On 19 and 20 October, two days of analysis and debate will be held on the memory and history of the Palestinian question and the reorganisation of the Middle East during these years. The sessions will take place at the Universidad Complutense of Madrid and Casa Árabe.
The events will take place next Thursday at the Faculty of Philology (Campus Moncloa, UCM), Classroom 217, starting at 9.30 a.m. Likewise, next Friday, it will be held at the Faculty of Political Science and Sociology (Somosaguas Campus, UCM), 3rd Floor Meeting Room, starting at 10 a.m., and at Casa Árabe, from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., followed by a film screening at 8 p.m.
In 1948, the partition of the British Mandate of Palestine, Israel’s declaration of independence and the Palestinian catastrophe (nakba) took place, which fragmented the territory and dispersed the indigenous population. Seventy-five years later, the Palestinian question remains a cornerstone of what is happening in the Middle East. Permanent occupation, militarisation, long-term refugees, structural violence and institutionalised discrimination make up a complex reality. A reality that has exploded in recent days, keeping the Palestinian people under constant bombardment by the Israeli army.
The future of the Palestinian question. 75 years after the Nakba will analyse different aspects related to the memory and historical perspective of the Palestinian question and the reconfiguration of the Middle East in these years, with the participation of more than 33 experts and academics from universities in Spain, Israel, Mexico and the United Kingdom.
The inaugural lecture will be given by Avi Shlaim, Emeritus Professor of International Relations at Oxford University, under the title Reflections of an Arab-Jew on the Israel-Palestine Conflict.
The last session, devoted to Palestinian art, literature and culture, will be held at Casa Árabe, and will close with the screening of the film The Crayons of Askalan, by Laila Hoteit.
The conference is organised by the Complutense Research Group on the Maghreb and the Middle East (GICMOM), with the collaboration of Casa Árabe, the Complutense Institute of International Studies (ICEI) and the Faculties of Philology and Political Science and Sociology at the Complutense University of Madrid, coordinated by Ignacio Álvarez-Ossorio Alvariño, co-director of GICMOM and professor of Arab and Islamic Studies at the UCM, and Isaías Barreñada, co-director of GICMOM and professor of International Relations at the same university.
