Hello and welcome to PTO Extra. In today's episode, I spoke with Rana Barakat about the current

humanitarian situation in the occupied Palestinian territories, the significance of the recent

general strike and the protests amongst Palestinians within the 1948 borders. And we also talked

about what Israel's escalation of violence may mean for Netanyahu's efforts at normalising

Israel's relations

with Arab states in the region.

For new listeners to the show, just to mention that PTO Extra, shorter episodes of the show

on current events, are usually available to £5 subscribers to the show.

But today's episode is being made freely available to non-subscribers, and we'd like to

encourage listeners

if they're able to donate to medical aid for Palestinians, which you can do at map.org.uk.

Rana Barakat is Assistant Professor of History at Bezai University in Palestine. Her research

interests include the history and historiography of colonialism, nationalism,

and cultures of resistance. Her writing has appeared in the Journal of Palestine Studies and

Jerusalem Quarterly, amongst other publications, and she's currently completing two book

monographs, firstly the Barak Revolt, constructing a history of resistance in Palestine, and secondly, Lifter

and resisting the museumification of Palestine, indigenous history of the Nakbah.

Rana spoke to me from Ramallah in the Occupied West Bank.

We're speaking on Wednesday evening, and as of the latest reports, 217 Palestinians, including 63 children,

have been reported as killed since the 10th of May, primarily in Israeli airstrikes and mostly in

Gaza, though a significant number of people have also been killed in the West Bank.

Yesterday we heard the appalling story of 11 children, aged between 5 and 15 years old,

...