The program begins at 2 PM in the garden of the Liberated SKC, organized by the initiative For a Free Palestine (ZSP) and students from the Faculty of Applied Arts. Together, they will create a banner and the students will print Palestinian-themed designs on cotton T-shirts and tote bags. The event will be accompanied by musical performances by the ZSP Music Brigade.
At 4:30 PM, participants will head toward the Belgrade Youth Center for a protest against Serbian arms exports to Israel, which is organized by the initiative Support for the People of Palestine. After the march concludes at the Rajićeva Shopping Center, people will return to SKC, where Toufic Haddad’s lecture will begin at 7 PM.
Haddad is the author of the book “Palestine Ltd.: Neoliberalism and Nationalism in the Occupied Territory,” in which he examines how Western-led neoliberal “peace” initiatives since the signing of the Oslo Accords in 1993 further entrenched inequality under the guise of Palestinian state-building. These processes are important to understand as they ultimately contributed to and led to today’s genocide.
What role have neoliberal institutions played in shaping the so-called peace process and how does it relate to what is unfolding today?
Neoliberal institutions were central to shaping the post-Oslo “peace process,” not by resolving the conflict, but by managing it in a way that preserved Israeli control. The process was never designed to address core political issues—occupation, sovereignty, refugees—but to offer Israel a way to maintain demographic and territorial dominance while shedding the burdens of direct occupation.
After the First Intifada, Israel recognized that direct military control was unsustainable. So it shifted to indirect rule, delegating governance to a new Palestinian Authority. This arrangement, supported by the West, mimicked apartheid-era South Africa’s Bantustans—creating fragmented, semi-autonomous zones under local elites, while Israel retained real power over land, borders, and resources.
Institutions like the World Bank and IMF facilitated this arrangement by shaping the economic foundations of Palestinian autonomy. Western donors provided up to $50 billion to build institutions that promoted “statehood” in form, but not in substance. The economic logic was neoliberal: privatization, deregulation, and elite partnerships between Palestinian, Israeli, and international capital.
This created a system where Palestinian elites administered the occupation on Israel’s behalf, managing the population politically, economically, and even in terms of security. Resistance was reframed as terrorism, and the world was encouraged to see this as progress toward peace—even as settlements expanded and Palestinians became further fragmented.
The outcome was 155 disconnected Palestinian enclaves—most notably Gaza, which became an overcrowded, de-developed zone. As political negotiations stalled, Gaza became the most extreme example of this failed arrangement: an “open-air prison” that Israel controlled remotely, economically strangled, and ultimately subjected to repeated assaults culminating in the current genocide.
How does the current situation with Iran relate to what’s happening in Palestine?
Israel is pursuing regional escalation, particularly with Iran, as part of its broader strategy to consolidate power. While Gaza remains its immediate target, Israel is seizing the current geopolitical moment—U.S. support, Arab fragmentation, regional instability—to go after Iran, its long-standing rival.
This escalation is partly motivated by Israel’s failure to achieve strategic goals in Gaza. Despite massive destruction, Israel hasn’t defeated Palestinian resistance or reshaped global opinion in its favor. Militarily, it has relied on force; politically, it has lost moral legitimacy. Now, it’s attempting to shift the battlefield regionally, hoping a broader war will reset the game.
But Israel’s assault on Iran is also about maintaining its role as the dominant power in a reordered Middle East. It’s a high-risk move and may backfire. The international context is volatile, and many fear this could spiral into wider regional war or even global conflict. What’s clear is that the old international order is collapsing—and what replaces it is still up for grabs.
What is the path toward Palestinian liberation?
There’s no single path, but it’s crucial to understand that the Palestinian struggle is not just about suffering—it’s a political movement with global significance. The resilience and organizing power of Palestinians inspire people far beyond the region. Their fight against apartheid, occupation, and settler colonialism connects with struggles elsewhere: for self-determination, for justice, for dignity.
Solidarity with Palestine isn’t just about humanitarian empathy—it’s also about recognizing shared conditions. Surveillance technologies Israel tests on Palestinians are exported globally, including to European governments. In Serbia, for example, Israeli spyware has been used against journalists and activists. The repression Palestinians face is being normalized and exported.
The right-wing turn globally is intimately linked to support for Israel. That’s why the Palestinian cause must be part of broader internationalist, anti-fascist, and anti-authoritarian movements. We need to organize not just against what’s happening “there,” but what it reflects and enables “here.”
The genocide in Gaza is not an isolated horror—it’s a warning. And it’s also a call: to build a different world, where solidarity and resistance can offer a real alternative to fascism and empire.
A.M.
