Omar Barghouti was greatly inspired by Nelson Mandela’s approach to mobilizing the nations of the world against the apartheid regime in South Africa. This approach was introduced in Palestine after the failure of the Camp David II peace negotiations in July 2000 and the outbreak of the second intifada (uprising) in September 2000 in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, followed by a major Israeli military operation in the West Bank in 2002.

Born in 1975, Odeh grew up in the city of Haifa. The only Muslim in a Christian school, he speaks fluent Hebrew as well as Arabic, English and Romanian. He became politically engaged at a young age, attending his first demonstration on 30 March 1988, Land Day, aged 13. The next three years “were the most beautiful of my life”, he told The New Yorker. “I felt completely identified with the struggle.”

I find that the influence of Middle Eastern sounds on jazz is never discussed, but it exists. Now, I’m not trying just to mix the two together. I’m working on creating a third sound that harmonizes the two sounds from their roots instead of forcing them together [superficially]. Other people are doing it, like Ibrahim Maalouf and Ziad Rahbani, but I’m more interested in the voice itself as an instrument, to see how much the voice can make music instead of just being used for storytelling. But it takes a lot of time. My father calls it “Nainstrumenting,” from my name.

In order for Gazans to get their name on the security coordination lists, they have to pay between $1,800 and $3,000. It is unclear where this money goes, but most people believe it goes to the Egyptian intelligence officers who arrange the security clearance.

For more than 14 years, he has maintained security coordination with Israel because he knows that he is the weakest party, that armed resistance has failed in the past and will fail in the future, and that he has no other option but dialogue to reach a peaceful solution.

On the international stage, Qatar has been one of the Palestinians’ staunchest defenders. During a speech to the UN General Assembly in September 2014, Emir Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani strongly criticized Israel and accused the Israeli army of committing war crimes and crimes against humanity. In the same speech, he expressed his support for the Palestinian resistance and called for a resolution to compel Israel to end the occupation.

In May 2019, he revealed to the press that he has been the target of death threats from Saudi Arabia, which he sees as a way of trying to shut him up, in the light of the investigations he has been leading on the Kingdom and its de facto leader MBS.

This puts Abbas in a difficult position. He has repeatedly threatened to stop security coordination with Israel. Although he has never carried out the threat, there are growing concerns that security will be compromised if dissatisfaction with the PA boils over into anger.

Gaza is already on the brink of collapse as a result of the decade-long blockade. Hamas’ crackdown on the We Want to Live movement has pushed Gazans closer to the edge. A widespread uprising, which seems increasingly likely, is expected to impact Israel too.

It was believed in the past that the Palestinian-Israeli conflict was governed and influenced by regional and international forces. This is partially true. The Palestinian reconciliation is no longer an internal affair. Those who believe that it is are unaware of how much influence regional and international powers have exerted in Palestinian affairs for a decade.