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Volume 15 - Number 3

April – May 2019£4

THIS ISSUETHIS ISSUE:: PALESTINE PALESTINE ●● Trump’s ‘Deal of the Century’ Trump’s ‘Deal of the Century’ ●● Understanding Understanding UNRWA UNRWA ● ● The Joint List The Joint List ●● On the dignity of teachers On the dignity of teachers ●● Keeping national consciousness alive Keeping national consciousness alive ● ● Eight days on the (Wild?) West Bank Eight days on the (Wild?) West Bank ● ● My short return to Gaza My short return to Gaza ● ● Housing, rubbish, walls Housing, rubbish, walls and failing infrastructure in East Jerusalem and failing infrastructure in East Jerusalem ● ● The ‘next’ Palestinian writers are already here The ‘next’ Palestinian writers are already here ● ● PLUSPLUS Reviews and events in LondonReviews and events in London

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Volume 15 – Number 3April–May 2019

Tayseer Barakat, Arrival, 2018. Acrylic on canvas, 47 x 41cm. Courtesy of Zawyeh Gallery and the artist

Volume 15 - Number 3

April – May 2019£4

THIS ISSUETHIS ISSUE:: PALESTINE PALESTINE ●● Trump’s ‘Deal of the Century’ Trump’s ‘Deal of the Century’ ●● Understanding Understanding UNRWA UNRWA ● ● The Joint List The Joint List ●● On the dignity of teachers On the dignity of teachers ●● Keeping national consciousness alive Keeping national consciousness alive ● ● Eight days on the (Wild?) West Bank Eight days on the (Wild?) West Bank ● ● My short return to Gaza My short return to Gaza ● ● Housing, rubbish, walls Housing, rubbish, walls and failing infrastructure in East Jerusalem and failing infrastructure in East Jerusalem ● ● The ‘next’ Palestinian writers are already here The ‘next’ Palestinian writers are already here ● ● PLUSPLUS Reviews and events in LondonReviews and events in London

April – May 2019 The Middle East in London 3

LMEI Board of Trustees

Baroness Valerie Amos (Chair)Director, SOAS

Dr Orkideh Behrouzan, SOAS

Professor Stephen Hopgood, SOAS

Dr Lina Khatib, Chatham House

Dr Dina Matar, SOAS

Dr Hanan MorsyAfrican Development Bank

Professor Scott Redford, SOAS

Mr James Watt, CBRL

LMEI Advisory Council

Lady Barbara Judge (Chair)

Professor Muhammad A. S. Abdel Haleem

H E Khalid Al-Duwaisan GVCOAmbassador, Embassy of the State of Kuwait

Mrs Haifa Al KaylaniArab International Women’s Forum

Dr Khalid Bin Mohammed Al KhalifaPresident, University College of Bahrain

Professor Tony AllanKing’s College and SOAS

Dr Alanoud AlsharekhSenior Fellow for Regional Politics, IISS

Mr Farad AzimaNetScientifi c Plc

Dr Noel BrehonyMENAS Associates Ltd.

Professor Magdy Ishak HannaBritish Egyptian Society

HE Mr Rami MortadaAmbassador, Embassy of Lebanon

4 EDITORIAL

5INSIGHTTrump’s ‘Deal of the Century’Karma Nabulsi

7PALESTINEUnderstanding UNRWA: what the Trump cuts tell usAnne Irfan

9Th e Joint List: an obituaryNimer Sultany

11On the dignity of teachersMezna Qato

12Keeping national consciousness aliveOmar Shweiki

14Eight days on the (Wild?) West BankMike Scott-Baumann

16My short return to GazaAtef Alshaer

18Housing, rubbish, walls and failing infrastructure in East JerusalemManal Massalha

20Stop waiting, the ‘next’ Palestinian writers are already hereNora Parr

22REVIEWSBOOKSIn Search of a Prophet: A Spiritual Journey with Khalil GibranAtef Alshaer

23Hamas Contained: Th e Rise and Pacifi cation of Palestinian ResistanceDina Matar

24BOOKS IN BRIEF

26EVENTS IN LONDON

Contents

4 The Middle East in London April – May 2019

EDITORIALEDITORIAL

Shufat Refugee Camp, Jerusalem, October 2017. Photograph by Manal Massalha

This issue of Th e Middle East in London highlights the ongoing importance of Palestine to events in

the region. Our contributors remind us of the myriad forms of Palestinian resistance and the tenacity of a population living under occupation and over six decades of displacement.

We begin with two pieces that survey recent shift s in US policy towards Palestine: in Insight Karma Nabulsi examines the contours of the so-called ‘Deal of the Century’, a plan that has not yet been publically revealed but which the US President Donald Trump claims will defi nitively ‘solve’ the Palestine confl ict; Anne Irfan analyses US cuts to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), highlighting how such a move has increased pressure on Palestinians, refugee communities and other Arab countries to accept the ‘Deal’.

Alongside these moves by the Trump administration, there has been much media speculation around the upcoming Israeli elections. Nimer Sultany explores one dimension that is oft en absent in

coverage of these elections, the role of political parties representing Palestinian citizens of Israel, through the emergence and recent collapse of the ‘Joint List’ – a united platform of the main Palestinian factions in Israel, which had been the third largest bloc in the Israeli Knesset since the 2015 elections.

From Palestinian citizens and Israeli elections, our next two articles turn to the education sector in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Mezna Qato situates Palestine in the recent global wave of teacher and student mobilisations, exploring the unprecedented series of strikes by Palestinian teachers that occurred across the West Bank and Gaza Strip in early 2016. In the university sector, Omar Shweiki, the current director of Friends of Birzeit University (Fobzu), discusses the founding of Fobzu on the occasion of its 40th anniversary, tracing its work in building solidarity with Palestinian universities under occupation.

Refl ecting on his recent trip to the West Bank as part of a visit organised by the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions, Mike Scott-Baumann

discusses the reality of Palestinian farmers in the Jordan Valley and other areas of the West Bank’s Area C. Turning then to Gaza, Atef Alshaer writes about his recent trip there (his fi rst time home in 19 years). His powerful refl ections capture the ordinary lives of Palestinians in the Strip, their attempts to navigate the daily challenges of siege and closure and their remarkable resilience.

Th e next article by ethnographer and photographer Manal Massalha discusses the goals of her project ‘Housing, Rubbish, Walls and Failing Infrastructure in East Jerusalem’ and documents the urban neglect faced by Palestinian Jerusalemites, particularly following Israel’s construction of the Wall that began in 2002.

Th e concluding article by Nora Parr discusses recent Palestinian novels, arguing that this writing has oft en been rendered invisible by a focus on the traditional Palestinian writing of the 1960s and 1970s and that its signifi cance lies in its search for new alternatives in the wake of the collapse of past certainties around politics and resistance.

Adam Hanieh & Dina Matar, SOAS

Dear ReaderDear Reader

© M

anal Massalha


INSIGHTINSIGHT

Shortly aft er his election to the US Presidency, Donald Trump promised a peace plan for the Middle East.

Calling it the ‘Deal of Century’, he claims that it will solve the confl ict in Palestine once and for all. Although its public launch has been delayed, the shape this deal will take is already clear from an overview of the offi cial interviews, various statements, leaked documents and the destructive policies already initiated by the US administration during the past year. Th e plan relies on taking advantage of the momentary conjunction of forces allied within the extreme right, with President Trump in the White House, the formation of a coalition of right-wing parties in Israel, and increased control of Saudi Arabia by Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman, the involvement of several Arab regimes, the rise of pro-fascist anti-Muslim and racist parties in Europe, and depends on silence from the mainstream political classes. Its purpose

is to achieve the most extreme, irredentist and expansionist vision yet, to ‘complete’ the settler-colonial project that began a century ago in Palestine.

Th e Trump administration’s hope is to settle this protracted confl ict through a comprehensive destruction of Palestinian collective national rights, ‘resolving’ the “fi nal status” issues of the Oslo Peace Accords – settlements, borders, refugees, Jerusalem and water – in Israel’s favour by force.

Although public announcement of the features of the ‘Deal of the Century’ has been regularly delayed, Jared Kushner (Trump’s son-in-law, a real-estate broker in charge of the peace process along with Jason Greenblatt) has now explained the continued silence as ‘intentional’ in order

to guarantee its success. On Al-Jazeera in March 2019, he explained the ‘Deal’ will be publicly launched aft er the Israeli elections in April 2019. Th ese elections are designed to strengthen Netanyahu and the far right, indeed Netanyahu has personally assisted with the merger of three far-right Israeli parties to form a united front in order to gain electoral strength. Th e new party is called ‘the Union of Right-Wing Parties’ and includes Jewish Home, Tkuma, and Jewish Power.

Central Features of the ‘Deal’Several US initiatives to implement

the ‘Deal’ have continued since the US embassy was moved to Jerusalem in December 2018 (in violation of

Trump’s ‘Deal of the Century’Trump’s ‘Deal of the Century’

Karma Nabulsi sketches out the known contours of the still secret ‘Deal of the Century'

Th e Trump administration’s hope is to settle this protracted confl ict by a comprehensive destruction

of Palestinian collective national rights

Posters and graffi ti on refugees’ right of return, Shatila camp, Lebanon


Rehistoricising the Palestinian people allows for an understanding of Palestinians’ current and

continuing disenfranchisements, and the violence, racism, and discrimination they face

international law). Th e most recent is the closure of the US Consulate in Jerusalem this March. Th e consulate had provided Palestinians under military occupation with consular and diplomatic services for decades and, in some diplomatic measure, recognised the fact that Palestinians are a people. Th is past year, the US also cut over $200 million in direct aid to occupied Gaza and the West Bank of Palestine, including money desperately needed for hospitals in East Jerusalem; more starkly, it suddenly cut over $300 million from the United Nations Relief and Works Agency’s (UNRWA’s) annual budget in 2018.

Leaked emails published in Foreign Policy last summer revealed Jared Kushner making the case for UNRWA’s destruction: ‘UNRWA should come up with a plan to unwind itself and become part of the UNHCR [the UN High Commissioner for Refugees] by the time its charter comes up again in 2019’, continuing, ‘It is important to have an honest and sincere eff ort to disrupt UNRWA.’

Th ere are now discussions in the media of ongoing attempts to forcibly resettle Palestinian refugees in neighbouring host countries, with reports of the US exerting extreme pressure on host governments in Lebanon and Jordan to strip Palestinians of their internationally recognised status as refugees.

Th e Israeli government and its military are also involved in forward planning: the strategy ahead will be to radically diminish or expel Palestinians from their homes in Jerusalem to negate the internationally recognised view of the city as the capital of Palestine. Th e Israeli government and its military have entrenched and expanded illegal settlements and seek to complete the appropriation of Palestinian land in the occupied West Bank. For Gaza, details of the ‘Sinai Plan’ have also been revealed: Israel envisions the future of Gaza as a zone of denationalised and indentured labour. Gaza is currently suff ering the most extended siege in modern history, with vital services – including major hospitals – forced to close down.

Finally, public discussions on the potential expulsion of Palestinian

citizens of Israel has started in Israel; the groundwork was laid with the new Israeli nation-state law which legislates the state of Israel for the exclusive right of Jews, not all its citizens, although 20 per cent are the original inhabitants of the land. Adopting national legislation that only Jewish citizens have the right to national self-determination denies basic Palestinian rights, and disenfranchises Palestinians in their own homeland. Th ese fi rst steps towards removing the already limited civic and political rights of Palestinians in Israel, and to crush all regional or international resistance to these policies, are set to escalate in the coming months.

What can be done? In order for this US-Israeli-Saudi plan

to be achieved, international support for the Palestinians must be silenced and solidarity attacked and suppressed. Recent events have shown that institutions and individuals protesting these policies of injustice can become subject to intense pressure. However, whenever campaigners for justice align their principles and actions on Palestinian rights, adhering to a solidarity focussed on the universal rights of a dispossessed people – their reality, and their history – then they cannot be silenced.

Two reorientations for discussing Palestine prove immensely successful: fi rst, a commitment to resist the current

erasure of injustices Palestinians have faced and still do today. Th is means ensuring that the 1948 Nakba – when the majority of Palestinians were expelled from their homes and their country – is understood as the core of the confl ict. It also means locating the origin of Palestinians’ status as refugees within that history, to highlight their continued forced displacement, along with Britain’s direct role as the colonial power in Palestine. Rehistoricising the Palestinian people allows for an understanding of Palestinians’ continuing disenfranchisements, and the violence, racism, and discrimination they face by an active and expansionist Israeli settler-colonial project.

Th e second step is to ensure that Palestinians as a people, inside and outside of Palestine, are made visible to the world, never allowing the issue to be diverted into a debate about the rights of protestors who speak out on human rights abuses. Th is can be done in simple but powerful ways: retelling and reaffi rming the facts of daily existence through gestures of international solidarity, through gestures that illuminate their history, their present and the international laws that protect Palestinians. All Palestinians, whether facing discrimination inside Israel, military occupation and siege or enforced exile in refugee camps are part of one cause and one people. Understanding the Palestinian struggle for justice and then conveying it to others is the simple but essential role of solidarity that permits everyone to stand strong against this new alignment of the far right, and to protect the Palestinians in a year of crisis.

Professor Karma Nabulsi is Politics Fellow at St Edmund Hall and teaches at the University of Oxford. She is an Advisory Board member of the Centre for Palestine Studies, SOAS


Mural in West Bank refugee camp, 2011. Photograph by Anne Irfan

In 2018, the Trump administration announced the withdrawal of US funding to the United Nations Relief

and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA). Th e move marked a dramatic rupture in US Middle Eastern policy, aft er decades in which it had acted as the Agency’s largest single donor. It also triggered a fl urry of media interest in UNRWA, which until now had a relatively low profi le despite being the oldest UN refugee agency in the world.

Much of the reaction to the US cuts has focussed on their damaging socio-

economic impact, with good reason. UNRWA is the primary welfare provider to more than fi ve million registered Palestinian refugees in its fi ve areas of operation: Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, the West Bank and Gaza. As the majority of these refugees are stateless, UNRWA is the closest thing they have to a government – a role refl ected in its services. In addition to emergency relief, UNRWA runs large-scale health and education programmes and administers infrastructure in the refugee camps.

Th e Agency’s services have become

especially critical in recent years, as Palestinian refugees suff er the impact of the ongoing crises in Gaza and Syria. Th e Gaza blockade, now in its 12th year, has left more than 700,000 Palestinians in need of emergency food aid from UNRWA. Meanwhile, 418,000 Palestinians in Syria are in critical need of its relief services; a further 120,000 have fl ed the country, with many now heavily reliant on UNRWA to meet their basic needs.

Th e Trump cuts have gravely endangered these essential services. Prior to 2018, UNRWA was already suff ering from a prolonged budget defi cit with its services seriously overstretched. Despite being a UN body, UNRWA is almost entirely dependent on voluntary donations, making the impact of this

Understanding UNRWA: Understanding UNRWA: What the Trump cuts tell usWhat the Trump cuts tell us

Anne Irfan unpacks Tump’s decision to quit funding UNRWA and examines the humanitarian, economic and political consequences of such a move

Since UNRWA’s creation at the end of 1949, it has served as an international acknowledgement of the Palestinian refugees’ unresolved plight

PALESTINEPALESTINE©

Anne Irfan


Th e Trump administration’s defunding of UNRWA is not only about money, but is part of a much wider strategy

to discredit and ultimately dismantle the Agency. Whether or not it will succeed is another question

kind of defunding especially devastating. Th e Trump move sent the Agency’s management on an intensive fundraising drive, seeking alternative donations to plug the gap from governments around the world.

To make matters worse, the political signifi cance of these cuts is no less important than their devastating humanitarian impact. Since UNRWA’s creation at the end of 1949, it has served as an international acknowledgement of the Palestinian refugees’ unresolved plight. Its continuing existence signifi es that their dispossession has not been forgotten on the world stage; some see it as offi cial international recognition of their refugee status and attached political rights. While UNRWA itself denies that any recognition it provides is politically binding, its registration cards are oft en the only offi cial identity documents that stateless Palestinian refugees hold. In Lebanon and Syria, Palestinian refugees have been compelled to produce their UNRWA registration cards in order to verify their identity when seeking the right to work or travel.

What’s more, in the eyes of many Palestinians, UNRWA is tied to the UN’s particular responsibility for their statelessness. Having issued the 1947 Partition Plan, the UN was directly involved in the events leading up to the Palestinians’ national dispossession in 1948 (known in Arabic as the Nakba or ‘catastrophe’). As a UN body, UNRWA’s services were therefore not charity but rather an entitlement stemming from injustice – one that should be issued until the Palestinian refugees can realise their right of return, also recognised by the UN in Resolution 194. Th is understanding of UNRWA’s work, expressed in refugees’ correspondence with the UN as early as 1951, has remained predominant among many refugee communities – the Bethlehem-based BADIL Center for Palestinian Refugee Rights recently launched a campaign entitled UNRWA Is Our Right Until We Return.

In such a setting, the Trump administration’s decision to defund UNRWA has an added curiosity. It arguably provides a clue as to the possible orientation of the much-vaunted ‘Deal of the Century’ for Middle East peace, offi cially still under wraps. Indeed, the Trump administration’s detachment from the Agency has not been limited to ending fi nancial support; it has also

declared itself at odds with the very premise of UNRWA’s work. In August 2018, leaked emails from Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and senior advisor on the Middle East, revealed plans to ‘disrupt’ UNRWA’s work. He wrote that the Agency ‘perpetuates a status quo, is corrupt, ineffi cient and doesn’t help peace’.

Th e emails went on to suggest that Kushner’s ‘Deal of the Century’ will involve stripping the refugee status of the fi ve million Palestinians currently registered with the Agency. As UNRWA is premised on the Palestinians’ refugee status, dismantling it would be crucial to achieving this goal. Th e US and Israeli media have reported similarly that Kushner is pressuring the government of Jordan to strip the country’s Palestinian population of their refugee status. Such moves are designed to undermine any prospects that the Palestinian refugees’ right of return could be realised. If successful, they would therefore solidify the status quo of the Palestinians’ dispossession – somewhat ironically, given that this is precisely what Kushner has accused UNRWA of doing.

Kushner’s approach is in keeping with the stance of other senior fi gures in the Trump administration. Nikki Haley, former US ambassador to the UN, has similarly criticised UNRWA for supposedly perpetuating the refugees’ belief in their right of return; she has also claimed, erroneously, that

UNRWA overstates the number of Palestinian refugees today. Th ere are further consistencies with Benjamin Netanyahu’s earlier calls to abolish UNRWA completely. Th e leaked emails thus provide further evidence of the US administration’s tight alignment not only with the Israeli state, but in particular with the leadership of its current government under Netanyahu.

Th e Trump administration’s defunding of UNRWA is not only about money, but is part of a much wider strategy to discredit and ultimately dismantle the Agency. Whether or not it will succeed is another question. So far, UNRWA’s fundraising eff orts have had considerable success in garnering special contributions from Europe, the Gulf and East Asia, to plug the budgetary gap created by the withdrawal of US donations. Until now the Agency has been able to continue providing services across its fi ve fi elds of operation, albeit while retaining a defi cit.

Th e removal of US support for UNRWA has therefore arguably demonstrated the limitations of US power; the Agency has prevailed even without its erstwhile major donor. At the same time, the funding crisis triggered by the Trump cuts has returned the Palestinian refugees to the centre of the ‘Palestine question’. Yet critical questions remain over UNRWA’s future. As the Palestinian refugees remain extremely vulnerable, any threats of dismantling UNRWA risk major political and humanitarian consequences, with an impact that may engender the start of another crisis in the region.

Anne Irfan lectures in Middle Eastern history at the University of Sussex. Her PhD, completed at the London School of Economics, examined the historical development of UNRWA’s role in the Palestinian refugee camps


PALESTINEPALESTINE

In February 2019 the Joint List offi cially became a short-lived experiment. Th e political parties representing the

Palestinian citizens in Israel eventually split into two lists that will be competing in the April 2019 Israeli parliamentary elections. One list includes Th e Democratic Front for Peace and Equality and Ahmad Tibi’s list. Th e other list includes the Islamic Movement and the National Democratic Assembly.

Four years earlier, in January 2015, this political experiment of uniting the factions in one list began out of necessity: the Israeli parliament had increased in 2014 the threshold required for political representation from 2 per cent to 3.25 per cent for votes cast. None of these parties on their own could have passed that threshold. Unity was a necessity. Nevertheless, the Joint List was heralded by many as an exemplar for political

cooperation against the backdrop of an Arab world wrecked by internal strife and sectarianism. Th e List gained 13 seats in the Israeli Knesset in 2015, prompting some of its leaders to suggest that the List, as the third largest bloc in the Knesset, could play an eff ective political role in the Israeli political system.

Th e rapid rise and fall of the Joint List, however, should serve as a cautionary tale against such idealisations. Its demise began long before Ahmad Tibi demanded to lead the List and increase his allotted seats (due to his his self-proclaimed popularity), even though he did not represent any genuine political party or a well-defi ned ideology. Th e List’s political

Th e Joint List was heralded by many as an exemplar for political cooperation against the backdrop of an Arab

world wrecked by internal strife and sectarianism

The Joint List: The Joint List: an obituaryan obituary

Nimer Sultany on how the Joint List dampened genuine political debate and activism and fostered an environment that elevated headline-grabbing performers over ideologues

The Joint List logo, featuring the names of the 4 parties that made up the alliance

© Public D

omain, W

ikimedia Com

mons, CC0


manifesto was minimalist in order to accommodate the diverse factions. Th e negotiations leading to the unifi cation focussed less on the manifesto and more on the distribution and order of seats amongst the four parties. Th us, it cannot be convincingly proposed that the List represented a form of substantive unity. In other words, it did not refl ect a consensus or a coherent agenda based on principled agreement.

Dismayingly, but not surprisingly, the factional and incoherent nature of this composite of lists came to the fore upon Basil Ghattas’ resignation from the Knesset. Ghattas, who represented the National Democratic Assembly (NDA), had to resign to serve a prison sentence for unlawfully smuggling phones into a prison. Th e National Democratic Assembly asked the other three lists to submit resignations of their representatives to allow for another NDA member to replace Ghattas so that the NDA could retain its share of the seats. What followed was a farcical, quasi-contractual dispute over the interpretation of the founding agreement of the Joint List. Some approached the issue formalistically and cited the text. Others took a more holistic approach, demanding respect to the ‘spirit’ of the text, i.e. to interpret the agreement in relation to its underlying objective. Ultimately, it took almost a year and a half, from March 2017 to August 2018, for the NDA to secure its missing seat. In the process, each one of the three other parties in turn had one of their representatives serve in the Knesset for few months and gained the allocated budgets for that member of the Knesset.

Th e Ghattas episode illustrated another defect in the List. Against the backdrop of fi erce Israeli condemnation of Ghattas’ actions as harmful to state security, the solidarity from his colleagues in the List, with the exception of those who belonged to his party, was muted. In fact, the leader of the List – who had cultivated an image as an Arab moderate – distanced himself from Ghattas’ actions. In other words, the Israeli-made distinction between Arab moderates and Arab extremists did not go away with the List formation.

At the same time, the List accelerated existing wider political trends of the decline in organised political parties and the increasing emphasis on individual performance and popularity of Knesset members. In previous electoral campaigns the competing political parties had

to distinguish themselves from their competitors. Th is created vibrant and, at times, fi erce debates. In contrast, the Joint List emphasised the unifying elements, many of which amounted to no more than empty slogans, and underplayed genuine ideological diff erences. Th e maintenance of the unity of the List further silenced criticisms of other colleagues’ statements and conduct and muted genuine and necessary disagreements. No party wanted to be accused of dissolving the List lest they be punished electorally.

Moreover, in absence of the ability to have genuine impact on Israeli policies, and in the age of social media, many of the Arab members of the Knesset resorted to theatrics and gimmicks in order to gain attention and secure visibility. Meanwhile, the Joint List weakened the established political parties whose apparatuses were sidelined in the decision-making process and whose branches became neglected and at times defunct because of the divisive nature of municipal elections. In this sense, it can be said that the Joint List led naturally to the fetishism of representation at the expense of bottom-up organising. Representation becomes sacrosanct despite both its declining utility (as the political map shift s rightwards and further marginalises Palestinian citizens) and its depleted substance.

Th us, Tibi’s demand to recognise his individual popularity as a media star, as the key of forming the List for the

coming elections, is in sync with these developments; it is their natural outcome. In the model advanced by the Joint List the members of the List can succeed only if they emulate the Tibi model and become headline-grabbing performers rather than ideologues.

Th e Joint List is the highest achievement of Arab political representation inside Israel – and its bankruptcy.

Th e maintenance of the unity of the List further silenced criticisms of other colleagues’ statements and conduct

and muted genuine and necessary disagreements

Nimer Sultany is a Senior Lecturer in public law at SOAS. His recent book Law and Revolution: Legitimacy and Constitutionalism Aft er the Arab Spring was published by Oxford University Press


Shejaiya School, Gaza City, 2008. Photograph by Mohammed Yousif Azaiza; credit to Gisha.org

PALESTINEPALESTINE

Teachers are on the march everywhere. Across cities in the Middle East, most recently in

Morocco, and all over the world – Sao Paulo, Chicago, Los Angeles and Port au Prince. Th ey make similar demands: a rollback of austerity measures, stronger and more independent union representation and the reversal of privitisation schemes against public education.

Th e mobilisations have been incremental, a slow escalation as a result of stymied internal protests, reforms and union obstructions. Palestinian conditions of settler-colonial rule oft en occlude seeing their substantive involvement in this global rise of teacher mobilisation. Th e Palestinian Teachers Strike of February and March 2016 was, by all accounts, the largest single sector strike in modern Palestinian history. Nearly 35,000 teachers, across both the West Bank and Gaza, took to the streets while Palestinian educators in Israel and in refugee camps across the region stood in solidarity.

It began in January 2016 when a small cohort of teachers, distressed by budget cuts and salary freezes, started to self-organise online and in schools. A few weeks later, more than 10,000 ventured out into streets of towns across the West Bank and Gaza, organising sit-ins in front of the Ministry of Education fi eld offi ces. By mid-February, the number of teachers swelled to 35,000. It was an extraordinary image, not seen since the First Intifada, of teachers – as teachers – on general strike. Th is time, however, the strikes were orchestrated not in name of their union, the General Union of Palestinian Teachers (GUPT), but despite it.

Th eir demands were simple: an increase in basic salary, pensions in line with that of public sector employees, re-activation of promotion, a de-hierarchisation of the education sector and the democraticisation of the GUPT.

It is the latter two demands that marked a departure from earlier teacher

strikes. Th e GUPT, long since captured by the Palestinian Authority (PA), had turned into a calcifi ed hull of capture and mediocrity, stymieing innovation, curricular vision and pedagogical adaptability. A union as old as the PLO itself, a mass organisation built to speak collectively for the demands of those tasked with providing Palestinians the means to acquire social capital that would permit some form of life during dispossession, the union had turned its back on its rank and fi le. Year aft er year, promises were made and broken; the union relied on the reluctance of educators to shut down their schools and turn off classroom lights. Second jobs were needed by teachers to augment meagre wages, deeply undermining their social standing.

And then students began to mock their teachers in brazen displays of disrespect and parents no longer deferred to educators on how to best teach their children. It was as if their role as engines of Palestinian national progress and pride had been ripped out from under them. Th e ameliorative policies of their union became intolerable and teachers resigned en masse. Th e price of patience had grown too high.

It is no wonder then that the primary

slogan for the strike was ‘Th e Dignity of the Teacher is the Dignity of the Nation.’ It is a somewhat old-fashioned assertion; the humiliations of neoliberal governance had already done away with the rights of workers everywhere, but it was precisely the loss of social capital, the devaluation of their social role, that fi nally turned teachers into protestors. In doing so, it opened up space to make a new demand. As one teacher said, ‘we want every person who works in education to be regarded as an educator, with no diff erence in respect accorded to a head teacher, a school counsellor, a school bus driver or a janitor.’ Stripped of the old respectability, the teachers now had a chance to build the architecture for a new form of dignity, one that is not built on a scaff olding of hierarchy but refuses the artifi ce altogether.

Th rough a series of authoritarian measures, including imprisonment, fi rings, isolation, entrapments, and as yet unfulfi lled promises, the GUPT and PA managed to break the strike (for now). Th e demands, however, remain.

Mezna Qato is Junior Research Fellow in History at the University of Cambridge. She is writing a book on the history of education for Palestinians

It was as if their role as engines of Palestinian national progress and pride had been ripped out from under them

On the dignity of teachersOn the dignity of teachers

Mezna Qato explains the driving forces behind the 2016 Palestinian Teachers Strike

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, CC BY-SA 2.0


PALESTINEPALESTINE

Keeping national Keeping national consciousness aliveconsciousness alive

Over the course of our 40th

anniversary year, Friends of Birzeit University (Fobzu) renewed its

mission to support Palestinian education at a time when it is needed more than ever before. In the last few months, Fobzu announced funding for ten new university scholarships for Palestinian refugee students, launched a new writing residency programme for Palestinian scholars, began a second year of our Education, Occupation & Liberation series jointly hosted with the University & College Union (UCU) and campaigned with UK education trade unions and charities for the Palestinian right to education.

Th e origins of Fobzu lie in the late

1970s, just three decades aft er the end of British colonial rule in Palestine and the Nakba of 1948 – when a majority of the Palestinian people were expelled or fl ed from their homes and their country. By this time, a new generation of Palestinians had emerged, reviving a national movement and leading to a renaissance of Palestinian civic and cultural life. At the same time, international support was successfully mobilised at both the offi cial

level of the United Nations and regional organisations, as well as among civil society around the world.

It was in this context that Birzeit College – which started in 1926 as a girls’ elementary school – became Palestine’s fi rst internationally recognised university; it received accreditation from the Association of Arab Universities in 1975. Th e challenges it faced under Israeli occupation were harsh and wide

Fobzu was founded just over 40 years ago. Fobzu Director, Omar Shweiki asserts that the work it does is more important now than ever before

Fobzu was one modest initiative taken in the UK by British academics in close collaboration with their

Palestinian colleagues to support a people struggling for their rights in exile and under occupation

Protest against university closures in Palestine during the First Intifada. Photograph courtesy of Fobzu©

Fob

zu


Th ere are few greater threats to Palestinian access to education than the politically driven attempt to dismantle UNRWA…Th e biggest provider of education to the Palestinian refugees

has become a target of Trump’s ‘Deal of the Century’ranging: denied land on which to build, subjected to punitive restrictions on access to teaching materials, closures, arrests and harassment, not to mention the 1974 deportation of its fi rst President, Hanna Nasser, who was not to return from exile for 20 years.

Amidst a wave of growing international solidarity with the Palestinians, Fobzu was one modest initiative taken in the UK by British academics in close collaboration with their Palestinian colleagues to support a people struggling for their rights in exile and under occupation.

For Fobzu’s founders, supporting Birzeit University was about defending the right to education and academic freedom of a new generation of Palestinians against the repressive practices of the occupation’s military authorities. Early Friends sent learning resources, delegations of visiting lecturers and raised awareness about the cause of Palestinian education within UK academic, civic and political arenas. Supporting Birzeit was also a contribution to assisting a people struggling for their freedom. Th e founders were aware of the signifi cance of Birzeit and other emerging national institutions that brought Palestinians together in a spirit of common endeavor. As Fobzu’s fi rst pamphlet described,

‘For a people living under occupation a good university is of special importance… Since 1967 [Palestinians] have lived under the strain of Israeli occupation. Only those who have experienced this can know its tensions and uncertainties. At times, these people feel desperately isolated. Th e staff and students of Birzeit help to mitigate their sense of being forgotten by keeping national consciousness alive.’ For Fobzu’s two formidable founders,

teacher and journalist Eleanor Aitken and Oxford Middle East scholar Elizabeth Monroe, supporting Palestinian education was a cause that was very much close to home and chimed with their own assessment of the impact Britain’s colonial rule had had on Palestinians in Palestine. In Britain’s Moment in the Middle East, Monroe wrote damningly of the British

Mandate and the Balfour Declaration, which she condemned as ‘one of the greatest mistakes of our imperial history’. Eleanor Aitken felt duty bound by Britain’s colonial legacy in Palestine to support the Palestinians, a sense which crystalised on a trip to Lebanon in 1972. On visiting the refugee camps, she wrote,

‘Gradually, the Palestinian tragedy began to unfold in a living way before my eyes: I saw that thousands upon thousands of people had been forced to fl ee their country, and had not been allowed by their country’s new foreign rulers to return to their homes.’

Soon aft er her return she set to work coordinating among colleagues the establishment of the Friends of Birzeit University.

Today, while retaining its close connection to Birzeit University, Fobzu’s mission has expanded to support Palestinian education more broadly, and, thanks to the generosity of our supporters, provides scholarships to students at universities across the West Bank and Gaza, campaigns for the right to education, facilitates educational exchange and raises awareness about the experience of Palestinian students and academics.

Forty years on from Fobzu’s founding, today’s young generation of Palestinians face obstacles to a freely enjoyed and self-determined education at every level. Today Palestinians live under a military occupation entering its sixth decade;

they face daily harassment, detention and isolation. In Gaza, Palestinians endure a suff ocating illegal blockade, which fragments Palestinian education, blocking entry and denying exit. Palestinian citizens of Israel face deep-seated discrimination. And the majority of Palestinians live as refugees in exile, existing in various states of precariousness across the Arab world and beyond.

Th ere are few greater threats to Palestinian access to education than the politically driven attempt to dismantle the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA). Th e impact this would have on young Palestinian refugees would be devastating, as Dr Caroline Pontefract (Director of Education) and Chris Gunness (Chief Spokesperson) from UNRWA described in their talk organised by Fobzu last year. Th e biggest provider of education to the Palestinian refugees has become a target of Trump’s ‘Deal of the Century’, which seeks to coerce the Palestinians into forfeiting their basic national rights.

But this month will mark the fi rst anniversary since the Great March of Return began, an enormous civic mobilisation led by young people, bringing together Palestinians of all ages across the political spectrum to claim their basic rights. Th e March reminds us that, as with most freedom struggles historically, young people lead the way. As a new generation marches for their rights, standing up for Palestinian education is one vital way we can show them they do not walk alone.

For more information about Fobzu and how you can support Palestinian education, visit www.fobzu.org

Omar Shweiki is Director of Fobzu. He was formerly Acting Director of the Kenyon Institute in East Jerusalem and taught history at Al Quds University. He co-edited Decolonizing Palestinian Political Economy: De-development and Beyond (Palgrave Macmillan, 2015) with Mandy Turner


PALESTINEPALESTINE

Eight days on the Eight days on the (Wild?) West Bank(Wild?) West Bank

Having completed an MA in Palestine Studies at SOAS in 2018 and written a dissertation on the

Israeli occupation of the West Bank, I was keen to visit the land. So, in October, I spent eight days there under the auspices of the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD), together with 20 other international volunteers.

We spent four days helping to build a community centre in the village of Bardala, in the north of the Jordan Valley. We worked under the guidance of a farmer, an activist in the Jordan Valley Solidarity Campaign. Th e centre of the village is in Area B (under Palestinian municipal control but overall Israeli military control) but the outskirts and neighbouring villages are in Area C (under direct Israeli military rule).

Th e community centre is to serve as a meeting place for the inhabitants of several villages. None of these villages has a school. Th ere was one once, but it was demolished by the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) on the grounds that it had not been granted a permit: in Area C, which includes most of the Jordan Valley, no wells can be dug and no new structures built (houses, schools or medical clinics) without the permission of the Israeli ‘Civilian Administration’ (in practice, the military). According to UN statistics, permission is very rarely granted.

Farming is the main source of income

for the village of Bardala, which has rich, fertile agricultural land capable of growing vegetables such as aubergine, tomato and cucumber. But it requires a reliable supply of water. Th e Jordan Valley has plentiful supplies of water (from the river and springs). However, control of the water supply gives Israel control over the Palestinians, as the following examples demonstrate. Israel has reduced the village’s water supply. Occasionally they cut it off completely. In fact, on 17 September, a month before we arrived, Israeli forces moved in with three military jeeps and two bulldozers to cut off the

Arrests, interrogations, demolitions and harassment. A lack of water and access to education. Mike Scott-Baumann describes life under occupation

Israeli settlers in the Jordan Valley receive a 75 per cent reduction in the price they have to pay for their

water... And their water supply is unlimited

International volunteers building the walls of a community centre in Bardala in the Jordan Valley. Photograph by Rashed Khudairy of the Jordan Solidarity Campaign


Th e Palestinian population in the Valley has fallen from approximately 300,000 to 60,000 since 1967. Many of those left reside in Jericho…perhaps only 20,000 continue farming

the land or grazing their herds. Many have migrated to Jordan and Syria; as refugees they are not allowed to return

water supply and destroy 500 metres of pipes that irrigate local farms, thereby threatening the livelihood of 50 farmers.

In a very small village nearby, the community water supply was permanently cut off ; residents are forced to pay for tankers to bring water in on a weekly basis. Sometimes those tankers are impounded. A nearby stream had been polluted by sewage from the Israeli settlement above, rendering it unfi t for human or animal consumption. Signifi cantly, Israeli settlers in the Jordan Valley, as well as in the rest of the West Bank, receive a 75 per cent reduction in the price they have to pay for their water, most of which comes from Israeli-controlled aquifers. And their water supply is unlimited, even for swimming pools.

One day we visited the farmer Abu Sakr in the village of Al-Hadidya, a Bedouin community. Th e village, which is surrounded by three military bases and three settlements, used to be home to 54 families; aft er the demolitions now only 12 remain. Abu Sakr grazes sheep and goats. He is a local leader, signifi cant enough to have been invited to address a committee of the European Parliament. His house has been destroyed many times, likely in response to his activism: initially razed to the ground, then partially rebuilt by the family the next morning only to be destroyed yet again, and so on. He spoke with power, passion and conviction, swearing that he would never leave his land.

One day, fi ve members of our group, accompanied by a rabbi from Torat Tzedet, went out in the morning with a shepherd and his goats. At one point, three members of the IDF (all young) appeared and accosted them. When asked what the group was doing one member explained that they were protecting the shepherd from harassment by the settlers from the hilltop. Th is explanation was met with sarcasm (‘poor shepherd’). Th e group was then informed that they were in a ‘military fi ring zone’. While 56 per cent of the Jordan Valley is categorised as closed military fi ring zone, little of it is used as such. Although the rabbi had a map to show that they were not in fact in the military fi ring zone, the IDF disagreed. No doubt they were under orders to stop and interrogate the shepherd and his ‘protectors’. Th e shepherd was detained for longer than the volunteers, and not for the fi rst time: two days earlier,

when alone, he had been handcuff ed, blindfolded and interrogated. Fortunately, his goats – his livelihood – found their way home without him: otherwise, he might have lost his fl ock, either to dehydration or disorientation. Th e soldiers were no doubt told (and believed) that they were protecting outpost settlers and that the shepherd, under the infl uence of activists/internationals, was a threat. More likely an explanation is that his arrest and interrogation was an example of the harassment and humiliation designed to deter the shepherd from using his customary grazing grounds. Th e destruction of Palestinians’ livelihoods would appear to be a deliberate aim of both settlers and military.

Given the arrests, interrogations, demolitions and lack of access to water and education prevalent in this one small area – and the fact that much of the most fertile land in the Jordan Valley was seized by the Israelis for commercial use in 1967 – it is not surprising that the Palestinian population in the Valley has fallen from approximately 300,000 to 60,000 since 1967. Many of those left reside in Jericho, the only major city in the Valley, so perhaps only 20,000 continue farming the land or grazing their herds. Many have migrated to Jordan and Syria; as refugees they are not allowed to return.

We spent four days harvesting olives

in the village of Bureen, near Nablus. During that time we stayed in the nearby village of Awarta in the house of Jamal, an olive farmer, who had, in the past, been attacked by settlers. On one occasion he fl ed with his son aft er their tractor was torched. We picked olives on land located just below a settlement that is owned by a family that is now too afraid to harvest their olives due to frequent harassment by armed settlers. We took turns on ‘guard duty’. Many Israeli settlements are classed as outposts, unoffi cial and not recognised by the Israeli government, but the settlers themselves are armed and, invariably, soldiers are posted nearby. Many such ‘outposts’ are connected to Israel’s national electricity grid and water supplies and they are retrospectively authorised.

Over the course of eight days we witnessed many diff erent forms of harassment perpetrated by both settlers and the IDF. But we also witnessed a remarkable resilience, sumoud, in spite of the ongoing trauma that is life under occupation. Many remain determined to stay on their land, to stay in their homes, and not give up. It is both inspiring and humbling. However, increasing displacement, particularly from Area C, attests to the success of an Israeli policy than can only be described as ethnic cleansing, even if most Israelis describe it as Judaisation.

Mike Scott-Baumann graduated in History from Cambridge in 1972. He has taught history in schools and colleges for 35 years and he has written about the Middle East and modern Britain for students of both A level and the International Baccalaureate


PALESTINEPALESTINE

Gazans head to the sea in August 2017. Photograph by Caitlin Procter

Walking in Rafah, my hometown in Gaza, for the fi rst time in 19 years oft en felt unreal. I had

just passed through the Rafah crossing from the Egyptian side. Th e journey from the Suez Channel to Gaza felt like no other. It was littered with exhausting and humiliating compliances with the chaos that is the Egyptian military system, where everyone returning or coming to Gaza is searched and stopped so many times that one wonders if this journey is viable more than once in one’s lifetime. I pondered this sad and terrifying thought as I found myself among my family in Rafah. I was warmly received and greeted, and my loved ones and I shed tears of happiness over the long overdue

homecoming. I found myself surrounded with familiar scenes from my childhood, including people that I thought I would never see again. Th e longstanding siege on Gaza cripples the thought and spirit and shackles them both with impossible burdens.

Such is the unfathomable fate in Gaza, tucked between merciless powers and subject to their whims and mindless games of siege and cruelty.

Yet Gaza feels extraordinarily alive. It is overcrowded, with countless children going or coming from schools or simply playing outdoors. I thought that there would hardly be any space left given the smallness of the strip and the abundance of people, but I was mistaken. I was

pleasantly surprised by the many green fi elds, beautifully planted with olive, almond and orange and lemon trees, and other lands tastefully lined with cabbage or caulifl owers and hot pepper and other plants. Th is is particularly true in the southern towns of Gaza, Khan-Younis and Rafah, rather than Gaza city itself, which feels crowded and concreted up. I would oft en gaze outside the car when travelling between Rafah and Gaza and see trees, plants and nice buildings. Th is made me optimistic that Gaza cannot be defeated. Its people keep innovating methods of living that ensure the continuity and enjoyment of earthly blessings, no matter how cruel its enemies are. Moreover, the sea and its endearing immensity struck me, running along the strip from the south in Rafah to the north in Gaza. As the sun rises or sets, the sea shimmers with inviting warm colors and shapes,

Th e longstanding siege on Gaza cripples the thought and spirit and shackles them both with impossible burdens

My short return to GazaMy short return to Gaza

Atef Alshaer recounts his recent journey to Gaza. Despite the hardships and cruelty, he fi nds reasons to hope

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tempting one to derive hope from this defi ant strip of land that feels squeezed but utterly alive too.

All of the above, of course, could not obscure the fact that Gaza is poverty stricken and destitute to a degree that I had never seen before. Th ough young people attend universities in large numbers, only a tiny minority of them gets a satisfactory job with anything like decent pay. While many of the universities in Gaza are brilliantly tenacious, off ering programs and high quality education across the board, their graduates end up lining the streets. Th ey undertake desperate jobs just to feed themselves and are counted fortunate even if they fi nd measly employment. Talking to some of them, I could not help but feel sad that this energetic population is desperate to fi nd something to do, not to waste their youth while waiting for urgent political and economic solutions to ease their conditions. As I travelled back through Egypt, I met many young people, including married ones, leaving their families behind in search of a better future in Europe. I learned that they take extremely dangerous and unguaranteed ways to get there, and some never make it.

I found Gaza powerful in its presentation of itself as a barely surviving population, yet movingly generous and unyielding. People oft en gather in mosques or by each other’s houses and exchange ideas about their conditions. Th ey make jokes and shoot through the misery with banter. Th ough the religiosity of Gaza is evident in the many mosques and the extensive movement of people between each prayer as they go or come from those mosques, Gazans fi nd ways to express their thoughts and innermost desires quite freely. Th eir expressions are riddled with sardonic references and ironies. Th ey describe their conditions and hardships with acid factuality. Th ey accept that these are unlikely to change any time soon, despair over their situation and express their sincere love for Gaza – all in the same breath.

In addition, Gaza is quite secure and quite calm inside. It is only when Israel bombs sites or homes in Gaza or Egyptians exchange fi re in Sinai that one

feels surrounded by dangers. One Friday as I was sitting by my brother’s house along with many other relatives, I heard such wide-ranging and sustained fi ring from the eastern side of Rafah. Th is was taking place within the context of the Great March of Return, where Gazans congregate around the borders and demand to return to their homes whence they were evicted in 1948. Th e fi ring alarmed me as it seemed to inch closer, but I took notice of the people sitting around me. Th ey were unfazed, unafraid and used to being recipient of incessant follies from the Israeli occupation.

Unlike when I was there in the 1990s, when the men of Fatah and the Palestinian Authority roamed the cities and showed whatever military gear they might have, Hamas is no longer as evident in everyday life in Gaza. However, if and when required, its weapons appear in many shapes and sizes, ready either to impose order or quell a protest or fi ght Israel. It is clear that Hamas has developed a sophisticated military and policing system in Gaza, which is marked with professionalism and speed, and people’s opinions attest to this.

Two days before I was scheduled to leave Gaza back to Egypt and then London, I was informed by one of my relatives that the Egyptians had closed the crossing. Th e sudden occurrence of this alarmed me. I made several calls and many calls were made on my behalf to the British Foreign Offi ce to facilitate my

exit from Gaza in order to resume my work at the University of Westminster. It became clear to me as a few days went by that the British passport is of little use for someone of Palestinian origin in Gaza.

Ultimately, the journey from Rafah in Gaza to Egypt was distressingly diffi cult. It was riddled with obstructions and unnecessary delays, including a night over at the underequipped Egyptian side of the Rafah crossing. Along with two hundred people or so, I spent a cold night where one can neither sit nor sleep.

Th e road between Rafah Sinai until the Suez Canal constitutes one long military zone. Palestinian Gazans make this harsh journey out of necessity as all other openings to Gaza are controlled by Israel, which restricts movement and makes it extremely hard for the vast majority of Gazans.

But it was humbling to live the experience of people who have no control or choice over their lives whatsoever. Th ey are surrounded by dangers imposed on them, and are charged with terrorism and all sorts of unfathomable accusations without trial or evidence. Th is is while in reality many of them yearn for peace, a decent living and freedom, which they are entitled to seek by any means possible. I see no alternative to Gazans resisting their oppressors to obtain their freedom, as the cruel powers surrounding them continue to deny them this most basic of human rights.

Th ey are surrounded by dangers imposed on them, and are charged with terrorism and all sorts of

unfathomable accusations without trial or evidence

Atef Alshaer is a Lecturer in Arabic and Cultural Studies at the University of Westminster. He has written several research papers and monographs, including Poetry and Politics in the Modern Arab World. He is also the Editor of A Map of Absence: An Anthology of Palestinian Writing on the Nakba (forthcoming by Dar Saqi, May 2019)


PALESTINEPALESTINE

Subject to racialised planning and zoning policies, and treated as foreign immigrants in their own city where

automatic revocation of residency rights applies if they fail to prove that Jerusalem is their centre of life, Palestinians in East Jerusalem live in compromised housing conditions. Th eir numbers grew from about 69,000 in 1967 – when Israel occupied and annexed East Jerusalem – to about 332,000 in 2016. Meanwhile, Israel has failed to meet their basic housing and infrastructure needs. Although they constitute about 38 per cent of the city, only 13 per cent of the annexed 71 km² has been zoned for development (much of it is already built up), while 35 per cent has been confi scated for settlement building and 22 per cent designated as green areas where no construction is allowed. Th e fi nal 30 per cent remains unplanned.

Soon aft er the occupation of East Jerusalem and the expansion of the city’s municipal boundaries, Israel held a

population census and granted permanent residency to those physically present at the time of the census. Palestinians who had property/homes within the newly defi ned boundaries but were absent when the census took place were stripped of their right to return to their homes and to legally live in the city. Permanent residency, a legal status accorded to foreign nationals who wish to reside and work in Israel, is not automatically passed to children or non-resident spouses, and, in the case of Palestinians, expires if they reside outside of Jerusalem or Israel for a period of seven years or more or if they obtain citizenship or residency in another country. A Palestinian Jerusalemite married to a Palestinian from the West Bank or Gaza has to apply for family

unifi cation for his/her spouse, which has become virtually impossible since the passing of the Nationality and Entry into Israel Law (Temporary Order) in 2003. Since 1967, over 14,500 Palestinians had their residency revoked.

Th e unmet rise in demand for housing, the conditionality of residency rights, the racialised and unaff ordable planning combined with zoning policies designed to privilege the Jewish population of the city render the available housing in East Jerusalem unaff ordable for the majority of Palestinian families, 79 per cent of whom live below the Israeli poverty line (2016). As a result, many of those living in the Old City and its vicinity experience severe overcrowding, inadequate, dilapidated conditions, or are forced to either build

Housing, rubbish, Housing, rubbish, walls and failing walls and failing infrastructure in infrastructure in East JerusalemEast Jerusalem

Manal Massalha documents the living conditions of Palestinians residing inside East Jerusalem but outside the wall through photography

It is estimated that a third of Palestinian Jerusalemites live in Kufur Aqab and the Shufat Refugee Camp area; their access to Jerusalem is controlled by military checkpoints

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Th e manufactured housing crisis, the compromised housing conditions and the proliferation of rubbish and physical and bureaucratic walls are all a direct

result of Israel’s exclusionary character

their homes with no construction permits (thus risking criminalization, big fi nes and demolition) or move to Jerusalem neighbourhoods on the West Bank side of the Israeli-constructed concrete wall.

In 2002, the Israeli government approved the construction of a barrier, citing security concerns. Th e barrier, also known as the ‘separation wall’ or the ‘apartheid wall,’ consists of a combination of ditches, fences, patrol roads, barbed wires, an electronic monitoring system and a concrete wall in dense urban areas. It runs along 712 km, more than twice the 320-km-long Green Line (1949 armistice line) between Israel and the West Bank. According to United Nations Offi ce for the Coordination of Humanitarian Aff airs, as of 2017 about 65 per cent has been completed. Only 15 per cent of the entire planned route will be on the Green Line, while 85 per cent runs inside the West Bank.

Th e wall in East Jerusalem is 8-9 metres high. Its route includes all East Jerusalem settlements and the land allotted to their future expansion but leaves out large Palestinian neighbourhoods such as Kufur Aqab and the Shufat Refugee Camp area on the West Bank side of the wall. Th ese neighbourhoods are within the Jerusalem municipal boundaries but are now forcibly severed from the city.

It is estimated that a third of Palestinian Jerusalemites live in Kufur Aqab and the Shufat Refugee Camp area; their access

to Jerusalem is controlled by military checkpoints. Th e neighbourhoods are forgotten about by Israeli authorities. Neglect and chaos are commonplace. Th e construction of high-rise buildings goes on unsupervised and unregulated, with little to no regard for health and safety. In the event of an earthquake, UNRWA estimates that about 80 per cent of the buildings around the Shuafat Refugee Camp will collapse. Meanwhile, sewage overfl ows into the streets, uncollected rubbish gets burned and the water supply is irregular/insuffi cient.

Aft er years of complaints from residents, the Jerusalem municipality subcontracted private businessmen to collect rubbish. Th e sanitation situation, nonetheless, still falls short of residents’ needs. ‘I have nowhere but the street,’ said a young man who was coming out of his building on the main Kufur Aqab road, carrying in his hand a plastic bag full of rubbish, and accompanied by his wife and baby. ‘Dustbins are either full, overfl owing or a long distance away from the building. I can’t keep it at home. I’m left with no choice but to dispose of it in the street’, he complained.

My series ‘Housing, Rubbish, Walls and Failing Infrastructure in East Jerusalem’ consists of a selection of photographs, taken mostly in October 2017, and showcases the urban neglect in East Jerusalem. Th e manufactured housing crisis, the compromised housing

conditions and the proliferation of rubbish and physical and bureaucratic walls are all a direct result of Israel’s exclusionary/exclusive character. Defi ning itself as a Jewish state and a state of the Jews, Israel creates structurally racialised hierarchies in connection with both space and citizens/subjects. It defi nes membership in society and demarcates the boundaries of who belongs and who does not, and that distinction has real material manifestations.

Manal Massalha is an Urban Ethnographer and Documentary Photographer interested in urban space, politics, power and people. She holds a PhD in sociology from the London School of Economics. She researches the Palestinian city and urban planning in Israel and writes about multicultural, convivial London, gentrifi cation and child and the city. To view her work visit: www.manalmassalha.com

(Opposite) 'Kufur Aqab: When developers’ greed meets political agendas,’ high-rise housing blocks built in close proximity, with little to no regard for building regulations, October 2017. Photograph by Manal Massalha

(Below, left) ‘Forced Disrepair: Old City of Jerusalem,’ a Palestinian family’s one-bedroom home rendered uninhabitable as tenants unable to renovate their dilapidated home, October 2017. Photograph by Manal Massalha

(Below, right) ‘Walking through the rubble of his demolished home, Jerusalem,’ October 2017. Photograph by Manal Massalha

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From left to right: a collection of short stories including the work of Adania Shibli, No One Knows Their Bloodtype by Maya Abu Al-Hayat and Cinema Gaza by Mahmud Amer

Post-millennial, post-Oslo, post-politics – since the late 1990s discourse on Palestine has been

defi ned more by its past than its present. Politics is presented as a quagmire, marked by waiting and endless repetition; the nth declaration of a third intifada, the ‘latest’ war on Gaza, the newest

‘Peace Initiative.’ Literary criticism has followed suit, with critics naming the newest national poet every few years and predicting or declaring the arrival of a long-awaited national novel. Real critical attention to Palestinian writing – from a ‘new’ generation of writers born well aft er the Nakba, who

aren’t really ‘new’ anymore – has been so far dismissed as ‘inward looking,’ ‘personal’ and ‘fragmented.’ Somehow this means it doesn’t count. Reproached for ‘lacking’ the political cohesion of the Palestinian greats – the inventors of Resistance Literature, the innovators of postcolonial theory, defi ners of exile, who lead Literature of Revolution – these new writers are rendered invisible. Th e only thing necessary for ‘fi nding’ new Palestinian writing is a better lens through which to see it.

It is not Palestinian writing that is missing from the scene… but a theory or politics within which

to read or make sense of the present boom

Stop waiting, Stop waiting, the ‘next’ the ‘next’ Palestinian Palestinian writers are writers are already herealready here

Nora Parr challenges the ubiquitous idea that there is no contemporary Palestinian writing, asserting instead that newer literary works cannot be understood using past frames

PALESTINEPALESTINE


First to debunk the myth that there ‘is no Palestinian writing’ today. Th e fl ush of Arabic literary prizes makes the fact of contemporary literature by Palestinians inescapable. Awards have highlighted the work of Ibrahim Nasrallah and Rabia al-Madhoun (both of whom won the International Prize for Arabic Fiction in 2018 and 2016 respectively), Huzama Habayeb (who won the 2017 Mahfouz Medal), and Osama Alaysa (who was awarded the 2015 Sheikh Zeid Prize) as only a small sample of a proliferation of letters. Today’s Palestinian writers are not exactly ‘new’ either; a volume published by the AM Qattan foundation in 2000 on young writers essentially reads as a ‘who’s who’ of tomorrow’s prizewinners. Adania Shibli, Alaa Hleihel and Maya Abu al-Hayyat are only a few of the authors introduced in that volume who have continued writing and publishing in the decades since. Th ey are becoming the old guard, with yet newer generations following their lead. It is not Palestinian writing that is missing from the scene, then, but a theory or politics within which to read or make sense of the present boom.

A look at three diff erent works hints at one emerging frame: the only way to a new politics is to declare the death of the prevailing symbolic order. Like so many Arab writers aft er the 1967 defeat, contemporary Palestinian works fi nd it impossible that, as Elizabeth Kassab puts it in her Contemporary Arab Th ought, ‘things continued to look the same … words continued to be used in the same way … people wrote, read, and behaved as if nothing had happened’ (2010, p. 50) while political rhetoric becomes more and more distant from lived realities. Where 1967 was marked by a change in political conditions, writers had to respond to with diff erent language, the quagmire of Palestinian politics necessitated a diff erent tactic. Adania Shibli’s short story ‘Maths, under which is love, under which is language’ (2000), Maya Abu al-Hayyat’s No One Knows Th eir Bloodtype (2013) and Mahmud Amer’s Cinema Gaza (2015) each quite forcefully declares the existing language of Palestine to be ‘rotten and inadequate’ (Kassab, p. 50). In the opening

pages of these works of Arabic fi ction god is declared dead, along with politics, and the aging fi gure of the Palestinian resistance fi ghter ‘snores his last.’

Al-Hayyat’s protagonist watches her freedom-fi ghter-turned-PLO-offi cial father convulse in a hospital bed with bodily fl uids leaking out his sides. He falls to the fl oor, dead, and the novel (now translated by Hazem Jamjoum and looking for a publisher) begins. For Amer’s text, the death of the father only really happens in 2006. Th ough the patriarch had had a heart attack in the Tunis PLO HQ ‘before the ink was dry’ on the family’s new Palestinian Authority ID cards, his eldest son carries the political torch into the ‘Gaza First’ government. During the 2006 Hamas takeover, the Fatah fi ghter is on the run and calls the novel’s protagonist to tell him he will fl ee to Egypt. Th is, the protagonist refl ects, means his brother ‘would not remain one of the returnees.’ Th e act casts the whole Oslo project into question for the character, who wonders if it ‘was not, from the beginning, a real return.’ Th e brother does not have the chance to un-return, however, and is killed en-route to the Rafah crossing. With the takeover, Amer’s text observes, Gaza ‘got rid’ of the existing government, and its symbolic order ‘as though it hadn’t been its skin for years.’ For Shibli, who publically disavows herself of the national frame to begin with, it is not the fi gure of the father or the fi ghter that disappears, but the idea of

a divine order that has explanatory power over the world.

‘In the end’, her short story (from the same 2000 Qattan publication) starts, ‘God created the heavens and the earth.’ Th e biblical passage goes on almost verbatim (but as ‘the end’ instead of the beginning) until ‘And the light stole the darkness of the night from the paper. And the Author saw the whiteness of the page and that it was empty.’ But when the author saw the empty page the ‘Author was sad.’ Th e works are not a call for the cessation of words, but for a new relationship between author, world and language. Each author declares the death of explanatory systems; not to erase them, but to demonstrate the end of the symbols of this past power over explaining the present. Th e symbols that once made sense of politics and action no longer fi t; they are the wrong skin for a new generation. For the texts, this is the only way out of the representational quagmire; the only way to craft words for a lived reality that is no longer best described by lingering systems. To make the world, and its pasts, afresh; to fi nd new words and symbols that recognise history but give diff erent space to its expression in the present.

Th ese authors declare the death of explanatory systems, not to erase them, but to demonstrate the end of the symbols

of this past power over explaining the present

Nora Parr is OWRI/AHRC Research Fellow at SOAS, University of London, with the project Creative Multilingualism. She teaches Arabic/Comparative Literature and Palestine Studies


In Search of A Prophet: A Spiritual Journey with Khalil Gibran by Paul-Gordon Chandler is a brilliant companion to

a truly insightful and an ever-relevant poet who left indelible marks on Middle Eastern as well as Western cultures. Chandler traces his growing fascination with Gibran, highlighting how he too lived between diff erent cultures, Muslim and Christian, and ultimately found in Gibran a healing voice. Summing up Gibran’s legacy, Chandler writes, ‘Khalil wrote for both the East and the West, presenting a nonsectarian vision of our world and off ering his readers a spiritual tapestry that transcends humanity’s divisions’ (p. 2). Indeed, it is this ‘spiritual tapestry’ that Chandler unearths in this book, pursuing Gibran’s soulful journey from his origins in Lebanon to his family’s migration to the United States at the turn of the 20th century to his sojourn in Paris and fi nally to his resting place back in Bsharri in Lebanon, where Gibran was born in 1883.

Unlike other books which tend to record Gibran’s enigmatic life in great detail, this book is a quiet voyage into Gibran’s mind and soul as they form a coherent and meaningful vision of life amidst turmoil and instability. It is an extraordinary contribution, depicting Gibran as a unique fi gure who, through his life and writing, projected an exquisite picture of humanity transcending divisions and seeking a path of inner peace and coexistence. What makes this book exceptionally interesting is that its prose is anchored in Gibran’s writing,

echoing its lasting resonance. Gibran’s vision was infl uenced by his childhood in Lebanon within the context of the increasingly despotic Ottoman Empire and the communities he lived within. Much of his writing is infused with biblical imagery, but it developed to accommodate other texts and experiences, including from the Islamic tradition, to the extent that his most famous book, Th e Prophet creatively invokes the journey of Prophet Mohammad. Indeed, Gibran is a holistic fi gure, as it were, constantly learning and absorbing infl uences and integrating them into his unique and inimitable style that speaks to the heart, soul and mind, all in the same breath.

With provocative titles, such as Khalil the Heretic or Spirits Rebellious or Jesus Th e Son of Man, Gibran sought to awaken people from their strict adherence to religious dogma and structured ideologies which were seen as corrupting, evincing walls among people rather than freeing them and bringing them together on a humane and spiritual basis. As Chandler wrote, ‘Khalil instead chose to focus on “awakening” people to their greater self and to the true heart of God’ (p.34). Perhaps Gibran’s lifelong mission was to fi nd unity that explains all the mysteries of life.

In the Madman, Gibran pays homage to the eccentric artists and writers who infl uenced him, including William Blake, Nietzsche, William Yeats and others. Th e artist appears as one who feels his senses and their affl ictions. Madness is a form of

‘divine sublimation’. Th e book is invitation to ‘harmony, contemplation and spirituality’. Chandler’s journey with Gibran continues to reveal the sources of inspiration to his other great writings, such as Th e Tempest and Th e Prophet, and it is the latter book which attracted worldwide attention and became an essential classic. It speaks to essential themes: love, friendship, marriage, children, crime and death, and each of these themes is discussed in such a way as to embrace humanity to its fullest. Th e overarching, recurrent concern in Gibran’s writing is for unity and purpose in life: ‘would that I could be the peacemaker in your soul, that I might turn the discord and the rivalry of your elements into oneness and melody’ (p. 89).

Chandler clearly identifi es with Gibran’s life and vision, reminding us of the concurrence of his life and vision with him. To this end, the book is an exquisite homage to Gibran, but it is also a moving refl ection on Chandler’s outlook on life as holistic, deeply spiritual and ultimately embracing of all humanity – notwithstanding its manufactured divisions – as of one family.

Atef Alshaer is a Lecturer in Arabic and Cultural Studies at the University of Westminster. He has written several research papers and monographs, including Poetry and Politics in the Modern Arab World. He is also the Editor of A Map of Absence: An Anthology of Palestinian Writing on the Nakba (forthcoming by Dar Saqi, May 2019)

REVIEWS: BOOKSREVIEWS: BOOKS

In Search of A Prophet: In Search of A Prophet: A Spiritual Journey A Spiritual Journey with Khalil Gibranwith Khalil Gibran

By Paul-Gordon Chandler

Reviewed by Atef Alshaer

Rowman and Littlefi eld, 2017, £13.95


REVIEWS: BOOKSREVIEWS: BOOKS

In Hamas Contained: Th e Rise and Pacifi cation of Palestinian Resistance, Tareq Baconi, an analyst of Middle

Eastern politics, provides a detailed history of Hamas based on primary sources, such as obscure Hamas newsletters and communiqués, and interviews with informants inside the movement and others familiar with its historical evolution. Using a chronological approach, Baconi traces the movement’s rise and evolution, particularly following its electoral victory in 2006, which gave it a solid foundation from which disseminate the conviction that Islamic Palestinian nationalism is central to Palestinians’ achieving their rights and aspirations. Hamas’ victory also sparked years of fi ghting between Hamas and Fatah, spurred on by Israel which played the groups against each other, eff ectively undermining Palestinians’ hopes for self-determination and adversely aff ecting their lived realities in conditions of continued colonisation.

Baconi begins his narrative by charting the changes and adaptations in the movement’s identity and practices that refl ect and respond to historical conditions – the assassination of the group’s founder, Sheikh Ahmad Yassin in 2004, the rise to power of current leader Ismail Hanieh and the group’s troubled relationship with the Palestinian Authority (PA). Th ese developments were exacerbated by competing national liberation strategies and, as Baconi

suggests, Israel’s intervention and manipulation: sustaining negotiations, direct and indirect, with both parties separately while obstructing any prospect of unity between the two. Based on the research, Baconi suggests Hamas is an ideological political actor with a dual nature – a radical Islamist movement that is also engaged in a national liberation struggle, thus off ering a unique lens through which to address the debates around whether Islamists can also be nationalist. In addressing Hamas’ ideological convictions and readiness to use force to push forward its vision while engaging fully in the democratic political system constructed aft er the fi rst Palestinian intifada of 1987, Baconi off ers a more nuanced portrait of Hamas, its relations with Israel and with the PA and its constructed self-image as an enduring Palestinian resistance movement rooted in Islamic Palestinian nationalism.

Baconi suggests that although Hamas embraced democracy from the start of its electoral career, it later unsubscribed from the values of power-sharing and became increasingly focussed on reformulating the Palestinian struggle. Th is direction is particularly refl ected in Hamas’ approach to governance of the Gaza Strip, which demonstrates that the movement had been active in creating an illiberal democracy or a ‘system based on soft authoritarianism’ (p. 239).

In the concluding chapter, Baconi turns attention to Israel’s attempts to use Hamas

as a bogeyman to sidestep the political aspects of the Palestinian question and Palestinian rights. By ignoring and denying Hamas’s political ideology through a dual process of containment and pacifi cation, Israel, Baconi suggests, has been able to focus on confl ict management with a designated ‘terrorist’ group, rather than working towards a resolution of the confl ict that recognises Palestinian rights. Th e resulting status quo means that both Hamas and Israel continue to focus on short-term survival in a longer battle, allowing Hamas to sustain its power and Israel to maintain its colonisation of the West Bank and its siege of the Gaza Strip.

Hamas Contained is a thoroughly researched book that highlights the desperate need for nuance in discussions surrounding Palestinian resistance and the struggle for political independence while also contributing to the wider debates around Islamism and nationalism. It is a must read for those wishing to understand the rise of Hamas and to contextualise the current attacks against the movement, from the PA as well as Israel and its allies.

Dina Matar is Chair of the Centre for Palestine Studies and the head of the School of Interdisciplinary Studies at SOAS. She is the author of What it Means to be Palestinian, co-author of Th e Hizbullah Phenomenon and co-editor of Gaza as Metaphor

Hamas Contained: The Hamas Contained: The Rise and Pacifi cation of Rise and Pacifi cation of Palestinian ResistancePalestinian Resistance

By Tareq Baconi

Reviewed by Dina Matar

Stanford University Press, May 2018, £23.99

d Th d


Justice in the Question of Palestine is oft en framed as a question of law. Yet none of the Israel-Palestinian confl ict's most vexing challenges have been resolved by judicial intervention. Occupation law has failed to stem Israel’s settlement enterprise. Laws of war have permitted killing and destruction during Israel’s military off ensives in the Gaza Strip. Th e Oslo Accord’s two-state solution is now dead letter. Justice for Some off ers a new approach to understanding the Palestinian struggle for freedom, told through the power and control of international law. Focussing on key junctures – from the Balfour Declaration in 1917 to present-day wars in Gaza –Noura Erakat shows how the strategic deployment of law has shaped current conditions.

April 2019, Stanford University Press, £22.49

Justice for Some:Justice for Some: Law and the Question of PalestineLaw and the Question of Palestine

By Noura Erakat

Egyptian cities and villages abound with an enormous wealth of khatt, or calligraphic script, ranging from casual scrawls and scribbles to elaborately-painted colourful murals. Th ese historical and contemporary versions of urban lettering, varying in surface, medium and technique, adorn mosques, shop-fronts, houses, trucks, boats, schools, tuk tuks and walls. Th ey are records of human existence, documenting expressions of hope, fears, dreams and anxieties. Featuring beautiful and unique examples of these written expressions, Khatt is an extensive visual documentation of the found typography and calligraphy in Egypt. Th is volume records the traditional craft smanship of hand-painted calligraphy, which is in decline because of the digitisation of the Arabic script.

September 2018, Saqi, £25.00

Khatt:Khatt: Egypt’s Calligraphic LandscapeEgypt’s Calligraphic Landscape

Edited by Basma Hamdy

Mirrored Loss tells the story of Amat al-Latif al-Wazir, only daughter of ‘Abdullah al-Wazir, the leader of Yemen’s mid-20th century constitutional movement for reform of the autocratic imamate. Her relationship with her father, who was accused of treason, takes centre stage in this biographical narrative. Amat al-Latif enjoyed a privileged childhood in a high-ranking family at the heart of Yemeni politics; yet the failed revolt of 1948 was the family’s downfall, leaving her and other close relatives exposed to social indignities and privation. Th rough one family’s story, Gabriele vom Bruck explores how violence translates into tragedy in the personal realm, and how individual lives and larger cultural and political worlds intersect in Yemen.

January 2019, Hurst, £35.00

Mirrored Loss:Mirrored Loss: A Yemeni Woman’s Life StoryA Yemeni Woman’s Life Story

By Gabriele vom Bruck

BOOKS IN BRIEFBOOKS IN BRIEF


BOOKS IN BRIEFBOOKS IN BRIEF

Th is analysis of the modern Middle East – based on research in 19 archives and numerous languages – shows the transition from an internal history characterised by local realities that were plural and multidimensional, and where identities were fl exible and hybrid, to a simplifi ed history largely imagined and imposed by external actors. Th e author demonstrates how the once-heterogeneous identities of Middle Eastern peoples were sealed into a standardised and uniform version that persists to this day. He also sheds light on the eff orts that peoples in the region – in the context of a new process of homogenisation of diversities – are exerting in order to get back into history, regaining possession of their multifaceted pasts.

March 2019, Edinburgh University Press, £75.00

The Middle East From Empire to The Middle East From Empire to Sealed IdentitiesSealed IdentitiesBy Lorenzo Kamel

Th ree of the formative revolutions that shook the early 20th-century world occurred almost simultaneously in regions bordering each other. Th ough the Russian, Iranian and Young Turk Revolutions all exploded between 1904 and 1911, they have never been studied through their linkages. Roving Revolutionaries probes the interconnected aspects of these three revolutions through the involvement of the Armenian revolutionaries – minorities in all of these empires. Exploring the geographical and ideological boundary crossings that occurred, this analysis of the circulation of revolutionaries, ideas and print tells the story of peoples and ideologies in upheaval and collaborating with each other, and in so doing it illuminates our understanding of revolutions and movements.

April 2019, University of Californian Press, £27.00

Roving Revolutionaries: Roving Revolutionaries: Armenians and the Connected Revolutions in the Armenians and the Connected Revolutions in the Russian, Iranian, and Ottoman WorldsRussian, Iranian, and Ottoman WorldsBy Houri Berberian

Since the US-led invasion and occupation of Iraq in 2003, the challenges of sectarianism and militarism have weighed heavily on the women of Iraq. In this book, Zahra Ali foregrounds a wide range of interviews with a variety of women involved in women’s rights activism, showing how everyday life and intellectual life has developed since the US-led invasion. In addition to this, Ali off ers detailed historical research of social, economic and political contexts since the formation of the Iraqi state in the 1920s. Th rough a transnational and postcolonial feminist approach, this book also considers the ways in which gender norms and practices, Iraqi feminist discourses and activisms are shaped and developed through state politics, competing nationalisms, religious, tribal and sectarian dynamics, wars and economic sanctions.

September 2018, Cambridge University Press, £21.99

Women and Gender in Iraq: Women and Gender in Iraq: Between Nation-Building and FragmentationBetween Nation-Building and Fragmentation

By Zahra Ali


Events in LondonEvents in London

LISTINGS

THE EVENTS and organisations listed below are not necessarily

endorsed or supported by The Middle East in London. The accompanying texts and images are based primarily on information provided by the organisers and do not necessarily reflect the views of the compilers or publishers. While every possible effort is made to ascertain the accuracy of these listings, readers are advised to seek confirmation of all events using the contact details provided for each event.

Submitting entries and updates: please send all updates and submissions for entries related to future events via e-mail to [email protected]

BM – British Museum, Great Russell Street, London WC1B 3DG SOAS –SOAS, University of London, Th ornhaugh Street, Russell Square, London WC1H 0XGLSE – London School of Economics and Political Science, Houghton Street, London WC2 2AE

APRIL EVENTS

Monday 1 April

Until 14 April | Ali and Dahlia (Performance) Debut play of actor-playwright Tariq Jordan. Having been accused of rioting, Ali awaits his fate in an Israeli interrogation room. But when an old lover

steps in to question him, the two are forced to confront their past and fi nd themselves torn between bitter loyalties. Tickets: See contact details below for various ticket prices. Pleasance Th eatre London, Carpenters Mews, North Road, London N7 9EF. T 020 7609 1800 E [email protected] W www.pleasance.co.uk

6:45 pm | Saudi Arabia & the West: the Future of a Toxic Relationship (Talk) David Wearing (Royal Holloway, University of London). Organised by: Friends of Le Monde Diplomatique. Wearing looks at the nature of the Saudi regime and its foreign policy under the Crown Prince and how far it will be possible for western policymakers to change, recalibrate and disentangle existing relationships which are so dependent on the fl ow of Saudi money to the west. Tickets: £3/£2

conc. Th e Gallery, 70/77 Cowcross Street, London EC1M 6EJ. W www.mondediplofriends.org.uk

7:00 pm | Fresh off the Page: Exciting New Writing by Exiled Writers (Reading/Performance/ Discussion) Organised by: Exiled Writers Ink. Open Mic. Host: Amir Darwish. With Alireza Abiz, Hamid Ismailov, Fawzi Karim, Shabibi Shah Nala, Edin Suljic. Tickets: £5/£3 for 2019 Exiled Writers Ink members and asylum seekers. Poetry Cafe, 22 Betterton Street, London WC2H 9BX. E [email protected] W www.exiledwriters.co.uk

Tuesday 2 April

1:15 pm | Persepolis: An Achaemenid Statement of Kingship (Gallery Talk) Diana Driscoll (Independent Speaker). Organised by: BM. Admission

free. Room 52, BM. T 020 7323 8000 W www.britishmuseum.org

Wednesday 3 April

1:15 pm | Who was Buried in the Royal Cemetery of Ur? Archaeological and textual data compared (Gallery Talk) Enrica Inversi (BM). Organised by: BM. Admission free. Room 56, BM. T 020 7323 8000 W www.britishmuseum.org

Th ursday 4 April

4:00 pm | "Shrieks, Trills, and Squeaks": Th e Cacophonous History of the Ottoman Band of Jerusalem (Lecture) Michael Talbot (University of Greenwich). Organised by: Palestine Exploration Fund (PEF) and BM jointly with ASTENE. What can a photograph tell us about what the past sounded like? As it turns

Ali and Dahlia (see April Events, Monday 1 April, p. 26)


For further details, please contact:

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out, quite a lot. Talbot explores the visual record of the band of the Ottoman military garrison in Jerusalem at the turn of the 20th

century. Admission free. Pre-registration required T 020 7323 8181 W www.britishmuseum.org BP Lecture Th eatre, Clore Education Centre, BM. T 020 7935 5379 E [email protected] W www.pef.org.uk

Friday 5 April

6:00 pm | Bibi (Lady) Maryam Bakhtiari (Book Launch) Organised by: Jaleh Esfahani Foundation in association with the London Middle East Institute. Event to mark the publication of the English translation of a recent book on Bibi (Lady) Maryam Bakhtiari, a leader of the Iranian Constitutional Revolution of Iran, 1905. Admission free. Pre-registration required W www.eventbrite.co.uk Khalili Lecture Th eatre, SOAS. E [email protected] W www.soas.ac.uk/lmei/events/

Sunday 7 April

4:00 pm | Bibi (Lady) Maryam Bakhtiari (Book Launch) Organised by: Jaleh Esfahani Foundation in association with the London Middle East Institute. A similar event to that which is taking place on Friday 5 April in Persian (see above event listing for details).

Wednesday 10 April

6:00 pm | Urban Bodies in the Cityscape of Cairo: Passion, Despair and Entanglement (Talk) Maria Frederika Malmström (Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Lund University & Columbia University), Jonas Otterbeck (Aga Khan University Institute for the Study of Muslim Civilisations). Organised by: Aga Khan University Institute for the Study of Muslim Civilisations and the Aga Khan Trust for Culture. Discussion focusing on how intense experiences during the Egyptian revolts in 2011 and

aft erwards are connected to the city of Cairo, to artefacts, and to other bodies in a particular way. Admission free. Pre-registration required W www.eventbrite.co.uk Room 215, 2nd fl oor, Aga Khan Centre, 10 Handyside Street, London N1C 4DN. W www.agakhancentre.org.uk

6:30 pm | Manuscript Illumination – Process and Examples (Lecture) Anahita Alavi. Organised by: Th e Iran Society. Alavi is an Iranian artist who has learned Persian Miniature, Islamic Illumination and Geometric design under the supervision of the great masters in Iran. Since 2016, she has been engaged in teaching and producing Persian painting and illumination at SOAS. In this talk she will go through the process of producing miniatures and illuminations and will then show some examples of miniatures from diff erent periods. Admission free for Society Members plus one guest. Pall Mall Room, Th e Army & Navy Club, 36-39 Pall Mall, London SW1Y 5JN (Dress code calls for gentlemen to wear jacket and tie). T 020 7235 5122 E [email protected] W www.iransociety.org / www.therag.co.uk

Th ursday 11 April

5:45 pm | Endangered Cultural Heritage of Yemen (Lecture) Robert Bewley (EAMENA Project, University of Oxford) Organised by: MBI Al Jaber Foundation, British Foundation for the Study of Arabia and the British-Yemeni Society. Part of the MBI Al Jaber Foundation Lecture Series. Admission free. Pre-registration required. MBI Al Jaber Seminar Room, London Middle East Institute, SOAS, MBI Al Jaber Building, 21 Russell Square, London WC1B 5EA. E [email protected] W www.mbifoundation.com

Saturday 13 April

10:00 am | East in the West: A Cultural History of Arab Presence in London Coline Houssais (Sciences Po University, Paris). Organised by: Th e Arab British Centre. An intensive two-day course which will look at the diversity and complexity of Arab infl uence over Europe throughout the centuries, from a cultural point of view deeply intertwined with economic and political dynamics. Tickets: £240 (includes refreshments and lunch

both days). Th e Arab British Centre, 1 Gough Square, London EC4A3DE. T 020 7832 1310 E [email protected] W www.arabbritishcentre.org.uk

4:00 pm | A Night with Filmakers and Th eir Films Organised by: Jaleh Esfahani Foundation in association with the London Middle East Institute. With Bardia Jalali, Deep Sleep, Saeid Fatemi, Hasti and Vahid Keshavarz, Postman, Avalon and Unexposed. Admission free. Khalili Lecture Th eatre, SOAS. E [email protected]

Sunday 14 April

1:00 pm | SOAS Arabic Choir Th e SOAS Arabic Choir meets every second Sunday at SOAS. Th e choir sings songs from diff erent parts of the Arabic musical tradition - oft en songs with a radical stance. All welcome. For further details E [email protected] W www.geocities.ws/soasarabicband

Tuesday 16 April

7:15 pm | Hisham Matar in Conversation Th e Pulitzer Prize-winning American born British-

Mustafa Hulusi, Oleander 1, 2016, Oil on canvas, 110 x 180cm. Photo Francis Ware. Mustafa Hulusi: Cyprus Realism (see Exhibitions p. 34)


Libyan author of Th e Return refl ects on the abiding themes of his writing life, from memory and family to war and repair. Tickets: £12.50. Purcell Room, Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road, London SE1 8XX. T 020 3879 9555 W www.southbankcentre.co.uk

Th ursday 18 April

6:45 pm | Converging Paths: Photography and the Middle East: Documentation, Orientalism and Espionage (Talk/Discussion) Organised by: Asia House and Th e Barakat Trust. In this illustrated talk, co-curator of the exhibition Departures (see Exhibitions) Richard Wilding contrasts the legacy and objectives of historical photographers with his own contemporary work and experiences in the region. Aft er his presentation, Wilding will be joined by a panel of specialists in historical photography and heritage documentation. Part of the series Converging Paths. Tickets: £10/£8 conc./students free. Asia House, 63 New Cavendish Street, London W1G 7LP. T 020 7307 5454 E [email protected] W https://asiahouse.org/

Saturday 20 April

1:15 pm | Lions and Sphinxes in Ancient Egypt (Gallery Talk) George Hart (Independent Speaker). Organised by: BM. Admission free. Room 4, BM. T 020 7323 8000 W www.britishmuseum.org

Wednesday 24 April

7:00 pm | Brick and Stucco. Examples of the Architecture and its Decoration in Saljuq Iran (11th-12th Centuries) (Lecture) Lorenz Korn (University of Bamberg, Germany). Organised by: Islamic Art Circle at SOAS. Chair: Scott Redford (SOAS). Admission free. Khalili Lecture Th eatre, SOAS. T 0771 408 7480 E [email protected] W www.soas.ac.uk/art/islac/

Th ursday 25 April

5:30 pm | Rethinking about Injuid Painting School: Inju Style in Context (Seminar) Roxana Zenhari. Zenhari's talk will focus on the expressive and enigmatic painting school, the Inju style (practised between 1307 and 1353 in Iran, Shiraz) and its relationship with Jawānmardi or fotowwa cycles. SOAS Research Seminars in Islamic Art. Convener: Anna Contadini (SOAS). Admission free. Room B102, SOAS. E [email protected]

6:30 pm | When Tehran was the Brightest Star: A Global History of the 1979 Iranian Revolution (Lecture) Simon Wolfgang Fuchs (Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg). Organised by: Royal Asiatic Society. Admission free. Royal Asiatic Society, 14 Stephenson Way, London NW1 2HD. T 020 7388 4539 E [email protected] W https://royalasiaticsociety.org/

Sunday 28 April

11:00 am | Digital Workshop: Egyptian Photo Booth Organised by: BM. Admission free. Use technology to turn yourself into a pharaoh, an Egyptian god and other characters. Admission free. Samsung Centre, BM. T 020 7323 8000 W www.britishmuseum.org

Monday 29 April

6:00 pm | Th e Annual Richard Barnett Memorial Lecture: Th e Excavations at Tel Rehov and the Archaeology of Israel in the Early Monarchic Period (Lecture) Amihai Mazar (Institute Of Archaeology, Hebrew University Of Jerusalem). Organised by: Anglo-Israel Archaeological Society jointly with the Institute of Archaeology, UCL. Followed by refreshments. Admission free. Lecture Th eatre G6, Institute of Archaeology, UCL, 31–34 Gordon Square, London WC1H OPY. T 020 8349 5754 E [email protected] W www.aias.org.uk

EVENTS OUTSIDE LONDON

Wednesday 3 April

1:15 pm | Discovering Islamic Geometric Design (Talk) A talk with Eric Broug, author, educator and designer specialising in Islamic geometric design. Admission is by token, one per person, available at the Courtyard Entrance desk on a fi rst-come fi rst-served basis 30 minutes before the talk. Th e Fitzwilliam Museum, Trumpington Street, Cambridge CB2 1RB. T 01223 332900 W www.fi tzmuseum.cam.ac.uk

Monday 15 April

9:30 am | BRAIS 2019 (Two-Day Conference: Monday 15 - Tuesday 16 April) Th e Sixth Annual Conference of the British Association for Islamic Studies. Tickets: See contact details below for various ticket prices. Teaching and Learning Building, University Park, University of Nottingham NG7 2RD. T 0131 650 4165 E [email protected] W www.brais.ac.uk/conferences/brais-2019

9:00 am | BRAIS 2019 (Two-Day Conference: Monday 15 - Tuesday 16 April) See above event listing for venue and contact details.

MAY EVENTS

Th ursday 2 May

10:30 am | Art of the Islamic and Indian Worlds, including Rugs and Carpets (Auction) Organised by: Christie’s Auction House. Th e lot will be exhibited at Christie’s from 26 April to 1 May. Admission free. Christie’s, 8 King Street, Saint James’s, London SW1Y 6QT. T 020 7839 9060 W www.christies.com

6:00 pm | Imperial Interventions in the Levant in 1919: Th e Wilsonian Imaginary and the Ottoman Lands (Lecture) Andrew Patrick, (Tennessee State University). Organised by: CBRL

(Council for British Research in the Levant) in association with the London Middle East Institute. Th e fi rst major American diplomatic foray into the region occurred a century ago. Th e King-Crane Commission of 1919, sent to the Middle East by Woodrow Wilson in order to ascertain the political desires of the (no longer) Ottoman people, generated a moment of intense political debate and deliberation in the region. In his lecture Patrick will evaluate the history of this oft -forgotten Commission. Admission free. DLT, SOAS. T 020 7969 5296 E [email protected] W www.cbrl.ac.uk

7:00 pm | Edward W. Said London Lecture 2019: Is Justice Still Possible? Palestine, International Law, and Public Discourse (Panel Discussion) Susan M. Akram (Boston University), Hassan Jabareen (Adalah), Philippe Sands QC (Matrix Chambers and UCL). Th e rights of Palestinians are enshrined in international laws and resolutions. Yet Israel and its supporters continually act against them. What can international law off er to change this reality? Chair: Wadie Said (University of South Carolina). Th e annual Edward W. Said London Lecture series is supported by Th e Mosaic Rooms/A. M. Qattan Foundation and London Review of Books. Tickets: £8–£14. Pre-registration required. Th e Royal Geographical Society, 1 Kensington Gore, London SW7 2AR. T 020 7370 9990 E [email protected] W https://mosaicrooms.org/

Friday 3 May

7:00 pm | Lecture by Hassan Jabareen Organised by: Centre for Palestine Studies. A lecture by Hassan Jabareen, the founder and General Director of Adalah – Th e Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel. Hassan is the lawyer of the Palestinian leadership in Israel and is an Adjunct Lecturer in diff erent Faculties of Law in Israeli universities .Admission free. Wolfson Lecture Th eatre, SOAS. T


CENTRE FOR IRANIAN STUDIES – SCHOLARSHIPSSOAS, University of London, is pleased to announce the availability of several scholarships in its Centre for Iranian Studies (CIS).

The Centre, established in 2010, draws upon the range of academic research and teaching across the disciplines of SOAS, including Languages and Literature, the Study of Religions, History, Economics, Politics, International Relations, Music, Art and Media and Film Studies. It aims to build close relations with likeminded institutions and to showcase and foster the best of contemporary Iranian talent in art and culture.

MA in Iranian Studies

CISlaunc interdisciplinary MA in Iranian Studies, which will be off ered

Thanks to the generosity of the Fereydoun Djam Charitable Trust, a number of Kamran Djam scholarships are available for BA, MA and MPhil/PhD studies.

For further details, please contact:

Scholarships Offi cer E: [email protected]: +44 (0)20 7074 5091/ 5094W: www.soas.ac.uk/scholarships

Centre for Iranian StudiesDr Arshin Adib-Moghaddam (Chair) E: [email protected] T: +44 (0)20 7898 4747 W: www.soas.ac.uk/lmei-cis

MA in Iranian StudiesDr Nima Mina (Department of the Languages and Culture of the Middle East) E: [email protected] T: +44 (0)20 7898 4315 W: www.soas.ac.uk/nme/programmes/ma-in-iranian-studies

Student RecruitmentT: +44(0)20 7898 4034E: [email protected]

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020 7898 4330 E [email protected] W www.soas.ac.uk/lmei-cps/

Wednesday 8 May

7:00 pm | Revisiting Baghdad: Mosques, Caliphs and the ‘Ulama (Lecture) Ruba Kana’an (University of Toronto, Canada). Organised by: Islamic Art Circle at SOAS. Chair: Scott Redford (SOAS). Admission free. Khalili Lecture Th eatre, SOAS. T 0771 408 7480 E [email protected] W www.soas.ac.uk/art/islac/

7.45 pm | Kareem Roustom’s Shades of Night (Concert) Chilingirian Quartet presents the European premiere of Syrian-born Kareem Roustom’s new string quartet Shades of

Night. Th e concert also features Th ea Musgrave’s 1958 String Quartet and Tchaikovsky’s String Quartet No.1, Op.11. Kareem Roustom is an Emmy-nominated composer, whose genre-crossing collaborations include music commissioned for the Kronos Quartet and Daniel Barenboim. Tickets: £10-£30. Purcell Room, Southbank Centre, London SE1 8XX. T 020 3879 9555 W www.southbankcentre.co.uk

Th ursday 9 May

5:30 pm | Looking Less, Seeing More: Th e Making of the Albukhary Gallery of Islamic Art (Seminar) William Greenwood. Th e BM’s Albukhary Gallery of the Islamic World represents a new direction in the display of Islamic

material culture, both in the UK and further afi eld. Having spent two years involved in its planning and execution, Greenwood will discuss the historical background of the gallery within the BM and the curatorial approaches to the collection. SOAS Research Seminars in Islamic Art. Convener: Anna Contadini (SOAS). Admission free. Room B102, SOAS. E [email protected]

6:00 pm | Revisiting Beth She’arim: Locals, Foreigners, Poets And Rabbis (Lecture) Jonathan Price (Tel Aviv University). Organised by: Anglo-Israel Archaeological Society jointly with the Institute of Archaeology, UCL. Followed by refreshments. Admission free. Pre-registration advised W https://revisitingbethshearim.eventbrite.co.uk Nash Lecture Th eatre (Room K2.31), King’s College London, Strand Building, London WC2R 2LS. T 020 8349 5754 E [email protected] W www.aias.org.uk

6:30 pm | ‘Saladin, we have returned!’: Th e Myriad Memories of the Crusades in the Near East during the Modern Era (Lecture) Jonathan Phillips (Royal Holloway). Organised by: Royal Asiatic Society. Admission free. Royal Asiatic Society, 14 Stephenson Way, London NW1 2HD. T 020 7388 4539 E [email protected] W https://royalasiaticsociety.org/

Saturday 11 May

9:45 am | Th e Idea of Iran: Th e Second Safavid Century (Two-Day Symposium: Saturday 11 – Sunday 12 May) Organised by: Centre for Iranian Studies, the Department of Religions & Philosophies, School of History, Religions & Philosophies, SOAS and the Shahnama Centre for Persian Studies, Pembroke College, University of Cambridge. Sponsored by: Soudavar Memorial Foundation. Th e fi ft eenth programme in Th e Idea of Iran annual series and the second dedicated to the Safavid era. What does the Idea of Iran mean at this

period? Can we discern the ways that contemporaries viewed their traditions and their environment (natural or built); what was the view of outsiders, and how does modern scholarship defi ne the distinctive aspects of the period? Conveners: Sarah Stewart (SOAS) and Charles Melville (University of Cambridge). Tickets: £20 (Standard); £10 (conc. & LMEI Affi liates); students free. Pre-registration required (see contact details below). T 020 7898 4330 E [email protected] W www.soas.ac.uk/lmei-cis/events/

Sunday 12 May

9:45 am | Th e Idea of Iran: Th e Second Safavid Century (Two-Day Symposium: Saturday 11 – Sunday 12 May) Organised by: Centre for Iranian Studies, the Department of Religions & Philosophies, School of History, Religions & Philosophies, SOAS and the Shahnama Centre for Persian Studies, Pembroke College, University of Cambridge. Sponsored by: Soudavar Memorial Foundation. See above event listing for details.

Monday 13 May

11:00 am | Th e Sudan Archaeological Research Society Colloquium: Recent Archaeological Fieldwork in Sudan Organised by: BM. Presenting reports from fi eldwork projects in Sudan over the past 12 months. Tickets: £15/£12.50 conc./£10 members of the Sudan Archaeological Research Society. Stevenson Lecture Th eatre, BM. T 020 7323 8181 W www.britishmuseum.org

Tuesday 14 May

6:30 pm | Persepolis in the Diaspora (Lecture) Lindsey Allen. Organised by: Th e Iran Society. A discussion about items removed from Persepolis to foreign collections. Admission free for Society Members plus one guest. Pall Mall Room, Th e Army & Navy Club, 36-39 Pall Mall, London SW1Y 5JN (Dress

Anna Boghiguian, A Myth 1994 notebook NOAB018, mixed media on paper, 15 x 11 x 0.5 cm. Courtesy the artist. Photo Renato Ghiazza. Anna Boghiguian (see Exhibitions p. 33)


code calls for gentlemen to wear jacket and tie). T 020 7235 5122 E [email protected] W www.iransociety.org / www.therag.co.uk

6:45 pm | L’Oriente di Pasolini: Th e Arabian Nights Th rough the Photographs of Roberto Villa (Talk) Organised by: Asia House and Th e British Italian Society. Talk showcasing the photographs taken by Roberto Villa on the set of Pasolini's Arabian Nights in 1973. Villa’s images not only capture some moments in the making of the fi lm but also the faces of the locals, as well as the mystical locations where the poet/director set his version of the Arabic folk tale. Tickets: £10/£8 conc./students free. Asia House, 63 New Cavendish Street, London W1G 7LP. T 020 7307 5454 E [email protected] W https://asiahouse.org/

Wednesday 15 May

5:45 pm | A legacy of T. E. Lawrence – Th e University of the Desert (Lecture) Mark Evans (Outward Bound Oman) Organised by: MBI Al Jaber Foundation. Part of the MBI Al Jaber Foundation Lecture Series. Admission free. Pre-registration required. MBI Al Jaber Seminar Room, London Middle East Institute, SOAS, MBI Al Jaber Building, 21 Russell Square, London WC1B 5EA. E [email protected] W www.mbifoundation.com

Th ursday 16 May

7:00 pm | Isfahan: the City as a Setting for Safavid Painting (Lecture) Massumeh Farhad (Freer Gallery of Art and the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.). Organised by: SOAS University of London in association with the London Middle East Institute, SOAS. Sponsored by: Persian Heritage Foundation. Part of the Yarshater Lecture Series in Persian Art. Th e fi rst of four lectures by Massumeh Farhad on Artists, Paintings and their Publics: Safavid

Albums in the Seventeenth Century (rescheduled from January 2019) in which she will discuss the Safavid capital Isfahan as the social, cultural, and architectural setting for the arts of the book in seventeenth-century Iran. Convener: Scott Redford (SOAS). Admission free. Khalili Lecture Th eatre, SOAS. T 0771 408 7480 E [email protected] W www.soas.ac.uk/art/islac/

Friday 17 May

7:00 pm | “United in War and Peace:” A Closer Look at Safavid Albums (Lecture) Part of the Yarshater Lecture Series in Persian Art. In the second of four lectures by Farhad the structure, format, and content of later Safavid albums (muraqqa’), the circulation of images, as well as Ottoman and Mughal responses will be discussed. See above event listing on Th ursday 16 May for details.

Monday 20 May

9:30 am | Middle East and Central Asia Music Forum Th e Middle East and Central Asia Music Forum has been running since 2007 and is open to researchers, students and anyone interested in the music and culture of the region. Conveners: Laudan Nooshin (City, University of London) and Rachel Harris (SOAS). Admission free. Pre-registration required. Music Department, City, University of London, Room AG09, College Building, St John Street, London EC1V 0HB. E [email protected] / [email protected] W www.city.ac.uk/events/2019/may/middle-east-and-central-asia-music-forum

7:00 pm | Painting and Production: A New Model for Safavid Isfahan (Lecture) Part of the Yarshater Lecture Series in Persian Art. In the third of four lectures by Farhad the careers of three artists (Malik Husayn, Muhammad Qasim, and Mu’in Musavvir) will serve as a lens on the production of manuscripts and album paintings and their diff erent publics in later Safavid

Iran. See above event listing on Th ursday 16 May for details.

Tuesday 21 May

7:00 pm | Safavid Albums: Shift ing the Visual Language (Lecture) Part of the Yarshater Lecture Series in Persian Art. In her fourth lecture Farhad will approach album pages from a stylistic perspective to highlight their meaning and function within the larger historical and artistic context of the period. See above event listing on Th ursday 16 May for details.

Wednesday 22 May

3:00 pm | What is World Th eory? Abdallah Laroui and the Language of Ideas (Seminar) Hosam Aboul Ela (Houston). Organised by: Centre for Cultural, Literary and Postcolonial Studies (CCLPS), SOAS. Th is talk will discuss two of Laroui’s works from this period—“Th e Concept of Freedom” and “Th e Concept of the State”—in order to consider Laroui as a global producer of ideas and to shed light on the challenges of producing ideas beyond Europe. Admission free. Room FG01, Faber Building, 23/24 Russell Square, SOAS. T 020 7898 4253 E [email protected] W www.soas.ac.uk/cclps/events/

Th ursday 23 May

7:00 pm | Th e Poet and Suleika: A West-Eastern Dialogue in Poetry and Music Organised by: Gingko. An evening of poetry and music to celebrate the 200th

anniversary of Goethe’s West-Eastern Divan and the launch of Gingko's A New Divan. With Nujoom al-Ghanem, Paul Farley, Don Paterson and Eric Ormsby reading poetry from the West-Eastern Divan and A New Divan, and ‘Hafi s Lieder’ by Gottfried von Einem, ‘Suleika’ by Franz Schubert and ‘Hatem’ by Hugo Wolf sung by Simon Wallfi sch. Tickets: £15/£12/£10 conc. T 01937 546546 E boxoffi [email protected] W https://www.bl.uk/events/the-poet-and-suleika-a-west-eastern-

dialogue-in-poetry-and-music Knowledge Centre, Th e British Library, 96 Euston Road, London NW1 2DB. T 020 36379730 E [email protected] W www.gingko.org.uk

EVENTS OUTSIDE LONDON

Th ursday 2 May

5:00 pm | Arabic in Flux: Social Media, Revolution and the Transforming Linguistic Landscape (Talk) Saussan Khalil (Chartered Institute of Linguists (CIOL), the British Society for Middle Eastern Studies (BRISMES) and the United Nations Association UK (UNA UK)). Organised by: Centre of Islamic Studies, University of Cambridge. Admission free. Room 8/9, Centre of Islamic Studies, Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, University of Cambridge, Sidgwick Avenue, Cambridge, CB3 9DA. T 01223 335 103 E [email protected] W www.ames.cam.ac.uk

Tuesday 14 May

5:30pm | Protracted Displacement and Palestinian Refugee Politics (Talk) Ilana Feldman (George Washington University). Drawing on archival and ethnographic research, this talk considers refugee lives and politics across the length and much of the breadth of Palestinian exile. Convenor: Mezna Qato. Admission free. Pre-registration required. King's College, Cambridge CB2 1ST. T 01223 331212 W www.kings.cam.ac.uk

Th ursday 30 May

5:00 pm | Th e Dialogue between AKP and Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt (Talk) Ezgi Basaran (St Anthony’s College, Oxford) Organised by: Centre of Islamic Studies, University of Cambridge. Admission free. Room 8/9, Centre of Islamic Studies, Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern


Studies, University of Cambridge, Sidgwick Avenue, Cambridge, CB3 9DA. T 01223 335 103 E [email protected] W www.ames.cam.ac.uk

EXHIBITIONS

Until 6 April | Afarin Sajedi: Ecce Mulier First UK solo exhibition by the Tehran-based, Iranian artist, Afarin Sajedi, taking inspiration from the psychoanalytic analysis of the feminine observed fi rst by Goethe and then by Jung, Sajedi explores the dreams, solitudes, battles and goals of the universal woman. Admission free. Dorothy Circus Gallery, 35 Connaught Street, London W2 2AZ. T 0755 192 9124 E [email protected] W www.dorothycircusgallery.uk

Until 13 April | Hayrettin

Kozanoglu: Multiple States of One Th e Turkish art of marbling: Ebru is performed using aqueous natural pigments mixed with ox-gall in a rectangular trough fi lled with thickened water, traditionally prepared using gum-tragacanth. Taking its starting point in the traditional craft smanship of Ebru, Kozanoglu manages to translate the Ebru of past times into a present day contemporary art practice. Admission free. Gerald Moore Gallery, Mottingham Lane, London SE9 4RW. T 0208 857 0448 E [email protected] / [email protected] W https://geraldmooregallery.org/

Until 6 May | Anna Boghiguian Th e fi rst retrospective in the UK of the Egyptian-Canadian artist of Armenian origin, Anna Boghiguian (Cairo, 1946). Informed by her interest in philosophy and her continuous travels, Boghiguian's work

comments on the human condition through the perspectives of global trade, mass migration, colonialism and war. Tickets: £9.50/£8.50 conc. Tate St Ives, Porthmeor Beach, St Ives, Cornwall TR26 1TG. T 01736 796 226 E [email protected] W www.tate.org.uk/visit/tate-st-ives

Until 6 May | Kader Attia: Th e Museum of Emotion In sculptures, installations, collages, videos and photographs that move ‘back and forth between politics and poetry’, Attia explores the ways in which colonialism continues to shape how Western societies represent and engage with non-Western cultures, and off ers a critique of modern Western systems of control. Tickets: £6.75-£15.50. Hayward Gallery, Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road, London SE1 8XX. T 020 3879 9555 W www.southbankcentre.co.uk

Until 12 May | Akram Zaatari: Th e Script Works by Lebanese artist Akram Zaatari featuring video installations inspired by YouTube fi lms connected to the Arab world alongside photographs of ordinary people taken in the 1950s to 1970s at a popular commercial photography studio located in the artist’s hometown of Saida, South Lebanon. Th e exhibition off ers a lesser-seen, more intimate view of Arab male identity. Admission free. Modern Art Oxford, 30 Pembroke Street, Oxford OX1 1BP. T 01865 722733 E [email protected] W www.modernartoxford.org.uk

Until 2 June | Hayv Kahraman: Displaced Choreographies Kahraman’s work explores her experience of living between Western and Middle Eastern cultures: having fl ed Iraq with her family aged 11 during the fi rst Gulf War as part of the Kurdish

HB | Dec 2018£20 | 9781788313971256 pgs | 216 x 138 mm

www.ibtauris.com

How America Abandoned the Kurds and Lost the Middle East

The twentieth century saw dramatic changes in the once Kurd-dominated Kirkuk region of Iraq. Despite having repeatedly

relied on the Kurdish population of Iraq for military support, on three occasions the United States have abandoned their

supposed allies in Kirkuk.

The Great Betrayal provides a political and diplomatic history of the Kirkuk region and its international relations from the 1920s to the present day. Based on first-hand interviews and

previously unseen sources, it provides an accessible account of a region at the very heart of America’s foreign policy priorities

in the Middle East, and reveals the devastating effects of betraying an ally.

David L. Phi l l ips

THE GREAT BETRAYAL

“A must read for those who want to understand why the Kurds play such a

key role in that future of Middle East” - Bernard Kouchner


mass exodus, the artist migrated to Europe and now lives in the USA. A female fi gure recurs in her work, representing shared histories between women and building on personal histories of migration. Admission free. De La Warr Pavilion, Marina, Bexhill, East Sussex TN40 1DP. T 01424 229 111 E boxoffi [email protected] W www.dlwp.com

Until 14 September | Th e Mosaic Rooms 10 Years: Modern Masters and Contemporary Culture from the Arab World and Iran A programme of exhibitions and events running from spring 2018 to autumn 2019. Th e programme of six exhibitions has two parts, a series of seminal Arab and Iranian modernist artists from Egypt, Iran and Morocco curated by Morad Montazami and a series of group shows presenting contemporary art from these three countries. Tickets: See contact details below. Th e Mosaic Rooms, A.M. Qattan Foundation, Tower House, 226 Cromwell Road, London SW5 0SW. T 020 7370 9990 E [email protected] W https://mosaicrooms.org

Friday 5 April

Until 18 May | Heart/Homeless: Th e Art of Manal Deeb In her fi rst solo exhibition in London Deeb expands upon the themes of exile and identity that have infused her art practice from the beginning. Following in the footsteps of three seminal Palestinian women artists, from the early 1900s to the present (Zulfa al-Sa’di , Juliana Seraphim and Mona Hatoum), Deeb treads new pathways by using her body, and most oft en her face as a template for artwork expressing the anguish of exile. Admission free. P21 Gallery, 21-27 Chalton Street, London NW1 1JD. T 020 7121 6190 E [email protected] W www.p21.gallery

Th ursday 11 April

Until 11 May | Mustafa Hulusi: Cyprus Realism First solo exhibition by the British-Cypriot-Turkish artist Mustafa Hulusi. Encompassing his persistent enquiry into the topic of ethics and aesthetics, the exhibition will feature new paintings created specifi cally for the exhibition, alongside a multi-channel video

work and a large-scale ceramic tile installation. His show is about making visible the cultural stasis of the present whilst simultaneously re-imagining a yet-to-come, temporal vision. Admission free. Pi Artworks London, 55 Eastcastle Street, London, W1W 8EG. T 020 7637 8403 W www.piartworks.com

Friday 12 April

Until 3 May | Departures: A Photographic Journey Th rough the Islamic World Drawing upon a unique collection of historical photographs and postcards, Departures will reveal the great diversity of the Islamic world’s social and cultural life. Juxtaposed with the exhibition’s historical photographs will be a mosaic of the Islamic world today seen through a curated sequence of images from the social media platform Instagram. See April Events Converging Paths: Photography and the Middle East: Documentation, Orientalism and Espionage, Th ursday 18 April. Admission free. Asia House, 63 New Cavendish Street, London W1G 7LP. T 020 7307 5454 E

[email protected] W https://asiahousearts.org/

Until 22 June | New Waves: Mohamed Melehi and the Casablanca Art School Works by abstract painter Mohamed Melehi and related archives from the Casablanca Art School where Melehi was a key member in the 1960s and 70s. Melehi’s own work results from a dialogue between Moroccan traditional and popular craft , whilst also connecting to the hard edge painters of the 1960’s. Admission free. Th e Mosaic Rooms, A.M. Qattan Foundation, Tower House, 226 Cromwell Road, London SW5 0SW. T 020 7370 9990 E [email protected] W https://mosaicrooms.org/

Wednesday 22 May

Until 30 August | Nine Iranian Artists in London: Th e Spark Is You Admission free. Parasol unit foundation for contemporary art, 14 Wharf Road, London N1 7RW. T 020 7490 7373 E [email protected] W https://parasol-unit.org/


Safavid School, Portrait of a Caucasian archer (Private collection).

The Idea of Iran: The Second Safavid Century

Saturday 11 & Sunday 12 M

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Russell Square, London W

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The fi fteenth programm

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onvened by Sarah Stewart, SO

AS University of London

and Charles M

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ambridge.

Admission: £20; C

onc. & LMEI Affi liates: £10; Students: Free.

Pre-registration required: W w

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ei-cis/events/idea-of-iran/

Organised by: C

entre for Iranian Studies, D

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eligions and Philosophies, SOAS

and Shahnama C

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broke College, U

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Enquiries: T 020 7898 4330 E [email protected]

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w.soas.ac.uk/lmei-cis/ http://persian.pem

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Ar sts, Pain ngs and their Publics Safavid Albums in the Seventeenth Century

Four Lectures by Dr Massumeh Farhad, Chief Curator and The Ebrahimi Family Curator of Persian, Arab and Turkish Art

Freer Gallery of Art and the Arthur M. Sackler GallerySmithsonian Ins tu on, Washington, D.C.

7.00 pm, Thursday 16th, Friday 17th, Monday 20th and Tuesday 21st May 2019Khalili Lecture Theatre, SOAS University of London

Admission Free - All WelcomeTelephone: 020 7898 4330 E-mail: [email protected]

Website: www.soas.ac.uk/lmei/

The Yarshater Lectures in Persian Art

Image: Woman Smoking a WaterpipeSigned by Muhammad Qasim-i TabriziIran, Safavid period, 1640sopaque watercolor and gold on paperNasser D. Khalili Collec on of Islamic Art Copyright Khalili Family Trust. MSS 999.

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