Palestinian Liberation & Leadership: What’s Next?
Tareq Baconi (Crisis Group) and Inès Abdel Razek (PIPD)
with Lara Friedman (FMEP)
Wednesday, July 28
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Join FMEP and Palestinian analysts discussing the current state of Palestinian leadership and how Palestinians are contending with multiple layers of authoritarian rule (Israel, the PA, and Hamas). The discussion will address issues including: What are the challenges to Palestinian liberation? What roles – positive and negative – do the Palestinian Authority and Hamas play? What role does Palestinian civil society play in mobilizing against Israel and the PA? What can Palestinian resistance to Israel look like? What is behind Hamas’s rise in popularity since the most recent escalation with Israel? What is the status of the uprising against the PA and how is it part of a larger struggle against occupation, annexation, and apartheid? And how do Palestinians inside of Israel and in the Diaspora – from Lebanon to the U.S. – fit into the puzzle of Palestinian liberation?
With Tareq Baconi (Crisis Group) and Inès Abdel Razek (PIPD), moderated by FMEP’s Lara Friedman.
Resources shared during today’s event:
Follow our panelists on Twitter:
- Tareq Baconi — @TareqBaconi
- Inés Abdel Razek — @InesAbdelrazek
- Lara Friedman — @LaraFriedmanDC
Key publications by our panelists:
- In 2018, Tariq Baconi published a book on Hamas, entitled: “Hamas Contained: The Rise and Pacification of Palestinian Resistance” → https://www.sup.org/books/title/?id=26309
- Inés recently wrote “This is not a conflict. This is apartheid” https://roarmag.org/essays/palestine-not-a-conflict/
- Inés recently co-authored this report: “Reviving a Palestinian Power: The Diaspora and the Diplomatic Corps” with Al Shabaka —> https://al-shabaka.org/reports/reviving-a-palestinian-power-the-diaspora-and-the-diplomatic-corps/
On Liberation
- “A pivotal moment for the Palestinian national struggle” Mouin Rabbani for Al Jazeera → https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2021/7/10/a-pivotal-moment-for-the-palestinian-national-struggle
- The Palestinians Will Not—and Cannot—Be Ignored, Foreign Affairs // Rashid Khalidi – https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/middle-east/2021-06-30/palestinians-will-not-and-cannot-be-ignored
- “After the Ceasefire” a terrific podcast featuring Tareq Baconi and Henriette Chacar, hosted by LRB, looking at some of these same questions: https://www.lrb.co.uk/podcasts-and-videos/podcasts/lrb-conversations/after-the-ceasefire
On settler colonialism:
- On settler-colonialism in an Al Shabaka podcast: “Limitations and Possibilities of the Apartheid Framework with Lana Tatour” —> https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/limitations-possibilities-apartheid-framework-lana/id1537774938?i=1000507182508
- “A Century of Settler Colonialism in Palestine: Zionism’s Entangled Project” by Tariq Dana —> https://al-shabaka.org/op-eds/century-settler-colonialism-palestine-zionisms-entangled-project/
On Unity:
- “Defying Fragmentation and the Significance of Unity: A New Palestinian Uprising” by Dr. Yara Hawari –> https://al-shabaka.org/commentaries/defying-fragmentation-and-the-significance-of-unity-a-new-palestinian-uprising/
- “One people, one pain” w/ Widad Assaf & Sarah Anne Minkin → https://fmep.org/resource/podcast-one-people-one-pain-w-widad-assaf-sarah-anne-minkin/
On the PA
- “The PA stumbled from one failure to another. Has its reckoning arrived?” by Majeed Malhas for +972 Magazine https://www.972mag.com/fatah-palestinian-authority-protests-abbas/
- Al-Shabaka’s Drs. Yara Hawari and Alaa Tartir recently discussed the PA’s authoritarianism and its role in criminalizing Palestinian resistance: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/palestinian-securitization-vs-liberation-alaa-tartir/id1537774938?i=1000529683048
- “The colonial idea that built the Palestinian Authority” by Tariq Dana: https://www.972mag.com/colonial-idea-palestinian-authority/
- “Who is the Palestinian Authority protecting? Not us.” Mariam Barghouti in the Washington Post → https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/07/02/nizar-banat-palestinian-authority-protests-violence/
- FMEP event: “Palestinian Grassroots Protests & Violent Repression by the Palestinian Authority,” with Aseel AlBajeh, Dr. Yara Hawari, and Mona Shtaya → https://fmep.org/event/palestinian-grassroots-protests-the-violent-repression-by-the-palestinian-authority/
- Report: “Israel, US discuss strengthening Palestinian Authority” https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20210724-israel-us-discuss-strengthening-palestinian-authority/
On protests against the PA over the killing of Palestinian activist Nizar Banat and PA repression:
- “Who is the Palestinian Authority protecting? Not us.” Mariam Barghouti in the Washington Post → https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/07/02/nizar-banat-palestinian-authority-protests-violence/
- FMEP event: “Palestinian Grassroots Protests & Violent Repression by the Palestinian Authority,” with Aseel AlBajeh, Dr. Yara Hawari, and Mona Shtaya → https://fmep.org/event/palestinian-grassroots-protests-the-violent-repression-by-the-palestinian-authority/
- For more about the recent protests aganist the PA, listen to this podcast where Peter Beinart interviewed Palestinian organizer and activist Fadi Quran: https://fmep.org/resource/occupied-thoughts-rising-up/
On Hamas
- “Hamas’ Inability to Capitalize on the War in Gaza” Adnan Abu Amer for the Carnegie Endowment: https://carnegieendowment.org/sada/85001
- Tareq spoke to The Unsettled podcast in May 2021 about Hamas: “https://www.unsettledpod.com/episodes/2021/5/17/tareq-baconi-hamas-explained
- “What does Hamas Want?” Another podcast with Tareq https://www.crisisgroup.org/middle-east-north-africa/eastern-mediterranean/israelpalestine/what-does-hamas-want
- Tareq published this article in the Washington Post: Opinion: Israel needs to loosen its chokehold on Gaza to avoid another war → https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/global-opinions/wp/2018/07/30/israel-needs-to-loosen-its-choke-hold-on-gaza-to-avoid-another-war/
On the Great March of Return in Gaza
For reporting & analysis on the Great March of Return, see +972 Magazine’s Great March of Return archives —> https://www.972mag.com/topic/great-march-of-return/
Tareq published a number of articles on the Great March of Return, including:
- “One Year of Gaza Protests. A New Era of Palestinian Struggle?” in the NYRB —> https://www.nybooks.com/daily/2019/03/29/one-year-of-gaza-protests-a-new-era-of-palestinian-struggle/
- “The Gaza march is a wake-up call to the world” —> https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/apr/02/gaza-march-palestinians-israel
On popular resistance:
- On what “popular resistance” can mean: Ibrahim Shikaki, “What is the ‘Right’ Type of Resistance?” AlJazeera, July 6, 2011. https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2011/7/6/what-is-the-right-type-of-resistance
- On hunger striking as a tactic: “How Palestinian Hunger Strikes Counter Israel’s Monopoly on Violence” —> https://al-shabaka.org/commentaries/palestinian-hunger-strikes-counter-israels-monopoly-violence/
- “Palestinians Rising: From Jerusalem to Umm al-Fahm – ft. Fayrouz Sharqawi & Kristin McCarthy” —> https://fmep.org/resource/podcast-palestinians-rising-from-jerusalem-to-umm-al-fahm-ft-fayrouz-sharqawi-kristin-mccarthy/
- “Palestinians Strike – w/ Salem Barahmeh & Kristin McCarthy” —> https://fmep.org/resource/podcast-palestinians-strike-w-salem-barahmeh-kristin-mccarthy/
- “More than History: 1917, 1936, & 2021, ft. Sherene Seikaly & Sarah Anne Minkin” —> https://fmep.org/resource/podcast-more-than-history-1917-1936-2021-ft-sherene-seikaly-sarah-anne-minkin/
On the NGOization & de-politicization of Palestinian civil society
- “The Political Marginalization of Palestinian Women in the West Bank” by Dr. Yara Hawari → https://al-shabaka.org/briefs/the-political-marginalization-of-palestinian-women-in-the-west-bank/
- “Reclaiming the Political Dimension of the Palestinian Narrative” → https://al-shabaka.org/circles/reclaiming-the-political-narrative-in-palestinian-politics/
Bios
Tareq Baconi is Crisis Group’s Senior Analyst for Israel/Palestine and Economics of Conflict. Tareq has a background in management consulting in the energy sector. His research relates to the contemporary geopolitics of the region, with a focus on Israel-Palestine. His writing has appeared in Arabic in Al-Ghad and Al-Quds al-Arabi, and in English in The New York Review Daily, The Washington Post, Foreign Affairs, The Guardian, The Nation, The Daily Star (Lebanon), and al-Jazeera. He has provided analysis for print and broadcast media, including The New York Times, The New Yorker, BBC, National Public Radio, and Democracy Now!. He has a PhD in International Relations from King’s College London and an MPhil degree from the University of Cambridge. He tweets @TareqBaconi.
Inès Abdel Razek is Advocacy Director for the Palestine Institute for Public Diplomacy (PIPD), an independent Palestinian organization, and a member of Al Shabaka. Prior to joining the PIPD, Inès held advisory positions in the executive offices of the Union for the Mediterranean in Barcelona, the UN Environment Programme in Nairobi and the Palestinian Prime Minister’s Office in Ramallah, where she focused on international governance and development cooperation policies. Inès is also an advisory board member of the social enterprise BuildPalestine. She holds a Master’s degree in Public Affairs from Sciences-Po, Paris. Twitter: @InesAbdelrazek.
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.