, 2008–2014) and the Jerusalem Open House for Pride and Tolerance (JOH, 2000–2006). In 2014, El-Ad was among Foreign Policy’s “100 Leading Global Thinkers”. In 2016 and again in 2018, he spoke before the United Nations Security Council calling for international action in order to end the occupation.

Khaled Elgindy is a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute where he also directs MEI’s Program on Palestine and Israeli-Palestinian Affairs. He is the author of the newly-released book, Blind Spot: America and the Palestinians, from Balfour to Trump, published by Brookings Institution Press in April 2019. Elgindy previously served as a fellow in the Foreign Policy program at the Brookings Institution from 2010 through 2018. Prior to arriving at Brookings, he served as an adviser to the Palestinian leadership in Ramallah on permanent status negotiations with Israel from 2004 to 2009, and was a key participant in the Annapolis negotiations of 2007-08. Elgindy is also an adjunct instructor in Arab Studies at Georgetown University.

Dana El Kurd received her PhD in Government from The University of Texas at Austin in June 2017. She specializes in Comparative Politics and International Relations. Dana works as a researcher at the Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies and as an assistant professor at the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies. Theoretically, Dana is interested in the conflicts between states and their societies and the contentious politics they produce. She examines how authoritarian regimes try to implement policies and how external intervention may affect their success. Her research lies at the intersection of comparative and IR research, particularly with regards to international influence on regime development. Substantively, Dana is interested in international involvement and authoritarianism within the Arab world. Her multi-method research focuses on how authoritarian regimes in the Arab world have maintained durability, as well as the societal impact of this authoritarianism on political engagement.

Noura Erakat is a human rights attorney and an Assistant Professor at Rutgers University, New Brunswick in the Department of Africana Studies and the Program in Criminal Justice. Her research interests include human rights law, humanitarian law, national security law, refugee law, social justice, and critical race theory. Erakat is a Co-Founding Editor of Jadaliyya, an electronic magazine on the Middle East that combines scholarly expertise and local knowledge. She is the author of Justice for Some: Law and in the Question of Palestine (Stanford University Press, 2019). She currently serves on the board of the Institute for Policy Studies; on the board of the Arab Studies Institute; is a Policy Advisor to Al-Shabaka; serves of the Editorial Committee of the Journal for Palestine Studies; and is a founding board member of the DC Palestinian Film and Arts Festival. Erakat served as Legal Counsel for the Domestic Policy Subcommittee of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee in the House of Representatives from 2007-2009. Prior to her time on Capitol Hill, Erakat received a New Voices Fellowship to work as the national grassroots organizer and legal advocate at the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation where she helped seed BDS campaigns nationally as well as support the cases brought against two former Israeli officials in U.S. federal courts for alleged war crimes. Erakat worked as the Legal Advocacy Coordinator for the Badil Center for Refugee and Residency Rights from 2010-2013. In that capacity, she drafted their submissions to the human rights treaty bodies and lobbied the US Congress as well as diplomatic missions at the United Nations on their behalf. During her undergraduate career, Erakat helped launch the divestment campaign along with the Students for Justice in Palestine at UC Berkeley in 2001.

Ilana Feldman is Vice Dean of the Elliott School of International Affairs and Professor of Anthropology, History, and International Affairs at George Washington University. Her research has focused on the Palestinian experience, both inside and outside of historic Palestine, examining practices of government, humanitarianism, policing, displacement, and citizenship. She is the author of Governing Gaza: Bureaucracy, Authority, and the Work of Rule, 1917-67 (2008), Police Encounters: Security and Surveillance in Gaza under Egyptian Rule (2015), Life Lived in Relief: Humanitarian Predicaments and Palestinian Refugee Politics (2018); and co-editor (with Miriam Ticktin) of In the Name of Humanity: The Government of Threat and Care (2010).

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 the Israeli-Arab conflict, Israeli settlements, Jerusalem, and the role of the U.S. Congress. She is published widely in the U.S. and international press and is regularly consulted by members of Congress and their staffs, by Washington-based diplomats, by policy-makers in capitals around the world, and by journalists in the U.S. and abroad. 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.

Tania Hary is the Executive Director of Gisha – Legal Center for Freedom of Movement, whose goal is to protect the freedom of movement of Palestinians, especially Gaza residents. Hary received her B.A. in modern literature at the University of California, Santa Cruz and an M.A. in international affairs, with a focus on socioeconomic development, from the New School in New York. Prior to joining Gisha, Tania worked on advocacy and fundraising initiatives for not-for-profit organizations promoting human rights in Iran, children’s rights in Argentina, and the rights of refugees. Tania regularly travels to the United States and Europe, giving lectures and presentations about access in Gaza. She is relied upon as a source of information and analysis by diplomats, foreign offices and international organizations and has been published in Haaretz, the Forward, Ma’an, and +972 Magazine.

Zaha Hassan is a human rights lawyer and visiting fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Her research focus is on Palestine-Israel peace, the use of international legal mechanisms by political movements, and U.S. foreign policy in the region. Previously, she was the coordinator and senior legal advisor to the Palestinian negotiating team during Palestine’s bid for UN membership, and was a member of the Palestinian delegation to Quartet-sponsored exploratory talks between 2011 and 2012. She regularly participates in track II peace efforts and is a contributor to The Hill and Haaretz. Her commentaries have appeared in the New York Times, Salon, Al Jazeera English, CNN, and others.

Dima Khalidi is the founder and director of Palestine Legal and Cooperating Counsel with the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR). She oversees Palestine Legal’s array of legal and advocacy work to protect people speaking out for Palestinian rights from attacks on their civil and constitutional rights. Prior to founding Palestine Legal in 2012, Dima worked with CCR as a cooperating attorney on the Mamilla Cemetery Campaign, submitting a Petition to United Nations officials to stop the desecration of an ancient Muslim cemetery in Jerusalem, and advocating on behalf of Palestinian descendants of individuals interred in the cemetery. Dima has a JD from DePaul University College of Law, an MA in International and Comparative Legal Studies from the University of London – SOAS, and a BA in History and Near Eastern Studies from the University of Michigan.

Rashid Khalidi is Edward Said Professor of Modern Arab Studies at Columbia University. He received a B.A. from Yale University in 1970 and a D. Phil. from Oxford University in 1974, and has taught at the Lebanese University, the American University of Beirut, and the University of Chicago. He was President of the Middle East Studies Asociation, is co-editor of the Journal of Palestine Studies. He served as an advisor to the Palestinian delegation to the Madrid and Washington Arab-Israeli peace negotiations from October 1991 until June 1993. Khalidi is author of eight books, including The Hundred Years’ War on Palestine: Settler-Colonial Conquest and Resistance, 1917-2017 (2020), and Palestinian Identity: The Construction of Modern National Consciousness (rev. ed. 2010), and has co-edited three other books and published over 110 academic articles. He has written op-eds in the New York Times, Washington Post, and many other newspapers, and has appeared widely on TV and radio in the US and abroad.

Gwyn Lewis is the Director of UNRWA Operations West Bank, and leads all programmatic and operational components of UNRWA operations throughout the West Bank. An Irish national, Ms. Lewis has over 18 years of experience in humanitarian and development work. Prior to joining UNRWA in September 2016, she has worked with international organizations in the humanitarian and development field. Before being assigned to Jerusalem, she was the Deputy Director for Programs in UNRWA Lebanon. Prior to working in UNRWA, Ms. Lewis managed the Global Clusters Coordination section in UNICEF’s Emergency Division. She joined UNICEF from FAO in 2012, where she focused on Humanitarian Policy and supporting FAO country offices in providing humanitarian response. Prior to that, Ms. Lewis worked with OCHA in Geneva building UN and NGO partners and supporting the roll out of the humanitarian reform agenda. Previously, Ms. Lewis worked for both OCHA and the ICRC in the occupied Palestinian territory. She has also worked with the United Nations Mission in Kosovo and various NGOs in Tajikistan, Afghanistan and Albania. Ms. Lewis holds a Bachelor’s degree in Economics and a Masters in International Relations.

Yousef Munayyer is a non-resident Fellow at Arab Center Washington DC (ACW). He writes on the Arab-Israeli conflict and is a member of the editorial committee of the Journal of Palestine Studies. Some of his published articles can be found in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Nation, Boston Globe, Foreign Policy, Journal of Palestine Studies, Middle East Policy, and others. Dr. Munayyer holds a PhD in International Relations and Comparative Politics from the University of Maryland.

Omar H. Rahman is a visiting fellow at the Brookings Doha Center, where he is writing a book on Palestinian fragmentation in the post-Oslo era. Rahman is a writer, analyst, and multimedia journalist specializing in Middle East politics and American foreign policy. His work has appeared in The Washington Post, Foreign Policy, Rolling Stone, The Guardian, Lawfare, PBS NewsHour, VICE, Quartz, The National, Al Jazeera English, and World Politics Review, among others. Prior to joining Brookings, Rahman was a research analyst at the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington, where he focused on the geopolitics of reconstruction in Yemen, Arab Gulf foreign policy in the Horn of Africa, and the political economy of the Gulf region. As a journalist, Rahman was most recently an editor at World Politics Review in New York, where he focused on the Middle East and North Africa. Prior to that, he was the Senior Middle East Correspondent for Argus Media in Dubai, covering the energy industry in the region, as well as an editor and market reporter for Argus Media in New York. Rahman holds a Master’s degree in Politics & Global Affairs from Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism, where he was a White House Correspondents’ Association scholar and an International Fellows Program scholar. He has a Bachelor’s degree in Foreign Affairs from the University of Virginia. Rahman has guest lectured on Palestinian identity, the Egyptian revolution, and the international relations of the Middle East at George Washington University. He spoke on panels including the United Nations Media Seminar on Peace in the Middle East in Geneva and been interviewed by numerous print and television outlets for his expertise on the Middle East.

Daniel Seidemann is a practicing attorney in Jerusalem who specializes in legal and public issues in East Jerusalem. He has participated in numerous Track II talks on Jerusalem between Israelis and Palestinians and served in an informal advisory capacity to the final status negotiations as a member of a committee of experts commissioned by Prime Minister Barak’s office to generate sustainable arrangements in Jerusalem. He is the founder and director of Terrestrial Jerusalem, an Israeli nonprofit that works to identify and track developments in Jerusalem that could impact the political process or permanent status options, destabilize the city, spark violence, or create humanitarian crises.

Omar Shaban, PalThink for Strategic Studies
Omar Shaban is the founder and director of the Gaza-based PalThink for Strategic Studies, an independent think tank with no political affiliation. He is an analyst of the political-economy of the Middle East and is a regular writer and commentator for the Arab and international media. Shaban is a founder of Palestinian groups for Amnesty International, the deputy head of the board of Asala, an association promoting microfinance for women, and a member of the Institute of Good Governance.

Hadar Susskind is the President and CEO of Americans for Peace Now. Hadar most recently served as Senior Vice President of Government Relations for the Council on Foundations, and prior to that as the Director of Bend the Arc Jewish Action and Bend the Arc Jewish Action PAC. Before joining Bend the Arc, Hadar was Vice President of the Tides Foundation. Hadar also served as Vice President for Policy and Strategy at J Street and Vice President and Washington Director for the Jewish Council for Public Affairs (JCPA). Previously, Hadar held positions at a number of other Jewish organizations including the Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life (COEJL), the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS) and the Israel Policy Forum. Hadar currently serves on the boards of Ameinu and the Congressional Progressive Caucus Center. He has also served on the White House Office of Faith Based and Neighborhood Initiatives Task Force on the Environment, as well as the Board of Directors of the Coalition on Human Needs, the Public Policy Committee of Independent Sector and the Leadership Council of Nonprofit VOTE.

Shibley Telhami is a nonresident senior fellow with the Center for Middle East Policy, in the Foreign Policy program at Brookings. He is the Anwar Sadat Professor for Peace and Development at the University of Maryland. In the past, Telhami served as a senior advisor to the U.S. Department of State, advisor to the U.S. Mission to the United Nations, advisor to Congressman Lee Hamilton, and as a member of the Iraq Study Group. Shibley is an expert on U.S. policy in the Middle East, on Arab politics, and on shifting political identities in the Arab world. He regularly conducts public opinion polls in the Arab world, Israel, and the United States. Among his many publications are “The World Through Arab Eyes: Arab Public Opinion and the Reshaping of the Middle East” (Basic Books, 2013), “The Peace Puzzle: America’s Quest for Arab-Israeli Peace 1989-2011” (Cornell University Press, 2013), and the best-selling “The Stakes: America in the Middle East” (Basic Books, 2003), selected by Foreign Affairs as one of the top five books for that year. In addition, he was selected by the Carnegie Corporation of New York with the New York Times as one of the “Great Immigrants” for 2013.

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In this episode of “Occupied Thoughts,” Peter Beinart interviews Nathan Thrall about Thrall’s new essay in the New York Review of Books, “A Day in the Life of Abed Salama.” The essay describes a Palestinian father’s search for his son following a bus accident, detailing layers of neglect, danger, and abuse faced by Palestinians living under Israeli control, whether in the Jerusalem, the West Bank, or inside the Green Line.

Nathan Thrall is the author of The Only Language They Understand: Forcing Compromise in Israel and Palestine (Metropolitan/Henry Holt). He is a contributor to The New York Times Magazine, the London Review of Books, and The New York Review of Books. His writing has also appeared in GQ, The Guardian Long Read, The New Republic, and The New York Times, and has been translated into more than a dozen languages. He is the former Director of the Arab-Israeli Project at the International Crisis Group, where he spent a decade covering Israel, the West Bank, Gaza, and Israel’s relations with its neighbors, from 2010 to 2020. He lives in Jerusalem with his wife and three daughters. He tweets @nathanthrall.

Peter Beinart is a Non-Resident Fellow at the Foundation for Middle East Peace. He is also a Professor of Journalism and Political Science at the City University of New York, a Contributing opinion writer at the New York Times, an Editor-at-Large at Jewish Currents, and a CNN Political Commentator. He tweets @PeterBeinart.