Article - Lawfare and Palestine: Strategies for Resisting Criminalization

Israel’s recent criminalization of six Palestinian human rights organizations has sparked global outcry. But this tactic fits into a global trend of lawfare led by right-wing and conservative governments, including in the US and Europe, against activists and grassroots organizers. it must be actively resisted politically and legally.

On the anniversary of the First Intifada, Al-Shabaka asks Omar Barghouti, co-founder of the Palestinian-led Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, and Dima Khalidi, the founder and director of Palestine Legal: How can Palestinians and their allies move away from defensively responding to criminalization accusations towards a proactive strategy which challenges the Israeli regime’s lawfare tactics? How can this approach combine political and legal strategies? How can it engage intersectionally with other progressive movements?

Omar Barghouti is a Palestinian human rights defender and co-founder of the Palestinian-led Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement for Palestinian rights. He is a...
Nadim Bawalsa is Associate Editor with the Journal of Palestine Studies. From 2020-2023, Nadim served as Al-Shabaka’s commissioning editor. He is a historian of modern...
With: Dima Khalidi

Latest Analysis

 Economics
Since the start of the genocide in Gaza, Palestinian laborers working in the Israeli market have become a top target for Israel's brutal Civil and Economic Affairs Cabinet and the Knesset's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee. During this time, the Zionist regime terminated over 140,000 work permits, detained thousands of Palestinian workers, and began formal discussions with various Asian governments to recruit foreign laborers as replacements. In this policy brief, Ihab Maharmeh details a recurring pattern in which Israel summons, exploits, expels, or replaces the Palestinian workforce based on its needs. This calculated approach, Maharmeh argues, is designed to systematically dismantle Palestinian political, economic, and social structures, ultimately advancing the goal of Palestinian erasure.
Al-Shabaka Ihab Maharmeh
Ihab Maharmeh· Jan 5, 2025
 Politics
Al-Shabaka Board President Tareq Baconi reflects on over 12 months of genocide in Gaza and discusses its ramifications on the Palestinian liberation movement, the region, and beyond. In doing so, he highlights the façade of the international rules-based order and centers the growing power of the global majority.
Al-Shabaka Tareq Baconi
Tareq Baconi· Dec 17, 2024
 Politics
In this policy lab, Halah Ahmad and Andrew Kadi join host Tariq Kenney-Shawa to discuss what the incoming Trump Administration will mean for Palestinians, how it will affect the pro-Palestine solidarity movement in the US, and how to prepare for it.
Skip to content