One Hundred Years and Counting: Britain, Balfour, and the Cultural Repression of Palestinians
The government and corporations of the United Kingdom have recently intensified efforts to censor Palestinian creative expression. Al-Shabaka Policy Member Aimee Shalan traces the roots of these attacks on Palestinian history and culture to the 1917 Balfour Declaration and offers recommendations for how civil society can bring the UK to change its approach.
Palestinian Oral History as a Tool to Defend Against Displacement
A recent surge in the production of Palestinian oral history provides a new opportunity for activists defending communities against displacement. Al-Shabaka Policy Member 24576 outlines an advocacy role for a Palestinian oral history focused on local needs and uses concrete examples to demonstrate how such a role could promote land-based rights.
The ICC and Palestine: A Case of Doubtful Justice
The International Criminal Court (ICC) may fail to arbitrate atrocities in Palestine justly, judging by its first report since it began its examination of potential crimes against humanity and war crimes. Guest Author 24563 examines this recent ICC report to explain why, and urges civil society to continue its close monitoring of the ICC’s work.
BDS: Discussing Difficult Issues in a Fast-Growing Movement
Beyond the headlines of the boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) challenge to Israel, there is continuous debate as the movement matures. What other strategies do Palestinians need? Are comparisons with South Africa appropriate? What about problems with international law? What of gray areas around normalization? Al-Shabaka Policy Advisor and BDS co-founder Omar Barghouti addresses these and more.
How Palestinian Hunger Strikes Counter Israel’s Monopoly on Violence
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.
The US Elections, Attacks on Activists, and a Changing Discourse
The ongoing shift in discourse in the United States has as yet had little effect on politics and none on policy, argues Al-Shabaka Policy Advisor Rashid Khalidi. He discusses Israel’s attempts to close the floodgates of debate and activism that boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) tactics have forced open, as well as the dangerous Israel-Gulf alliance.
Israel’s Dangerous New Transfer Tactic in Jerusalem
Israel exploits temporary crises to promote permanent measures that it uses to create new refugees and internally displaced Palestinians. Al-Shabaka Policy Advisor Munir Nuseibah discusses the cases and events used as precedents since the 1990s, and zeroes in on the latest effort to dispossess Palestinians accused of a breach of allegiance to Israel.
Understanding ISIS’s Palestine Propaganda
How do Salafi-jihadi groups like ISIS exploit the question of Palestine in their rhetoric? Al- Shabaka Policy Member 24556 addresses this issue based on an analysis of ISIS statements on Gaza, Jerusalem, and other recurring themes in 2015 and calls on Palestinians to act so as to prevent the appropriation of their narrative.
Palestinian Political Disintegration, Culture, and National Identity
Al-Shabaka Policy Advisor Jamil Hilal reflects on the vibrancy of Palestinian culture and its role in nurturing identity at a time of severe political disarray. He highlights the experience of the Palestinian citizens of Israel in sustaining culture and identity while under threat and identifies some of the principles needed to rebuild a national movement.
