We Are All Part of One Another - Webinar Series
The Crisis of Apartheid: Report Back from Palestine
NVI co-founder, Jonathan Kuttab, was eager to report back from his recent trip home.
He was in conversation with NVI Board member Mohammed Abu-Nimer who joined us during a second recent trip to the region. The event was hosted by Tess Greenwood.
We discussed the current reality on the ground and how to support each other at this difficult time.
Time Stamps:
0:00 - Tess Greenwood's powerful framing remarks
6:07 - Jonathan Kuttab's moving reflections
22:05 - Mohammed Abu-Nimer's insightful remarks
41:15 - Q&A starting with NVI founder, Mubarak Awad
113:33 - Cosponsors share about their vital work
Our experts, Jonathan Kuttab and Mohammed Abu-Nimer, took time to answer audience questions we didn't have the opportunity to address during the webinar.
Q: How can we lift up Palestinian refugees in Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Gaza, and the West Bank in our conversation about Jonathan's book, Beyond the Two State Solution?
A: Unlike the Oslo Process and the two-state solution, my [Jonathan's] vision recognizes that the Palestinians are one people who have been fragmented into separate "communities" with each community seeking to find a separate solution to its problems. In my vision, Palestinians who are refugees have a right to return to Palestine, if they chose to do so, and if someone else is living in their homes or properties (whether in Israel or the occupied territories) the new state will work to provide them with some measure of compensation or alternative housing and land from the public lands. It will also provide settlement, jobs, and training as a form of reparations that does not displace Israeli Jews who have been living in their homes or on their lands.
This measure of relative (not absolute) justice can provide healing, remove the sense of bitterness and injustice, without creating an existential threat to Israeli Jews who can also enjoy the benefits of this state, though not exclusively.
So refugees in all these areas can exercise their right of return with the understanding that they must share the land with Israeli Jews who have immigrated to Palestine/Israel and made it their homeland as well.
Q: What are your recommendations on how to humanize the other?
A: Yes, there is need for each side to humanize the other. The problem is that in the past, efforts to create fraternal relationships have avoided dealing with the roots of the problem and created a false symmetry between the oppressor and the oppressed. Thus it rendered the exercise suspect as an illegitimate reinforcer of an unjust status quo. This is called "normalization" and is rightly rejected by Palestinians.
The challenge is to create opportunities for coresistence, whereby both sides join in activities that confront, and challenge the injustices, rather than reinforce them. This is not done through mere declarations but through actions. When Israelis join a Palestinian led initiative or demonstration, and get equally teargassed or arrested, Palestinians can see the genuineness of their solidarity and do not need to question them about their political positions.
The current situation deliberately separates the two populations who only meet each other in a situation of oppression: as soldiers or settlers or powerful employers holding power over illegal/or permit-controlled labor. Joint activities must recognize the realities of apartheid as they try to break its power and hold over oppressor and oppressed alike.
Q: In terms of changing US foreign policy, I’ve noticed in my local and state Democratic Party very few of us who are advocating equality and freedom for Palestinians are active in party politics. Several people in the county Democratic party told me that they won’t allow discussion of foreign policy because it might lead to discussion of Israel & Palestine. So, they are suppressing discussion of the problem within the state and local party organizations. How can we get more of us to be active and vocal and work toward better candidates for elected office, which would lead to changed policy?
A: I [Mohammed] agree it is important to have an active voice through participation in local and general domestic election campaigns, especially with Democrat and also Republican parties, too. The most direct way is the active membership in the parties themselves and to mobilize and advocate for the cause of ending Israeli occupation. Work through churches and other local civil society organizations can be effective too. These entities are influential in certain local American communities. In the past decade we have seen an increase of diversity among the candidates in such local elections. This is a promising sign for advocacy for Palestinian rights and ending occupation.
Q: I agree with Miko Peled, who clearly states that the only way to dismantle the Israeli apartheid state is to completely isolate them. That is that no country welcomes Israel's politicians, no participation in sports, arts, culture, totally and completely shunned. He thinks this will dismantle Israel and the Zionists and I agree with him completely. Do any of the panelists disagree with this assessment?
A: I [Mohammed] think that the fight against South African apartheid was effective partially due to the fact that many countries took part in the campaign against that regime. I think that similar strategy can be effective to end the Israeli occupation through international isolation of Israeli entities/institutions who directly support the occupation and the apartheid system. At the same time, I think that dialogue and engagement with those who are willing to talk to each other from the two sides based on clear commitment to basic human rights should be endorsed too.
Sponsored by Nonviolence International (NVI).
Cosponsored by Friends of Sabeel North America (FOSNA), the Fellowship of Reconciliation, and Just Peace Advocates.
Special thanks to the Salam Institute
In 2023 Israeli apartheid is intensifying. While Palestinians remain steadfast on their land, the new far right government is outright encouraging settlers to violently attack Palestinians and giving the green light to Occupation forces to carry out explicit ethnic cleansing policies. As more and more people around the world turn their attention to Palestine and demand accountability for apartheid, we will gather for a report back from two Palestinian experts on nonviolence and conflict resolution about their recent experiences on the ground.
Speakers
Jonathan Kuttab is co-founder of Nonviolence International, the Palestinian human rights group Al-Haq, and Just Peace Advocates. A well-known international human rights attorney, he has practiced in the US, Palestine, and Israel. He serves as the Executive Director of Friends of Sabeel North America, and as a board member of Nonviolence International and Just Peace Advocates. He was the head of the Legal Committee negotiating the Cairo Agreement of 1994 between Israel and the PLO. Jonathan is the author of Beyond the Two State Solution, which articulates a vision of a binational state that challenges both Zionism and Palestinian Nationalism. This book invites readers to begin a new conversation based on reality: how will two peoples live together in some sort of unified state?
Mohammed Abu Nimer is an internationally renowned expert on conflict resolution and dialogue for peace. He serves as a professor of International Peace and Conflict Resolution at the American University School of International Service, and as a Senior Advisor to the KAICIID Dialogue Centre, an international organization that specializes in interreligious and intercultural dialogue. Mohammed is also a member of NVI's Board of Directors. Prof. Abu-Nimer's research has focused on a wide array of topics in peacebuilding and conflict resolution and has been both author and editor of more than 13 books on faith-based and interfaith peace-building. His more recent areas of focus have included faith-based peacebuilding, interfaith dialogue in peacebuilding and building social cohesion, and pedagogical considerations on incorporating peace and forgiveness education in the Arab world.
Host:
Tess Greenwood joined NVI’s staff in August 2022 as the Office and Intern Manager. Tess is a community organizer with a background in youth leadership development and anti-Occupation activism. She holds a BA in Labor Studies from Hampshire College. When she's not working with NVI, Tess organizes with IfNotNow, the movement of American Jews organizing their community to end U.S. support for Israeli Apartheid.
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Dear Friends,
From March 20 to 23, NVI Co-Directors, Michael Beer, Sami Awad, and board member Mohammed Abunimer, joined the Nuestra América Delegation to Cuba as part of a much larger international convoy of more than 600 people from around the world. We came as activists, artists, influencers, faith leaders, and community organizers, united by a simple conviction: the Cuban people should not be left alone under an embargo that continues to punish ordinary life.
The delegation was supported by CODEPINK, Progressive International, Global Health Partners, and Busboys and Poets, alongside a wider network that included The People’s Forum, Cuban Americans for Cuba, and Global Exchange.
It was our first time in Cuba! What we witnessed was not theoretical, was not news reports, was not propaganda.
Havana looks like a movie set from the 1950s! The cars and buildings are stunning -- but so run down. During our time there, Cuba continued to experience major electrical outages, part of a broader energy crisis that has left entire neighborhoods in darkness and placed immense strain on daily life. The blackouts are tied to the suffocating impact of the U.S. embargo, including restrictions on oil and essential resources.
In Cuba, this is not an abstract policy debate. It means hospitals under pressure, food and medicine at risk, transportation disrupted, garbage piled in streets, markets shut, restaurants closed, and families forced to survive with less and less.
And yet what we encountered was not defeatism. It was resilience. Generosity. Dignity.
People gathered in the dark. They shared what they had. They played music and sang in the streets. We played spirited mixed-gender ultimate with them (with donated frisbees that Michael brought). That spirit stays with us.
For those of us Palestinians, this was deeply personal. We met with and were inspired by Cuban students and others from around the world including Palestinians. We know what it means to live under systems designed to isolate, weaken, and break a people. We know what it feels like when your suffering is discussed from a distance while you are still living inside it. In Cuba, we recognized something painfully familiar: a people being made to pay the price for refusing to submit.
That is why this trip was not only a solidarity visit with medical relief and aid but also an act of nonviolent defiance.
This said, the convoy defied the embargo and carried real material support. Around 20 tons of aid were delivered, including food, medicine, solar panels, and bicycles. The delegation we were part of brought thousands of pounds of medical supplies and over a hundred suitcases and boxes of humanitarian aid, all going directly to hospitals and health workers facing severe shortages.
After we returned, the delegation faced attacks and accusations meant to discredit the trip and turn solidarity into suspicion. We reject that. People can debate politics from afar, but we know what we saw. The US has no problem engaging and trading with the communist parties of Vietnam, China, Nepal, and Laos. We saw a country under enormous pressure. We saw communities enduring blackouts and shortages. We saw doctors, families, churches, and neighbors doing their best to hold life together. And we saw hundreds of people from across the world choosing not to look away.
The embargo is not just policy, it is collective punishment.
What we carried back from Cuba was more than memory, it was clarity.
The Palestine and Cuba siege are connected, and so must be our response.
What can you do?
- Learn. Stay informed. Support organizations like the ones mentioned above.
- Refuse the narratives that justify collective punishment and oppose US unilateral sanctions on Palestine, Cuba and many other countries.
- Use your voice—in your communities, your platforms, your spaces.
- And find ways—big or small—to stand in real solidarity, including joining future delegations. Visit CUBA!
With Nonviolent Defiance,
Mohammed Abunimer, Michael Beer & Sami Awad
P.S. Please remember to attend our round table Field Testing Israeli Occupation Tech: The Palestine Lab on Sunday, April 19, 2026 3pm ET and see films in advance. This Round Table centers the human impact of this experimentation, examining how Palestinian lives are used as testing grounds for weapons, AI platforms, and policing tactics later exported worldwide. Join the Q&A discussion with: Omar Zahzah, Jeff Halper, Antony Loewenstein, Hassan El-Tayyab
You must register to join the discussion & receive access to the films
Stop Escalating the War on Iran Now
By World BEYOND War, March 22, 2026
Already the rule of law has been shattered, millions have been displaced, tens of thousands have been injured and traumatized, thousands have been killed, many billions of dollars of property has been destroyed, and many billions of dollars have been spent on this criminal enterprise — with much more lost through economic impacts and the failure to spend those resources usefully. Millions of tons of C02 has been emitted, and huge areas of land, water, and air poisoned. Urban areas and cultural treasures have been obliterated, and oil rained down on people and their homes. Many millions of people have been given deep reasons to resent and hate and seek revenge, and not a single person taught the value of nonviolent action or reconciliation. The obsessive fueling of the addiction to fossil fuels has been given precedence over everything, not just human rights, but even the dedication to cruelly violating human rights — with sanctions lifted to quickly obtain and burn more oil.
It gets worse. Trump is threatening to attack Iranian power plants. The Iranian government is threatening to attack oil infrastructure in the gulf dictatorships. The human and environmental costs could soar. The precedents of Gaza and Cuba could be repeated. Or it could be even worse. On January 3, Trump’s troops nearly destroyed a nuclear reactor and storage facility in Caracas. The U.S./Israel have already attacked the Bushehr nuclear power plant and the Natanz nuclear facility. Iran has already attacked Dimona, where Israel has a nuclear plant. The risk here is of catastrophic slaughter on a whole new scale. The joy Trump publicly takes when an individual he was annoyed by dies would be multiplied a million-fold. The capacity for rational thought, not just in Trump’s head, but in the so-called U.S. government that sits by and lets him play with the fate of the world, would be virtually eliminated. All blame for U.S./Israeli horrors would be placed on Iran, and escalation would follow escalation. The kingdoms that have sat by while U.S. bases were attacked in their countries will not sit by forever, and have very little capacity for creative nonviolent action, for any means of not sitting by other than escalating the war.
The madmen in the U.S. military who think the worse things get the sooner Jesus will appear can only be encouraged by the worsening of events. The madmen running the nation of Israel have very different fantasies, and those running Iran believe they have no choice and are justified in all things by the vicious attack on Iran. If a sensible solution is to be found, the decent people of the world who wish for life to continue will have to compel the governments of the world to reject militarism and hold accountable those engaged in it. The governments of Spain and Switzerland inching away from the war machine, the individuals transporting solar panels to Cuba, the flotilla being planned to Gaza — these movements will have to grow at a Pentagon-budget-like pace. Standing up for peace will have to soon become the typical path to power for those seeking to represent others, or there will be none of us left to represent.
NVI Directors, Sami Awad and Michael Beer, were part of an international convoy that brought solary panels and humanitarian aid to Cuba in March 2026. NVI is also supporting the flotilla planned for Gaza. Please read our now slightly outdated open letter to de-escalate the war on Iran elsewhere in our NVI blog.
Join Nonviolence International for a webinar on March 16, Monday, at 11:30am CT and 6:30pm Jerusalem time, entitled Solidarity in Action: Resisting Occupation in Palestine and Minnesota. This will be a conversation among Palestinian and Minnesota activists about nonviolent resistance to occupation and state violence. This webinar brings together organizers from two contexts where communities are confronting intensified state control, displacement and militarized enforcement: one new, in Minnesota, where federal immigration enforcement actions, characterized by a large deployment of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Border Patrol agents and have been resisted by community protests, grassroots defense and community building efforts have deeply impacted families and organizers, and veterans in the West Bank, where decades of military occupation shape everyday life and resistance, and have seen an increase of violence in the last months.
While there is no equivalency in duration or depth of violence and impunity, we have an opportunity to learn from people who have resisted occupation their entire lives and from those who may or may not have experienced it comparatively recently. Speakers will share their lived experiences, contrast strategies of resistance, shared learning and explore opportunities for solidarity and collective action. Through this exchange, we aim to center community agency, hope, and shared learning, and uplifting practices of resilience and organizing.
The webinar will be hosted by Mel Duncan, from Minnesota, co-founder of the Nonviolent Peaceforce and organizer of the Unarmed Civilian Protection in Palestine (UCPiP). And speakers include Amira Musallam, Head of Mission of UCPiP, Maddie Moon, Minnesota community organizer, and Emilia Gonzalez Avalos, Executive Director for UNIDOS MN.
Join us for this important conversation by registering here.
Goals:
- Share lessons learned from grassroots resistance in both contexts
- Build and invite compassion and mutual understanding
- Identify opportunities for solidarity and collaboration between movements fighting occupation, displacement, and state violence
Dear friends,
Nonviolence International warmly invites you to join us for two special evenings in Washington DC with Sami Awad, Palestinian activist, author, and NVI Co-Director.
For activists, Palestine has become a powerful lens for understanding injustice in the world. But today it reveals something deeper: the United States is not simply supporting Israel, it sits at the heart of a global system of empire. The same forces shaping domination abroad are also shaping power, repression, and inequality within the United States itself. This means the struggle is not just about changing policy. In these talks and based on his own journey, Sami invites us to expand our resistance, from a liberation struggle focused on one place to confronting the empire itself.
Event 1 - March 12, Thursday
From Occupation to Empire: Rethinking Resistance
All Souls Church Unitarian
Hosted by Souls 4 Palestine
6:30 – 8:30 PM (with Iftar observance)
1500 Harvard Street NW
RSVP here!
Event 2 - March 13, Friday
From Palestine to Empire: Reframing Resistance
Busboys & Poets
7:00 – 9:00 PM
450 K St NW, Mount Vernon Square
RSVP here!
These gatherings are an opportunity for community members, advocates, and anyone interested in nonviolent change to hear directly from a leading voice in Palestinian civil resistance and to explore pathways toward a more just and peaceful future.
We hope you can join us and help spread the word.
With appreciation,
Michael Beer, Co-Director
P.S. These are free events. If you want, please make a donation to Souls 4 Palestine and generously order food and drinks at Busboys and Poets to help them thrive.
Nonviolence International
https://www.nonviolenceinternational.net/