For years, Palestinians have decried the devastating conditions in Gaza, only to see those conditions continue to worsen. What’s prevented real change from happening on the ground, and what ramifications has this had on Palestinians in Gaza and the broader struggle for Palestinian liberation?
In this policy lab, analysts Tareq Baconi and Yasmeen El-Khoudary weigh in on these questions and more.
Yasmeen El Khoudary is a researcher, writer, and communications professional specializing in Palestinian archaeology, cultural heritage, and storytelling for social change. She holds an MA in Cultural Heritage Studies from University College London. The daughter of Jawdat Khoudary, founder of Almathaf — Gaza’s first museum of archaeology — she has a deep-rooted connection to preserving Gaza’s cultural legacy, and since 2022 has led fieldwork for the Gaza Maritime Archaeology Project (GAZAMAP). She is currently Associate Partner at Stronger Stories and has published on Gaza’s history and heritage in the Guardian, CNN, and Al-Jazeera English.
Tareq Baconi is a Palestinian writer, scholar, and activist. He previously served as Al-Shabaka’s US policy fellow and later as president of the board of directors. His work has appeared in The New York Times and The Baffler, among others. He also contributes essays to The New York Review of Books and the London Review of Books. He is the author of What Now: On Palestine, Freedom, and Our Global Future (2026), Hamas Contained: A History of Palestinian Resistance (2018), which was shortlisted for the Palestine Book Award, and Fire in Every Direction: A Memoir (2025).
