Dr. Dana El Kurd is an Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of Richmond and a senior nonresident fellow at the Arab Center Washington. She is the author of “Polarized and Demobilized: Legacies of Authoritarianism in Palestine” (Oxford University Press, 2020). Dr. El Kurd’s work focuses on authoritarian regimes in the Arab world, state-society relations in these countries, and the impact of international intervention. She earned a Ph.D. in Government with concentrations in Comparative Politics and International Relations from the University of Texas at Austin and tweets at @danaelkurd.
Recent Israeli elections have implications for the future of the Abraham Accords, which normalized ties between Israel and the UAE, Bahrain, Sudan, and Morocco but are widely unpopular in the Arab signatory countries.
In this episode of the New Lines Institute’s Contours podcast series, widely respected academic Dr. Dana El Kurd sits down with Rasha Al Aqeedi and Nicholas Heras to discuss her groundbreaking research on an emerging generation of Palestinian civil society and political activists.
In the face of Israeli attempts to shut down Palestinian civil society groups, activists – including those in the West Bank and Gaza – came together during a “Unity Intifada” to communicate their shared concerns. Although these groups are separated by geography and have different relationships with the Israeli government, they are more connected now than before. This connection is likely to make the resistance harder for Israel to fight.
Palestinians in Jerusalem, in Israel within the Green Line, and the territories occupied in the 1967 War have learned over time – and from each other – how to deal with Israel’s evolving methods of targeting activists and institutions for shutdowns. This will make it harder for Israel to isolate opposition to one area.
