Samer Badawi

Samer Badawi has been a contributor to +972 Magazine since 2014.

Recent Articles

A sign congratulating Former President Donald Trump on his victory in the US presidential election in central Jerusalem, November 7, 2024. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

After Trump’s victory, Palestinians cannot afford to wait until the next US election

Palestinians and their allies must build on down-ballot wins, while recognizing the limitations of electoral politics in the face of Israel’s genocidal campaign.

By Samer Badawi November 7, 2024

Uncommitted delegates Meryem Maameri and Asma Mohammed, both of Minnesota, lock arms as they enter the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, Aug. 22, 2024. (Lorie Shaull/Wikimedia Commons)

‘American society will have to divest from Israel before our leaders do’

In Ohio and around the U.S., pro-Palestine activists alienated by the presidential race are redoubling their efforts in local elections.

By Samer Badawi September 27, 2024

Palestinians at the site of a destroyed home from an Israeli air strike in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, March 22, 2024. (Abed Rahim Khatib/Flash90)

Even without a UN veto, Gaza remains hostage to American power

The downplaying of the Security Council’s ceasefire resolution shows why the world can no longer look to Washington as the arbiter of a rules-based order.

By Samer Badawi April 2, 2024

Palestinians seen at the port of Gaza City, June 13, 2019. (Hassan Jedi/Flash90)

‘Armchair humanitarianism’: The problem with Gaza’s maritime aid corridor

While aid is desperately needed, critics warn the U.S.-led plan evades the fundamental cause of Gaza’s starvation: Israel’s total control of the Strip.

By Samer Badawi March 16, 2024

Israeli soldiers seen near the Gaza fence, southern Israel, January 7, 2024. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

Laying the groundwork for Gaza’s permanent exodus

With Egypt reportedly preparing for an influx of refugees and UNRWA on the brink of collapse, Israel’s second Nakba fantasies could soon become reality.

By Samer Badawi February 19, 2024

Palestinians at a temporary tent camp set up for people who evacuated from their homes, on the grounds of an UNRWA school in Khan Yunis, in the southern Gaza Strip, October 19, 2023. (Abed Rahim Khatib/Flash90)

Is Israel preparing another Nakba for Gaza?

Forcing Palestinians out of the besieged strip seemed unthinkable weeks ago. But Israel’s war suggests that efforts may be underway to see it through.

By Samer Badawi October 19, 2023

Illustration by Nerian Keywan.

No dispossessions left to count

It is the Palestinian refugee who reminds us, as we reckon with our altered reality, that yearning for what we once knew is hardly an act of obstinacy. It is what sustains us. And for many, the cost of abandoning this self-consolation is just too high.

By Samer Badawi December 29, 2020

Palestinians shop for food ahead of the fasting month of Ramadan, in Khan Yunis, in the southern Gaza Strip. April 20, 2020. (Abed Rahim Khatib/Flash90)

In isolation and exile, Ramadan still brings its blessings

Though I could not share an iftar with my Palestinian mother due to the pandemic, she made sure we could savor its pleasures, even from a distance.

By Samer Badawi May 20, 2020

A large group of protesters runs from Israeli sniper fire and crowd control measures, east of Gaza City, March 30, 2019. (Mohammed Zaanoun/Activestills.org)

In Gaza’s Return March, echoes of an Apartheid-era massacre

The Sharpeville Massacre, in which South African police gunned down 250 black protesters, marked a turning point in the struggle against Apartheid. But it would take another 34 years until democracy finally came to South Africa. A cautionary tale for Palestinians. His art lies scattered across an unkept room, amid tarps and spent cans of paint. In…

By Samer Badawi March 31, 2019

Palestinians inspect the rubble left of a Hamas facility destroyed by the Israeli army following a botched Israeli incursion into Gaza, November 12, 2018. (Abed Rahim Khatib/Flash90)

Hamas didn’t start this fight, but it won’t win it either

If Hamas allows Israel to drag it into another lopsided fight, it will not only cost the lives of countless innocent civilians in Gaza, it will also distract from ongoing mass resistance to the siege. Israel’s killing of Hamas commander Nour Baraka on Sunday and the predictable response from the Islamist movement have sparked fears…

By Samer Badawi November 12, 2018