Welcome to the commune podcast. My name is Jeff Krasna.

Okay, so what you're about to hear today is a conversation that I recorded last fall with Mosin Madawi,

a Palestinian student activist at Columbia University. And we spoke as part of a four-part series born out of the Peace Initiative for Israel-Palestine,

a summit that I helped to organize a commune to Panga.

The week-long gathering brought together Palestinian and Israeli Jewish student leaders

from Columbia University, Brown University, and UCLA,

along with a host of Middle East historians and professional mediators.

And the goal of the summit was to foster deep, active listening, to share personal narratives,

and to walk in each other's shoes.

And from that place of mutual understanding, we hope to plant the seeds for a more peaceful

and just future in Israel-Palestine.

This interview with Mosin was one of the most moving conversations I've ever had here on the podcast. He speaks about his upbringing in the

Al-Farra refugee camp in the West Bank, losing his best friend to violence and transforming his

personal trauma into a kind of activism rooted in compassion and nonviolence. And his work at Columbia has really reflected that spirit

in every aspect. He has sought not to inflame division, but to find compromise. He is the

co-founder of Dar, the Palestinian Student Society at Columbia, and helped launch a coalition advocating for

divestment through peaceful protest and democratic action. What's important to say clearly,

Mosin did not participate in the encampments on Columbia's campus last spring, nor was he

involved in the occupation of

Hamilton Hall. Instead, he chose a path of dialogue, working directly with university administrators

to seek compromise and shared solutions. He is a bridge builder in every sense. And yet today, Mosin Madawi is behind bars, and we don't know

exactly where. So on April 14, 2025, he arrived in Vermont for what he believed was a routine

...