In this episode of “Occupied Thoughts,” FMEP 2023 non-resident fellow Rabea Eghbariah speaks to Abed Abu Shehadeh, a political and community organizer from Jaffa who is also an elected city council member in Tel Aviv-Jaffa’s municipality. The conversation explores the historical trajectory of Jaffa and its transformation from a major Palestinian city before the Nakba to a de-developed city annexed to Tel Aviv. We hear from Abu Shehadeh on the major challenges that Jaffa’s Palestinian community faces today in light of this history, including gentrification, crime, and education.
Recorded on July 19, 2023
Abed Abu Shehadeh is a political and community organizer from Jaffa who is also an elected city council member in Tel Aviv-Jaffa’s municipality. Abed has a master’s degree in political science and he researched the social and cultural segregation of the Palestinian community. He also hosts the Al-Midan podcast with Arab48 news outlet and gives political tours of Jaffa.
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.