Violence continues to escalate all across Palestine-Israel in what some are calling the Third Intifada. Yousef Natsheh and Cody O'Rourke, with Christian Peacemaker Teams, discuss the current contours of the conflict and continuing theft, by exclusion of Palestinians from their lands in Hebron, under the guise of academic research.
Naming plays a role in legitimizing the theft. Yousef speaks about the "new designations" which are used to wipe away Palestinian presence to lay false claim to their legal rights.
Israeli supported and protected illegal settlements exist in Hebron. The religious fundamentalists who are the inhabitants act as the shock troops for Israel's strategic goal of ethnically cleansing Palestine of its indigenous Palestinian population.
All violence is rooted in the oppression of the colonizers and the racism that is at the core of the Zionist project. The speakers offer their experience in non-violent resistance to injustice and possibly the road map for a sustainable and just peace.
Christian Peacemaker Teams - www.cpt.org
Yousef Natsheh, a 23-year-old CPT Palestine Team Member, human rights photographer, and Hebron local, shares his experience as a peacemaker. He is a resident in Occupied Palestine. His story brings the Occupation and local nonviolent resistance and peacemaking efforts to life. Cody OâRourke has been working for over a decade across Israel-Palestine. He has a unique perspective on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict which he explains as he talks about navigating the social spaces of being a peace activist in an increasingly militarized society while raising his son in Jerusalem.