Introduction
Armed Israeli settlers have been attacking Palestinian residents of the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of Jerusalem. As Jadaliyya Co-Editor Noura Erakat and Mariam Barghouti write in The Washington Post, “Sheikh Jarrah is now practically a war zone as armed Israeli settlers, under the protection of Israeli police, terrorize the Palestinian residents.”
Israel is dropping bombs on residential buildings in Gaza. Gaza’s Ministry of Health reported that 215 people, including sixty-one children, have been killed by Israel’s bombings, as of Tuesday 18 May 2021, with more than 1,400 people wounded. The Israeli military reported that twelve people, including two children, have been killed in Israel by rockets fired from Gaza. Eleven Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank in the past week.
Fourteen out of fifteen United Nations Security Council member states were in favor of adopting a joint declaration to address the situation, but the United States blocked this from moving forward. On Saturday 15 May 2021, Israel bombed and destroyed the twelve-story al-Jalaa building in Gaza City, which housed offices for the Associated Press and Al Jazeera as well as other offices and residences.
Palestinians are defending their homes while facing the threat of forcible expulsion. On Sunday 9 May 2021, Israel’s Supreme Court postponed a hearing on the planned evictions of Palestinian families in Sheikh Jarrah. As Jadaliyya Co-Editor Mouin Rabbani noted in an appearance on Al Jazeera English on 10 May 2021, “When it comes to relations with the Palestinians, the Israeli judiciary has always been subordinate to government policy.”
Israeli forces stormed the Al Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem on Monday 10 May 2021, disrupting worshipers during Ramadan, shooting Palestinians with rubber-coated steel bullets, and firing tear gas. Hundreds of Palestinians were wounded. An online campaign with the hashtag #SaveSheikhJarrah has gained momentum in recent days, drawing attention to Israel’s state-sanctioned settler violence against Palestinians.
Palestinians in Israel are protesting while facing Israeli mob violence. As Rabbani explained in his 13 May 2021 interview with Al Jazeera English, Palestinian protests in Israel “at this level and at this scope and duration” are “unprecedented.”
Jadaliyya’s editorial team has prepared this bouquet of articles, podcasts, live event recordings, and more as part of the Arab Studies Institute’s (ASI) Middle East Learn & Teach (MELT) series. You will find materials from ASI’s various platforms, including Jadaliyya, Status/الوضع, Tadween Publishing, and the Middle East Studies Pedagogy Initiative (MESPI).
This collection contains resources that offer starting points for those looking to place the current situation in historical and political context, and materials for those looking to expand their knowledge of the Israeli state’s efforts to expel Palestinians from their land and to change Jerusalem’s demographic balance by forcing Palestinians from their homes. Though many of these pieces transcend categories and analyze multiple topics, we have provided a guided reading list grouped by the major themes addressed in these materials.
The materials presented here contextualize current events in Palestine, offering analyses and histories of expulsion, occupation, settler colonialism, forced evictions, home demolitions, and annexation—situating the current struggle as part of the ongoing Nakba of 1948 and in relation to the Naksa of 1967.
As Erakat and Barghouti conclude in their Washington Post piece, “When will the world open its eyes to this injustice and respond appropriately? We do not need more empty both sides-isms, we need solidarity to overcome apartheid.”
For more from ASI’s Middle East Learn & Teach (MELT) Series, also see our recent collections on Iraq and Syria.
Please see the Palestine Page—co-edited by Sherene Seikaly, Noura Erakat, Mouin Rabbani, and Max Ajl—for all of Jadaliyya‘s Palestine-related content.
–Carly A. Krakow, Managing Editor for Special Projects, Jadaliyya
[This post was updated on 18 May 2021 to include the latest numbers of reported deaths and injuries and to reflect additional developments since publication.]
Read
International Law, US Empire, and Regional Relations with Palestine
- No, Israel Does Not Have the Right to Self-Defense In International Law Against Occupied Palestinian Territory by Noura Erakat
- Out of Unity, Agency by Mouin Rabbani
- Can the UN General Assembly Act to Stop Israel’s Latest Assault on the Palestinian People Before It Is Too Late? by Ardi Imseis and Mandy Turner
- Quick Thoughts: Ardi Imseis on the ICC and Palestine by Ardi Imseis
- Quick Thoughts: Mouin Rabbani on Israeli Annexation by Mouin Rabbani
- A Comment on the UN’s Alleged Anti-Israel Bias by Noura Erakat
- Not Now, Not Never by Mouin Rabbani
- Corpus Separatum? Trump and Jerusalem by Mouin Rabbani in London Review of Books blog
- An Open Affair: As the UAE and Israel Normalize Ties, Gulf Actors Respond by Elham Fakhro
- Extrajudicial Executions from the United States to Palestine by Noura Erakat
- Institutionalised Disregard for Palestinian Life by Mouin Rabbani in London Review of Books blog
- Familiar Ruptures and Opportunities, 1967 and 2017 by Noura Erakat
- The 1967 Defeat and the Conditions of the Now: A Roundtable
Settler Colonialism
- What is Settler Colonialism? by Maya Mikdashi
- The Infrastructure of Israeli Settler Colonialism (Part 1): The Jordan Valley by Bassam Haddad, Noura Erakat, and Jack Saba
- In the Shadow of the Mountains: The Jordan Valley and Israel/Palestine’s Marginalized East by Matan Kaminer
- The Ongoing Nakba: The Forcible Displacement of the Palestinian People by Amjad Alqasis
- Living Under Threat of Expulsion: Palestinian Women Photograph Life in Susiya Village by Activestills Collection
- Danger, Turbines! A Jawlani Cry against Green Energy Colonialism in the Occupied Syrian Golan Heights by Muna Dajani
- Acts and Omissions: Framing Settler Colonialism in Palestine Studies by Brenna Bhandar and Rafeef Ziadah
- Jaffa Hasn’t Died by Ibtisam Azem
- A Love Letter to our People in Palestine by Palestinian Feminist Collective
- JADMAG Issue 5.1 “Settler Colonialism”
Occupation
- Sheikh Jarrah: The Question Before Us by Sarah Ihmoud
- Quick Thoughts: Noura Erakat on the Extra-Judicial Execution of Ahmad Erekat by Noura Erakat
- Medical Apartheid in Palestine: The Case of COVID-19 Vaccinations by Mouin Rabbani
- Occupation Law and the One-State Reality by Darryl Li
- Housing, Rubbish, Walls, and Failing Infrastructure in East Jerusalem by Manal Massalha
- Jerusalem: A City for All? by Visualizing Palestine
- Climate and Commensuration in Palestine by Sophia Stamatapoulou-Robbins
Focus on Gaza
- Is Gaza Still Occupied and Why Does It Matter? by Lisa Hajjar
- The Limits of Humanitarianism by Max Ajl
- Palestine as Archive by Sherene Seikaly
- Quick Thoughts: Avi Shlaim on Israel’s New Historians, Hamas, and the BDS Movement by Avi Shlaim
- Can Palestinian Men Be Victims? Gendering Israel’s War on Gaza by Maya Mikdashi
Watch
- Mouin Rabbani Discusses Escalating Clashes in Israeli Towns and Cities in Al Jazeera
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Noura Erakat Discusses Israel’s Colonialist Project in Sheikh Jarrah on the Majority Report
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Nakba Day Commemoration: Jadaliyya Co-Editor in Conversation with Professor Rashid Khalidi on his newest book, The Hundred Years’ War on Palestine with Noura Erakat and Rashid Khalidi
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Live with ASI: The Extrajudicial Execution of Ahmad Erekat with Noura Erakat and Carly A. Krakow
Listen
- Thinking Palestine Intersectionally with Judith Butler, Angela Davis, Noura Erakat, Samera Esmeir, and Sherene Seikaly
- Quick Thoughts: Update on Annexation of the West Bank with Bassam Haddad and Mouin Rabbani
- Diana Buttu on Palestinian Struggle and The Case for The One-State Solution with Diana Buttu and Khalil Bendib
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Environment in Context: Green Energy Colonialism in the Occupied Syrian Golan Heights with Wael Tarabieh, Muna Dajani, and Malihe Razazan