Date and time: Friday, May 15, 2020, 5 to 7 pm British Summer Time (UTC+1)
Register here [1].
The unity deal signed between Prime Minister Netanyahu and Blue and White Chairman Benny Gantz on 20 April 2020 has all but sealed the fate of the largely defunct two-state paradigm, and has opened the doorway for Israel to initiate legislation to annex large parts of Area C of the West Bank. Starting July, the process of annexation is one that many analysts expect to happen and one that will leave Palestinians with only 15% of historic Palestine and with no control over its borders. What is more, out of the 120 members of the Israeli Knesset 68 MKs are pro-annexation without condition while 34 MKs are pro-annexation (with conditions); only 18 MKs, 15% of the overall Knesset, are anti-annexation.
All of the conditions are in place, therefore, for the continued colonization of Palestinian land. This process of colonization, however, is one that is by no means novel and its roots can be traced back to the ethnic cleansing and enforced displacement of Palestinians in the 1948 Palestine War (including both the 1947-1948 Civil War and the 1948 Arab-Israeli War).
With the Nakba playing a central role in the process of expulsion and dispossession, this webinar seeks to discuss themes past and present across a forum in which: a) the displacement of Palestinians as an inevitable consequence of Zionism will be discussed; b) the ‘new nakba’ and Israel’s colonization of the West Bank (including how the Nation-State Law facilitates such colonization) will be interrogated; and, c) the future of the international community’s Palestine policy and the prospects for a robust European and international opposition to annexation will be dissected.
Overall, this webinar seeks to facilitate a forum through which interested stakeholders can seek to understand from experts the dynamics and modern-day manifestations of the colonization process that has taken hold in occupied Palestine.
Speakers:
- Prof. Ilan Pappé is a professor with the College of Social Sciences and International Studies at the University of Exeter. He was formerly a senior lecturer in political science at the University of Haifa. He is the author of The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine, The Modern Middle East, A History of Modern Palestine: One Land, Two Peoples, and Britain and the Arab-Israeli Conflict.
- Dr. Yousef Jabareen MK is a Palestinian member of parliament in Israel with the Joint List and has been a member of the Israeli Knesset since 2015. Jabareen is a qualified attorney and has filed numerous motions in Israel’s High Court on issues regarding Arab equality. These included the status of the Arabic language and unequal public budgets.
- An engineer by profession, Dr. Salman Abu Sitta is best known for his cartographic work on Palestine and his work on the Palestinian Right of Return. He is the author of six books and over 300 articles and papers on Palestine, including The Atlas of Palestine, 1917–1966 (2010). He is the founder and president of the Palestine Land Society.
- Dr. Hatem Bazian is a co-founder and professor of Islamic Law and Theology at Zaytuna College, the 1st Accredited Muslim Liberal Arts College in the United States. In addition, Prof. Bazian is a lecturer in the Departments of Near Eastern and Asian American and Asian Diaspora Studies at the University of California, Berkeley. Dr. Bazian between 2002 and 2007 also served as an adjunct professor of law at Boalt Hall School of Law at the University of California, Berkeley. He teaches courses on Islamic Law and Society, Islam in America: Communities and Institutions, De-Constructing Islamophobia and Othering of Islam, Religious Studies, and Middle Eastern Studies. In addition to Berkeley, Prof. Bazian served as a visiting Professor in Religious Studies at Saint Mary’s College of California 2001-2007 and adviser to the Religion, Politics and Globalization Center at UC Berkeley.
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As this is an online webinar, please register to ensure that the meeting ID will be sent to your email 2 days prior to the start of the event.