Falastin In Focus

It’s the olive harvest season in Palestine, although not in Gaza for obvious reasons. If you didn’t already know just how sacred the olive tree is to Palestinians, you’ll hopefully get a glimpse after this episode of Falastin where we turn to that season of connection, and to one of the organisations keeping it alive in spirit and action. The Dalia Association is a leading community foundation in...

Just before the Gaza ceasefire was announced, the Gaza Freedom Flotilla, a convoy of civilian boats carrying aid and solidarity, was raided by Israeli forces in international waters. In this episode of Falastin, Jehan Alfarra speaks to David Heap, a long-time member and organiser of the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, about the status of the most recent mission to Gaza and the flotilla effort as a who...

For today’s episode of Falastin I wanted to take a break from our usual interviews to share some personal thoughts on this significant moment. As we take a deep breath with Gaza, let us remind ourselves: a ceasefire is temporary. Justice is permanent. And until justice comes, our work and our attention cannot stop.

In Gaza City right now, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians are under threat. Israel has ordered them to leave, calling it their ‘last opportunity’ before unleashing the full force of its assault. The message from Israel’s Defense Minister Katz is chilling: anyone who stays behind will be treated as a terrorist or a terrorist sympathiser. Paving the way for their slaughter. The children, the pre...

Jamana Kaplanian is a Christian Palestinian psychologist & Mental Health Trainer from Bethlehem. In 2016, she launched Psychology spa, the first locally-run, non-profit wellness centre focusing on psychoeducation and fighting mental health stigma. It’s a space where people, women in particular, can receive support.

Joudie Kalla is a British-Palestinian chef and activist. She’s the author of Palestine on a Plate and Baladi, and a powerful advocate for her people. Through her food and her words, Joudie has helped carry the story of Palestine into kitchens and communities around the world, showing how cooking can be both preservation and resistance. But she’s also been a fearless voice for justice, speaking out...

Yousef Alhelou is a Palestinian journalist, political analyst and filmmaker from Gaza, now based in the UK.  Yousef has spent years reporting on Palestine. His most recent award-winning documentary film - The Phoenix of Gaza - captures his last visit to the Strip just months before October 2023 and offers an intimate look at the vibrant side of Gaza, its many landmarks and the resilience of its pe...

Dr. Samah Jabr is a leading Palestinian psychiatrist, psychotherapist, writer, and public intellectual. She is former chair of the Mental Health Unit at the Palestinian Ministry of Health, and for over two decades, she has explored the psychological dimensions of life under occupation — not as an academic exercise, but as a lived reality. Her new book, Radiance in Pain and Resilience: The Global R...

“One day, when it's safe, when there's no personal downside to calling a thing what it is, when it's too late to hold anyone accountable, everyone will have always been against this.” This was a tweet posted by award-winning Egyptian-Canadian novelist and journalist Omar El Akkad on X in October 2023. It is also the title of his recently published New York Times Bestseller which has al...

A writer, editor, filmmaker, organiser, and longtime advocate for justice in Palestine, Frank Barat has spent years holding space for difficult and necessary conversations. He has worked with iconic voices like Angela Davis, Noam Chomsky, and Ilan Pappé, curating powerful collections like Gaza in Crisis and Freedom is a Constant Struggle. He was a coordinator of the Russell Tribunal on Palestine....

Shareef Safadi is a Palestinian citizen of Israel. His identity challenges the very foundation of a state that calls him its own, while denying his Palestinianhood. As someone whose family remained on their land during and after the Nakba, Shareef belongs to a group that Israel refers to as ‘Arab Israelis’ or ‘Israeli Arabs’. In this episode we discuss 'Arab-Israelis', or ’48 Palestinians...

Cactus Pear for my Beloved is the story of a family from Gaza, starting in Palestine under British rule and ending in Redland Bay in Queensland, Australia. It is a memoir by Palestinian‑Australian author, playwright and scholar Samah Sabawi. This is an intimate family chronicle and a testimonial to the broader Palestinian story, and it reinvigorates Gaza’s pre-1967 history—its literary, social and...

Today, we speak to a man who has built a museum not for a state, but for a people. Faisal Saleh is the founder and executive director of the Palestine Museum, which first opened as Palestine Museum US in Woodbridge, Connecticut, and has since travelled across the Atlantic. The first European branch of the Palestine Museum opened in the Scottish capital Edinburgh in May, as Palestinians marked the...