Honoring Palestinian Fathers with PFC

Palestinian Feminist Collective (PFC) warmly invites you to join us for our June 2023 Feminist Futures Program. This month we are honoring Palestinian fathers with a virtual event meant to create space for, honor and recognize the complex lived experiences and realities of Palestinian fathers. We will be hosting two incredible speakers: Raja Shehadeh, author of the memoir We Could Have Been Friends, My Father and I, and Abeer Otman, postdoctoral scholar, who will unpack how Zionist settler colonialism impinges on Palestinian fatherhood, as well as how fathers defy settler colonialism by showing love, care, and protection for their families and homes. As Palestinian feminists, we will conceptualize: What are the experiences of Palestinian fathers – diverse and complicated? How do we tell these stories of fatherhood? How can we continue to hold them and make space for them in our pursuit of Palestinian liberation?

Abeer Otman’s postdoctoral research investigates father-child connectivity under the settler-colonial context. She has a doctorate in social work from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Her doctoral research focused on fathers and fatherhood in a settler colonial context: the case of occupied East Jerusalem (OEJ). As a community and social worker in East Jerusalem for more than ten years, she engages in local activities concerning fulfillment of socio-economic rights, improving physical spaces, developing social and educational services.

Raja Shehadeh is a Palestinian lawyer, human rights activist, and writer. He co-founded the Palestinian human rights organization Al-Haq in 1979. He is the author of several books, including Palestinian Walks, which he won the Orwell Prize in 2008. In addition to his legal work, Shehadeh has written a number of books about Palestine through the lens of his life, including Strangers in the House (2002), Occupation Diaries (2012), and his latest, We Could Have Been Friends, My Father and I: A Palestinian Memoir (2022).