In this episode of our "Gaza & the World" series, Helena Cobban talked with Dr. Ghada Karmi about the intersection of the genocide in Gaza and the shifting global balance of power. Dr. Karmi is a British-Palestinian who had a strong career in London as a physician and a medical historian; then between 2002 and 2023 she published four thoughtful books that explored not only her own personal experiences as a member of the Nakba generation and a justice activist, but also the broader realities faced by Palestinians inside and outside the homeland. Her most recent work of non-fiction was One State: The Only Democratic Future for Palestine-Israel.
Dr. Karmi described the unprecedented groundswell of popular support for Palestinian rights the British public has displayed since October 2023, which she contrasted with the continued pro-Israel stance of the British government and many of the country's elite institutions.
She detailed her role as a juror of conscience at the Gaza People’s Tribunal in Istanbul, where she and others weighed the extremely harrowing testimonies of Israel's atrocities in Gaza.
She was unequivocal: the underlying cause of the Palestinians' suffering is Zionism, which must therefore, she argued, be dismantled— which would not be the same as the physical destruction of Israel or its people. She was deeply skeptical of the wisdom of striving for a two-state solution, seeing it as perpetuating the destructive ideology of Zionism. She called instead for the reconstitution of pre-Zionist Palestine and the establishment of a single democratic state for all.
She also described some of the experiences she had had while working as a consultant for the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah, back in 2005.
She recognized the significance of the hopeful shifts among younger generations and new political actors in the West but warned that time is running out for Palestinian rights and existence.
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