Media

  • Second Nakba in full swing (Al Ahram)

    [detailed report on a briefing 11/16/23 by FMEP’s Lara Friedman for Interfaith Action] “‘…At this point, northern Gaza is a wasteland,’ Lara Friedman, president of the Foundation for Middle East Peace (FMEP), told her audience on 16 November. ‘Israel spent the last 5 weeks literally turning northern Gaza into rubble.’ She described the ongoing devastation as ‘the second Nakba’ and ‘humanitarian catastrophe.’ She recalled that at the start of the war, a senior official in the Israeli army said that at the end of this onslaught, ‘Gaza will have no buildings. Only tents.’ Friedman believes him and predicts that Gaza will not be habitable ‘for a very long time.’ ‘People are dying of cholera, starvation, and thirst in their own homes,’ she said. ‘At that point, no one has the luxury of fighting for national self-determination – which is exactly where people who want to erase Palestinian nationalism want things to be.’…”

  • Have the US and Israel agreed on Gaza’s future? (Al Jazeera)

    “‘The initial response of the US was unsurprising, given the horrific nature and scale of the Hamas attack,’ said Lara Friedman, president of the Foundation for Middle East Peace. ‘What came next, though, was almost like wilful ignorance.'” and “As Israel’s forced displacement and repeated attacks on civilian infrastructure – including hospitals – have unfolded in real time on social media, a bigger question is being asked. Does Israel actually want any Palestinians left in the strip at all? ‘At this point, that’s very clearly coming across from senior public Israeli figures who’ve been using genocidal and ethnic cleansing language from day one,’ Friedman said.” and “Friedman argues that Netanyahu, re-elected for a record fifth time in November 2022, has effectively been ‘trained’ by successive US administrations to run through red lines. ‘He believes, so far correctly, that he enjoys total impunity,’ she said.” and “With much of the north in ruins and Israel almost certain to prolong a blockade that has seen imports of construction materials heavily restricted, Friedman wonders whether displacement in the south will become the new status quo. ‘We’ll have a strip in the strip, which will just be a giant Palestinian refugee camp under security control of Israel, with the international community providing food and water. But there will be no chance of anyone developing any kind of life,’ she said.”

  • ‘Self-silencing’: For Palestinians, talking about Hamas comes with hazards (USA Today)

    “…as Lara Friedman, president of the U.S.-based Foundation for Middle East Peace, which advocates for rapprochement between Israelis and Palestinians, recently pointed out, Hamas won a parliamentary majority in what turned out to be Gaza’s last election − in 2006 − not on an incendiary platform to ‘kill the Jews,’ but as the ‘party of change & reform.’ After years of rule by Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas’ widely unpopular and potentially corrupt Fatah party, ‘a vote for Hamas was a vote against Fatah,’ she said.”

  • International Law & Israel/Palestine: A Primer

    FMEP Non-Resident Fellows Dr. Yara Asi and Rabea Eghbariah are joined by Dr. Ardi Imseis (Assistant Professor and Academic Director, International Law Programs at Queen’s…

  • FMEP Legislative Round-Up: November 17, 2023

    1.Bills, Resolutions 2. Letters 3. Hearings & Markups 4. Selected Media & Press releases/Statements NOTE: For the foreseeable future, given the scope and pace of…

  • Settlement & Annexation Report: November 17, 2023

    Welcome to FMEP’s Weekly Settlement Report, covering everything you need to know about Israeli settlement activity this week. To subscribe to this report, please click here.…