Occupied Thoughts

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/

Three major stories broke over the past week about Israel’s cyber-surveillance of Palestinians, from hacking the phones of human rights defenders and officials, to increased monitoring of Jerusalemites, to the mass deployment of facial recognition software against Palestinians in the West Bank. To discuss these issues and their broader implications, FMEP is proud to host a conversation with four experts – Andrew Anderson (Front Line Defenders), Marwa Fatafta (Access Now), Avner Gvaryahu (Breaking the Silence), and Sophia Goodfriend (7amleh), in conversation with FMEP President Lara Friedman. For biographies and a list of resources shared during this webinar, please visit: https://fmep.org/event/welcome-to-the-panopticon-israels-systematic-surveillance-of-palestinians-and-the-implications-for-the-world/

In late October, the Israeli government declared six Palestinian human rights groups to be “terror organizations” – a designation that criminalizes their work under Israeli law and enables Israel to seize assets, arrest staff, prohibit funding, and punish public expressions of support and solidarity. With this terror designation, the Israeli government has escalated its longtime efforts to crush Palestinian organizations that document Israel’s ongoing violations of Palestinian human rights and seek to hold Israel accountable. Leading human & civil rights experts – Jamil Dakwar (ACLU), Rabea Eghbariah (Adalah), and Dima Khalidi (Palestine Legal) – to discuss the work of the targeted Palestinian NGOs, the context and impact of this terror designation, reactions from governments and NGOs in the U.S. and the EU, and expectations of impact. Original music by Jalal Yaquoub.

In this episode of Occupied Thoughts, FMEP's Lara Friedman talks to Ubai Aboudi, director of Bisan Center for Research and Development - a Ramallah-based Palestinian human rights organizes established in 1989. Aboudi talks about Israel's move on October 19 to designate Bisan and five other Palestinian human rights organizations as "terrorist groups" under Israel's 2016 anti-terror law, and its follow-up move this week to make a parallel declaration in the West Bank via military order. Ubai, who is an American citizen, also discusses this week's bombshell news of the hacking of employees of several of the targeted groups, including Ubai, by sophisticated Israeli software (Pegasus), and the implications of the timing of the terror designations, which coincided almost perfectly with the discovery of the hacking. Original music by Jalal Yaquoub.

In this episode of Occupied Thoughts, FMEP's Sarah Anne Minkin speaks with Israeli journalist Oren Ziv (Local Call, +972 Magazine) about the blockbuster article published today by +972 and the Intercept: "Secret Israeli dossier provides no proof for declaring Palestinian NGOs 'terrorists'." Together with journalists Yuval Avraham and Meron Rappaport, Oren combed through the classified dossier that Israel shared with representatives of European countries in a bid to persuade to end funding for designated Palestinian human rights organizations. Today's article exposes this dossier - which is believed to be the same dossier that Israel just shared with representatives of the U.S. government - as well as hundreds of pages of summaries of interrogations that Israel drew from in formulating the dossier. The journalists conclude: "contrary to the Israeli Defense Ministry’s claims, the dossier did not provide a single piece of evidence proving the six organizations diverted their funds to the PFLP or to violent activities." See more at www.fmep.org Original music by Jalal Yaquoub

In this episode of Occupied Thoughts, FMEP's Lara Friedman speaks with Michael Sfard, Israel's preeminent human rights lawyer. Michael offers his insights into the recent designations by Israel of 6 prominent Palestinian NGOs as terror organizations, including: the Israeli government efforts that led to it, why there is such deep skepticism about Israel's claims about evidence incriminating the groups, the way that the "terrorist" label has been rendered almost meaningless by Israel, which applies it to virtually all forms of Palestinian political activity and organizing, the implications of the designations for Palestinian civil society, Israeli civil, and human right defenders worldwide, and prospects for challenging or overturning the designations. Original music by Jalal Yaquoub.

In this episode of "Occupied Thoughts," FMEP non-resident fellow Peter Beinart speaks with Gaby Lasky, Member of the Israeli Knesset and human rights attorney with extensive experience defending Palestinians in Israeli military courts and working closely with Israeli human rights organizations. Background: In late December, the Israeli government declared six Palestinian human rights groups to be “terror organizations” – a designation that effectively outlaws the groups, criminalizes their work under Israeli law and enables Israel to seize assets, arrest staff, prohibit funding, and punish public expressions of support and solidarity. With this terror designation, the Israeli government has escalated its longtime efforts to crush the Palestinian organizations that document Israel’s ongoing violations of Palestinian human rights and seek to hold Israel accountable. For more on this topic, see FMEP's extensive coverage, "On Israel’s Declaration of Palestinian Human Rights Groups as “Terrorist Organizations."  Original music by Jalal Yaquoub

FMEP non-resident fellow Peter Beinart speaks with Shawan Jabarin, General Director of Al Haq, the preeminent Palestinian human rights organization, which is now directly targeted and threatened by the Israeli government. On October 22, 2021, the Israeli government declared six Palestinian human rights groups to be “terror organizations” – a designation that effectively outlaws the groups, criminalizes their work under Israeli law and enables Israel to seize assets, arrest staff, prohibit funding, and punish public expressions of support and solidarity. With this terror designation, the Israeli government has escalated its longtime efforts to crush the Palestinian organizations that document Israel’s ongoing violations of Palestinian human rights and seek to hold Israel accountable. Visit www.fmep.org for full coverage of Israel's declaration of war on Palestinian human rights defenders. Original music by Jalal Yaquoub.