The Struggle to Educate in the West Bank

Send us Fan MailPalestinians have long faced difficulties accessing education, and these only intensified in the West Bank following Oct. 7, 2023. Aisha Al-Khatib, a principal in Nablus and a peace activist with Combatants for Peace, joined the show to discuss the state of education in the West Bank. Since the outbreak of the war on Iran, most schools have been shuttered and only limited online learning is taking place. We discuss the role of education in peacebuilding and Aisha's activism over the years with Combatants for Peace.

Send us Fan MailJournalist, author, academic and editor of the news site The Palestine Chronicle, Ramzy Baroud discusses the connections between the Israeli-U.S. war on Iran, Israel's war in Lebanon and Israeli actions in the Occupied West Bank and the Gaza Strip. 

Send us Fan MailAs the devastation in Gaza threatens to be spilled over into a full-scale annihilation of Beirut, the Middle East crossed a Rubicon the morning this episode was recorded. With Israel’s sudden announcement of high-level assassinations targeting the upper echelons of Iranian leadership, the region faces an unprecedented era of engineered chaos. Is this a sudden escalation, or the culmination of a decades-old geopolitical strategy?This week on Understanding Israel Palestine: Beyond the Walls, Jeremy Rothe-Kushel is joined by independent journalist and Tikun Olam publisher Richard Silverstein to unpack the terrifying realities of this active multi-front war. We dive deep into Richard's latest reporting, beginning with the delusional Trump-Netanyahu attempts to decapitate Iranian leadership. We analyze the harrowing collateral realities of this "War of Annihilation," including the deliberate ecocide of burning oil raining down on the Iranian populace and the calculated destruction of ancient Islamic historical sites.Pivoting to the Levant, we examine the IDF's psychological and physical warfare in Lebanon, breaking down the chilling leaflets dropped on Beirut that explicitly threaten the city with a Gaza-style "Genocide 2.0." Finally, we begin to address the underlying psychological framework of Israeli state terror—a calculated mechanism designed not only to frighten the West into compliance, but to deliberately terrorize the global Jewish community into a state of reactive Zionism.Please note: Due to terrestrial broadcast time constraints, this radio edit omits our extended deep-dive into the 1996 neoconservative "Clean Break" strategy, the deeper history of the Israeli state, and the beginning of an urgent conversation about critical disentanglement of and reckoning with Jewish religion and identity in direct relationship to Israeli state violence. For that complete, raw analysis, listeners are encouraged to seek out the Full Raw Cut of this interview here: https://beyondthewalls.substack.com/p/breaking-the-realm-the-iran-assassinationsResources & Links mentioned in this episode:Tikun Olam Blog: richardsilverstein.comArticle: Beirut: 1,000 Dead as Israel Threatens Gaza-Style GenocideArticle: Iran: Trump’s War of AnnihilationArticle: Israeli Cultural and Environmental Genocide in IranArticle: Zionism, Genocide and Jews: Which Side Are You On?

Send us Fan MailCivilian casualties continue to climb in the region, especially in Iran and Lebanon, as the US and Israel intensify their assault on Iran. Iran retaliates by using its array of drones and missiles to hit US and Israeli military targets in the region, oil infrastructure, and other civilian targets. Hundreds of ships continue to be unable to transit the Strait of Hormuz, raising global energy prices. Dr. Annelle Sheline of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft joins the show to discuss these developments.

Send us Fan MailMai Shaheen is a Palestinian peace activist and therapist who uses nonviolent communication in her work with victims of trauma.  In a conversation both frank and inspirational, she talks  about how nonviolent dialogue brings Israelis, Palestinians and internationals together for healing, solidarity and nonviolent action.  A founder of the Satyam Homeland Peace Center in the Occupied West Bank, she discusses the growing number of Palestinians and Israelis taking action together even as conditions in the West Bank worsen for Palestinians. 

Send us Fan MailIn light of the recent passage of a bill in Missouri codifying the IHRA definition of antisemitism for K-12 schools and college campuses, in addition to similar efforts in several other stage legislatures, we are reposting an interview conducted in April 2025 with Lara Friedman, president of the Foundation for Middle East Peace. She discusses the threat to free speech posed by the International Holocaust Rembrance Alliance (IHRA) Working Definition of antisemitism being adopted by many institutions, communities and states in the United States and around the world. The definition associates criticism of Israel with antisemitism. While opposed by a broad range of groups, including human rights organizations, civil liberties groups, Palestinian rights defenders, peace activists, progressive Jewish and Christian groups, and even some strong pro-Israel supporters, the IHRA is increasingly being used as a legal standard. Friedman says the IHRA Working Definition of antisemitism is part of a long-standing effort to chill free speech on Israel and Palestine and to limit what can be said about Israeli policies and practices. 

Send us Fan MailPaul Pillar discusses the multiple obstacles facing Phase 2 of the Gaza Peace Plan and prospects for the U.S.-Iran talks now underway even as U.S. forces are poised to attack Iran. A 28-year veteran of the CIA, Pillar is a non-resident fellow at the Quincy institute for Responsible Statecraft and at Georgetown University’s Center for Security Studies. He’s the author of several books on foreign policy.  His most recent book, published in 2023, is “Beyond the Water’s Edge: How Partisanship Corrupts U.S. Foreign Policy.”

Send us Fan MailOvercoming the Structures of Erasure and the Semantics of Genocidal Management with Aseel AlBajeh"How do we talk about a reality that is being systematically erased in real-time?"On this episode of Understanding Israel Palestine: Beyond the Walls, we examine the epistemology of erasure and how to transcend it through factual reframing. We explore the reality that a genocide is not just committed with bombs, but maintained with words.Host Jeremy Rothe-Kushel is joined by Aseel AlBajeh, the Advocacy Officer at the Palestine Institute for Public Diplomacy (PIPD). A legal researcher turned advocacy strategist, Aseel joins us to elucidate the "Communicating Palestine" guide—a vital new strategic manual designed to help advocates move beyond defensive fact-checking and into offensive narrative power.We dive into the guide’s core pillars—"Reframing Narratives" and "Engaging Palestinian Voices"—to understand how to shift the conversation away from the "security" traps set by the occupier and back toward the root causes of history, colonization, and rights.Together, we use the guide to decode the deceptive language of "Peace Plans" and "Day After Scenarios" that currently mask permanent military encampment and starvation logistics in Gaza. We analyze the "Rogue Actor" myth of settler violence in the West Bank to reveal the unitary reality of state annexation.Crucially, we confront the historical architecture of "Sacred Terrorism." Drawing on the definitive work of Livia Rokach, Thomas Suarez, and Naeim Giladi, we trace how the foundations of the Israeli state were built by self-confessed terrorists like David Ben-Gurion and Menachem Begin—figures who utilized political violence not as a desperate last resort, but as a calculated tool of statecraft. We examine how this history has been inverted, trapping Western diplomacy in a "double bind" where the victims are labeled terrorists to justify their erasure, while the state architects of terror are shielded by the very "Peace Process" they designed to fail.Finally, we address the ultimate weapon of the status quo: Apathy. We discuss how the claim that the situation is "too complex" is often a deliberate tactic to induce paralysis. Aseel shares how the Communicating Palestine guide provides the epistemological confidence and ethical clarity needed to cut through this weaponized complexity, empowering listeners to move from feeling overwhelmed to speaking truth with power.This episode serves as a primer for the upcoming Voices From the Holy Land online film salon and workshop on Sunday, February 15th.Links & ResourcesThe Guest & The Tools:The Strategic Guide: Communicating PalestineA comprehensive resource for reframing the conversation on Palestine, moving away from exceptionalism and towards universal rights and historical context.The Organization: Palestine Institute for Public Diplomacy (PIPD)The Event: Voices From the Holy Land: "Say What??" Workshop (Register for Feb 15th)The Show:Radio Broadcast: Understanding Israel Palestine at KKFI 90.1 FMSubstack: Beyond the Walls with Jeremy Rothe-KushelKeywordsOvercoming Structures of Erasure, Genocidal Management, Commu

Send us Fan MailBeyond the Language of the Israel-Palestine 'Conflict' and the Unconscious Grammar of Genocidal Consent with Alex McDonaldOn this episode of Understanding Israel Palestine, a Beyond the Walls edition, we move beyond the kinetic warfare on the ground to examine the cognitive warfare in our own minds. We investigate the "deep structural politics" of language—the specific mechanisms used to manufacture consent and maintain an information blockade here in the West.Our guest suggests that we aren't just "misinformed"; we have been acculturated into a specific foreign policy dialect designed to obscure the structural realities of what we have been taught to call the Israel-Palestine "conflict." Jeremy Rothe-Kushel speaks with Alex McDonald, a researcher, co-founder of the Texas Coalition for Human Rights, and an educator working to correct the historical record in U.S. instructional materials. Alex brings the dual perspective of an analyst and a witness, having served on the Steering Committee of Voices From the Holy Land and as a volunteer on the Freedom Flotilla. He is the author of How I Learned to Speak Israel: An American's Guide to a Foreign Policy Language and When They Speak Israel: A Guide to Clarity in Conversations about Israel.This conversation serves as a primer and invitation for a vital upcoming event. On February 15th, Alex will lead the Voices From the Holy Land (VFHL) Online Film Salon, a workshop dedicated to decoding and dismantling this disinformation architecture.Links:Register for the VFHL Salon: Tinyurl.com/VFHL-February2026Alex McDonald’s Work & Books: SpeakIsrael.infoUnderstanding Israel Palestine: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2016486Beyond the Walls: https://beyondthewalls.substack.com/Keywords: Israel-Palestine, Cognitive Warfare, Manufacturing Consent, Alex McDonald, Voices From the Holy Land, Gaza Genocide, Foreign Policy Language, Disinformation, Deep Politics, Freedom Flotilla, Educational Bias, How I Learned to Speak Israel.

Send us Fan MailAs the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt prepares to open, we're rebroadcasting a show about the crisis of disability in Palestine and particularly in Gaza. With thousands of amputees struggling to get the care they need in Gaza, their only hope lies in exiting through the severely limited Rafah border crossing.