palestine, and palestine in the region. we publish ours, journals, we have the journal of palestine studies. we also produce the occasional papers on issues that are relevant to the conversation, and we do things like this. i'm quite happy to welcome all of you for an interesting conversation which will be led by ambassador fire stein -- by the ambassador, if you would like to come up. >> thank you. happy good friday and happy passover to everyone in the audience. feierstein, and i'm pleased to introduce and moderate this conversation in the aftermath of the election. netanyahu's reelection was largely seen as a deathknell to the prospect of a palestinian state. his pledge to annex parts of the occupied west bank in tandem with the trump administration's policy to shackle the palestinian national movement raises grave concerns about any possibility to reignite andingful peace processes, to protect the rights of palestinians. last week -- actually earlier this week, we were honored to welcome an ambassador for the discussion

palestine as well and what was palestine palestine was never a state it was a minister of unit they were palestinian jews in palestine the arabs my parents i still have their palestinian the papers they were the ones who started they wanted the one who rejected any offers in thirty seven in one nine hundred forty seven the way to camp david and i were talking about now i mean the young generation right now living in palestine they have nothing to do with those you know historical events they are just born into this reality and what they get is what i have sat in my previous question how do you make sure that they are actually more loving toward israel is while all these realities on the ground right now. israel would love to love them but for this we have to have is human cultural change i'll tell you what is the problem if you look at the textbooks in the palestinian authority the old teach to kill israel to eliminate israel from the map. they make demands not over the west bank or gaza but all over israel this has to stop they also are trying to attack us politically you know that ther

it says to change israel and palestine to palestinians. there is no state of palestine and there never has been one. third we provide the change is inaccurate. since 1150 bce words like philistine and palstina have been used. this is the rest of the fact sheet. we sent it to virginia state professors that are middle east experts and asked for their support. with these signatures we drafted a let near asked the rejection of the efforts. we sent it to those members of virginia's general assembly. in may last year we sent out a reabout our findings to media outlets statewide and beyond. israel lobby seeks to release occupation from virginia school becomes and it can be found on the website. tallahassee summer we testified about textbook inaccuracy and the lack of transparency in the process. our members spoke about being required to file a supreme of information act to find out the names of the history. we learned that most your k through 12 teachers, several taught in the university departments, but not one had any expertise on the middle ea

and to say what is the status of the juice in palestine? in the sense of thinking of jewish nationalism, that is not necessarily colonial. that is not necessarily exclusive. that is not necessarily based on ongoing settlement and rejecting of the palestinian. that's difficult. but i think this is the space that i think that the palestinian can say we stick to the idea of citizenship, but we reject the way that is being appropriated and interpreted in israel now. and that means make really very thorough surgery of rejecting any jewish privileges, either in israel or in the west bank or et cetera. but i'm speaking now israel, while trying to nrz jewish rights. the palestinian are mistaken if they think they don't have something to offer for the jews. i mean we offer them to share our homeland after all. and i think this is the space i'm talking about, is the space that what's good about citizenship or what i mean by citizenship is getting over the illusion that one is talking to himself, in the sense that thinking that there is another group

at the of palestine for all arabs and the second is a long one about israel and its dealings with us. stein it's dealings with the united states and palestine and of course the question of the golan and jerusalem and i think here is where there is a bit of a controversy if you will that on the one hand arab leaders would the re for. that they have stated throughout the years about jerusalem as captain of a sovereign but a since it was on so forth for the same time they're divided over how to deal with the israeli occupation how to deal with american upcoming initiative after the israeli elections to deal with this question so they remain defied did they remain ineffective they remain more or less paralyzed to do anything for palestine and the palestinians certainly paralyzed to do anything about israel's continuing patient and annexation of up their authorities but for the for the day they certainly come up with a statement that sounds to their public opinion yet to be strong but do they recognize that they are at an important moment now when they have the u.s. president recognize th

what is your vision for the future of israel and palestine bought board his book consider victory if you had said victory would you disarm. so easy that the state of israel does not say that it is an illegal state it's a state that was the stubbornness on the basis of occupying the land so there's a lot of usurping the lands of as i said i love you all are controlling by force tonight and some as much as they are committing massacres against about visiting me ask you who were expelled. based including muslims and christians to tell you that is so. yes just as happy as well no justice for all remains remains of their messiah when he has a policy of all the. progress of time does not send justice into not that's not the making of them all just as they as if it's my how they feel about the field house and i go ok by force it doesn't become mine and fifty or one hundred us just because i'm stronger than you i've yet been able to ok to tell you what has that doesn't give me that doesn't legalise why i should leave your house and. these places are ideological if you and i mean close you kn

movement has stated, quote, we oppose a jewish state in any part of palestine. no palestinian will ever accept a jewish state in palestine. close quote. the b.d.s. movement is not about equality, it is not about peace. it is about undermining negotiation between israel and the palestinians. and it is about placing all the blame on one party and that is israel. we do not support a movement that demands concessions from one party alone. we do not stand with a movement that seeks to isolate and shame our strongest ally in the middle east. by weakening israel, the global b.d.s. movement endangers american security. when foreign entities like the u.n. foster boycotts against israel, they are interfering with the crites foreign policy. the senate passed a bill in its wisdom, s. 1, two months ago work overwhelming bipartisan support to tackle b.d.s. better support israel and jordan and sanction isaud's brutal regime. sadly, the house democratic leadership won't let that bill or a house version of that bill o this floor for a vote. mr. speaker, the house is not in order

and is going out about palestine julian isn't just being called an a d c my german cool been who kind of supported us on this didn't want him to be extradited doesn't want to be extradited to the u.s. has been called in and he's in music racist how do you see palestine playing in on these issues we could have a long conversation about how smearing may and cobain and the sun and anybody else who criticizes the israeli government as anti semites is upset clearly and does such a blatant and cheap. tactic and we know why they do it we know why the ministry of strategic affairs in tel aviv. does it they do it because they have no aunts. to the accusations of human rights violations and war crimes and so on and so forth so it's just a smokescreen to divert a. and sharon from the fact that our criticisms those of us who criticize the israeli government's policies in the occupied territories and in israel itself and support b.d.s. maybe it's a smokescreen to divert attention from the fact that we're right and they're wrong i was sickened by the way that was happening in the u.k. at the labor

editor, and a member of the editorial board for the journal of palestine studies. on publications focus political philosophy, legal theory, citizenship, and politics of identity. before i welcome him to give his

middle east peace plan as unfair to palestine. the new zealand is appealing for the whereabouts of a nurse kidnapped along with two drivers in syria almost six years ago louise a cull the was working for the red cross delivering aid to it live when she was taken it's believed she's being held by eisel along with the two syrian drivers a car his kidnapping was kept secret for fear her life may be at risk then a holder has more from beirut. the i.c.r.c. ending its silence appealing for any information on the whereabouts of its members two of the syrian nationals their fate is not known but the i.c.r.c. believes that. is possibly alive and they have information that she was still alive just a few weeks ago there is no doubt that the i.c.r.c. is gathering information from those who used to live under those rules territorial defeated a few weeks ago fighters wives and children are now thousands of them are now in a camp in northeast syria so it is trying to gather information. members are not the only ones who were kidnapped. missing y

now we head tojerusalem in 19116, when british forces controlled what was then palestine.ed jewish groups fighting for the creation of a jewish homeland, israel. one of the most devastating attacks was the bombing of the king david hotel injerusalem, which was the location of british headquarters. we hearfrom shoshana levy kampos, who was a jewish secretary working in the building. newsreel: after a bomb explosion caused by terrorists on the british headquarters injerusalem, one entire corner of the king david hotel, a building of seven storeys, was razed to the ground. suddenly everything was black. what happened ? i couldn't understand. you only think, how do i get out? newsreel: while arab and jew have a cause to battle for, the british soldier is there only because it is hisjob to keep the peace. in a quarrel which is none of his making he doesjust that, and precious few thanks he gets for it. my family was a jewish family from germany, came to palestine because we were in danger in germany. i was 21 years old when i worked for the british in the king david hotel, typi

of around forty senate ition laborers employed by the united nations relief and works agency for palestine refugees who are for short to keep the girish camp in jordan clean in twenty eighteen the trump administration announced it would seize all funding to the agency so it has had to let employees go including sanitation laborers like ali. the un agency was able to raise new funds from some forty other countries but still needed to reduce its hold budget by ninety two million u.s. dollars last year. my financial situation is difficult when my elderly father not something i can't give it to anymore. my dream is to go back to working for a new one i was self-sufficient. in the campus extremely dirty and in the coming summer months it'll only get worse. i have asked us not to reveal his identity his refugee status doesn't allow him to work outside the camp his job was his only source of income to support his family of six. there are now only ten workers left to clean a camp with a population of thirty thousand as a result of the camp is experiencing a garbage crisis. of jordan's ten refugee

from israel prepares for elections some vying to be prime minister a spot controlled tough anti palestine platforms. for good evening to you this is alt. says that it's obtained pressed strategy agreed on by ecuador and the u.k. this is in the event wiki leaks founder julian assange should be extradited to the u.s. whistleblower was granted asylum in ecuador as embassy in london in two thousand and twelve and rumors have been circulating is about to be expelled potentially handed by britain to america it would have to wiki leaks ecuador will claim broke the terms of his asylum with the u.k. giving assurances that it won't let the u.s. sentence him to death. that's precisely the fate of songe fears is in store for him if extradited with the u.s. still very upset about wiki leaks having release classified material acquittals foreign minister meanwhile took to twitter to dismiss rumors that his country would hand over the whistleblower assange supporters say that he's doing crucial work and must be protected. but it was obvious it's not possible to mistreat someone this way just because he r

until palestine platforms. even thanks for joining us this is art. wiki leaks says that it's obtained a press strategy agreed on by ecuador and the u.k. in the event we can leaks founder julian assange she's extradited to the united states that whistleblower was granted asylum in ecuador as embassy in london twenty twelve rumors are circulating he's about to be expelled and potentially handed over to america according to wiki leaks ecuador will claim a songe broke the terms of his asylum with the u.k. giving assurances that it won't let the u.s. sentence him to death that's precisely the fate of silence fears is in store if he's extradited with the u.s. still furious about wiki leaks releasing classified material i could also follow a minister took to twitter to dismiss rumors his country would hand over the whistleblower sunday supporters say that he's doing crucial work must be protected . but it was the idea it's not possible to mistreat someone this way just because he revealed news that by their breach and powerful people as a publisher he has r

he favours a more secular, centrist approach to the economy and to dealing with palestine.proach to what israel can be full stop especially since in the past decade, netanyahu has lead such a race towards the bottom. it will be small parties that hold the balance at the end of the day. neither of the big players will hold that much sway. if he goes with what is possible, and what is pragmatic in a country where lots of people have had national service and they have heard the pontificating of netanyahu and they have heard the extreme religious speaking and sending others to take part in what is generally seen to be a mess, it is possible that he might strike a chord and the centre might actually hold a more optimistic engagement with palestine and others. for purely pragmatic reasons. it is interesting to think... polls seem to indicate a likud victory. it is very interesting. it does seem interesting to see the similarities between trump and netanyahu, they like each other and they act the same way. they're both bombastic and demonise their enemies. netanyahu is much more i

a good number of the leftist parties in israel support a parted in palestine meaning israeli control over the settlements dividing the west bank from palestine into areas controlled by israel areas that are palestinians also controlled by israel but separated so in a sense when when they talk about the left the only talk about likud like it's they only talk about the left of the right they're not actually talking about the left there is very little left left in israel labor has disappeared completely labor labor now has eighteen i think they're expected to go down to thirteen twelve i wouldn't know for sure but clearly the i would say four fifths of the parliament to the as its then three quarters on just to be nice of the parliament as a stance that they support apartheid in palestine even though they don't like the name of party they basically support racial control over the palestinians. i know they have different names there's a dozen maybe a dozen and a half parties in the next parliament but most of them either there were in the senate that moved to the right or they were on th

to beautify but to be indifferent to these ugly scenes and to show what's left of the beautiful palestine and treasures of the city of jerusalem. to get a fake. grave leaves. and this is their own house even if he gets his house and he never actually be here in this house. that's going on. a. little bit. we are here in the muslim quarter you cannot go in unfortunately because it is an occupation because before the occupation was open for everybody this is i think the most difficult and the most challenging part of the occupation. and i want to do now is take. to the center of west jerusalem and just show you how the occupation is not a part of the lives in the thoughts of the people here it is as if visiting i'm originally from the from my students are you from where so come visit the old homeland. although zionism played a role in that i was able to come here you know i'm like problems to be refugees only able to you know i thought the idea of israel wasn't such a bad idea if we could accommodate with the palestinians and i really believe that we could find a way to live together and so

palestine i've never heard of anything more absurd. the philistines were mentioned in the bible. the palestinians would have been jericho twelve thousand years ago knew how to cultivate the land and in fact we know this because they have stored wheat. even the sign says that it's come on light tunnels the one that leads from the spring all the way to the falls down the down the road i used to come with my. maternal grandmother. literally we used to come and have basically have a bath right here when we're young and that's exactly where jerusalem began it began precisely because of the spring the only spring in the region. in light maternal. really for example who lived really literally up on on this hell they cultivated the land on the slopes of mount of olives for many generations my father started in this school. way prior to nine hundred forty eight and the only high school which was a dish of the my parents' home my grandparents' home but then a family just three or four minutes from from here i have roots in this area and that's g

she is the author of many books, including "freedom is a constant struggle: ferguson, palestine, and the foundations of a movement." we welcome you both to democracy now! traveledvis, you have across the country to come to washington today. why? >> i think it is extremely important to demonstrate that there are many people, especially black women, but people in general who support ilhan omar, who have become -- who has become the target of the vitriol of the current president. because she is an immigrant, because she is muslim, because she is a courageous, bold black woman who speaks out in defense of palestinians. she is not afraid to criticize israel. and of course, the current president has made herer the target of many of his attacks. wesay we stand with her, support her, and we will not give up. amy: the president pinned between linking to a video of forthomar going back and to the world trade center bombings. can you talk about the significance of this and what it means? thef course we know since toction campaign that led the unfortunate election of usedd trump, trump has foil.

general were a competition between the right and the more extreme right as far as policies towards palestine is concerned what netanyahu did is that he secured the right of the fundamentalists the rise of the fundamentalist right in israel the students of the kahana a group that is known for its fascist and racist views that was outlawed in israel and and considered a terrorist group in the united states these will be the allies of benjamin netanyahu in the upcoming government and they will be competing on how hardline their policies towards palestinians will be in a nutshell it will be a platform of no no to palestinian rights a palestinian state no to the nine hundred sixty seven borders or international law and certainly no to a future promising any prospect of peace just more oppression this possession and anik sation while palestinians are expected to surrender and accept their miserable fate under this formula as should netanyahu pursue a more aggressive right wing agenda as you just said. how do you think the international sphere would react to that given that international opinion is

so what does that tell you sutlers in occupied palestine vote for the israeli elections by the stimulus who are basically controlled by the israeli government and its occupation cannot vote so it's really it has it has stopped being a conflict a long time ago it's more of a state of occupation. the separate but not equal is or it controls everything the palestinians live within their own communities under the control of israel does so in a sense israelis have a right to vote but the scene is don't have the vote within that one reality as well as those who had the right to vote some of them anyway want to boycott the election among the palestinians among the palestinians exactly absolutely because what is that going to achieve not much actually because. to vote or not the vote is not really much of a struggle in the end of the day a lot of the people vote or order to present themselves to the knesset because it is and is a city for the palestinians to. you know have their demands voiced in the israeli parliament but yes i think increasingly you will see probably more and more you know wh

the european union needs to order who denies the state of palestine what is doing its on the night in six seven lines and the need to implement seriously. resolution twenty three thirty four of security council two thousand and sixteen that submitted to between israel and the settlements dealing with settlements in any way the calling the settlements in the occupied state of palestine just daughterly illegal and against international law that's what's required from europe now earlier we spoke to sweden as former prime minister carl bildt one of the signatories off that letter he said a two state solution is the only viable way forward. what kind of solution do they have a permanent occupation that would be to the detriment of the answer is to make this trip a one nation solution with rights for everyone clearly unacceptable to a lot of the. state would be unacceptable to the outside what the diff because with the two state solution particularly in view of what's been happening with settlement policy in all of that but if you look at the alternatives i think you'll find that this is th

one hundred metres away and so in that sense israel when does it take in the whole issue of palestine off the table for israel the only think about. ok so we have to talk about all right ok great. theologically assuming the verity of the few logical argument is included in the blessing and in the promise of the multiplication this is biblical too the problem is if you try and you do succeed in having an ideology imposed on politics or a mixture of dangerous mixture of both and this is by the way for all christians muslims and jews it's not forget it was almost more than four hundred years ago in the year sixty eight approximately he allowed the jews back in jerusalem they were prohibited from living in jerusalem for about five centuries. at the six seven they demolished the model comported to expand the area in front of the western wall. the daughters demolishing everything historical buildings including the mall school during school and they have ultimately used to grade those two so that they would live in that land. tourists would buy the idea that we have well defined quarters all

they've been bad bankrolling american initiatives over the last twenty five years in israel palestine and don't want to see everything go away because prime minister netanyahu was able to dictate to the administration is his conditions for whatever the next steps are and these are according to him jerusalem will stay united under israeli control israel will also control everything western of the jordan river meaning all of the west bank the occupied west bank and that israel will not withdraw a single illegal settler from the occupied territories sought in or really this sounds like it's going to be quite a bad deal for the posts that you absolutely must have on bush is again why the europeans say that they have written this letter but do you think again is it going to put any real pressure on this u.s. administration on the israeli government given that in the days leading up to the election we had prime minister benjamin netanyahu saying he plans to annex the west bank and when the secretary of state my pompei was asked about it asked you know when netanyahu was asked whether the u.

fatally damaged the cause of the jury of all peaceful palestinians and israelis alike while the palestine liberation organization wants europe to implement existing un resolutions the european union needs to know who denies the state of palestine what is due some of its cover on the night in six of the mines and the need to implement seriously. resolution twenty three thirty four of screwed council two thousand and sixteen that's a belated between israel and the settlements dealing with settlements in any way the calling the settlements and occupied through the palestine just totally illegal and against international law that's what's required from europe now. heroes have been held for seven children killed in afghanistan when a mortar they were playing with exploded ten others were wounded in eastern lagman province charlotte bennett's reports on the lingering danger of unexploded munitions scatters across the country. in the small village of lanky doe in eastern afghanistan hundreds of men gather to pray for seventeen young boys. their perception through the symmetry is because of a sin

me yes of course i took the train because a this trade in jerusalem connects us with the rest of palestine when you look at the old photos and you imagine how their lifestyle was a bad time and when you visit the train station today it's like a disney barque it's it's full of restaurants full of people who are completely indifferent to the history of the of this space who are completely ignorant words to research they don't belong you know my son often tells me you know mama these people they don't seem to belong at all to this city it doesn't go with the spirit of the people today. we were the owners of these houses seventy seven percent of west jerusalem before forty eight was palestinian owned and when i talk about palestinians i talk about muslims christians and the minority of jewish people. the new first train station as they call it of tourists look at the. inside the restaurants most of those people will be palestinians probably from the west bank or from marginalized areas and to most of them with very low salaries . they are treated like garbage and this alexis then is a man who

country that has recognized palestine as a state that waiting obviously for the others to follow suit. yes no i'm talking about the european union in the sense of france england germany europe is as a continent a power as a world power a sum as an entity that has weights that has diplomatic. weight in the middle east and when it does recognize that a city and state then it sets the tone and it in fact might prevent the administration to take a number of measures like recognizing israel's acquisition of land by force something that as you also stated earlier it did in east jerusalem and on the golan heights by trump's proclamation that these have become israeli territory so you know pat as a whole to play your little pads for has fallen short in the past and it chide away from taking up its responsibility aside from bankrolling american initiatives it's time for europe to step up it's time for europe to really work hard because it's it's the closest power if you will to the middle east and tasered by the side and it has strategic interest there so yes why don't they just do that and i

of interest as europeans with the americans is far more important to us than the human rights in palestine so it's quite quite you know a huge message to the army to the israeli public that you can do whatever you like with the person who can violate however you want and no one is going to hold you accountable for that well powers are urging all sides in libya to deescalate as a commander from eastern libya or desist forces to take the capital tell you more after the break. what politicians do you should. put themselves on the line to get accepted or rejected. so when you want to be president. some want to be. to the right to be this is what the three of the more people. interested in the why. question. world powers called on warning signs in libya to cease austerities and deescalate the german ambassador to the un gave a statement after an emergency meeting of the security council the members of the security council expressed their deep concern that the military activity called on the forces to halt all military movements meanwhile a commander from eastern libya. is now close to tripoli a

twenty fourteen bombing campaign this comes at a time of heightened tensions between israel and palestine last week the one year anniversary of the so-called march of return since the protests began in march twenty eighth one hundred ninety five people have been killed and almost twenty nine thousand injured israel maintains that casualties arise because of the actions of hamas or in self-defense. was. saddam a professor of political science had to bedside to university says the shift to the ranks in israeli politics is being facilitated by geo political factors. the whole israeli general public is standing more towards the right and that i twigs are flourishing and the other reason which is equally important we are talking about around between seven hundred thousand two hundred thousand settlers and that was the bank and those they have a huge influence on the israeli parties and on the israeli society itself so the tendency towards the right tendency for more violence against the palestinians is a quite natural thing you know what is regardless with elections or knuckle elections but wi

movement for human rights in palestine to the united states the us administration has been mobilized now to do israel's bidding in trying to silence palestinian israeli and international human rights defenders who are active in this extremely important and very effective nonviolent b.d.'s movement. human rights groups have expressed outrage at washington's decision calling it the politicization of borders so far u.s. authorities have refused to comment insisting all information relating to the case is confidential. book is he was traveling to the united states to take part in a speaking tour of several prominent universities including panel discussions with policymakers and journalists now barghouti co-founded the boycott divestment and sanctions movement known as b.d.s. back in two thousand and five calls on the international community to stop supporting israel and its companies it also seeks to return west bank territory to palestinians in turn israel accuses the movement of being anti-semitic than dyke a director of the jerusalem center for public affairs says that the decision to

lot of interest as europeans with the americans is far more important to us the human rights in palestineso it's quite quite you know a huge message to the. public that you can do whatever you like with. however you want and no one is going to hold you accountable for their. own sham has said the u.s. and its rivals spend too much money on weapons and the money could be better spent elsewhere he was speaking to the chinese vice premier i said meeting in the white house. you know china's spending a lot of money on military so always so is russia. and those three countries i think can come together to stop the spending and spend on things that maybe are more productive for the long term peace. be to cure the military like it's never been taken care of before new equipment is coming in we're going to have the strongest military we've ever had by far i'm talking about tremendous defense capability offensive capability it's in space so we're going to do the space force. work that we all got together and make that. ironic. ironic in the extreme i mean this is a guy who says we shouldn't feed yo

up until about maybe 10 or 15 years ago, if i was giving a talk at the university, israel-palestine,n my own university m.i.t., i had have police protection -- literally police would try to prevent the meeting from being broken up. they would not let me walk to my car. i had to be accompanied by police. meetings were broken up. nobody was objecting to this and it was happening all the time. but that has changed totally. it is a very significant change. i think that sooner or later, i hope sooner, this may lead to a shift in u.s. policy. there are some very simple moves that could be made in u.s. policy that would change the situation in the middle east dramatically. for example, one simple proposal is that the united states government should live up to u.s. law. that doesn't sound too germanic. the united states has laws like ,he so-called patrick laidlaw which requires that no military any militaryven to organization that is involved in systematic human rights abuses. well, the israeli army has been involved in massive human rights abuses. if the u.s. were to live up to u.s. law, we

by step and deconstruct all possible sides so whatever is going on right now between israel and palestine so the public is the israeli public getting a bit tired maybe of maintaining the occupying force of the fance budgets of rockets from gaza and all the war that brings with it are they ok with it well i can tell you that the israeli public. israeli public would very much like to see peace with security with dignity would recognition and everything that it entails you know that in the nineteen seventy eight's egypt was a.

but i do think there is a flip side as well and that is that this colonize ation of palestine and in particular the west bank has been going on under different administrations but under trump that which we knew was coming anyway maybe twenty years down the road. there was a you know fast sudden fast forward but this put the israeli regime in a very difficult situation because there's really is and this i think could have potentially positive outcomes either the israelis have to. carry out mass deportation ethnic cleansing that comes at a huge price and it would destabilize or bring about the collapse of neighboring countries or they become increasingly similar i mean i believe israel has always been a an apartheid state but even in the eyes of our western friends and colleagues who like to say well hopefully they'll be a two state solution and so on but with the colonize ation of the west bank has become impossible now they no longer have that is excuse to close their eyes of the reality of apartheid so israel is becoming a unit more universally recognized as the apartheid state that