Basil Farraj, Author at Al-Shabaka

Basil Farraj

Al-Shabaka Policy Member Basil Farraj holds a B.A. in Peace and Global Studies from Earlham College, USA. He is a Thomas J. Watson Fellow undertaking an independent project about Palestinian identity, and its manifestations in the diaspora. Basil is a member of the Defence for Children International – Palestine Section’s General Assembly, and a grant advisor to the Pollination Project. His areas of interest include child rights advocacy, peace and justice theory and the building of effective and critical transnational solidarity.

Commentary Politics

How Palestinian Hunger Strikes Counter Israel’s Monopoly on Violence

May 12, 2016

Palestinian prisoners on hunger strikes exert violence against their bodies yet win back the capacity for independent action that Israel seeks to deny them. Al-Shabaka Policy Member Basil Farraj situates the current hunger strikes in Palestinian and world history, as well as Israel’s use of prison to control the population, having imprisoned nearly 40% of Palestinian males since 1967.