Frederick Deknatel is the Executive Editor of Democracy in Exile, the DAWN journal.
Coverage of Gaza again dominated our most-read articles of the year, just like last year. As Israel's devastating war in Gaza has dragged on with American support, Democracy in Exile continued to magnify voices on the ground in Palestine and Israel to understand the scale of this human disaster.
But we also covered the wider region with more diversity than ever, from a firsthand essay on Saudi Arabia's rampant abuses of migrant workers to an exiled Uyghur human rights lawyer's reflections on how Israel's destruction of Gaza reminds her of China's mass repression in Xinjiang. We published high-profile interviews with leading scholars and writers, and published even more original poetry, including a short collection here on Gaza—aphorisms that seem to exist somewhere between poetry and prose.
This is 2024 through the eyes of our readers. Thanks for reading Democracy in Exile. Look out for much more in the year ahead.
1. How Israeli Universities and Legal Scholars Collaborate With Israel's Military
By Maya Wind
"The occupation of Palestinian territory has indeed served as a field-defining laboratory for Israeli legal scholars. Israeli legal studies have continually expanded to provide the theoretical infrastructure to legitimate and hone Israel's permanent military rule, while its researchers and faculty have become facilitators, authors and executors of widely condemned Israeli policy."
2. 'They Don't See Palestinians as Human Beings': U.N. Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese on Israel's Alternate Reality
Interview by Omid Memarian
"In genocide, it's difficult to prove intent. But as I said to the Human Rights Council, when the intent is so conspicuous, so ostentatious as it is in this war, what are you looking for? Every day there is evidence."
3. Lessons on Genocide From Xinjiang and Gaza
By Nader Hashemi and James A. Millward
"Despite a clear U.N. legal definition of genocide, why is it that many countries condemning genocide by China are simultaneously defending Israel from such charges, while many of those condemning Israel are also defending China?"
4. 'Biden Dramatically Misread the Israeli Political Dynamic.' Daniel Levy on How Biden Hitched Himself to Netanyahu
Interview by Omid Memarian
"We're not in a moment where solutions can emerge immediately. The Palestinians must rebuild their national movement without external interference. The Israelis must feel that there are costs and consequences for their policies. And the American monopoly on peacemaking efforts has to be pried away, because they are clearly not in a position to lead a good-faith effort towards a sustainable future for Palestinians and Israelis alike."
5. The Historical Roots of Israel's Genocidal Violence in Gaza
By Michael Merryman-Lotze
"Years of demonizing and dehumanizing Palestinians, against the backdrop of ethnic cleansing that is central to Israel's founding, cannot be separated from the current genocidal violence in Gaza. One led to the other."
6. 'During a Genocide,' and Other Poems on Gaza
By Yahia Lababidi
"You will find that during a genocide
most words lose their meaning
Some sound empty & others strange
Apart from unceasing prayer,
eloquence takes the form
of tears or kindness and solidarity
Even a quiet moan or sighing
is preferable to false words or worse:
a loud and wounding Silence…"
7. I Was a Target of Academic Censorship Over My Work on Palestine
By Brendan Ciarán Browne
"Attempts to intimidate both professors and students, or silence them outright, are becoming normalized in a blatant attack on the values that underpin academic freedom. This goes well beyond the question of Palestine and Israel to the fundamental ability of a university to foster free inquiry and debate."
8. Accounting for the Biases in U.S. Media Coverage of Gaza
By William Youmans
"Mainstream American news coverage of Israel's bombardment and invasion of Gaza since the Hamas-led attacks of Oct. 7 has been marred by a deep-seated bias. News outlets have consistently prioritized Israeli lives over Palestinian ones, adopting Israeli framing and narratives even when they fail to stand up to scrutiny."
9. Why Is Sisi's Egypt 'Too Big to Fail'?
By Frank Vogl
"Is the U.S. supporting vast payments to Sisi's regime in exchange for Egypt hosting Palestinian refugees from Gaza?"
10. The Global Impact of the ICJ Ruling on Israel: A Democracy in Exile Roundtable
Featuring Josh Paul, Diana Buttu, A. Dirk Moses, Nader Hashemi, Dalia Fahmy, Mohammad Fadel, Noha Aboueldahab, Rami Khouri, Michael Lynk and Mia Swart
"The Court's finding that Israel plausibly engaged in genocidal acts in Gaza, combined with the massive support for Palestinians around the world from people and governments, marked a historic moment that most Western media and political analysis missed or ignored. This was a landmark phase in the century-old global struggle against Western colonialism. For most people in the Global South and even many in the North, the Palestinian struggle is the world's last anti-colonial struggle."
11. MBS's 'Vision' for Saudi Arabia Relies on Rampant Abuse of Foreign Workers—Like My Father
By Ahmed Abdulumer
"My father's story is just a glimpse at the widespread abuse of migrant workers in the kingdom, an oppressive labor system that is at the root of all of Saudi Arabia's grand economic plans."
12. Selling Egypt by the Pound: 'Gulfication' and the Ras al-Hekma Land Deal
By Yasser Elsheshtawy
"Sisi's government, desperate to refill Egypt's empty coffers, has put practically any land and building on the market, regardless of their cultural significance or place in modern Egyptian history."
13. Why the ICJ Ruling Against Israel's Occupation Is a Legal Earthquake, in Slow Motion
By Michael Sfard
"The ICJ put an end to the great Israeli lie, which seeks to enjoy the powers of a military occupier but not be subject to the limitations and obligations imposed on an occupier by international law."
14. How Justice Is Denied From Palestine to the Uyghur Homeland
By Rayhan Asat
"As a Uyghur human rights lawyer forced to live in exile, I see Xinjiang everywhere. But nowhere more starkly than in places like Gaza."
15. Campus Protests Over Gaza Show That When University Leaders Fail, Students Lead
By Elliott Colla
"What these students are wielding is not mere opinion or faddish notions, but rather hard-won knowledge. Their understanding of their campuses is well-founded: They see how our institutions are complicit in Israel's wars. They understand the role that the United States plays in the world, and the forms of violence that sustain the current despair, especially the devastation in Gaza. They are not going to unlearn what they know to be true about apartheid and ethnic cleansing because a politician, or their own college president, smears them."
