Issues Home About Contact Us Issue 33 - October 2025 عربى
Regional Developments

“Understanding Palestine: What’s habitat got to do with it?” - HIC Teach-ins

A central part in building practical solidarity globally is exploring and mounting all of the actions possible to calling attention to the struggle of Palestinian people and ending the violations of their human rights and the ongoing Israel’s genocide. As such, we feel it is our duty as a coalition working for the realization of habitat rights to contribute these ends from a basis of competent understanding and analysis of the systematic violations of habitat related human rights by Israel.

Held between August and September 2025, the HIC “Understanding Palestine” teach-in series allowed for the HIC membership to learn more about the story of Palestine from a habitat perspective, strengthening our collective understanding and collectively reflecting on manners to further support the Palestinian People and bring an end to the illegal situation. The term “teach-in” was coined during the Vietnam War, when educational sit-in protests were held on college campuses as a form of learning and peaceful resistance. These forums seek to encourage critical thinking and collective action through open discussion and debate.

As such, we take our yearly mobilization in Urban October to make this process visible and share our position, learnings and collective strategies with a wider audience. Here you can find a summary of the sessions and relevant resources and materials for your use and for the replication of similar learning cycles in your territories.

Session 1- Understanding housing and land policies as instruments of domination

Objectives:

  1. Introduction to the series and the consistent habitat approach within HIC;
  2. Discuss the link between Palestine and habitat-related human rights (why is a habitat lens so relevant and important?);
  3. Discuss the purpose (high-level) of housing and land policies under international law (consensus at Habitat I);
  4. Discuss how housing & land policies can be used as instruments of domination (draw links between state ideology, racial theory, settler colonialism in different parts of the world); 
  5. Open space for questions and comments.

Speakers:

  • Leilani Farha (The Shift, former UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Housing, Ottawa) understanding housing and land policies as instruments of domination
  • Ashraf Abu Hayyeh (Al-Haq Organization) on the relevance of a اabitat lens in Al Haq’s work
  • Enrique Ortiz (HIC-AL, Mexico City) what HIC and habitat have to do with Palestine;
  • Hiba Al-Wohoush (Land Research Center (LRC), Halhoul, Palestine) on the history of LRC and engagement with housing solidarity movement.

Link to presentations and videos

References:

  • “The ideologies of States are reflected in their human settlement policies. These being powerful instruments for change, they must not be used to dispossess people from their homes and their land, or to entrench privilege and exploitation. The human settlement policies must be in conformity with…human rights.” The Vancouver Action Plan, Preamble para. 3, United Nations Conference on Human Settlements, Vancouver, Canada, 31 May–11 June 1976, A/CONF.70/15;
  • Joseph Schechla, “The Ideological Roots of Population Transfer,” Third World Quarterly, 14 (2) (1993), 239–75.

·     Solidarity Network, on HIC-HLRN;

·     A.S. Al-Khasawneh and R. Hatano, “The Human Rights Dimensions of Population Transfer, including the Implantation of Settlers and Settlements,” E/CN.4/Sub.2/1993/17, 1993 [AR, FR, SP].

 

Session 2 - Colonization, apartheid and resistance in Palestine

Objectives:

  1. Understand the ideological roots: racism, colonialism, anti-Semitism and Zionism as tools of apartheid to dispossess, fragment and erase entire Peoples;
  2. Understand the imperial systems, institutions and mechanisms of dispossession: Ottoman Empire, British Mandate, Israel’s parastatal institutions (World Zionist Organization/Jewish Agency, Jewish National Fund and their affiliates), which also masquerade as tax-exempt “charities” in at least 50 of our home countries, while seizing Palestinian land, housing, water and human resources for their cross-border organized crime of settler colonialism in Palestine;
  3. Provide a platform for inquiry (questions and comments).

Speakers:

  • Paul Hendler (INSITE Settlements Network, Cape Town) understanding fundamental concepts and ideological roots;
  • Joseph Schechla (HIC-HLRN, Cairo) understanding Zionist institutions and systems of material supremacy over Palestine and Palestinians; 
  • Lubnah Shomali (BADIL Resource Center for Palestinian Residency and Refugee Rights, Bethlehem), focus on the Palestine refugees’ continuing demands and rights).    

Link to presentations and videos

References:

 

Session 3 - Occupation, apartheid and resistance in Palestine

Objectives:

  1. Understand the ideological roots: racism, colonialism, anti-Semitism, Zionism as apartheid to dispossess, fragment and erase the Indigenous Palestinian People;
  2. Understand the imperial systems, institutions and mechanisms of dispossessionin the 1967-occupied Palestinian territory: Ottoman Empire, British Mandate, Israel’s legislation and apartheid-chartered parastatal institutions (World Zionist Organization/Jewish Agency, Jewish National Fund and their affiliates), which also masquerade as tax-exempt “charities” in at least 50 of our home countries, while seizing Palestinian land, housing, water and, human resources for their cross-border organized crime of settler colonialism in Palestine;
  3. Provide platform for inquiry and exchange of views.

Speakers:

Tasneem Janazra (Land Research Center, Halhoul, Palestine) How Israeli apartheidlaws affect housing and land in the oPt;

Hiba al-Wohoush (Land Research Center, Halhoul, Palestine) How housing & land apartheid isoperationalized in the oPt;

Asma Samaan (Palestinian Water Authority, Gaza, Palestine) How water apartheid is operationalized in the oPt.

Link to presentations and videos

References:

Session 4 – Local and global action in solidarity with Palestine and beyond

Objectives:

  1. Understand what the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt) is: al-Naksa (1967 War), expulsion/fragmentation, military doctrine of attacking the Indigenous People’s habitat, occupation of Palestinian territory, and what this means legally and practically;
  2. Understand how housing, land and water apartheid is operationalized and resisted in the oPt: through population transfer (push/pull), settler colonies,house demolitions, land confiscations, closure / blockade / fragmentation, permit system, popular resistance and uprising (Intifada), serial wars on Gaza, culminating in current genocide;
  3. Provide a platform for inquiry (questions and comments).

Speakers:

  • Saleh Hijazi (BDS National Committee, Ramallah) on stopping the genocide and institutions enabling settler colonialism and apartheid in Palestine, debunking dominant narratives;
  • Lubnah Shomali (BADIL, Bethlehem) on the human right to remedy (norms in international law), including reparations in relation to Gaza and the Palestinian People as a whole;
  • Adel Bseiso (Bseiso Family Archive), providing a current example of intergeneration reparation claims and the importance of documentation

Link to presentations and videos

References:

·     “Legal Notice to UK Local Councils: The Obligation to Divest from Israel’s Crimes,” 2025

What can we do?

The teach-in series was the opportunity to learn about historic strategies and initiatives of resistance and denouncing, as well as to reflect on what we can do as individuals, organizations and a coalition. Here we present some of these reflections, with useful links and resources to support you in your own individual and joint mobilization.

  1. 1.   Inform yourself, denounce violations and spread information

A first step is to keep yourself informed, learn about the historic struggles of the Palestinian and other Indigenous Peoples and spread and disseminate this information. It is central to educate ourselves to use the right terminology, contributing to debunking dominant narratives and supporting collective awareness. Organizations can use their platform to bring visibility to the struggle for Palestinian liberation, building linkages with the human rights agenda and context in their territories, through denouncing widespread mechanisms of domination, imperialism and colonialism. Organizations and networks such as HIC can also organize to provide opportunities for the education of others, holding workshops and learning sessions.

We expect that the resources from the teach-in series will contribute to that. We also recommend several easily accessible references for each teach-in session above.

  1. 2.   Center and support Palestinian voices and organizations

Complementary to this effort of awareness raising and education, individuals and, mostly organizations, have an opportunity to align and orient their actions into supporting and centering Palestinian voices and organizations. This can include:

  • Incorporating Palestinian voices and organizations in activities, particularly research;
  • Seeking collaboration and support with Palestinian organizations;
  • Echo and replicate relevant initiatives and campaigns;
  • Support United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) and other organizations working in Palestine;
  • Providing resources to relief assistance and legal support and supporting palestinian-led business;
  1. 3.   Map, join, reinforce and replicate ongoing initiatives

Individuals and organizations can start mobilizing by mapping and identifying ongoing initiatives in their territories, joining these, supporting them and making them more visible. These can include:

  • Mapping and joining organizations mobilizing for Palestine liberation, joining conferences, campaigns and protests;
  • Contributing to articles and awareness raising locally;
  • Join groups and movements calling for sanctions and contributing with your habitat-related perspective;
  • Join local efforts for resource mobilization;
  1. 4.   Join and support BDS initiatives

A couple of months ago in July, the BDS movement marked 20 years of Palestinian-led, nonviolent, anti-racist grassroots organizing and building of intersectional people power global. Palestinians launched the movement in 2005 as a continuation of a century-old tradition of Palestinian popular resistance struggle. The launch of the movement came through a call by the largest coalition in Palestinian civil society composed of trade unions, syndicates, federations, coalitions, grassroots organizations that now comprise the Palestinian BDS National Committee.

The BDS theory of change is that, by building social force, we can create the change we need for racism, settler colonialism, genocide and apartheid to end, the settler colony to be dismantled as a precondition for Palestinians to enjoy rights to self-determination and return. The acronym BDS points to the intertwined strategies:

B stands for boycott - actions that individuals and groups can organize and take to cut ties of complicity that exist in their homes, in schools, universities, shops. These can be direct ties to Israel or indirect, like having ties to corporations or institutions that are complicit in Israel`s crimes.

D stands for divestment, and it is the work to divest from where applicable, of course, as many of the most complicit companies.

S stands for sanctions, and it is the strategic work to pressure states and state organs to uphold obligations under international law to end their complicity in Israel`s genocide, illegal occupation, and apartheid, and to hold Israel accountable for these systematic crimes.

While BDS is a civil society initiative linking individual citizen actions, boycott of, divestment from, and sanctions against the perpetrators and collaborators of Israeli crimes is a duty of all states in the world, including their equally law-bound organs such as our local authorities and local governments.

  1. 5.   Demand your governments act
  • Join campaigns and organize to pressure national, regional and local government authorities to take action against the genocide and in support for Palestinian liberation. Among main claims these can include:
  • Cease any kind of involvement in trade in weapons to Israel;
  • Denouncing the genocide and Human Rights violations and taking steps to formally recognize the Palestinian State;
  • Imposing sanctions to Israel in response to the violations of international law, including peremptory norms;
  • Respect and ensure respect for international humanitarian law, including the distribution of food, water and hygiene products through humanitarian channels, led by UNRWA
  • Ceasing economic relations with Israeli companies and service providers, through joining the BDS movement

 

This can be done by joining ongoing campaigns locally and globally, and also by circulating the call by HIC to local and national authorities (see above).
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