Middle East Monitor Conversations

In an effort to absolve Zionist militias of charges of crimes against humanity and war crimes, a number of stories spread within Israeli society, they have been disproven but the denial of the horrors of the Nakba remains. Something Professor Pappe hopes to tackle through his new project the Nakba Memorial Foundation. In 1948, just under one million Palestinians were expelled from their homes by Zionist militia groups that would go on to form Israel. 48 was the culmination of half a century of settler colonialism, a cornerstone of the project to establish a Jewish state in historic Palestine, was the idea that there were no people in the Holy Land or the people who were there were immigrants from elsewhere? The denial of the existence of Palestinians was a key feature of pre-1948 Zionism. After 1948, the denialism extended to the Nakba itself, myths such as Palestinians left because a radio broadcast from neighbouring Arab states told them to temporarily leave their homes and thus absolving Zionist forces of charges of crimes against humanity and war crimes, became part of the Israeli imagination. While ideas like these have been disproven through work of diligent historians and testimonies from Palestinians, attempts to discuss or study the Nakba have at times been suppressed in the West. But resistance from activists, students and scholars challenged and continues to challenge attempts to shut this down. MEMO conversations sits down with Professor Ilan Pappe to discuss the history of Nakba denialism, how it functions today, his new project the Nakba Memorial Foundation and his new book Lobbying for Zionism.Professor Pappe is the director of the European Centre for Palestine Studies at the University of Exeter. He received his D. Phil from the University of Oxford. From 1984 to 2006, Pappe taught at the University of Haifa, Israel ,from which he resigned in 2006 after various failed attempts to expel him due to his ideological positions. He moved to the University of Exeter in 2007. Pappe has written 22 books to date, among them the Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine and On Palestine. His most recent books are the Ten Myths of Israel , the Biggest Prison on Earth: A History of the Israeli Occupation, A Historical Dictionary of Palestine and Our Vision for Liberation with Dr Ramzy Baroud. 

In 1860, 15% of Damascus' Christian population were wiped out in 8-days of a murderous rampage. Despite widespread anti-Christian violence, roughly 85% of Damascus' Christian population were saved by their Muslim neighbours. In 1860, Syria's ancient and thriving Christian community nearly came to an end. A civil war raged in Mount Lebanon, which saw widespread massacres of Christians by Druze militias, and on 23 May 1860, the violence taking place in present-day Lebanon spread to Damascus. Local Muslims, spurred on by fear and rumours, hit the streets and began attacking Christian businesses, shops and properties. An 8-day riot ensued and the majority of the city's Christians were left displaced, however, this moment did not turn into a genocide thanks to the actions of different Muslim notables and the Algerian exile Emir Abdelkadir, who managed to save the lives of 85% of the Christian population. The week-long lawlessness was severely punished by the Ottomans, but beyond punishment, Istanbul rebuilt Damascus and its communities by bringing them together and integrating them. They were so successful that 30-years later, the idea a similar event could happen again was unthinkable. But what actually happened in 1860? What caused it? What lessons does it have for us today? Joining MEMO Conversation to answer these questions is Oxford historian Eugene Rogan. Eugene Rogan is Professor of Modern Middle Eastern History at Oxford University, where he has taught since 1991, a Fellow of St Antony’s College and Director of the Middle East Centre. He took his B.A. in economics from Columbia, and his M.A. and Ph.D. in Middle Eastern history from Harvard. In 2017 he was elected a Fellow of the British Academy. He is author of The Arabs: A History (2009, 2017), named a best book of 2009 by The Economist, The Financial Times, and The Atlantic Monthly. His new book, The Fall of the Ottomans: The Great War in the Middle East (2015), was named a best book of 2015 by The Economist and The Wall Street Journal. His earlier works include Frontiers of the State in the Late Ottoman Empire (Cambridge University Press, 1999), for which he received the Albert Hourani Book Award of the Middle East Studies Association of North America and the Fuad Köprülü Prize of the Turkish Studies Association; and The War for Palestine: Rewriting the History of 1948 (Cambridge University Press, 2001, second edition 2007, with Avi Shlaim). His works are translated into 18 languages.

Since Israel launched its genocidal bombing campaign in Gaza in October 2023, it has released numerous allegations to justify its actions and the killing of civilians, including that Hamas baked Israeli babies in ovens, or that it is operating from hospitals throughout the Strip. To date, most of its claims have been found to be unfounded, fabrications to justify its crimes. In view of these lies, and many other claims Tel Aviv has made, a new initiative is working to fact-check Israel's propaganda in order to allow people to learn the truth.  Did you hear about Hamas beheading 40 babies? How about a Hamas base underneath Al-Shifa Hospital? Or that Zionists came to Palestine because it was an empty land and they made the desert blossom, then Arabs from neighbouring countries emigrated and tried to seize the land from Israel? Well, if you have, you've been hit with hasbara. A Hebrew word meaning the 'explanation' - hasbara is propaganda pushed out by the Israeli state designed to explain, justify and enable Israeli atrocities, promote Israel and attack Palestinians and their supporters. Tel Aviv spends millions of dollars and uses key parts of its diplomatic and foreign relations departments to try and shape the global conversation around Palestine. Since Israel began its genocidal assault on Gaza in October 2023, Israeli hasbara has gone into overdrive to confront an increasingly sceptical world. A new initiative, the Hasbara Tracker, has been setup to research, debunk and fact-check Israeli propaganda. Joining us today is the the initiative's founder, Jennine Khalik. 

Businesses that supply Israel with jet fuel are helping to maintain its bombing campaign in Gaza, but what are the legal implications to such support?In this week's MEMO in Conversation, we speak to the authors of a damning new report by the Centre for Research on Multinational Corporations (SOMO) that uncovers the extensive support provided by Israel's allies, enabling its devastating military onslaught on Gaza.Join us as we discuss the findings with SOMO experts Lydia de Leeuw and Misa Norigami who shed light on the crucial role imported jet fuel plays in sustaining Israel's relentless air strikes. The guests highlight the staggering amount of US-supplied military jet fuel (JP-8) that has fuelled Israel's attacks since 7 October 2023.  Leeuw and Norigami reveal the names of specific companies implicated in this deadly supply chain, demonstrating how, without this support, Israel would be unable to maintain its current level of bombing.We also explore the legal implications of corporate complicity in war crimes, examining the criteria that must be met under international law and the precedents supporting the argument for holding these companies to account. The report's call for an embargo on jet fuel and crude oil sales to Israel, based on the International Court of Justice's determinations, is a crucial point of discussion. Tune in to hear the specific actions recommended by SOMO for states and companies to ensure compliance with international law and prevent further atrocities in Gaza.Lydia de Leeuw leads SOMO’s strategic litigation work. Together with colleagues and partners, Lydia helps build coalitions around specific human rights issues and develop multi-jurisdiction, multi-procedure litigation strategies to advance shared objectives. Before joining SOMO in 2015, she conducted legal and field research for a variety of human rights organisations in the Middle East and South Africa.Lydia holds a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Criminology from VU University in Amsterdam. In 2015, she was awarded an LL.M. in International Crime and Justice, with a focus on international crimes and state-corporate crime. Misa Norigami is a corporate researcher at SOMO. She investigates companies' finances, ownership, investors, corporate and capital structures, subsidiaries and supply chains through the Counter. The Counter is SOMO's pro bono corporate research helpdesk for activists working to hold companies that cause social harm and environmental destruction to account.Misa holds a Master of Laws in public international law and a Bachelor of Laws from Waseda University (Tokyo, Japan), as well as an advanced Master of Laws in European and International Human Rights Law from Leiden University in the Netherlands.

The prolonged nature of Israel's occupation of Palestinian land has meant women have to make life altering decisions from a very early age, the country director for Women for Women International in Palestine tells MEMO, their struggle is unique but women have been instrumental in rebuilding and healing their communities.A rights organisation that supports women affected by Israel’s ongoing occupation of Palestinian lands and its numerous wars on civilians, Women for Women International (WFWI) in Palestine constantly adapted its programmes in response to Israel's violence in Gaza and the West Bank. Palestinian women face unique challenges living under occupation and bombardment, and many of the decisions they are forced to make are life changing. To discuss what some of these hardships are, MEMO in Conversation is joined by WFWI Country Director Amani Mustafa.Mustafa grew up in the West Bank where she experienced first hand the challenges faced by ordinary civilians trying to get on with everyday life. The situation is particularly difficult for women in Hebron's H2 area, where some of the most extreme settlers live, and so the organsiation has set up specific integrating protective measures for women and girls in that area. The harsh living conditions mean their families are often forced to marry their daughters off at a younger age to protect them from the illegal settlers and occupation forces. But all this comes at a cost. Mustafa was educated at Bethlehem University and holds degrees in English Literature and International Cooperation and Development. She has long advocated for the rights of Palestinian women on both national and international platforms.  She has over 16 years of experience leading programmes aimed at bolstering Palestinian women’s social power and economic autonomy across the West Bank and Gaza. 

The history of Serbia remain poorly understood and is not discussed enough, but how did it transition from a narrative of being an oppressed people to perpetrator of a genocide? Join us as we discuss this and more with the author of 'Serbia: A Modern History'.In the 1990s, Yugoslavia broke down and a brutal war unfolded, culminating in a genocide being prepatrated against Bosniaks and Kosovan Albanians. The war brought to surface questions of ethnicity and belonging with 'Serbianess' being at the forefront. But what is Serbia and what does it mean to be a Serb? How did we get from a narrative of being an oppressed people to perpetrating genocides? The history of Serbia remains poorly understood, the current trajectory of both Serbia and Republika Srpska underappreciated, and the future of the Balkans not widely discussed enough. MEMO Conversations catches up with Dr Marko Attila Hoare who has just published a complete history of the Serbs. Hoare is an Associate Professor and Head of Research for the Department of Political Science and International Relations at the Sarajevo School of Science and Technology. He was born in London and received his BA (Hons) in History for the University of Cambridge in 1994 and his PhD in History from Yale University in 2000. He is the author of four published books on the history of Bosnia-Herzegovina, of which 'Genocide and Resistance in Hitler’s Bosnia: The Partisans and the Chetniks, 1941-1943' won the British Academy Postdoctoral Fellow Monograph Competition in 2004. His work has appeared in outlets including the Guardian, Al Jazeera, Standpoint, Open Democracy and New Lines Magazine, among others. He has featured in programmes by the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust and the Sky History Channel, and made appearances on many TV and radio stations including BBC TV and Sky News. His latest book is 'Serbia: A Modern History'.His new book can be found here: https://www.hurstpublishers.com/book/serbia/

Conflict and violence in Sudan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and occupied Palestine drove the number of internally displaced people (IDPs) around the world to 75.9 million at the end of 2023. This is a new record, according to the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC). The body's global monitoring manager explains the driving forces behind internal displacement and discusses both wars and conflicts and the natural disasters forcing people away from their homes. In this week's conversation with MEMO we talk to Ivana Hajzmanova, a representative of the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC), to discuss the body's latest report. Hajzmanova provides a comprehensive global overview of the main hotspots where internal displacement is occurring, with a special focus on the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). She delves into the countries most affected by this crisis and highlights the nations that are coping better than others.Throughout the conversation, we uncover the driving forces behind internal displacements, examining the complex interplay between natural disasters and man-made causes such as wars and conflicts. Hajzmanova sheds light on the role of state violence and armed groups in exacerbating displacements. The conversation also highlights the dire situation in Gaza, where an astonishing 83 per cent of the population is internally displaced, creating a humanitarian catastrophe.Hajzmanova is the Global Monitoring Manager at IDMC, coordinating the production of internal displacement estimates, development of data mining and data analysis methodologies and external data diplomacy. She joined IDMC in 2016 as a Monitoring Expert and she coordinated the MENA and Sub-Saharan Africa team since 2020. Ivana has a background in humanitarian and human rights law and she previously worked on humanitarian needs analysis and assessment, and human rights advocacy with national and international NGOs.She holds a Master’s degree in Human Rights and Humanitarian Action from Sciences Po Paris and spent one semester studying international law and history of violence at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva.

Peoples, communities and faith groups are being utilised to kill one another, but while different communities can clash this is not the only possibility, we can learn a lot about religious and cultural harmony from the Islamic rule of Spain, the leading conflict mediation expert says.The world is riddled with conflict, warfare and discord between nations, people and communities. Whether it's the killing fields of Gaza, civil war in Sudan, fighting in Ukraine or elsewhere. Peoples, communities and faith groups are being utilised to kill one another, but while different communities can clash this is not the only possibility. There is also a rich tradition of coexistence between religions, communities and nationalities, drawing up the history of La Convivencia (religious tolerance) that was the norm in Spain during Islamic rule, where Christians, Jews and Muslims lived together in harmony, we can learn to live together again without conflict. MEMO is joined by Dr Amineh Hoti who runs a project that adapts La Convivencia to current conflicts, peace building and community projects. Hoti, from University of Cambridge, has over 20 years of experience leading interfaith dialogue, conflict mediation and community engagement throughout the world. She has served as a peace studies director, professor and researcher for more than two decades and has extensive leadership experience on several continents. She was the Executive Director of the Centre for Dialogue and Action and co-founding Director of the first Centre for the Study of Muslim-Jewish Relations in Cambridge and of the Centre for Dialogue and Action at Lucy Cavendish College at the University of Cambridge, United Kingdom. She completed her PhD in Social Anthropology at Lucy and is an Honorary Professor at the University of Nottingham. 

Though internationally Israel uses the Bible to justify its colonisation of Palestine, for many Jews it is within Jewish ethical traditions that the seeds of anti-Zionism can be found. Israel coats itself in Jewish identity and purports to speak on behalf of all Jewish people, while critics of Israeli policy or its treatment of Palestinians are often branded anti-Semitic. Before the Second World War, however, support for Zionism in Jewish communities was limited. Moreover, Zionism was a European Jewish movement. As a result, for the millions of Jews living in the Middle East and wider Muslim World, Zionism was a foreign movement formed outside their own historical reality. Mizrahi and Sephardic Jews in Israel today are culturally underprivileged and are expected to integrated into a European Jewish society. While internationally Israel uses the Bible to justify its colonisation of Palestine, the Israeli state is deeply secular and has acted as a secularising force in Israeli Jewish life, alienating many God-conscious people. For many Jewish people, the oppression and dispossession of Palestinians runs contrary to Jewish ethics and traditions. MEMO Conversation is joined by Hadar Cohen who says that it is within Jewish ethical traditions that the seeds of anti-Zionism can be found. Cohen is an Arab Jewish scholar, mystic and artist whose work focuses on multi-religious spirituality, politics, social issues and community building. She is the founder of Malchut, a spiritual skill-building school teaching Jewish mysticism and direct experience of God. Her podcast, Hadar’s Web, features community conversations on spirituality, healing, justice and art. Hadar is a 10th-generation Jerusalemite with lineage roots also in Syria, Kurdistan, Iraq and Iran.

Is Persian the bridge language of ancient Muslim societies? And are Central Asian countries seeing a revival of this ancient heritage? When we think of the great cities of Islamic history, we tend to think of Baghdad, Damascus, Cairo, Isfahan and Istanbul. But for much of history Samarkand, Herat, Kashgar and Bukhara, to name a few, were at the epicentre of Muslim history. The modernisation of the region, Russian colonisation and later Soviet rule severed the historical connections between Central Asia to the rest of the world. However, since the 1990s, Central Asian countries increasingly celebrate and explore this heritage, but how much of the past survives and where is the region going? One way to think about these questions is through the prism of language and delving into the different languages spoken in Central Asia today can tell us a lot about this heritage and the direction societies are moving. Anglo-American academics have used the term the Persianate to describe the historical cultures present in Central Asia today, a term they argue ties Sarajevo to Hyderabad in-which the Persian language is a lingua franca of Islamic civilisation. But how relevant is this to Central Asia? Linguist Iskandar Ding joins MEMO Conversations today to deep dive and nerd out on this topic.