The Fourth Annual Palestine Forum continued for a second day in Doha on Sunday 25 January 2026. Jointly organized by the Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies and the Institute for Palestine Studies, the Forum runs for three days in attendance of a number of ambassadors and diplomatic missions.
Research Trends, Refugees, and Sumud
The second day began with three parallel tracks in the third session. The first, “Research Trends and Sources in Palestine Studies”, was moderated by Rami Rayess. Mahmoud Al-Qaysi presented “Transformations in Palestinian Studies in Japan: From the October 1973 Shock to the Gaza Nakba of 2023”; Fadi Zaraket presented a joint paper with Hadi Hamoud, Chadi Abou Chakra, and Ayat Hamdan, titled “Shifts in Research Interests and Discourse on Palestine: A Cross-Document Study ; Mai Tbaileh presented “Documentation as an Urgent Imperative: The Efforts of the Institute for Palestine Studies in Documenting the Genocide in Gaza”, and Hanna Alshaikh presented “Introducing ‘Palestine Explained’: A Digital Platform by the Arab Center Washington DC Track”.
The second track, “Palestinian Refugees and Diaspora”, was moderated by Tarek Hamoud. Dima Alsajdeya presented “The Palestinian Political Map in Lebanon: Unpacking Palestinian Divisions through Politics in Ein el-Hilweh Refugee Camp”; Sanaa Hammoudi presented “Palestinians in Lebanon and the Isolation of the Camp: Between Retreat and Marginalization”; Bilal Salayme presented “Securitizing the Camp: How the Assad Regime Securitized and Governed the Palestinian Camps during the Syrian Revolution” and Mothana Almasri and Omar Abdin jointly contributed “Diaspora, Labour, and Transit: A Study of Palestinian Diaspora Livelihoods in Türkiye”.
The third track, “Sumud and Resistance”, was moderated by Ahmed Hussein. Emile Badarin presented “Sumud in the Face of Settler-Colonial Genocide in Gaza”; Remotely, Lama Ghosheh presented “Reproduction of Liberation: Reading Gilboa”; Eman Alasah presented “Pessoptimist Politics: The Logic and Limits of Palestinian Anticolonial Pragmatism”; and Husam Abusalem presented “Profaning Dignity: Exploring the Political Disparity of the Concept through Palestine”.
Israel post-7 October, Western Universities, and the Future of the Palestine Question
The first track in the fourth session, “Post-7 October Transformations in Israel” was organized in cooperation with Mada al-Carmel – The Arab Center for Applied Social Research, and moderated by Maram Masarwi. Mtanes Shihahdeh presented “The Repercussions of the War on Gaza on the Israeli Economy: The Return of the Economy Security Link”; Areen Hawari and Himmat Zoubi jointly presented “Israel and Palestinians inside the Green Line: The Dialectics of Resolution and Strategic Manoeuvring Post-7 October”; and Fadi Nahhas presented “Reshaping the Regional Security Landscape: Israeli Pre-emptive Prevention as Post-Gaza Doctrine”.
The second track, “From Madrid to Bogotá: Europe, Latin America, and the Future of the Palestine Question”, was organized in cooperation with The Center for Contemporary Arab Studies-CEARC was moderated by Haizam Amirah. Fernandez Moisés Garduño presented “Latin America and the Palestine Question: Convergences and Divergences in the Context of the Genocide in Gaza”; Isaías Barreñada presented “Spain and the Palestine Question: What Has Changed?” and Sonia Boulos presented “Gaza as a Revealer: EU Law, Legal Subalternity, and the Making of a Palestinian Exception”.
The third track “Western Universities and Knowledge Production on Palestine” was moderated by Ibrahim Fraihat. Shaira Vadasaria and Nicola Perugini presented “Balfour University: Race, Imperial Education, and the Declaration on Palestine”; Remotely, Amanda Najib presented her paper, “Towards a Palestinian Critical Race Theory: Foundational Tenets and Student Movements amidst Settler Colonialism” and Eman Abboud, also remotely, presented “Limitations to Ethical Research in an Unethical World: A Case Study on Palestine”.
Scholasticide, the Economy, and AI
The first track in the fifth session, “A Second Year of Scholasticide: On the Meaning of Education in the Time of Genocide” was organized in cooperation with Manhajiyyat, moderated by Samia Bishara. Ahmad Ashour presented “The Aftermath of the Genocide: Deconstructing Institutional Discourse and Re-Centring the Palestinian Actor”; Malik Al Rimawi presented “Assault and Hybridity in Palestinian Education: The Decline of the School or Its Reproduction?”; Asmaa Mustafa, Mohammad Shubeir, Khitam Abu Alrub, Nada Al Ashqar presented remotely “Teachers' Voices: Between Survival and Resistance”; and Riyam Kafri Abulaban presented “The Future of Palestinian Education: From Documentation to Reclaiming Meaning”.
The second track, “Reshaping Palestinian Economy: The Impact of Foreign Aid” was moderated by Ayhab Saad. Amro Wawi presented “Foreign Aid and Its Impact on Sustainability and Governance in the West Bank's Water Sector”; Tareq Radi, presented remotely “The Financialization of Vulnerability: Solar Energy in Gaza and the Benefits Gap”; Yanis Iqbal presented “Economy as Fetish: Gaza and the Ideology of Global Capitalism”; and Rawan Natsheh presented “Weaponized Aid: Feminist and Decolonial Reflections on the Use of Aid as a Tool of War in Gaza”
The third track, “Tools of Genocide: AI and Digital Erasure”, was moderated by Hani Awad. Adhila Abdul Hameed presented “Precarious Memory: Palestinian Lives, Digital Erasure, and the Post-7 October Struggle for Resistance”; Karim Barakat presented “AI and War in the Global South: The Case of Gaza”; Taghreed Al Soumairy presented “Mechanisms of Distortion and the Manipulation of Palestinian Collective Memory in the Age of Artificial Intelligence”; and Ghadeer Awwad presented a joint paper with Murad Idris and Kentaro Toyama, titled “Digital Annihilation in Gaza after 7 October: Internet Blackouts as Epistemic Violence”.
Toward Palestinian Frameworks for Reconstruction in the Gaza Strip
In parallel with the forum sessions, the workshop “Toward Palestinian Frameworks for Reconstruction in the Gaza Strip” continued for a second day. The second session, “Reconstruction Policies in Gaza between Exclusion and Domination: The Role of NGOs and Local Actors”, was moderated by Moosa Elayah. Mohammed Alsousi and Kareem Okasha presented “Actors, Not Beneficiaries: The Role of Palestinian Women in Leading Community Institutions and Post-War Reconstruction in Gaza”; Remotely, Ali Abdel-Wahab presented “Reconstruction as an Economy of Domination: A Parallel Policy for Recovery from Disaster Capitalism in Gaza; and Rawan Natsheh presented “Reconstructing Gaza Without Palestinians: Civic Space, INGOs, and the Politics of Exclusion”. The session was followed by a second roundtable, “Governance: Who Runs Gaza?”, chaired by Tamer Qarmout.
The third workshop session, “Policies for Rebuilding the Human Being and the Role of Education in Gaza”, was moderated by Abdou Moussa El-Bermawy. Tahani Aldahdouh, Nazmi Al-Masri, Maria Grazia Imperiale and Giovanna Fassetta presented “Palestinian Academic Institutional Resilience: A Case Study of the Islamic University of Gaza”; Yousuf Daas and Sameh Hallaq presented “Education and Economic Isolation: The Gaza Blockade's Role in Shaping Returns to Education in Palestine”; and Abdalhadi Alijla presented “Rebuilding the Human: Social Cohesion as a Priority in Gaza”.
Global Solidarity Movements with Palestine
The sessions were followed by an evening symposium on Global Solidarity Movements moderated by Leila Seurat. Osama Abu Irshaid presented “The Palestine Solidarity Movement in the United States: Concept, Backgrounds, Challenges, and Future”; Saif Abukeshek presented “Europe and Palestine: From Popular Solidarity to Tangible Action – The Spanish Model and the Global Sumud Flotilla”; Stephanie Elías Musalem presented “Latin America and Palestine: Contradictions, Challenges and Opportunities” and Pablo Abufom presented “The Fabric of Solidarity: Class, Identity, and Palestinian Solidarity in Modern Chile”
