Dear friend,
I hope you and your family are continuing to stay safe and healthy as this pandemic rages on.
The discourse surrounding Netanyahu’s promise to annex parts of the West Bank has been binary - Israeli Jews vs. Palestinians in the West Bank - much in the same way as the discourse regarding the Palestinian struggle as a whole. However, governments, international organizations and bodies, and the public always forget the fact that 21% of citizens in Israel are in fact Palestinian Arabs. This part of the population is a key player in alleviating the suffering and oppression of Palestinians not just in Israel, but the Occupied Territories and Gaza.
We, at Friends of Mossawa and the Mossawa Center, invite you to take a closer look into the prospects of West Bank annexation, what it really looks like, and the ramifications behind it.
Join us for a webinar on Wednesday, June 17, 12pm EST, moderated by Diana Buttu, a lawyer, journalist and former spokesperson for the Palestine Liberation Organization, who will be joined by a panel of experts featuring Jafar Farah, Founder and Head of the Mossawa Center - The Advocacy Center for Arab Citizens in Israel, and Dr. Hanna Swaid, former Knesset Member of the Hadash party and Head of the Arab Center for Alternative Planning. Register for the webinar here!
Our discussion will shine the spotlight on Palestinian citizens of Israel, and will explore the prospects of annexation from their perspective - what could Israeli rule over Palestinians look like? How will the demographics in Israel change and could such a change impact Israeli politics?
Meet Our Panelists
 Jafar Farah is the Founder and Head of the Mossawa Center - the Advocacy Center for Arab Citizens in Israel. Farah is a long-time advocate and activist for civil rights for the Arab community in Israel. As a community organizer and activist, he was involved in establishing several organizations such as I'lam, ACAP (Arab Center for Alternative Planning) and the follow up committee for Arab education. He continues to write articles that are published regularly in the Hebrew and Arabic press. He is one of the founders of the first Arab-language television station in Israel, Hala TV.
 Dr. Hanna Swaid is a previous Member of the Knesset between 2006-2015 who represented Hadash - a joint Arab-Jewish Alliance for peace and equality; a previous Mayor of the Arab town of Eilaboun between 1993-2003; and the founder in 2000 and currently the Chairperson of the Arab Center for Alternative Planning - an NGO concerned with land and planning rights of Palestinian Arab township and population within the green line. Dr. Swaid holds three degrees in Civil Engineering and Planning from Technion - Israel Institute of Technology.
 Our moderator Diana Buttu is a lawyer, writer and analyst based in Haifa. Her writings have appeared in the NYT, Washington Post, Boston Globe, Newsweek among others. She holds degrees from the University of Toronto, Queen’s University and Stanford Law School. She previously served as a legal advisor to the Palestinian negotiating team and President Abbas.
Hope to see you soon,
Suha Salman Mousa
Mossawa Center Executive Director
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