Latest Podcast: On "Occupied Minds: A Journey Through the Israeli Psyche"

On 29 March 2008, Arthur Neslen spoke at the AICafe in the offices of the Alternative Information Center in Beit Sahour. Arthur is the author of Occupied Minds: A Journey Through the Israeli Psyche, which was published in 2006 by Pluto Press. The book features a series of first person narratives, gathered from interviews with more than 50 Israelis from across the social and political spectrum, shedding light on the dynamics of Israeli identity and consciousness. 

Arthur was formerly the London correspondent for Aljazeera.net and the website's only Jewish journalist. He was international editor of Red Pepper Magazine for five years, and worked between 2001 and 2004 as a broadcast journalist at the BBC. Additionally, he has written for publications including the Guardian, the Independent, the Observer, the New Statesman and Private Eye.

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Like the rest of the Occupied Palestinian Territories, Jerusalem's Old City has been the object of aggressive Israeli colonization. 

Jerusalem’s Old City was traditionally divided into four quarters, the Muslim, the Christian, the Armenian and the Jewish. However, historically, none of the quarters ever comprised only one ethnic group. 

The exception today is the Jewish Quarter. After the Israeli occupation in 1967, it was renovated and Israeli law allows only Jews to live there.

Outside the boundaries of the Jewish quarter, the construction of new Israeli settlements is limited by lack of open space.  As a result, building settlements requires the expulsion of the Palestinian inhabitants.  This is achieved primarily through bureaucratic measures, such as the revocation of residency rights. 

Currently there are 600 settlers living in the Old City, outside the Jewish Quarter.

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