Occupied Thoughts
Occupied Thoughts by FMEP
From the Foundation for Middle East Peace (FMEP), Occupied Thoughts amplifies the voices of FMEP grantees and partners, offers critical framing, and promote new ideas and new angles on the many issues connected to achieving justice, security, and peace for Palestinians and Israelis.
FMEP works to defend and support Palestinian rights, end Israel’s occupation of the West Bank, Gaza Strip, and East Jerusalem, and ensure a just and secure future for Palestinians and Israelis. FMEP advances this goal through its grants program, public programming, and research. www.fmep.org
FMEP works to defend and support Palestinian rights, end Israel’s occupation of the West Bank, Gaza Strip, and East Jerusalem, and ensure a just and secure future for Palestinians and Israelis. FMEP advances this goal through its grants program, public programming, and research. www.fmep.org
Episodes
Mentioned books
Dec 19, 2023 • 38min
“The story of Attiya Nabaheen reveals the system that devalues Palestinian life”
In this episode of Occupied Thoughts, FMEP Fellow Rabea Eghbariah speaks with Sarah Anne Minkin, FMEP's Director of Programs & Partnerships, about his former client Attiya Nabaheen, a Palestinian teenager from Gaza who sued the Israeli Ministry of Defense for compensation for injuries caused by Israeli soldiers while he was walking, unarmed, on his family's land in late 2014, during a time of ceasefire, or "status quo." Deciding against Attiya, the Israeli Supreme Court "set a chilling precedent such that no one in Gaza can seek compensation for any damages caused by Israel," as Rabea Eghbariah wrote in a recent New York Times op-ed. This conversation discusses the case and its implications for Gazans and Palestinians more broadly. After surviving four wars in Gaza, Attiya Nabaheen was killed, along with his family, in an Israeli airstrike on October 8th.
See Rabea Eghbariah's NYT op-ed: "An Unarmed Teen Was Shot During a Cease-Fire. Israel Was Never Held to Account."https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/03/opinion/unarmed-teen-israel-gaza.html
Original music by Jalal Yaquoub.
Nov 21, 2023 • 54min
Repression in the Shadow of Israel’s War on Gaza Pt 2: Israel’s Criminalization of Palestinian Life
Featuring Hassan Jabarin (Adalah) and Ghousoon Bisharat (+972) in conversation with Peter Beinart (FMEP)
While waging war on Gaza, the Israeli government has simultaneously moved to criminalize criticism of Israel’s war or identification with Palestinians. New legislation, incitement, and arrests are creating a climate of fear and silencing. Palestinian citizens of Israel and Jewish Israelis who advocate for Palestinians face threats, intimidation, and severe restrictions on freedom of speech. Two of the leading organizations in the fight against government repression are the civil rights organization Adalah and the news organization +972 Magazine.
For resources, please visit: https://fmep.org/resource/27842/
Nov 20, 2023 • 1h 50min
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 University Law School) to talk about international law - how it applies in the current crisis, the obligations it imposes on Israel, Hamas, and the international community, and how it can be used to envision and shape next steps.
Nov 17, 2023 • 1h 4min
Repression in the Shadow of Israel’s War on Gaza Pt 1: 5 Israeli Human Rights Groups Sound the Alarm
Featuring Yahav Erez, Yesh Din; Anat Litvin, Physicians for Human Rights – Israel (PHRI); Jessica Montell, HaMoked: Center for the Defense of the Individual; Tamara Newman, Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI); and Tal Steiner, Public Committee Against Torture in Israel (PCATI) in conversation with Lara Friedman (FMEP)
FMEP is pleased to host representatives from five of Israel’s leading human rights groups for a collective call to examine the widespread violation of Palestinian rights across all areas under Israeli control. While the international spotlight is on Gaza, Israel’s extreme-right government has pursued a radical agenda to violate the rights of Palestinians in Israeli prisons, in the West Bank, in Jerusalem, and within Israel.
Original music by Jalal Yaquoub.
Nov 15, 2023 • 30min
From Israel's Blockade to the Siege on Al Shifa Hospital: Public Health in Gaza
In this episode of Occupied Thoughts, FMEP's Sarah Anne Minkin speaks with 2023 FMEP Palestinian Non-Resident Fellow Dr. Yara Asi about public health in Gaza. The conversation addresses the deficiencies in public health infrastructure due to Israel's blockade before the current war as well as the the current total public health catastrophe, including the bombardments, displacement, collapse of hospitals, and threats to the population in the absence of food, water, fuel, and electricity.
Original music by Jalal Yaquoub.
Nov 10, 2023 • 35min
The UN Tried to Silence Craig Mokhiber, He Resigned
In this episode of "Occupied Thoughts" FMEP non-resident Fellow Peter Beinart speaks with Craig Mokhiber, who recently resigned from his post as a Director at the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. Mr. Mokhiber talks about the culture of the UN and how powerful member states operate to shield Israel from criticism, and if/how international laws against genocide should be applied to Israel and Hamas.
Nov 7, 2023 • 33min
Biden's "Full Tilt" Embrace of Israel & Its War on Gaza
FMEP Non-resident Fellow Peter Beinart talks to Ben Rhodes (Former Deputy National Security Advisor of the United States) about the Biden Administration's response to the October 7th Hamas massacre and Israel's subsequent war on Gaza.
Nov 3, 2023 • 1h 24min
Gaza, Israel and the 2023 War: Are There Any "Red Lines"?
Featuring: Jamil Dakwar (speaking in his personal capacity), Katherine Gallagher (Senior Staff Attorney, Center for Constitutional rights), Dr. Raz Segal (Associate Professor of Holocaust and Genocide Studies and Endowed Professor in the Study of Modern Genocide, Stockton University) in conversation with Khaled Elgindy (MEI) and Lara Friedman (FMEP).
For resources and bios see: https://fmep.org/resource/gaza-israel-and-the-2023-war-are-there-any-red-lines/
Nov 1, 2023 • 1h 17min
Catastrophe in Gaza: What's Next? Part 2
ft. Sari Bashi (Human Rights Watch), Amjad Iraqi (+972 Magazine) & Lara Friedman (FMEP)
In the wake of Hamas’s massacres of citizens & residents of Israel on October 7th, Israeli leadership has articulated its aim of destroying the “human animals” in Gaza, leading many to sound the alarm that Israeli intentions are genocidal. Coming in the context of 16 years of a brutal Israeli blockade, and targeting a population a large percentage of which is present in Gaza as a direct result of the Nakba 75 years ago, which left them and their families unable to return to homes in what became Israel, Israel’s current war on Gaza is wreaking incomprehensible levels of civilian death, injury, and destruction.
The possibilities for expanded conflict loom, including in Jerusalem and the West Bank, where the IDF & IDF-backed settlers have escalated their terrorism of Palestinians and their efforts to Palestinians from Area C of the West Bank, and on Israel’s border with Lebanon. In parallel, delegitimization and repression of Palestinian voices and support for Palestinians and Palestinian rights are increasing around the globe, including in Israel and Palestine.
Join FMEP for conversations with trusted partners who will ground us in what’s going on, what’s at stake for Palestinians, Israelis, the broader Middle East, and the rest of the world; what Israeli, Palestinian, and American leadership are envisioning as next steps, and also for the day-after this war ends; and what the opportunities and obligations are for grassroots mobilization, civil society actors, and human rights defenders in this moment.
Original music by Jalal Yaquoub
Oct 31, 2023 • 1h 16min
Catastrophe in Gaza: What’s Next? Part 1
ft. Inès Abdel Razek (Palestine Institute for Public Diplomacy), Fadi Quran (Avaaz), & Lara Friedman (FMEP)
In the wake of Hamas’s massacres of citizens & residents of Israel on October 7th, Israeli leadership has articulated its aim of destroying the “human animals” in Gaza, leading many to sound the alarm that Israeli intentions are genocidal. Coming in the context of 16 years of a brutal Israeli blockade, and targeting a population a large percentage of which is present in Gaza as a direct result of the Nakba 75 years ago, which left them and their families unable to return to homes in what became Israel, Israel’s current war on Gaza is wreaking incomprehensible levels of civilian death, injury, and destruction.
The possibilities for expanded conflict loom, including in Jerusalem and the West Bank, where the IDF & IDF-backed settlers have escalated their terrorism of Palestinians and their efforts to Palestinians from Area C of the West Bank, and on Israel’s border with Lebanon. In parallel, delegitimization and repression of Palestinian voices and support for Palestinians and Palestinian rights are increasing around the globe, including in Israel and Palestine.
Join FMEP for conversations with trusted partners who ground us in what’s going on, what’s at stake for Palestinians, Israelis, the broader Middle East, and the rest of the world; what Israeli, Palestinian, and American leadership are envisioning as next steps, and also for the day-after this war ends; and what the opportunities and obligations are for grassroots mobilization, civil society actors, and human rights defenders in this moment.
Original music by Jalal Yaquoub.


