Unsettled

To commemorate five years of Unsettled, we’re closing out 2022 by diving into our archive. Each member of the team has picked a favorite past episode to republish. For this episode, producer Ilana Levinson shares The Great March, a report originally released in 2019, on a mass demonstration in the Gaza Strip attended by thousands. The Great March of Return was originally planned to last six weeks, but  continued for many months. How did it all begin, and who are the protestors who risked their lives to participate?This episode was produced by Ilana Levinson with help from Asaf Calderon and Sophie Edelhart. Our theme music is by Nat Rosenzweig.Help shape the future of Unsettled by filling out this listener survey! It should take only 5-10 minutes to complete.

To commemorate five years of Unsettled, we’re closing out 2022 by diving into our archive. Each member of the team has picked a favorite past episode to republish. First up, producer Max Freedman shares his interview with two theater artists: playwright/musician Dan Fishback, and actor Motaz Malhees. Dan and Motaz joined us in 2017 to discuss two productions that were literally cancelled because of their content: Dan’s play Rubble Rubble and The Siege by the Freedom Theatre of Jenin.This episode was produced by Ilana Levinson. Our theme music is by Nat Rosenzweig.Help shape the future of Unsettled by filling out this listener survey! It should take only 5-10 minutes to complete.Check out the music video for “Hope Hurts” written and performed by Dan Fishback, and watch the trailer for “200 Meters” starring Motaz Malhees.

Unsettled is currently on a break from releasing new content, but we’ll be back on your feed in the Fall. While we’re gone, make sure to catch up on some of our latest episodes. This past Spring, we released a four-part series, ‘The Birthday Party,’ about a growing movement of Palestinians and Jews working together to oppose the occupation in the South Hebron Hills; a piece about the Jewish National Fund’s role in uprooting Palestinian communities; a feature on the educational bookshop in East Jerusalem; a two-part conversation between producer Asaf Calderon and his parents about what they see for Israel’s future, and more.Did you know Unsettled has been around for five years? If you’re around the New York City area, you’re cordially invited to Unsettled’s five year anniversary party this August. For more details, make sure to follow us on Instagram @ unsettled_pod .

In 1967, a young Palestinian scholar is invited to London to lecture on his mastery of a William Wordsworth poem. But after he arrives, war breaks out back home and he's forced to decide between staying in London or going back home to his family where uncertainty and suffering are guaranteed. These are events that begin The Vagrant Trilogy,  a show currently playing at The Public Theatre. The audience is taken down two different paths: one where Adham chooses to stay in London, and one that leads him to a refugee camp in Lebanon. The three-act play has been in the making for over a decade now. Unsettled spoke to actor Hadi Tabbal and playwright Mona Mansour about the making of The Vagrant Trilogy.

Last week, the Israeli High Court of Justice issued an opinion that could lead to one of the largest population transfers in recent history. After a decades-long legal battle, the court gave the Israeli military a green light to evacuate the residents of eight villages in Masafer Yatta — Palestinians who have lived for generations on land the state now claims as a “military firing zone.”A few weeks ago, we published an interview with activist Ali Awad about the campaign to save Masafer Yatta. Unsettled producer Max Freedman spoke to Ali again to get his reaction to the court’s new ruling.This episode was produced by Ilana Levinson. Music from Blue Dot Sessions.

Ein al-Beida is a fresh water spring that used to be the main source of water for several Palestinian villages — until Israeli settlers moved in and claimed the spring as their own. On a cold Friday morning, two hundred Palestinians and Jews march together to the spring to take it back. Then the army shows up.Unsettled producer Max Freedman reports from the center of the action: what goes according to plan, what doesn’t, and what happens next."The Birthday Party" was reported by Max Freedman, and produced by Max Freedman, Emily Bell, and Ilana Levinson, with help from Asaf Calderon. Music from Blue Dot Sessions. Visit www.unsettledpod.com to see Max's photos from his time in the West Bank, and all of Unsettled's previous reporting about the South Hebron Hills.

Lilly is a young activist from North London who has been to the West Bank many times before — just never with other Jews. In this episode of “The Birthday Party,” Lilly talks about the teenage rebellion that first brought her to Palestine, and why she now believes she can have the greatest impact within her Jewish community.Unsettled producer Max Freedman follows Lilly and other activists with the Center for Jewish Nonviolence as they get to know the people and the landscape of the South Hebron Hills, and prepare to stand alongside Palestinians as they directly challenge the Israeli occupation forces.“The Birthday Party” was reported by Max Freedman, and produced by Max Freedman, Emily Bell, and Ilana Levinson, with help from Asaf Calderon. Music from Blue Dot Sessions.

Bob first visited Israel in 1969, when he was on leave from his U.S. military service in Vietnam. He was raised in a Zionist home; he has relatives who proudly live in former Palestinian houses; he once volunteered on an IDF base. But now, at 71 years old, Bob is entering the West Bank for the first time.He’s one of 44 diaspora Jews who have come to the South Hebron Hills with the Center for Jewish Nonviolence to practice co-resistance with Palestinians. In the second episode of “The Birthday Party,” producer Max Freedman spends time with Bob as he confronts the reality of occupation — and his own identity.“The Birthday Party” was reported by Max Freedman, and produced by Max Freedman, Emily Bell, and Ilana Levinson, with help from Asaf Calderon. Music from Blue Dot Sessions.

In this special miniseries from Unsettled, producer Max Freedman spends nine days in the South Hebron Hills with Palestinians and Jews working together to oppose and obstruct the occupation. This trip, organized by the Center for Jewish Nonviolence, culminates in a dramatic direct action known by a code name: “the birthday party.”In the first episode, Max gets to know Tariq, a Palestinian teacher from the village of Umm al-Khair. Umm al-Khair is surrounded on three sides by an Israeli settlement, and the residents live under constant threat of violence and demolition. Tariq explains how his family came to live in this area, how he became an activist, and why he believes in co-resistance with Jewish allies.“The Birthday Party” is reported by Max Freedman, and produced by Max Freedman, Emily Bell, and Ilana Levinson, with help from Asaf Calderon. Music from Blue Dot Sessions.

On March 15, Israel’s High Court of Justice heard a case that could lead to one of the largest forced population transfers in recent history. For more than 20 years, Israel has been trying to expel the residents of 12 Palestinian villages in a part of the West Bank called Masafer Yatta. The state claims they need the land for a military firing zone. If the court agrees, 1,300 Palestinians might be removed from their homes.In this episode, producer Max Freedman speaks to Ali Awad and Maya Rosen about this decades-long legal battle and what’s at stake. Ali and Maya are both organizers of the Save Masafer Yatta campaign, which aims to stop this eviction by turning Masafer Yatta into a household name.Unsettled is produced by Emily Bell, Asaf Calderon, Max Freedman, and Ilana Levinson. Music by Nat Rosenzweig and Blue Dot Sessions. Photo credit: Yahel Gazit.Save Masafer YattaTo exact ‘revenge,’ Israeli settlers wreaked havoc in my village (Ali Awad, +972 Magazine, 4/4/22)Explainer: The threat of mass expulsion in Masafer Yatta (+972 Magazine, 3/14/22)Maya Rosen & Daniel Roth: KKL-JNF (Unsettled, 3/23/22)