Trump’s Return: Implications for the Palestinian Struggle

On November 5, 2024, the US electorate voted Donald J. Trump for a second term in the 60th presidential election. His victory and return to office after four years follows a turbulent Democratic presidential campaign, which saw President Biden abandon his re-election bid earlier this year and his successor, Vice President Kamala Harris, double down […]

The UK and Its Illusive Arms Embargo

UK arms companies have long profited from selling weapons to Israel, with licenses issued from the British government. Since 2008, these exports have totaled an estimated $740 million, continuing even amid the ongoing genocide in Gaza. In protest, a Foreign Office official recently resigned over this policy of continued licensing. Following the Labour Party’s July […]

The UK Elections and Palestine with Sara Husseini

UK elections podcast

The transcript below has been lightly edited for brevity and clarity. 

Student Organizing & Change-Making on University Campuses

This commentary is based on an episode of Rethinking Palestine, Al-Shabaka’s podcast series, which aired on May 27, 2024. The discussion may be listened to in full here. In April 2024, students at Columbia University set up an encampment on campus grounds in solidarity with the Palestinian people—particularly those in Gaza facing the ongoing genocide.  […]

Ireland’s Solidarity with Palestine, with Brendan Browne

The transcript below has been lightly edited for brevity and clarity.  Brendan Browne 0:00 It’s easy to stand up on stage and be seen to be a vocal proponent and a vocal supporter of Palestine and to express your disgust, but it has to yield actual results. There has to be some kind of commitment […]

The Western media’s complicity in the genocide in Gaza

The Gaza Genocide in Western Media: Culprits of Complicity

This commentary is based on a presentation delivered by Al-Shabaka Co-Director Yara Hawari at the 2024 Annual Palestine Forum, hosted by the Institute for Palestine Studies and the Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies in Doha, Qatar, in February, 2024.  Introduction Since the beginning of the genocide in Gaza, Israeli regime bombardments and forces […]

Marwa Fatafta

Al-Shabaka Marwa Fatafta

Marwa is a Palestinian writer, researcher and policy analyst based in Berlin. She leads Access Now’s work on digital rights in the Middle East and North Africa region as the MENA Policy Manager. She is also an advisory board member of the Palestinian digital rights organization 7amleh. Previously, she worked as the MENA Regional Advisor for Transparency International Secretariat. Marwa was a Fulbright scholar to the US, and holds an MA in International Relations from Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, Syracuse University. She holds a second MA in Development and Governance from University of Duisburg-Essen.

Zena Agha

Al-Shabaka Zena Agha

Zena Agha served as Al-Shabaka’s US Policy Fellow from 2017 – 2019. Her areas of expertise include Israeli settlement-building in the occupied Palestinian territory with a special focus on Jerusalem, modern Middle Eastern history, and spatial practices. She has previously worked at the Economist, the Iraqi Embassy in Paris, and the Palestinian delegation at UNESCO. In addition to opinion pieces in The Independent, and The Nation, Zena’s media credits include the BBC World Service, BBC Arabic and El Pais. Zena was awarded the Kennedy Scholarship to study at Harvard University, completing her Master’s in Middle Eastern Studies.