1. Conferences and debates

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Nakba at 73: what lies ahead?

Published at 31 12,,, 21 2021

To commemorate Nakba Day, Casa Árabe and the Diplomatic Mission of Palestine in Spain present this conference with Hanan Ashrawi, political and civil society leader, academic and Palestinian activist. She will be speaking with José Vericat on May 17 at 6 p.m. at our headquarters in Madrid. The event will be broadcast live on Youtube and Facebook Live. 1948 marks the start of the Nakba, “catastrophe” or “disaster” in Arabic, when more than 700,000 Palestinians had to flee from their lands, and hundreds of cities and towns were destroyed or forcibly depopulated. Since then, many UN Resolutions have been disregarded by Israel, which has carried out the construction of illegal settlements and deepened its occupation of the Palestinian territories. Against the odds, the Palestinian people have refused to forget and give up the right of return and have continued to resist throughout the decades. In this conference, organized with the cooperation of the Diplomatic Mission of Palestine in Spain, Hanan Ashrawi will talk about the deep legacy of the Nakba, but also about current Palestinian affairs in the light of the recent crisis in Jerusalem and Gaza. She will also tackle the prospects for future elections and reform in Palestine and the role of the European Union. Hanan Ashrawi will be joining the event through an online connection from Ramallah and will engage in a dialogue with José Vericat, Senior Adviser at the European Institute for Peace. Presented by: Musa Amer Odeh, Ambassador of Palestine in Spain and Pedro Martínez-Avial, Director General of Casa Árabe. Hanan Ashrawi is a distinguished Palestinian leader, legislator, activist, and scholar who served as a member of the Leadership Committee and as an official spokesperson of the Palestinian delegation to the Middle East peace process, beginning with the Madrid Peace Conference of 1991. Making history as the first woman to hold a seat in the highest executive body in Palestine, she was elected as member of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) in 2009 and most recently in 2018. She resigned in 2020. In 1996, Dr. Ashrawi was appointed as the Palestinian Authority Minister of Higher Education and Research. She was elected to the Palestinian Legislative Council representing Jerusalem in 1996, and she was re-elected for the “Third Way” bloc ticket in 2006. As a civil society activist, she founded the Independent Commission for Human Rights (1994), MIFTAH, the Palestinian Initiative for the Promotion of Global Dialogue and Democracy (1998) and AMAN, the National Coalition for Accountability and Integrity (1999). She serves on the advisory and international boards of several global, regional and local organizations, and she is the recipient of numerous awards from all over the world, , including the distinguished French decoration, “d'Officier de l'Ordre National de la Légion d'Honneur” (2016), and several academic accolades, including eleven honorary doctorates from universities in the U.S., Canada, Europe, and the Arab world. José S. Vericat is Senior Adviser at the European Institute for Peace. He’s a seasoned Middle East expert with more than two decades of experience working in conflict zones. Before joining the European Institute of Peace, he was the Carter Center’s Israel-Palestine Country Representative and Field Office Director promoting viable peace between Israelis and Palestinians and inter-Palestinian reconciliation. Previously, he was a Middle East advisor at the International Peace Institute (IPI) influencing policy-making at the UN headquarters, an EU official working on security sector reform in Palestine, and a prize-winning journalist covering the Second Intifada and the Iraq war. He has a PhD in Oriental Studies from Oxford University and an MA in International Relations from Columbia University. More information: https://en.casaarabe.es/event/nakba-at-73-what-lies-ahead Photo: Montecruz Foto. Palestine Nakba Day demo in Berlin

ALL VIDEOS IN THIS CATEGORY

The Iraq debacle

Unity, federalism, caliphate or partition? Several international experts analyzed each of these options. The event included interventions by Hayder el-Khoei, a researcher at Chatham House; Kawa Hassan, a researcher at HIVOS and the Carnegie Middle East Centre, and Mohammad Ali Shabani, a researcher at Cambridge University. It was moderated by Karim Hauser, who is responsible for Casa Árabe’s Governance Area. It was part of the international seminar "Iraq at a crossroads", organized by Casa Árabe, Friedrich Ebert Stiftung and FRIDE.

Published at 01 11,,, 14 2014
Arabic culture in the Spanish language

Video of the conference held on September 25, 2014 at the Casa Árabe headquarters in Madrid on the occasion of the presentation of the Sheikh Zayed International Book Awards. The event included the participation of Dr. Ali Bin Tamim, Secretary General of the Sheikh Zayed International Book Award; Saeed Madan, Director of the Sheikh Zayed International Book Award; Professor Pedro Martínez Montávez, and Eduardo López Busquets, the General Director of Casa Árabe. This year, the Sheikh Zayed International Book Awards include the category of “Spanish” for the first time ever, within the section of “Arab Culture in Other Languages.” When the conference and presentation came to an end, an “Eastern Flamenco” Arab oud and guitar concert was held, with a performance that explored the common roots shared by flamenco and Arab music. In terms of its melodics, both of these types of music share the same basic scale, which is known as the “Phrygian dominant scale” (the Kurdish hijaz), which evokes the magic of the Middle East and its influence on flamenco music. At the same time, in terms of rhythm, one can find common beats and variations between them, including the rumba and baladi, or the fandango and chaabi music (typical of North Africa). David Durán Gil, a guitarist, and Hames Bitar, who plays the Arab oud, undertook a dialogue based on “Taqsim” (improvisation), in which each musician demonstrated his talent by playing freely with different scales and styles, producing a magical atmosphere that mixed two cultures.

Published at 17 26,,, 14 2014
The Cordoba Forum

Presentation of “The Cordoba Forum”, held on October 27, 2014 at the Casa Árabe headquarters in Madrid, given by Jacques Moreillon, Vice-President of Foreign Affairs for the Paradigma Córdoba Foundation.The Cordoba Forum is a concept proposed by the Paradigma Córdoba Foundation and by the authorities of the city of Cordoba. It is based on the nexus which universal awareness creates between Cordoba and a time of tolerance in Al-Andalus amongst the three great monotheistic religions.The goal of the Forum is to bring together approximately one hundred international institutions year after year in Cordoba, each from its own specialized field, so as to contribute to the co-existence of ideals, efforts and means. This repetition of meetings, topics and intermediaries all in the same location should bear its fruits in the form of a “Cordoba spirit,” a network of goodwill and a universal dynamic for promoting co-existence.

Published at 12 26,,, 14 2014
Jerusalem within the framework of World War I

This conference by Roberto Mazza focused on "The Diaries of the Count of Ballobar". It took place the 22nd of October 2014. Roberto Mazza, a History professor at Western Illinois University and a Middle East scholar who specializes in the period lasting from the Ottoman Empire to the British Mandate, focused his conference on the figure of Antonio de la Cierva, the Count of Ballobar.

Published at 41 26,,, 14 2014
La escasez de agua en Palestina y Jordania / The Water Shortage in Palestine and Jordan

Conferencia celebrada el 8 de abril de 2013 en la sede de Casa Árabe en Madrid bajo el título "Afrontar la escasez de agua en los Territorios Palestinos y Jordania: el uso de las fuentes de agua no convencionales en la agricultura". El acto contó con la participación de Abdellatif M.A Mohamed, vicedirector de la Palestinian Agricultural Relief Committees (PARC) en Territorios Palestinos; Basem Shamoun, director de Proyectos de la Jordan Hashemite Fund for Human Development (JOHUD) de Jordania; Isabel Martín, responsable del Área de Calidad del Agua del Centro de las Nuevas Tecnologías del Agua; e Inmaculada Paniagua, jefe de área de Agua y Saneamiento del Departamento de Cooperación Sectorial de la Agencia Española de Cooperación internacional al Desarrollo. Más información: http://www.casaarabe.es/noticias-arabes/show/la-escasez-de-agua-en-palestina-y-jordania On Monday, April 8 in Madrid, a round table discussion was held on the topic of "Facing the Water Shortage in the Palestinian Territories and Jordan: the use of unconventional water sources in agriculture." The Fundación Promoción Social de la Cultura has organized this round table discussion of the problems related with water shortages in the Middle East, and more specifically in Jordan and Palestine. For more information: http://en.casaarabe.es/news/the-water-shortage-in-palestine-and-jordan

Published at 15 15,,, 14 2014