For over a year and a half, the people of Gaza have endured a devastating war. The International Criminal Court (ICC) has indicated that the situation may amount to genocide, and Amnesty International has already described it as such. While international media has focused largely on the humanitarian crisis, this event aims to highlight the political conditions shaping life in Gaza and across Palestine. In March 2025, protests erupted throughout the Gaza Strip, especially in the north. Demonstrators called for an end to the war, rejected forced displacement, and demanded meaningful action from Gaza’s de facto authorities. As these protests unfold amidst conditions of plausible genocide, prolonged military occupation, and settler colonialism, this two-day roundtable invites participants to hear directly from Palestinian voices. The discussion will explore internal political and social dynamics within Palestinian society, and the regional and international forces that shape and constrain them. This analysis is grounded in over 75 years of occupation and political and geographic fragmentation in Palestine. The goal of this event is to offer critical tools and perspectives to deconstruct dominant narratives in both European and Arab media—narratives that often obscure, depoliticise, or even weaponise the Palestinian struggle for self-determination.
We will also reflect on:
- The long-term consequences of the Oslo Accords and the 2007 internal political division.
- The contemporary landscape of political participation in Palestine.
- Highlighting how everyday life, gender, and culture inform political agency within fragmented Palestinian contexts.
This event is open to researchers, fellows, members of the EUI and SNS communities, and the general public interested in deepening their understanding of Palestinian politics beyond purely humanitarian framings. It also centers the importance of Palestinian voices in analysing political realities, media discourse, and global systems of domination.
This session explores political fragmentation in Palestinian leadership, the decline in political participation, and the lived experiences of women navigating segregated homeland.
Speakers:
Virginia Fiume (Visiting Fellow, School of Transnational Governance – EUI).
Abdalhadi Alijla (Non-resident Senior Fellow at Arab Reform Initiative).
Karim Abualroos (Palestinian writer, researcher, and activist).
Ghadir AbuMiddain (PhD Candidate, Scuola Normale Superiore).
The first session ''Beyond Humanitarianism: Social and Political Perspectives from Gaza and the West Bank'', taking place on 28 April, 15:00-18:00, in Sala Altana at Palazzo Strozzi, Florence, will focus on the internal dynamics of political mobilisation in Palestine and their significance for the broader field of social movement studies. Further details about this session will be available at this link.