Georgetown Forum on Israeli and Palestinian Politics

By Sofia Thomas
The Hoya
September 11, 2025
 

"An event on Sept 8 brought together Samer Sinijlawi — a Palestinian political activist and the founder of the Jerusalem Development Fund, a non-profit that works to improve the lives of Palestinians in the West Bank and East Jerusalem — and Shira Efron — an Israel policy chair for the research organization RAND — for a discussion at Georgetown University on the future of Israeli and Palestinian politics during the ongoing war in Gaza…

"'I really wished to be able to be in person in the room today with you, but unfortunately, there was recently a freeze for Palestinian visas to the U.S.,' Sinjilawi said…

"Efron said the United States’ decision to refuse to issue visas to Palestinians will not help resolve the ongoing conflict.

"'This idea of coercion through ignoring and sanctioning the Palestinians instead of through engagement just doesn’t make sense from a U.S. perspective,’ Efron said.

"'It’s not who belongs and who does not belong,' Sinjilawi said. 'The question is, how do we both belong?'"

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