Recorded on Tuesday, March 8, 2022
featuring Jessica Anderson (Visualizing Palestine), Khalil Abu Yahia (Gaza-based scholar), and Manal Shqair (Stop the Wall Campaign) with Dr. Sarah Anne Minkin (FMEP)
Listen to this conversation as a podcast
As evidence of the current & future climate crisis continues to mount, join FMEP and key activists & researchers as we look at the dynamics of climate change for Palestinians. How do the realities of apartheid in Israel/Palestine, and additionally Israel’s siege and recurring bombardment of Gaza, affect Palestinians’ access to clean water, sustainable land, consistent electricity, and food security? What bearing do these Israeli-imposed environmental limitations have on Palestinians’ ability to stay on their land? And what does “climate justice” mean, and what could it look like for Palestinians?
See below for panelist bios and resources shared during the webinar.
Panelists
Jessica Anderson is Deputy Director of Visualizing Impact (VI), a team dedicated to creating data-led, visual stories for social justice. Visualizing Palestine, VI’s first and largest project, has formed the core of Jessica’s work as a researcher, writer, and project manager since 2013. Most recently, she initiated “Between a Rising Tide and Apartheid,” VP’s series on environmental justice in Palestine released in January 2022. She has also been involved in projects related to digital rights and freedom of expression.
Khalil Abu Yahia is an academic writer and researcher in Postcolonial, literary and cultural studies. He is a Gaza-based English teacher at the Palestinian Ministry of Higher Education. He holds a Master in Arts (translation, narration and decolonization), BA in English literature, and a diploma in public policies and strategic thinking. He has participated in international events worldwide and has written and co-written various pieces about several issues; the last one was about climate justice in Palestine. He has also been involved in community oral history and drama in education.
Manal Shqair is a climate activist, researcher and the international advocacy officer of Stop the Wall Campaign, Palestine. She tweets @shqair_manal
Moderator
Sarah Anne Minkin, PhD, is FMEP’s 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 Jewish Americans 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. She is an affiliated faculty member at University of California, Berkeley’s Center for Right-Wing Studies. She tweets @saminkin.
RESOURCES
Please follow our participants:
- Manal Shqair: https://twitter.com/shqair_manal and Stop the Wall: https://www.stopthewall.org/
- Jessica Anderson: Visualizing Palestine: https://twitter.com/visualizingpal and Visualizing Palestine: https://visualizingpalestine.org/
- Sarah Anne Minkin: https://twitter.com/saminkin
- Visualizing Palestine’s new “Between a Rising Tide & Apartheid” visuals and this extraordinary document with all of the sources they used: https://visualizingpalestine.org/visuals/between-rising-tide-and-apartheid.
- “Gaza’s Race Against Climate Breakdown,” co-authored by Khalil Abu Yahia, Natasha Westheimer, and Mor Gilboa: https://www.972mag.com/gaza-climate-breakdown-siege/
On Water Apartheid, from Stop the Wall:
- Stop the Wall, “The Right to Water” : https://www.stopthewall.org/right2water/
- Short video: https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1076198409616925&ref=sharing
- On the Jordan Valley & Water, two short videos: https://oxfam.app.box.com/s/ygbwk54ltratvq7yg8wlbablz1ft0ro3 and on the farmer Mohammed: https://www.facebook.com/Stop-Water-Apartheid-105505495307525/videos/3265721966996693/
- On Susiya, Masafer Yatta: https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=332851818603633&ref=sharing
- Stop Water Apartheid: Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/Stop-Water-Apartheid-105505495307525
- Stop Water Apartheid: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/stopwaterapartheid/
- Stop Water Apartheid: Twitter: https://twitter.com/s_aparthied?s=11
- Stop the Wall’s Factsheet about Israeli water apartheid & de facto annexation (published in 2020, still relevant as little has changed on the ground): https://www.stopthewall.org/resources/factsheet-cutting-lifeline-stop-annexation-palestinian-water/
On environmental degradation in Gaza:
- “Land in eastern Gaza declared a disaster zone due to Israel use of herbicides” (Middle East Monitor) — https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20200204-land-in-eastern-gaza-declared-a-disaster-zone-due-to-israel-use-of-herbicides/
- “Gaza’s water – Gaza’s undrinkable water ‘slowly poisoning’ Palestinians — Human rights organisations have warned for years about the deteriorating water situation in the Gaza Strip, exacerbated by Israel’s attack in May.” – Al Jazeera: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/10/12/gaza-undrinkable-water-slowly-poisoning-people
- “Gaza: Population ‘slowly poisoned’ by water unfit for human consumption” (Middle East Eye) —https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/gaza-israel-water-pollution-slow-poisoning-population
- “Israel Resumes Spraying Herbicides Along Gaza Border After Yearlong Halt – The herbicides damaged 14,000 dunams of agricultural land in Gaza from 2014 through 2018, destroying all crops sown there, says Palestinian Agriculture Ministry” (Haaretz)— https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-israel-resumes-spraying-pesticides-along-gaza-border-after-yearlong-halt-1.8433456
- Forensic Architecture – Herbicidal Warfare in Gaza — https://forensic-architecture.org/investigation/herbicidal-warfare-in-gaza
- Re cancer rates in Gaza: from Al-Monitor —”Gaza Cancer Rates on Rise – After each Israeli offensive on the Gaza Strip, cancer rates soar among Gazans as a result of increased radiation in the environment, reports Asmaa al-Ghoul.” –https://www.al-monitor.com/originals/2013/03/cancer-rates-soar-gaza-war.html
On the Black Goats:
- “‘Black goat’ to thrive again in Israel – Breed has been heavily limited since 1950 for causing environmental damage, but lawmakers now say its eating habits can help reduce fire risks” — https://www.timesofisrael.com/black-goat-to-thrive-again-in-israel/
- “What the Land of Israel Looked Like Before Zionism — Water buffalo were wiped out, fruit bats were exterminated and black goats were almost completely eradicated. The story of animals of the Land of Israel that were eliminated under Zionism is now being told at the Venice Biennale “ — https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium.HIGHLIGHT.MAGAZINE-what-the-land-of-israel-looked-like-before-zionism-1.9851498
On Toxic Occupation
- “Israel’s Ecological Apartheid in the Occupied Palestinian Territory” — https://opiniojuris.org/2021/10/22/israels-ecological-apartheid-in-the-occupied-palestinian-territory/
- “New B’Tselem report reveals Israel is exploiting the West Bank to process waste produced in Israel” — https://www.btselem.org/press_releases/201712_made_in_israel
- Times of Israel – “A deadly trash trade is poisoning Palestinians in the West Bank” — https://www.timesofisrael.com/a-deadly-trash-trade-is-poisoning-palestinians-in-the-west-bank/
On JNF and on the Naqab/Negev
- NYT 1978, re “Green Patrol — The Storm Over the Negev: Bedouins of Israel Are Victims of Progress” — https://www.nytimes.com/1978/06/20/archives/new-jersey-pages-the-storm-over-the-negev-bedouins-of-israel-are.html
- “Making the desert bloom? How Israel is greenwashing its land theft in the Negev” (The New Arab) — https://english.alaraby.co.uk/analysis/making-desert-bloom-israels-greenwashing-negev
- “‘Green Zionism’ Buries Palestinian Memory Through Forestation” — https://insidearabia.com/green-zionism-buries-palestinian-memory-through-forestation/
- JNF Greenwashing as a Means to Hide Ethnic Cleansing in Palestine – https://politicstoday.org/jnf-greenwashing-in-palestine/
On Colonial Extraction
- From Who Profits: “Greenwashing the Occupation The Solar Energy Industry and the Israeli Occupation” –https://www.whoprofits.org/report/greenwashing-the-occupation-the-solar-energy-industry-and-the-israeli-occupation/
- From Yesh Din – “The Great Drain: Israeli quarries in the West Bank: High Court Sanctioned Institutionalized Theft” — https://www.yesh-din.org/en/great-drain-israeli-quarries-west-bank-high-court-sanctioned-institutionalized-theft/
- “Expel and Exploit: A new B’Tselem report surveys the Israeli practice of taking over rural Palestinian land” — https://www.btselem.org/press_releases/20161205_expel_and_exploit
On Climate Justice
- Muna Dajani’s “Challenging Israel’s Climate Apartheid in Palestine” : https://al-shabaka.org/memos/challenging-israels-climate-apartheid-in-palestine/
- Muna Dajani: “How Palestine’s climate apartheid is being depoliticized” : https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/north-africa-west-asia/how-palestines-climate-apartheid-is-being-depoliticised/
- Palestine is a climate justice issue (Al Jazeera) – https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2019/11/28/palestine-is-a-climate-justice-issue
- “‘The House Is Burning’: Palestinian Activists Pick Up the Climate Justice Gauntlet” (Haaretz) – https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium.MAGAZINE-the-house-is-burning-palestinian-activists-pick-up-the-climate-justice-gauntlet-1.9945165
- “Environmental Justice in Palestine: Rights of Natives to Their Environment Versus Colonial Onslaught” – Mazin Qumsiyeh — https://www.thebeirutforum.com/qumsiyeh
- “Israel’s climate justice movement has a colonialism problem” (+972) — https://www.972mag.com/israel-climate-justice-colonialism/
- ‘If you’re for justice for Palestinians, you’re for climate justice’: Zena Agha on climate change and the future of Palestine — https://mondoweiss.net/2019/04/justice-palestinians-palestine/
- “An Environmental Nakba: The Palestinian Environment Under Israeli Colonization” By Mazin B. Qumsiyeh and Mohammed A. Abusarhan — https://magazine.scienceforthepeople.org/vol23-1/an-environmental-nakba-the-palestinian-environment-under-israeli-colonization/
- Al Haq’s report on Human Rights & Climate Change : https://www.alhaq.org/advocacy/19287.html