From the Yarra River to the Mediterranean Sea
This podcast seeks to be a conversation starter for those who seek to break beyond the binaries and labels of pro-Israel and pro-Palestine, exploring what it means to be pro-peace. Ultimately, it seeks to comfort the troubled and trouble the comfortable.
Season 1 of From the Yarra was hosted by Hannah Baker and Ittay Flescher, a conversation between two Jews in Melbourne and Jerusalem about war and peace. It was recorded between December 2023 - October 2024.
Season 2 of 'From the Yarra' is coming soon, featuring exclusive conversations with Ittay Flescher about his new book, 'The Holy and the Broken.'
From the Yarra River to the Mediterranean Sea
Episode 10: Conversations over cancelling with Ahmed Fouad Al-khatib
In our tenth episode, Ittay speaks with Ahmed Fouad Al-khatib, a U.S. citizen from Gaza and a Middle East political analyst. Ahmed has a master’s degree in intelligence studies from American Military University and has written and contributed extensively to publications on Gaza’s affairs in U.S., Israeli, Jewish, and Arab outlets.
In this episode, Ahmed speaks to Ittay about his childhood experience attending the UNWRA schools of Gaza, which is a timely discussion as we have been hearing and seeing a lot about UNWRA in the news. ( For those unaware, UNWRA is the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, which is a UN agency that supports the relief and human development of Palestinian refugees).
Both Ittay and Ahmed touch on the many challenges facing Jewish-Palestinian dialogue groups at this time, and provide some suggestions as to how we can learn to build bridges so that we can move forward together.
We hope you enjoy the conversation.
Further reading:
https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/as-a-gazan-i-still-believe-israelis-and-palestinians-must-talk/
Comments welcome at fromtheyarra@gmail.com or follow us on Instagram at @fromtheyarra