The Justice for Palestine programme series addresses the historical and present-day contexts of colonisation, apartheid and military occupation that led to the horrific 7th October attacks and the subsequent bombardments of the Gaza Strip. Our first event on 7th November 2023 featured the film ‘Gaza Fights for Freedom’. Reflecting on this series, we provide an overview of the highlights and recorded sessions available to watch back.
We launched this series to have a dialogue and provide more context on the historic root causes of the present situation in Palestine. Our focus is on questioning Western and Dutch support for the Israeli government, often disregarding international law on human rights and crimes against humanity. We aim to foster solutions for justice, equality, and peace in Historic Palestine, collaborating with grassroots networks and organisations.
Below you’ll find some of the highlights from our recorded sessions, which you can also find in this YouTube playlist:
Film screening: Gaza Fights For Freedom
We kicked-off our events series by showing the documentary Gaza Fights for Freedom (2019). This film is about the history of Gaza and the nonviolent resistance of 2018-2019 and the Israeli repression of this peaceful movement surrounding the Great March of Return. This documentary is available online to watch for free. In addition to this documentary, we recommend watching the short film How Palestine became colonised which provides historical context and is also made by documentary maker Abby Martin.
Afleren van Zionisme: Een Gesprek Tussen Joden in Nederland
This programme, held in Dutch focused on creating a conversation among Jews in the Netherlands about understanding Zionism as an ideology that legitimises Israeli occupation policies and in return how Zionism influences how we understand anti-semitism. We spoke with different representatives of Jewish organizations such as Jaap Hamburger (chairman of Een Ander Joods Geluid), Joana Cavaco (Erev Rav) and Erella Grassiani (founder of Gate48).
Designing Return: From the River to the Sea
On Monday 12th February, we collaborated with Het Grote Midden-Oosten Platform to discuss the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza and the Palestinian right of return to their ancestral lands and to ask how we can design the right of return peacefully without displacing anyone in the process. We explored Gaza’s past, present, and possible futures with guests such as Yuval Gal (co-founder Erev Rav) and Umayya Abu-Hanna (writer).
Israelism
In the documentary ‘Israelism’, we follow two young American Jews who were raised to unconditionally love Israel but experience a profound awakening when they start to understand the brutality of Israel’s occupation of Palestine. The documentary offers a compassionate and comprehensive window into Zionism from the Jewish perspective. We were happy to organise the Dutch premiere on 29th of March and host a touching and insightful after talk with the filmmakers. You can watch the documentary online and the aftert alk on our website.
Reviving Deleted Cities: Jaffa & Gaza
Together with CIE – Centre for International Heritage Activities and Heritage Lab, we created a programme about the erased stories and histories of Gaza and Jaffa on Wednesday 17 of April. We spoke with Umayya Abu-Hanna (writer) and Sarah al Yahya (interactive media artist) about how we can preserve Palestinian heritage. We explored the histories of resistance through an interactive map of Jaffa.
Het recht op demonstratie
On Monday May 13th, we hosted a programme about the right to demonstrate following the student protests at the University of Amsterdam. During this evening, we discussed the police violence used against the students in the Netherlands and explored what the right to demonstrate truly entails. Our discussion included insights from an anonymous student who participated in the protests, Marjolein Kuijerse (policy officer at Amnesty International) and Jelle Klaas (human rights lawyer at PILP).
In Conversation with Palestinian Doctor Ghassan Abu-Sittah
In this programme, organised by the Rights Forum on the 17th of May, Berber van der Woude (board member of the Rights Forum) interviewed Ghassan Abu-Sittah about his time as a surgeon in Gaza and the war crimes he witnessed there. Other guests included Sara Galli (Doctors for Gaza) and Tobias den Haan (legal officer at ELSC).
Neutrality in Mental Health: (Un-)Helpful?
On 21st June, we hosted a programme developed by Ilse Verhagen (child psychologist and PhD student) about the role of mental health professionals and whether they should refrain from taking a political stance or fight social injustice and pathology. Guests included Lara Sheehi (assistant professor of clinical psychology) and Rana Nashashibi (director of Palestine Counselling Centre). This event was the kick-off of the Dutch branch of the Palestine-Global Mental Health Network.
Upcoming programmes
After our summer break, we will continue our programmes in this series, starting with the Dutch programme Hajo, een Joodse Vluchteling on the 9th of September. We will watch a documentary about a Jewish refugee who arrived in the Netherlands before the Second World War. His experience as a refugee had a profound impact on him and inspired him to speak out against Zionism and Islamophobia. After the documentary, we will talk with Jaap Hamburger (chairman of Een Ander Joods Geluid), the director of the movie Jacqueline de Bruijn and Rahma Bavelaar (researcher at Meld Islamofobie).
You can sign up for this programma here.
On 2nd October, we are hosting the programme Why Palestine is a climate justice issue, where we will discuss the environmental devastation in Palestine and South Lebanon, the destructive impact of militarism and the silence of the Dutch climate movement.
You can sign up for this programme here.
Open call
Do you have any programme ideas, valuable feedback or are you another platform or organisation that wants to work with us? We’d love to hear from you! You can reach out to us with your suggestions and help us create more impactful events. Please email to [email protected].
