The Political Economy of Palestine Reading Group

The Political Economy of Palestine is a new reading group that aims to set-up chapters around Australia. To express your interest in joining a chapter in your city, please complete this short Expression of Interest.

Since 7 October 2023, Palestine is the leading issue in global affairs and represents a cause célèbre for millions of people internationally. Even prior to this moment, the issue of Palestine has been at the forefront of international politics since early Israeli paramilitaries expelled hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in the 1948 Nakba. According to international law, Israel’s occupation of the ‘Palestinian Territories’ (West Bank and Gaza) is the longest military occupation in modern history. The plight of the Palestinians has also been headline news globally during the 1967 and 1973 Arab-Israeli wars, the intifadas of 1987 and 2000, the ill-fated 1990s peace process between the Palestinian Liberation Organization and Israel, Hamas’ victory in Palestinian Legislative Elections and Israel’s subsequent total blockade of Gaza in 2007, and multiple assaults by Israel on the Gaza Strip in 2008, 2012, 2014, and 2021; culminating in Israel’s ongoing campaign in Gaza that has been named a genocide by respected international organisations, experts, scholars, and lawyers, triggering cases at the International Court of Justice and International Criminal Court against Israel and Israeli leaders.

In this urgent context, we aim to contribute positively to the national conversation on Palestine, create spaces for learning about Palestine and the interconnected issues it engenders, and break down the barriers, fears, and uncertainties that have surrounded this vital topic. We aim to provide resources for contemporary political economists to unpack the interweaving state, colonial, and economic dynamics in Palestine. With this aim, we are proud to announce, on behalf of a collaboration of interstate scholars, academics, and workers, The Political Economy of Palestine Reading Group, to initially run weekly from the end of July to the end of October 2025.

The purpose of the reading group is to develop interest, knowledge, understanding, and expertise in the various and diverse political economy dilemmas and crises that relate to Palestine. The topics for the Reading Group also have broader relevance outside their strict application to Palestine, and so we will read these themes by considering how they relate to, and are situated within, a broader global political economy. Again, we explicitly push back against the fear of learning about and speaking on these urgent issues, seek to engage with colleagues more deeply about what it is to teach, research, and exist in a time of genocide, and build networks of workplace support to advance understanding on crucial areas that are currently lacking across tertiary institutions and broader society in general.

The Reading Group aspires to have ‘chapters’ across every state in Australia, which meet separately in their own locations. There are no requirements, whether of expertise or otherwise, for readers to join their local Reading Group, and there is equally no mandated attendance; readers are encouraged to be involved in whatever depth and capacity they are able. The weekly reading designations have also been suggested to balance the depth most readers would desire with the realities of our socially constrained time. All readers will also be provided with reading materials and access information for the weekly readings. Outside of the weekly Reading Group, there will also be monthly national-level online events with key international scholars and practitioners whose work we have engaged with.

We enthusiastically encourage interested readers to contact us as organisers to express their interest in joining their local Political Economy of Palestine Reading Group chapter. Interested readers will be contacted mid-July with the details of the first Reading Group and syllabus.

Expression of Interest for the Political Economy of Palestine Reading Group

The set image is licensed under WikimediaCommons and is by Ilya Varlamov