Dismantling Myths on Israel-Palestine
Wednesday, 16 June 2021
1:00 PM EDT
Featuring:
Mezna Qato, Cambridge University
Mouin Rabbani, Jadaliyya
Shira Robinson, George Washington University
Organized by the George Washington University Institute for Middle East Studies and the Middle East Research and Information Project (MERIP)
In the US, both media and popular narratives on the conflict in Israel and the Occupied Territories of Palestine are shifting. Information about the nature of Israeli domestic politics, life under occupation for Palestinians, and the tactics employed by the Israeli military is visible in the US mainstream in a way it was not just a few years ago. Join us for a discussion of some of the most lasting misconceptions around this conflict, where experts will help us contextualize and understand why these myths have endured so long.
Featuring
Mezna Qato is historian of the modern Middle East, and in particular of migration, development, and social histories of Palestinian refugee and exile communities. She was previously a Spencer Fellow at the National Academy of Education, and Junior Research Fellow at King’s College, Cambridge. She is currently completing a book on the history of education for Palestinians. Her research and teaching interests centre on histories and theories of social, economic and political transformation amongst refugee and stateless communities, the politics and practice of archives, and global micro-histories of movements and collectivities in the Middle East.
Mouin Rabbani has published and commented widely on Palestinian affairs, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and the contemporary Middle East. He was previously Senior Analyst Middle East and Special Advisor on Israel-Palestine with the International Crisis Group, and head of political affairs with the Office of the United Nations Special Envoy for Syria. He is Co-Editor of Jadaliyya Ezine.
Shira Robinson is completing a book on the contradictions of liberal settler sovereignty in post-1948 Israel. She teaches history and international affairs at the George Washington University.
