In this episode of Occupied Thoughts, Lara Friedman talks to Arab Spring veteran activist Iyad El-Baghdadi about the way forward for Palestinians — both on the ground in Palestine and in the diaspora.

Iyad El-Baghdadi is an internationally-recognized Arab Spring activist and expert on authoritarianism. He is the President of Kawaakibi Foundation (kawaakibi.org) – whose  tagline is, “Our work causes headaches and sleepless nights for tyrants and terrorists,” and Editor-in-Chief of the Arab Tyrant Manual, “an independent online publishing platform focused on freedom, human rights and the fight against all forms of authoritarianism globally.”  Iyad is also a stateless Palestinian – born in Kuwait, raised in the UAE, and now living as a political refugee in Norway.  You can follow Iyad on Twitter at @iyad_elbaghdadi or check out his website – which includes links to the Kawaakibi Foundation and the Arab Tyrant Manual –  at elbaghdadi.com.

Lara Friedman is the president of the Foundation for Middle East Peace. 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. 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 tweets @LaraFriedmanDC.