Podcast - Understanding Israel Palestine

The show is hosted by Citizens for Justice in the Middle East, a local group that has advocated for 20 years for a fair and even-handed U.S. foreign policy that recognizes the rights of both Palestinians and Israelis. Our program offers interviews with journalists, scholars, policy experts and activists to offer multiple perspectives, and to clarify the underlying issues that are often obscured by headline news.

100 Years of Zionist Colonization of the Holy Land: The Longue Durée with Prof. Mazin Qumsiyeh

Prof. Mazin Qumsiyeh of Bethlehem University discusses the longue durée of the progressive Zionist colonization of the Holy Land. He highlights the current siege-like situation in the ghetto of Bethlehem in the occupied West Bank, before going on to discuss the numerous Israeli assaults in the West Bank and their...

Telling Gaza’s Story

Independent film-maker Maurice Jacobsen speaks about efforts he and long-time Palestinian colleagues in Gaza have been making to document the war in Gaza. He has been posting on the Internet short videos integrating current footage of the war sent to him by the Media Goup in Gaza with scenes of...

International Law and the War in Gaza

Former U.N. Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in the Palestinian Territories Occupied by Israel since 1967, Michael Lynk discusses international law as it applies to the war in Gaza between Israel and Hamas. The Oct. 7 attack on Israeli civilians by Hamas as well as Hamas' ongoing missile strikes on...

Visa Waiver for Israel Violates Arab-Americans’ Rights

Maya Berry, executive director of the Arab-American Institute, discusses Arab-Americans' outrage at the Biden administration's announcement Sept. 27th that it is accepting Israel into the U.S. visa waiver program, a program which allows citizens from select countries to travel to the United States without a visa. Arab-American, Palestinian-American and U.S....

From the Nakba until Now: A Palestinian-Christian Perspective on the Holy Land with Rev. Dr. Fahed Abu-Akel

The Rev. Dr. Fahed Abu-Akel joined Understanding Israel Palestine this week to share about his journey from his childhood in Palestine to Atlanta. He was born in the Christian village of Kafr Yasif in British Mandate Palestine. His family was forced to flee their village during the Nakba. His village...

Is Israel an apartheid state: three experts weigh in

A report by the United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East concluded that 2023 promises to be the most violent year since 2005. The UN report also called attention to numerous other factors - including the expansion of illegal Israeli Jewish settlements in the West Bank – which “threaten...

Gaza Freedom Flotilla: Rock the Boat

The Gaza Freedom Flotilla movement was launched in 2006 after a volunteer with the International Solidarity Movement (ISM) proposed chartering a boat to sail from New York to Gaza to break the siege which Israel had imposed. The roster of volunteers for the fledgling flotilla movement quickly burgeoned; financial...

Water Apartheid in Israel-Palestine

Eyal Hareuveni of the Israeli human rights organization B'Tselem discusses how and why Palestinians in the Occupied West Bank face a chronic shortage of water. He is the author of a new study by B'Tselem called "Parched: Israel's Policy of Water Deprivation in the West Bank," which examines Israel's discriminatory...