Basil Farraj

Basil Farraj completed his PhD in Anthropology and Sociology at the Graduate Institute, Geneva. Basil’s work focuses on political prisoners, carceral violence, and prisoners’ confrontation practices with carceral regimes. His research addresses the intersections of memory, resistance, and art by prisoners and others subjected to violence. Basil has conducted fieldwork in a number of countries including Chile, Colombia, and Palestine.

Policy Brief Civil Society

The Prison Intifada: Supporting Palestinian Administrative Detainees

August 2, 2022

Administrative detention is central to the Israeli regime’s attempts to suppress Palestinian mobilization. Al-Shabaka policy analyst Basil Farraj shows how Palestinian administrative detainees have continuously resisted this policy and demanded an end to its widespread and arbitrary use. He offers recommendations to Palestinian civil society organizations, national stakeholders, and solidarity groups for how to support the ongoing Palestinian prison intifada.

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.