The Ajyal Podcast S1E3: Palestinian land rights and inequality in resource acquisition

The Palestinian struggle is at the center of all colonisation projects and climate injustices happening in West Asia.

Colonisation forcefully removes land rights from Indigenous communities, deprives them from natural resources, and destroys indigenous biodiversity and cultural connection with nature, all while purposefully polluting and harming nature and the climate. It stands against the holistic relationship between humans and nature.  

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Looking for more or have questions after listening? Join Rayan, all our episode guests, and climate justice expert Dr. Rania Masri at our Series #1 Webinar, happening on July 4 at 16:00 UTC / 19:00 Beirut time! Register here.

“There is no other scenario than ending occupation to achieve climate justice in Palestine.”

Episode overview

With youth guest Suha Jarrar, from Al-Haq organisation in Palestine.

Though the implications of colonisation on Indigenous People and climate are not unique to Palestine, this episode aims to highlight the nuances and intersections of Palestinian freedom and climate justice at this time. It delves into the struggles of Indigenous communities in their fight for social and climate justice and displays the interlinkages between them. We discussed the Palestinian crisis and its relation to Palestinian land rights and resource acquisition. Through Suha’s personal experience with the occupation, we identified that climate movements that deem colonisation as a sensitive and neutral topic are greenwashing and are doomed to fail long-term

Key Takeaways

• Ending occupation is central to achieving climate justice

• Colonisation not only takes away the freedom of Indigenous people but also their resources, traditions, and relationship with nature

• The Palestinian climate movement calls for adaptation to climate change

• Palestinian climate activists are human-rights advocates

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Additional Resources

• Al-Haq organisation

• Climate change in Palestinian:

  • Climate Change, the Occupation, and a Vulnerable Palestine

  • Palestine is a climate justice issues

• Papers authored by Suha Jarrar:

  • Climate change vulnerability in the occupied Palestinian territories

  • Unpacking gender in coercive environments: The case of the Jordan valley

• Support Palestinian initiatives:

  • Zaitoun (Olives)

  • Friends of the Earth - Palestine

  • Sawaed19

• Learn about the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples

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MORE ABOUT THIS EPISODE

EPISODE QUESTIONS

Quick questions with quick responses (What did our guests choose?)

1. Isolationism vs integrationism? 

2. Is cultural justice part of climate justice?

3.  Name one thing you lost due to occupation?

4.  From 1-10 how much would you rate international solidarity with Palestine? 

Discussion questions

1. Give a quick overview of land and resource inequality in Palestine

2. How are the social, economic, and environmental conditions of colonised Palestinian youth different from those in the Western World?

3. Climate movements in Palestine: Do they call for the same justices as in Western countries? What is their focus? How can they be supported? 

4. How are suppressive actions against traditional socio-ecological practices in Palestine related to climate injustice?

Guest Bio

Suha Jarrar is a senior research and advocacy officer at Al-Haq, an independent Palestinian non-governmental human rights organisation. She is a expert on gender, environment, and climate justice in the context of occupation and human rights violations against the Palestinian people.