Episode 046 - Double Apartheid with Nisreen Salem

This week Lara and Michael speak with Nisreen Salem, a photojournalist from Occupied East Jerusalem. She conducts the interview from inside a family’s house in the neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah where she documents protests that occur every night. We provide updates on the situation in Sheikh Jarrah with the Salem family and others. Nisreen breaks down the specifics of the Jerusalem court freezing (but not cancelling) expulsions, and ordering Palestinian families to pay the courts and the Israeli police. She explains how Sheikh Jarrah is the last stand for Palestinian freedom of movement in Jerusalem because 4 of the 6 areas in East Jerusalem have already been ethnically cleansed by the Apartheid state. Nisreen tells us about the Afro Palestinian experience, including racism from both Israeli and Palestinian society amounting to what she describes as “double apartheid.” Nisreen describes how she was assaulted and abducted by the IOF for doing journalism. We discuss how the occupation uses the trauma of Black Jews to advance settler-colonial aims while deporting Black Jews, invalidating their Jewishness, and in some cases sterilizing Ethiopian women. We conclude with the story of how Nisreen's family was displaced first in Africa, and then again from 1948 Palestine.

To consult the sources used in the preparation of this episode, please see:

Articles

•  Sheikh Jarrah: Far-right Israeli lawmaker Ben-Gvir refuses to leave makeshift office (Middle East Eye)

• Itamar Ben Gvir dragged off Knesset podium for calling Arab chair “terrorist” (Times of Israel)

• Court freezes eviction of Palestinian family from Sheikh Jarrah home (Times of Israel)

• Silwan: 170 members of a Palestinian family face eviction in three neighbourhoods (Middle East Eye)

• 10 things you should know about the evictions in East Jerusalem (Norwegian Refugee Council)

• Sheikh Jarrah: Israeli assault on Palestinian with Down syndrome sparks outrage (Middle East Eye)

• Afro-Palestinians talk heritage and resistance (Al Jazeera)

• From Fatima Bernawi to Nelson Mandela: The extensive history of Black and Palestinian solidarity (The New Arab)

• African-Palestinian community’s deep roots in liberation struggle (Electronic Intifada)

• Israel Gives African Asylum-Seekers A Choice: Deportation Or Jail (NPR)

• Family of 18-year-old Killed by Off-duty Officer Decry Racial Bias in Israeli Police Probe (Haaretz)

• Israel Admits Ethiopian Women Were Given Birth Control Shots (Haaretz)

• Ethiopian Jews Confront Racism in Israel (Middle East Policy Council)

• Including journalists, Israel Soldiers Abduct Sixteen Palestinians In Jerusalem (International Middle East Media Center)

• A Jewish Teacher Criticized Israel. She Was Fired (New York Times)