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New Thinking for a New World - a Tallberg Foundation Podcast

Francesca Borri discusses the future of Palestine amid escalating conflict and the potential for lasting change.

Over the last several years Palestinians felt abandoned and ignored by Arabs, Americans, and Europeans. The people in Gaza and the West Bank seemed to have become almost invisible to everyone except themselves and the Israelis with whom they engaged in a low-intensity, but deadly conflict.

The attacks on October 7th and the continuing brutal Israeli response changed that, perhaps forever. Now it's hard to imagine ever returning to the status quo ante as unpleasant and unstable as that was. But all wars end, and this one will as well. The people who survive, especially the almost 50% of Gazans under the age of 18, will surely be marked for life.

So what?

That’s a harsh question, and it demands honest answers. Could the tragedy of war somehow lead to better lives and even a sovereign state for millions of Palestinians? Are Palestinians condemned to remain stuck in whatever circle of Dante's hell they now inhabit? Or might they give up and leave, even if the rest of the world doesn’t seem to want them?

Our guest on New Thinking for a New World brings the sort of experience and insight that can at least give us a window into possibilities. Francesca Borri is an Italian journalist and war reporter who has lived in the West Bank since 2007. Her work and integrity are respected by Arabs as well as Israelis. Proof point: she was the first Western journalist to interview Yahya Sinwar in 2018 and that interview led to direct negotiations between Hamas and Israel.

Can you imagine a positive ending to the tragedy in Gaza? Please tell us what you think here.