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

In this episode of Occupied Thoughts FMEP's Lara Friedman speaks with +972's Amjad Iraqi about recent developments -- what is happening and how it fits into the status quo that defines Israeli policies and rule over Palestinians, framed by Amjad's incisive analysis: “Cruelty is baked into Israeli apartheid. And today’s destruction of the Salhiyeh home in Sheikh Jarrah — in the freezing cold before dawn, after their defiant stand against the police on Monday — is designed to be cruel, both to the family and to all Palestinians watching. Cruelty is needed to terrify, demoralize, and incapacitate Palestinians. The state needs us to feel this powerlessness, to feel trapped by the sense of failure, to rob us not just of the will to resist, but the will to live. It needs our total submission, or our complete erasure. That intentional cruelty was on full display this past week: in the mass funeral of Haj Suleiman, who was run over by a police truck in Umm al-Kheir; in the arrests of young Naqab Bedouin for protesting their dispossession; in the shuttered gates of besieged Gaza; and much more. Many Palestinians felt that pain sharply today. Many of us felt helpless. But then came our rage. And then came our resolve. A ‘resilient’ society is a tortured one, often relying on plain stubbornness to pull it through. But it’s what defies the cruelty when nothing else does.” For more resources and biographies, please visit:https://fmep.org/resource/we-dont-have-another-place-to-go-threats-settler-violence-and-resistance-in-masafer-yatta/

In this episode of “Occupied Thoughts,” FMEP’s Lara Friedman speaks Oren Ziv (photojournalist, a founding member of the Activestills photography collective, and a staff writer for Local Call) about the latest twist in the story of Israel’s assault on Palestinian human rights NGOs. This twist comes in the form of a blockbuster report, co-authored by Oren and published January 13th by +972 Magazine, entitled "Israel’s new secret document still fails to tie Palestinian NGOs to ‘terrorism’" For more resources and panelist biographies, please visit: https://fmep.org/resource/israel-again-tries-fails-to-connect-palestinian-ngos-to-terrorism/

In this episode of Occupied Thoughts, FMEP's Sarah Anne Minkin speaks with activist and author Ali Awad about the threats of dispossession and state-backed settler violence facing Palestinians in the Masafer Yatta area of the South Hebron Hills. Ali's most recent article, co-authored with Awdah Hathaleen, describes extreme violence against a village elder in a non-violent protest in Masafer Yatta: "Israeli police shattered this Palestinian elder’s bones — and drove away."  Bios Ali Awad is an activist from the village of Tuba in the South Hebron Hills. Sarah Anne Minkin, PhD, is FMEP’s Director of Programs & Partnerships. Original music by Jalal Yaquoub

In this episode of “Occupied Thoughts,” FMEP's Lara Friedman speaks with Nuriya Oswald (International Advocacy Officer at Al Mezan Center for Human Rights, the Palestinian human rights NGO founded in 1999 and based in the Gaza Strip) and Yael Stein (Director of Research for B’Tselem, Israel’s preeminent human rights organization) about how manifestations of Israel's apartheid regime with respect to the Gaza Strip, both in general and specifically in the context of the Great March of Return. NOTE: In December 2021, Al Mezan issued a new report, “The Gaza Bantustan: Israeli Apartheid in the Gaza Strip,” and Btselem, together with the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights, issued a new report, "Unwilling and Unable: Israel's Whitewashed Investigations of the Great March of Return Protests." Bios Nuriya Oswald is the International Legal and Advocacy Director at Al Mezan Center for Human Rights.Nuriya is a human rights advocate with ten years of experience in advocacy and coordinating legal initiatives. At Al Mezan, Nuriya manages various activities with the objective of bringing justice to victims of international law violations and informing international stakeholders of the human rights situation on the ground. She has lived in Gaza and Ramallah and has been working in Palestine for over a decade. She holds an LLM in international humanitarian law, an MA in human rights and a BA in political science and French studies. She previously worked for Medical Aid for Palestinians and ChildFund International. Nuriya has appeared in the New York Times, Al Jazeera and other media outlets. You can follow Al Mezan on Twitter @AlMezanCenter. Yael Stein is the Research Director of B’Tselem. She holds an LLB from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and an MA in human rights from the Institute of Commonwealth Studies at the University of London. Yael has authored several of B’Tselem reports, including The Occupation’s Fig Leaf (2016), Getting Off Scot-Free (2017) and Fake Justice (2019). You can follow B'Tselem on Twitter @btselem. Lara Friedman is the President of the Foundation for Middle East Peace (FMEP). She 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 tweets @LaraFriedmanDC. Original music by Jalal Yaquoub

In this episode of Occupied Thoughts, FMEP's Lara Friedman hosts Palestinian organizer Fadi Quran and FMEP Non-resident Fellow Peter Beinart for a wide-ranging conversation about 2021's most defining events when it comes to the lived reality of Palestinians and Israelis on the ground, as well as U.S. politics on the issue. The trio also take on predictions for what might unfold in 2022. For panelist biographies, please visit: https://fmep.org/resource/2021-review-2022-preview-challenges-opportunities-on-the-road-to-palestinian-rights/

In this episode of "Occupied Thoughts," Peter Beinart interviews Bahia Amawi and Gadeir Abbas about the fight for the right to boycott Israel in Texas. Bahia is a speech pathologist in Texas who sued the state after losing her school contract because she refused to sign an agreement promising not to boycott Israel. Bahia won her case - and in response, the Texas government amended their anti-BDS bill so that it only applies to larger companies. A few weeks ago, CAIR - the Council on American Islamic Relations - filed a lawsuit challenging the new amended Texas law.  Gadeir Abbas is Senior Litigation Attorney at the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR).  Bahia Amawi is a Palestinian-American and a speech pathologist in Texas.  Peter Beinart is Non-Resident Fellow at the Foundation for Middle East Peace. He is also a Professor of Journalism and Political Science at the City University of New York, a Contributing opinion writer at the New York Times, an Editor-at-Large at Jewish Currents, and a CNN Political Commentator. Original Music by Jalal Yaquoub

In this episode of "Occupied Thoughts," Lara Friedman interviews Oriel Eisner and Maya Eshel, two activists who were detained by the Israeli police last week in separate but connected incidents. Their arrests are another piece in the puzzle of Palestinian dispossession and state-backed settler violence.  Oriel Eisner is an American-Israeli activist and organizer with the Center for Jewish Nonviolence (cjnv.org). He is based in Jerusalem. Maya Eshel is an American-Israel activist currently engaged in daily solidarity work in the South Hebron Hills. She is based in Tel Aviv. Lara Friedman is the President of the Foundation for Middle East Peace. See more at www.fmep.org Original music by Jalal Yaquoub

In this episode of Occupied Thoughts, FMEP's Kristin McCarthy speaks with Daniel Seidemann (Terrestrial Jerusalem) about a myriad of developments in Jerusalem - - and the political, diplomatic, and bureaucratic forces at play behind them. For more information including resources mentioned in this episode, please visit: https://fmep.org/resource/scorched-earth-settlements-in-jerusalem/

Featuring Palestinians who lived through the 1948 Nakba and their descendants: Nida El-Muti, Dina El-Muti, and Hasan Hammami The Nakba, the displacement of over 750,000 Palestinians from their homeland from 1947-49, is among the root causes of the conflict in Palestine-Israel and critical to understanding the failure of the decades-long “peace-process,” and the level of justice and reparations required to achieve a sustainable future. We will hear the personal stories of those who survived the ethnic cleansing of their cities and villages, and learn from them and their descendants how the trauma of the Nakba and Israel’s ongoing policies of erasure have shaped their lives. We’ll also ask about their visions for the future, what justice looks like, and how they sustain connections to their homeland from the diaspora. For more information and resources, please visit: https://fmep.org/resource/webinar-the-nakba-and-its-generational-impact-on-palestinian-lives-memory-identity-and-a-future-rooted-in-justice/