In this episode of Occupied Thoughts podcast, Lara Friedman speaks with Peter Beinart about his recent article, Justifications for Destroying a People, examining similarities between arguments Putin is putting forward to dehumanize Ukrainians and arguments long used by Israel to dehumanize Palestinians. This podcast is a follow-up to Lara's March 3rd Occupied Thoughts episode featuring Yousef Munayyer, looking at the world's double standard on BDS – Russia/Ukraine vs. Israel/Palestine.

On March 15, 2022, the Israeli Supreme Court is expected to render a decision on whether the state of Israel will be permitted to carry out a large expulsion of Palestinians in the West Bank. The Palestinians in question live in an area of the South Hebron Hills called Masafer Yatta, residing for many generations in small, shepherding-based villages. In the early 1980s, in violation of international law, the IDF declared the area a firing zone (“Firing Zone 918”) -- an action viewed by experts as taken with the clear Israeli objective  of displacing the Palestinian residents of the area and taking control of the land. Consistent with that analysis, for decades, Palestinians living in Masafer Yatta have faced constant threat of expulsion, home demolitions, confiscation of their property, harassment and violence at the hands of both the Israeli army and Israeli settlers.  Ali Awad, a writer and activist from Tuba - one of the villages slated in Masafer Yatta - and Maya Rosen, a Jerusalem-based Palestine solidarity activist, will join FMEP's Sarah Anne Minkin for a discussion of how Palestinians in Masafer Yatta continue to build their lives despite the constant existential threat they are under such threat, what they expect from the Israeli Supreme Court, and the international campaign they have launched to save their villages. We’ll also discuss the role of the Israeli judiciary in enabling Israeli apartheid and Israel’s  use of the “firing zone” designation as a means of confiscating Palestinian land.  Original music by Jalal Yaquoub

In this episode of "Occupied Thoughts," FMEP's Sarah Anne Minkin speaks with Dr. Maha Nassar, associate professor in the School of Middle Eastern and North African Studies at the University of Arizona and 2022 FMEP Fellow, about the question of "Who are Palestine's people?" This question anchors Dr. Nassar's new research into the communities that made their homes in Palestine over the last 1500 years. This deep dive into history sheds light on Palestinian nationalism, the Palestinian diaspora, and potential paths forward. Original music by Jalal Yaquob.

As evidence of the current & future climate crisis continues to mount, join FMEP and key activists & researchers as we look at the dynamics of climate change for Palestinians. How do the realities of apartheid in Israel/Palestine, and additionally Israel’s siege and recurring bombardment of Gaza, affect Palestinians’ access to clean water, sustainable land, consistent electricity, and food security? What bearing do these Israeli-imposed environmental limitations have on Palestinians’ ability to stay on their land? And what does “climate justice” mean, and what could it look like for Palestinians? Featuring Jessica Anderson (Visualizing Palestine), Khalil Abu Yahia (Gaza-based scholar), and Manal Shqair (Stop the Wall Campaign) with Dr. Sarah Anne Minkin (FMEP). Original music by Jalal Yaquoub

In this episode of Occupied Thoughts, FMEP's Lara Friedman speaks to Yousef Munayyer (Arab Center DC) about how the near global embrace of boycotts, divestment, and sanctions against Russia in response to its military assault on Ukraine contrasts to longstanding, far-reaching efforts to delegitimize, quash, and even criminalize these same tactics as a response to Israel's systematic violence against Palestinians and violations of Palestinian rights. Yousef Munayyer, PhD, is a non-resident Fellow at Arab Center Washington DC (ACW). He writes on the Arab-Israeli conflict and is a member of the editorial committee of the Journal of Palestine Studies. Some of his published articles can be found in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Nation, Boston Globe, Foreign Policy, Journal of Palestine Studies, Middle East Policy, and others. Dr. Munayyer holds a PhD in International Relations and Comparative Politics from the University of Maryland. He tweets @YousefMunayyer. Lara Friedman is the President of the Foundation for Middle East Peace (FMEP). 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. She is published widely in the U.S. and international press and is regularly consulted by members of Congress and their staffs, by Washington-based diplomats, by policy-makers in capitals around the world, and by journalists in the U.S. and abroad. In addition to her work at FMEP, Lara is a Contributing Writer at Jewish Currents and a non-resident fellow at the U.S./Middle East Project (USMEP). 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 holds a B.A. from the University of Arizona and a Master’s degree from Georgetown’s School of Foreign Service. She tweets @LaraFriedmanDC Original Music by Jalal Yaquoub

Featuring Salem Barahmeh (Palestine Institute for Public Diplomacy), Hagai El-Ad (B’Tselem) and Sherine Tadros (Amnesty International). Co-moderated by Lara Friedman (FMEP) & Khaled Elgindy (MEI). Recorded February 18, 2022. This webinar is Part 3 of an 8-part series of webinars. For more information regarding this series, and links to the other sessions, please see: https://fmep.org/resource/2022-congressional-briefing-series-israel-palestine-hot-topics-in-congress/ In this session we explored the increasing adoption by human rights experts of the term “apartheid” to describe the reality in Israel/Palestine, including on both sides of the Green Line, and the view that, today, Palestinians and Israelis live in a de facto one-state, apartheid reality.

In this episode of Occupied Thoughts, FMEP's Lara Friedman speaks with Inès Abdel Razek and Munir Nusseibeh about developments in Jerusalem and their broader context and implications. Inès is the Advocacy Director for the Palestine Institute for Public Diplomacy, PIPD. Munir is a human rights lawyer and academic based in Al-Quds University in Jerusalem. Original music by Jalal Yaquoub

Palestinians face a growing matrix of mechanisms geared towards removing them from their land, dispersing their communities, and threatening their livelihoods. Join FMEP and B’Tselem to discuss the situation on the ground: what Palestinians in Area C (and increasingly in Area B) are facing and how they live under the shadow of dispossession, at the hands of the Israeli government, its security forces, its courts, and its private citizens. Panelists This webinar featured two Palestinians from Masafer Yatta in the South Hebron hills, an area in Area C whose residents are under particularly heightened threats and regular attacks, as well as video interviews with additional Palestinians living under threat. Basil al-Adraa is an activist, journalist, and photographer from the village of A’Twani. Twitter: @basel_adra Eid is a photographer. In addition, Sarit Michaeli (@saritm0) and Eyal Hareuveni of B’Tselem, the Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories -- joined the webinar and speak about B’Tselem’s recent report, “State Business: Israel’s misappropriation of land in the West Bank through settler violence.”FMEP President Lara Friedman (@larafriedmanDC) moderated the discussion.

In this episode of “Occupied Thoughts,” FMEP’s Sarah Anne Minkin interviews Jehad Abusalim about his background, his research, his analysis of this moment in time and Palestinian history, and his plans for 2022 as an FMEP Fellow. The Foundation for Middle East Peace is delighted to announce our new Palestinian Non-Resident Fellowship. FMEP’s 2022 Palestinian Non-Resident Fellows are Dr. Maha Nassar and Jehad Abusalim. Jehad Abusalim is the Education and Policy Coordinator of the Palestine Activism Program at the American Friends Service Committee. He is completing his PhD in the History and Hebrew and Judaic Studies joint program at New York University. His research focuses on Arab and Palestinian intellectual discourse on Zionism, antisemitism, and the plight of the Jewish people in Europe between 1870 and 1948. Jehad also studies the social and political history of the Gaza Strip, focusing on the continuing impact of the Nakba on life in Gaza before and after 1948. Mr. Abusalim has been published in the Washington Post, al-Jazeera, the New Arab, and Vox. Follow Mr. Abusalim on Twitter here: @JehadAbusalim

Dr. Maha Nassar is an associate professor in the School of Middle Eastern and North African Studies at the University of Arizona, where she specializes in the cultural and intellectual history of the modern Arab world. Her award-winning book, Brothers Apart: Palestinian Citizens of Israel and the Arab World (Stanford University Press, 2017), examines how Palestinian intellectuals connected to global decolonization movements during the mid-twentieth century. A 2018 Public Voices Fellow with the OpEd Project, Dr. Nassar’s analysis and opinion pieces have appeared in numerous publications, including The Washington Post, +972 Magazine, The Conversation, and The Hill. She lives in Tucson, Arizona, with her husband, son, and daughter, and she is working on her next book, a global history of Palestine’s people. Follow Dr. Nassar on Twitter here: @mtnassar. Interviewed by Sarah Anne Minkin