The third Annual Palestine Forum, organized by the Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies in collaboration with the Institute for Palestine Studies, was held on 25-27 January 2025, in Doha. It took place against the backdrop of the genocidal war in the Gaza Strip and the ramped-up aggression in the West Bank. Several sessions of the Forum were devoted to addressing various aspects of the genocide, from the perspectives of international law, global solidarity, and the study of spaciocide, genocide, culturicide, and scholasticide. The sessions also addressed post-war scenarios and how to address them, women in wartime, digital activism, and symbolic representations of Palestinian resistance.
In addition, the sessions covered matters of the Palestine question more generally, such as the apartheid and settler colonial systems, the Nakba, Palestinian refugees, Jerusalem, settlements, and Palestinian prisoners. Several public symposiums will examine issues surrounding Palestinian current affairs.
The forum began with an opening session chaired by the main organizer, Ayat Hamdan, ACRPS Researcher and Editorial Manager of the Ostour journal. She stressed the importance of the event in light of the complex political circumstances the Palestinian people are living through, noting that ongoing Israeli aggression had prevented some participants from the Gaza Strip and the West Bank from attending in person. Hamdan noted that 560 research proposals were submitted, 220 of which were accepted, with more than 90 research papers ultimately completing the review process for presentation.
Tarek Mitri, Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Institute for Palestine Studies, followed the introduction with his opening remarks, emphasizing the opportunity posed by the Forum for dialogue and reflection. He alluded to the ceasefire, while pointing to remaining fears in Gaza and the West Bank in light of continued Israeli aggression. Mitri stressed that while the US government has cowed Israel in the Gaza Strip, it is still giving it a free pass in the West Bank. He concluded with a reminder that the Palestinian cause is no longer hidden from view on the global stage and that the conflict is no longer a local one that can be ignored or used as a sterile refrain in speeches that lead nowhere, emphasizing the rise in global solidarity. In this context the work of the Institute for Palestine Studies in documenting the genocide is crucial; to declare the truth as an immortal right.
Azmi Bishara, the General Director of the Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies, then delivered the keynote lecture, discussing the recent developments in the Palestinian cause and the dimensions of Palestinian steadfastness in the face of the ongoing Israeli genocide. He stressed the importance of unifying all Palestinians under a comprehensive national umbrella to take control of matters and translate international and Arab solidarity into political action, warning that otherwise the Palestinian cause will be moving in a tunnel at the end of which there is no light.
Following the opening, the first set of parallel sessions covered four main themes. The first theme, “International Law and the Genocide in Gaza,” featured three papers. In “International Law and the Decolonization of Palestine: The Advisory Opinion on the Illegality of the Israeli Occupation,” Sonia Boulos and Xavier Abu Eid argued that the June 2024 International Court of Justice Advisory Opinion, declaring the occupation illegal, opens new politico-legal possibilities for the decolonization of Palestine. Elhoucine Chougrani, in “A Comparative Study of the Pleadings of Regional Organizations before the ICJ on the Legal Consequences of Israel’s Policies and Practices in the Occupied Palestinian Territories,” examined the convergence of legal arguments by the Arab League, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, and the African Union. Nizar Ayoub then explored the landscape of universal jurisdiction, the International Criminal Court, and the role of national courts in “Israel and International Justice: An Overview of International Justice and Accountability of Perpetrators of Serious Crimes in the Occupied Palestinian Territory,” noting potential pathways for the prosecution of high-ranking Israeli officials.
A second track, “Genocide in Gaza: Cultural and Material Destruction,” presented additional perspectives on the systematic targeting of Palestinian infrastructure. Mahmoud K Hawari outlined the systematic looting of artifacts in “The Theft and Illegal Transfer of Palestinian Cultural Property: Gaza Strip Case Study (1967–2005),” offering an overview of the legal obligations that require Israel to cease its unlawful excavations. Adel Ruished traced how a “state of exception” framework has enabled the forced displacement and spatial erasure of Gaza in “Spatial Transformation and Ethnic Cleansing in the Gaza Strip through Exception.” Meanwhile, Majdi Malki and Layth Hanbali showcased the Institute for Palestine Studies’ online documentation efforts in “Documenting the Sectors Targeted by the Israeli Occupation since the Genocide against the Gaza Strip and the West Bank,” underscoring the urgency of preserving memory and data on destroyed health, education, agricultural, and cultural facilities.
The third track examined “Western Media and the Genocide in Gaza.” Mohamad Hamas Elmasry and Mohamed el-Nawawy presented “Sourcing and Humanization in US and Israeli Newspaper Coverage of Israel’s War on Gaza: A Quantitative Content Analysis,” finding that major newspapers employed disproportionately pro-Israel framing, marginalizing Palestinian voices and suffering. Imed Ben Labidi focused on discourse that denies Palestinian children’s universal rights in “‘Unchilding’ Palestine: Media Representation and the Limits of Civilizational Discourse,” revealing how entrenched orientalist ideas position these children as inherently outside the realm of global concern. In “The Image of the Israeli Military and Security Establishment in US Media: Transformations in the Discourse of Power and Morality,” Basim Tweissi explored the implications of the disruption of longstanding narratives of Israeli military superiority following 7 October 2023.
A fourth track, “Strategic and Political Transformations of Hamas,” addressed the evolution of Hamas and its ideological roots. Tarek Hamoud, in “The Palestinian Muslim Brotherhood: From Identity Crisis to Armed Struggle,” recounted the group’s early decades, tracing how Palestinian activists navigated overlapping ties with Jordan and other regional bodies. Ayfer Erdoğan Şafak analysed changes in Hamas’ discourse and alliances after the Arab Spring in “The Ideological and Strategic Transformation of Hamas Post-Arab Spring.” Mueen Al-Taher then reflected on Operation “Al-Aqsa Flood” in “‘Al-Aqsa Flood’ and Its Repercussions: An Attempt to Understand,” focusing on the consequences of Hamas’ strategic choices.
Later in the day, the Forum proceeded with a second set of four parallel themes. One explored major “Milestones in Palestinian History: From the 19th Century to the Nakba,” featuring presentations by Mohannad Abusarah on the socio-political influence of 19th-century Palestinian ulama, Bilal Shalash on pre-1936 debates over resisting British colonialism, Faozi AlGoidi on Yemeni contributions to Palestine from 1948 to 1982, and Ali Zeidan on reconstructing lost Palestinian villages through “oral geography.” Another track investigated “Israeli Carceral System: Critical Perspectives,” where Lama Ghosheh introduced the notion of “house arrest” as a colonial discipline, Shadi Shurafa drew parallels between Israeli prison structures and Nazi “Kapo” strategies, Ashraf Bader assessed intensifying repressive measures post-7 October, and Khaled Mahajna with Rina Okby theorized on the idea of psychological liberation through the case study of the 2021 Gilboa prison break.
A third track took up “Arab and Global Solidarity with Palestine.” Azadeh Sobout focused on how Irish republican feminists have articulated anti-colonial solidarity for Palestine, Muntaha Abed explored growing student activism in South Korea, Murat Kayacan examined Turkish university campaigns on Gaza, and Mustafa Benmoussa surveyed Moroccan solidarity movements following Operation Al-Aqsa Flood. Lastly, the theme “Palestine on the Global Stage” showcased Ahmed Hussein on the cascading effects of the war on Gaza on regional and international systems, Mandy Turner on the role of Western think tanks in shaping biased discourse after 7 October, Sumka Bucan and Lejla Ramic-Mesihovic on the European Union’s unresolved contradictions in policy toward Palestine, and Khudhair Aldehlkey on how pro-Israel lobbying within the European Parliament influences the EU’s stance on the conflict.
An evening symposium, titled “The War on Gaza and the Support Fronts,” concluded the day’s events. It brought together Adham Saouli, Mehran Kamrava, Ali Al-Dahab, and Marwan Kabalan to examine the broader Middle Eastern responses to the war, highlighting debates over axis of resistance military alliances and the strategic calculations of regional powers. The Third Annual Palestine Forum will continue over the next two days with further sessions and symposia delving into historical records, emerging forms of resistance, and the institutional reverberations of the war on Gaza.
The second day of the Annual Palestine Forum continued with a full schedule of presentations in addition to an evening symposium. Dozens of researchers shared their work on wide-ranging topics such as Palestinian citizenship within Israel, Palestinian women’s experiences under genocide, aesthetics in Palestinian resistance, Jerusalem, emerging settlement trends in the West Bank, and the critical ramifications of ongoing attacks on refugee camps.
The first session included presentations in four parallel tracks on framework for liberation in Palestine, scholasticide in Gaza, symbolic representations of Palestinians resistance, and policies of erasure and resistance in Jerusalem. In the first track Leila Farsakh presented her paper “Palestinian Political Liberation after the War on Gaza: Self-determination beyond Partition” reassessing the relationship between statehood and self-determination; Yara Hawari discussed examples of Palestinian feminist organizing in her paper “Palestinian Women in the Struggle: Carving a New Framework for Liberation; and Muhannad Ayyash presented his research “Sovereignty, Non-Partition, and the Struggle for the Decolonial Liberation of Palestine” about centring the Palestinian struggle to our understanding of decolonial resistance.
In the second track, Refaat Sabbah compared local actors’ and international organizations’ responses to Gaza’s education sector suffering a state of emergency in his paper “the Education Response in Gaza under Genocide: Between local and international policies and services in light of current challenges”; Riam Kafri-Abu Laban’s research “the Role of Civil Society Organization in Responding to Scholasticide in Gaza” examined the extent to which innovative approaches to saving education in Gaza can become applicable beyond emergency situations; Ahmad Ashour presented “The Concept of Liberation and the Search for a New Robe in the Context of Gaza”, highlighting how community work in Gaza transformed education into a tool for resistance; and Asmaa Mustafa addressed changing mechanisms of educating during genocide in her paper “Gaza’s Innovative Teachers: Candles in the Dark.”
The third track critically evaluated the role of aesthetics in Palestinian resistance from different angles in their papers: Ahmed Dardir explored the effects of the image of the masked insurgent in his paper, “The Ideal Image of Resistance: (Mis) Recognition and the Ideology of al-Qassam”; Majd Darwish analysed the transformation of the traditional Palestinian headdress in his paper, “When the Kufiyyah Hides, What the Kufiyyah Reveals: A Social History of the Mask and the Men behind It”; Karim Elhaies explored how Palestinian cinematic practices forge new aesthetics in his research, “Hijacking Aesthetics as Cinematic Decolonization: Palestinian guerilla filmmaking and its afterlives”; and Sanabel Abdel Rahman argued that revolutionary aesthetics potentialize material liberation and exert a liberated Palestinian future in her paper, “Potentializing Aesthetics: Visualizing the Palestinian revolutionary.”
In the fourth track, Mansour Nasasra highlighted the Qalandiya airport as an example of the agentic empowerment of the inhabitants of Jerusalem in his paper “Materializing an Arab Jerusalem: Narrating the Jerusalem Airport/Qalandiya 1948-1967”; Daoud Al-Ghoul presented his paper “Restructuring Geographies of Political leadership in al-Quds/ Jerusalem” about Israel’s attempts at dismantling Palestinian political structure in Jerusalem. Sonia Espinosa Najjar centred the voices of interviewees from Wadi Hilweh to understand the impacts of living under settler colonialism in “Palestinian Civil Society, Emotions, and Sumud under Settler Colonialism – the case of Wadi Hilweh”.
In the second session, one track focused on Palestinians in Israel, where speakers addressed how Israeli policies reduce Palestinian citizenship to a lower status and place them under a “dialectic of control and containment.” In his paper, “Subjects in an Ethnocratic Regime and a Settler Colonial Context as a Concept and Practice Counter to Citizenship and National Identity: The Case of Palestinians within the Green Line,” Ibrahim Khatib argued that Israel’s insistence on Jewish statehood subordinates Palestinians and nullifies much of their formal citizenship. Khaled Anabtawi, in “Between Homeland and the Trap of Citizenship: Palestinians within the Green Line and the Dialectic of Control and Co-Optation,” examined how political co-optation and heavy-handed state authority leave Palestinians of 1948 in a state of uneasy compromise, while Durgham Saif, presenting “Rethinking the Palestinians’ Status in Israel,” warned that a civil rights strategy under Israeli law has failed, calling for an alternative grounded in Palestinian sovereignty.
A second track, Palestinian Women in the Time of Genocide, featured research on the targeting of women and their homes as sites of colonial aggression. Kholoud Al-Ajarma explored this phenomenon in “Beyond the Genocide: The Tactical Degradation of Palestinian Women’s Privacy in Gaza,” revealing how Israeli soldiers exploit women’s intimate belongings for psychological warfare. Meanwhile, Ferdoos Abed Rabo Alissa, in “Gaza Women as Narrators of the Present: Daily Suffering and the Daily Pursuit of Survival,” documented how women’s social media testimonies preserve memory and illustrate survival strategies under siege.
A third track, The Settler Presence in the West Bank, began with Hussein Ayaseh’s study, “Pastoral Settlement in the West Bank as a New Means of Seizing Land,” which detailed how agricultural or “pastoral” outposts undermine Palestinian land rights. Amro Wawi, with “Data and Water Governance: Governance Assessment Approach to Understand Their Interactions and Impact in Palestine,” then showed how Israel’s data monopoly hinders Palestinian water infrastructure.
A fourth track, Genocide Methods in Gaza, analysed how the Israeli military systematically imposes lethal conditions on the population. Ali Aljasem, in “Starvation as a Weapon of Warfare: The Case of Gaza, Palestine,” revealed the deliberate withholding of resources to break Palestinian resilience, while Orouba Othman, in “In Critique of Trauma Studies: Social Pain as a Site for Social Action and Hope in the Time of Genocide,” challenged conventional trauma frameworks, showing how communal pain can transform into strength and agency.
Following a short break, the Forum proceeded to another set of four tracks. A panel on Palestinian Refugees and the Right of Return: Memory and Space included papers by Dana Al-Azzeh, “Growing up Uprooted: Experiences of Marginalization in Shaping the National Identity of Palestinian Youth in Lebanon,” which explored how displacement shapes youth identity in camps; Hala Abou Zaki, “Tel al-Zaatar: A Forgotten History? Violence and Memory in a Palestinian Refugee Camp in Lebanon,” which recalled the traumatic siege and destruction of Tel al-Zaatar; and Areej Ja’fari, “Palestinian Refugees’ Preferences for Return,” detailing new evidence on how and where refugees envision returning.
In the second track on The Symbolic Representation of Palestinian Resistance: Literature, Education, and Popular Culture, Ghada Alatrash spoke about “Palestinian and Native American Literature as Resistance and ‘Memory for Forgetfulness’,” drawing parallels in how both literatures counter colonial erasure; Jan Busse, with “Global Palestine against the Wall: Street Art as a Counter-Hegemonic Everyday Practice of Space Appropriation and Resistance,” showed how graffiti and murals contest settler narratives; and Asma Al-Sharabati, in “The Representation of Prisoners and Martyrs in Palestinian Textbooks: A Critical Discourse Analysis of Palestinian Authority Discourse,” questioned how institutional material portrays or elides the suffering of prisoners and martyrs.
Meanwhile, a panel on Palestinian Youth and Digital Activism featured Omar Abu Arqoub, “The Role of TikTok in Mobilizing the Global Solidarity Movement with Palestine during the Genocidal War on Gaza,” who examined grassroots video content that has boosted Palestinian visibility worldwide; Naveen Shariff, “The Impact of Ongoing Coverage of the Genocide in Gaza on the Collective Identity of Global Youth Communities on Social Media,” highlighting the youth’s intensifying political and religious identification; and Jala Rizeq, “A Psychological Investigation of Palestinian Youth’s Future Thinking: Lessons in Steadfastness,” examining hope and aspiration as a form of resilience.
A final track, Colonial Control and the War on the West Bank, included Ibrahim Rabaia and Lourdes Habash, whose work, “Weaponizing Infrastructure: The Israeli Colonial Approach in Jenin,” revealed how destruction of roads, utilities, and institutions undermines daily life and resistance; Ayat Hamdan, “Israel’s War on Refugee Camps in the West Bank: Settler Colonialism and the Revenge Doctrine,” which linked aggressive airstrikes and raids to a colonial mindset of retaliation; and Walid Habbas, “Indigenous Management: Israel’s Colonial Governance Strategy in the Occupied Territories,” explaining how Israel’s latest policies are shifting toward an openly genocidal framework rather than the older strategy of controlling the population.
An evening symposium entitled Trump II and the Palestine Question: Prospects for Change featured speakers Osama Abu Irshaid, Tamara Kharroub, Yousef Munayyer, and Tariq Dana. The discussion examined the possible implications of another Trump administration for Palestine, from intensified settlement expansion to the weakening of international law and the accelerated normalization of ties between Israel and Arab states.
Monday, 27 January 2025, marked the third and final day of the Annual Palestine Forum, which continued with extensive discussions, panels, and a concluding symposium. The morning began with four parallel tracks, each tackling different dimensions of Palestinian life, history, and the impact of the ongoing war on Gaza.
The first track, Collective Memory between the Nakba and Genocide, explored how narratives of Palestinian history and struggle are shaped and transmitted. In his paper, “The Memory of the Nakba in Contemporary Spanish Narrative”, Hosni Mlitat analysed how Spanish literary works echo the Palestinian Nakba’s aftermath and camp life. Akram Alashqar, in “Echoes of Resistance: Harnessing the Power of Music in Palestinian Revolutionary Cinema to Combat Erasure”, highlighted how soundtracks in militant-era films serve as sonic archives of defiance. Taghreed Al Soumairy, with “Collective Forgetting in the Digital Space: A Condition for Memory or an Erasure of the Memory of Colonized Peoples – The Palestinian Case”, argued that certain forms of social-media-based silence and forgetting can both impede and support collective memory. Lastly, Houriya Ben Ali, presenting “Collective Memory and Justification for the Extermination of the Other in Western Democracies: The Discourse of German and French Foreign Policy between Kosovo and Gaza”, examined how foreign-policy rhetoric uses manipulated “shared histories” to normalize or justify acts of aggression.
A second track, Genocide, Settler Colonialism, and Apartheid, dealt with the language, structures, and comparative frameworks that define Palestinian experiences under occupation. Michael R. Fischbach, in “‘Anti-anti-Zionism’ and Linguistic Warfare: Why Do Israel Partisans Hate the Terms Intersectionality and Settler Colonialism?”, contended that attacks on these concepts reflect broader efforts to discredit expanding solidarity networks. “Zionism and Apartheid: The Ideological Underside of Liberal Modernity”, by Jawaid Iqbal, traced how liberal modernity’s exclusions underpin both apartheid South Africa and Israel’s Zionist ethos. Emile Badarin, in “Settler Colonial Recognition and the Spectre of Elimination and Genocide in Palestine”, argued that “recognition” mechanisms can act as tools of dispossession, facilitating erasure of the Indigenous population. Rounding out the session, Mostefa Bousboua’s “Algeria and South Africa and Support for the Palestinian Cause: Colonial Pathways and Narratives of Struggle showed how shared anti-colonial histories bind these states to Palestinian liberation efforts”.
Simultaneously, the track Scholasticide in Gaza: The Erasure of Education (2) addressed the intense challenges faced by Gaza’s educational system. “University Education in Gaza During War: Reality and Challenges”, by Nasreddin Elmezaini, detailed how classrooms and infrastructure have been systematically targeted, yet universities adapt with remote learning. Sanaa Aboudagga, in “Online Learning for University Students in Gaza During the War: An Analysis of Challenges and Adaptation Strategies”, revealed how internet issues, material scarcity, and anxiety hamper distance education but do not end it. Tahani Aldahdouh’s “‘Waiting for a better time is a waste of time’: Motivations for Learning amid the Genocide in Gaza in Light of Sustainable Development Goal 4” surveyed the strong internal drive of students who see ongoing study as an act of defiance. Finally, Fadi Elhindi, in “National Initiatives for Access to Education and the Survival of Educational Institutions”, described grassroots and institutional efforts to safeguard learning continuity and prevent the “brain drain” of Gaza’s academic community.
A fourth track, Changes in Israeli Society and Governance amid Gaza’s Genocide, examined the reverberations of the war within Israel. Mohanad Mustafa, with “The War on Gaza and the Rise of Militia Tendencies in Israel”, observed an alarming drift toward militia-like fragmentation and a weakened centralized authority. In “How Did the Israeli Right Respond to the Events of 7 October 2023”, Mtanes Shihadeh mapped how far-right factions seized on a climate of national fear to accelerate efforts against Palestinians. Jackie Khoury, presenting “The Genocidal War on Gaza and Its Impact on Israel: Where Is Israel Heading?”, interpreted Israel’s current political upheaval as emblematic of deeper divisions. Finally, “Palestinians in Israel in the Shadow of the Genocidal War and the Deepening of Colonial Elimination: From Conditional Rights to No Rights”, by Alaa Mahajna and Mazen Masri, warned that civil rights for Palestinians with Israeli citizenship have rapidly eroded, marking a shift toward full-fledged exclusionary policies.
The first track of the second session turned to the Economic Impact of Settlements in the West Bank. “Economic and Social Dynamics of Jerusalemite Villages and Towns as a Result of Settlement Expansion in the Jerusalem Governorate”, by Anmar Rafeedie and Malakeh Abdellatif, outlined how confiscated land and segregating roads impose new social hierarchies and economic constraints on Palestinian communities. Wafaa Albitawi, with “Economic Diagnosis of the Income and Poverty Levels of Palestinian Women Working in Israeli Settlements”, illustrated how livelihood pressures, limited job opportunities, and lack of labor protections drive Palestinian women into precarious settlement-based employment. Meanwhile, Jumana Janazreh and Walid Habbas showcased “Economic Impacts of Israeli Industrial Zones in the West Bank”, describing these zones as sophisticated colonial infrastructure reinforcing Palestinian economic dependency. Finally, in “The Digital Dashboard – The Israeli Settlement Platform in the Occupied Territories”, Ahmad Alawneh introduced an interactive data tool that tracks settlement growth over time.
Another track focused on Gaza after the Genocide. “Healing Urbanism: Sustainable Planning towards Recovery and Resilience in the Gaza Strip”, by Sahera Bleibleh and Maha Samman, proposed a “trauma-informed design” that addresses psychosocial scars alongside physical reconstruction. Mohamad Elsousi and Basnat Alghinaimi, co-authors of “Beyond Rubble: Addressing Environmental Destruction in Gaza’s Post-War Reconstruction”, discussed the toxic legacy of bombardment, emphasizing the need for ecological rehabilitation. In “The Israeli Aggression against the Population of Gaza Strip: Demographic Effects and Future Expectations”, Mohammed Duraidi highlighted catastrophic demographic shifts – particularly the toll on youth – which may shape Gaza’s social landscape for generations.
A third track, On the Palestinian Economy and Its Implications, spotlighted Maher El-Kurd’s “Israel’s Responsibility for Economic Reparations to Compensate Damages Resulting from the October 2023 War”, pressing for legal claims to hold Israel accountable for devastation in Gaza; Anas Iqtait’s “Taxation and Settler Colonialism: The Palestinian Case”, revealing how Israeli tax controls perpetuate economic subjugation; and Ghada Samman’s “Neoliberal Bureaucracy: Ramallah Case Study”, critiquing how market-driven, privatized governance fosters abstracted processes that undermine meaningful policymaking.
In the evening, the Forum hosted a final symposium, “The Genocidal Israeli War on Gaza: Scenarios for the Day After”, which weighed potential scenarios for Gaza’s recovery, political prospects, and strategies to counter forced migrations. Speakers Ali Shaath, Ayed Mahmoud Yaghi, Hani Almasri, and Tarek Hamoud analysed regional and global dimensions, possible “day after” frameworks imposed by external actors, and the urgency of supporting Palestinian resilience.
As proceedings drew to a close, participants stressed the necessity of continuing this intellectual collaboration and documenting the urgent realities on the ground. In weaving together historical memory, contemporary analyses, and future-oriented research, the Annual Palestine Forum’s third day served as a significant space for nuanced dialogue, particularly in the face of unrelenting violence, deepening colonial policies, and the pressing need to envision a just and sustainable future for Palestine.
Annual Palestine Forum
