Kalam

In Late 1987 Palestine erupted. The Israeli occupation was closing in on 20 years and getting comfortable. But seemingly out of nowhere, a mass movement of protests, strikes and boycotts shook Israel and the world. For the first time, the West gained sympathy for Palestine, as images of heavily armed Israeli soldiers brutalising Palestinian women and children were broadcast on TV screens around the world. Today, Associate Professor Islah Jad joins Edgar for a conversation about the First Intifada. Islah has written the book, Palestinian Women’s Activism: Nationalism, Secularism, Islamism and was an active participant in the First Intifada. Follow us on social media @kalampodcastFor full length episodes, poetry and reading lists and bonus episodes, please consider donating to us at Patreon. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In June of 1967 Israel launched an attack against its immediate neighbours, the combined Arab armies of Egypt, Syria and Jordan. In a flash it managed to dismantle Egypt's entire air force, and defeated the Arab forces in just six days. This led to the occupation of Egypt's Sinai peninsula, Syria's Golan Heights and the occupation of all Palestinian territories in the West Bank and Gaza. This is where the occupation of Palestine begins. The seminal historian Dr Khaled Fahmy, Edward Keller Professor of North Africa and the Middle East at Tufts University, joins Edgar in a discussion about the war, focusing on the popular culture at the time. How is it that the Israeli and Arab public believed the Arab forces were superior while the military elite on both sides knew the opposite was true? Towering figures like Umm Kulthum and Abdel Halim Hafez played their part in egging on the war. Equally, they played a huge part in trying to understand the defeat. Follow us on social media @kalampodcastFor full length episodes, poetry and reading lists and bonus episodes, please consider donating to us at Patreon. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In 1948 an estimated 750,000 Palestinians were displaced as Zionist militias paved the way for the establishment of the state of Israel. Many historians refer to this ethnic cleansing. For Palestinians, it is known as the Nakba, Arabic for catastrophe. In this episode, the renowned Palestinian author and architect, Suad Amiry, speaks to host Edgar Mannheimer about what the Nakba means to the Palestinians. Her 2022 novel, Mother of Strangers, follows several characters in Jaffa between 1947-1951. Follow us on social media @kalampodcast. For full length interviews, poetry and reading lists and bonus episodes, please consider joining our Patreon club. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the previous episode of the Kalam Podcast, Suad Amiry walked us through the horrors of the 1948 Nakba. In this episode we try to answer the question of who those early Zionists who carried out the Nakba were, and they were motivated by. And what exactly Israelis celebrate when they commemorate the Nakba as their Independence Day.The Israeli journalist and political dissident Gideon Levy joins Edgar to try to explain these phenomena. Follow us on social media @kalampodcast. For full length interviews, poetry and reading lists and bonus episodes, please consider joining our Patreon club. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.