In recent years, a term has emerged in leftist activist circles: “progressive except for Palestine,” or “PEP” for short. It describes a person whose values and political leanings are consistent across issues of racial justice, homophobia, healthcare, immigration and more—but on Palestine, they are either silent, or actively hostile to a progressive point of view. It’s a worldview that permeates media spaces, academia, and Washington. What causes the progressive exception for Palestine, and are we seeing a shift on the horizon? In this episode of Unsettled, producer Ilana Levinson interviews Marc Lamont Hill and Mitchell Plitnick, authors of the forthcoming book, Except for Palestine: The Limits of Progressive Politics.

President Joe Biden campaigned on the idea that he'd bring the country back to “normal.” But that message has raised some eyebrows, as many have pointed out that America’s “normal” doesn’t necessarily mean good, or right. In this episode of Unsettled, producer Ilana Levinson interviews Lara Friedman, President of the Foundation for Middle East Peace, about what is considered normal U.S. foreign policy on Israel-Palestine, the relationships with Israeli and Palestinian leaders that Biden inherits from former President Donald Trump, and what we can expect from Biden given his record as Vice President in the Obama administration.

Samiha Hureini is a university student from the village of a-Tuwani, in the South Hebron Hills. She is one of the founders of Youth of Sumud, a group of young people who came together to defend their community in the wake of a dramatic direct action (chronicled in the very first episode of Unsettled).

In this interview with producer Max Freedman, Samiha explains how Youth of Sumud has maintained a Palestinian presence in the caves of Sarura despite the constant threat of violence from soldiers and settlers, and the price that she and her family have paid for their activism.

"Five years ago, Jeremy Corbyn brought Palestine solidarity politics into the heart of the largest left-wing party in Europe. And [his leadership has] ended with criticisms of the occupation being untenable in British politics." How did this happen?

Producer Max Freedman talks to Joshua Leifer, assistant editor at Jewish Currents and author of "The Tragedy of Jeremy Corbyn."

When we first pitched our documentary "The shepherd and the settler" to be part of the "Rulebreakers" series on the BBC World Service, we started with a question: What are the rules, exactly, where Palestinian shepherds and Israeli settlers live side-by-side? Who makes the rules, and who’s breaking them?

To better understand the legal landscape in the occupied West Bank, we turned to Noura Erakat: a human rights attorney, a scholar of law in the Middle East, and the author of Justice for Some: Law and the Question of Palestine.

Amiel Vardi is a professor of Classics at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem and one of the founders of a grassroots movement called Ta'ayush: Israelis and Palestinians striving together to end the Israeli occupation and to achieve full civil equality through daily non-violent direct action.

Amiel was with our producer Max Freedman when he visited Rashash to report "The shepherd and the settler" for the BBC World Service. Listen to the full documentary, then return to this episode to learn about why Ta'ayush focuses on herding communities, and the resistance they face from both settlers and soldiers.

Aviv Tatarsky is a researcher for Ir Amim and one of the founders of Engaged Dharma Israel. Aviv was with our producer Max Freedman when he visited Rashash to report "The shepherd and the settler." Listen to the full documentary to hear Aviv's close encounter with a settler on an ATV, then return to this episode to learn about how Aviv uses meditation to challenge the occupation, and why he no longer calls himself a "peace activist."

This is the first in a series of extended interviews from "The shepherd and the settler," produced by the Unsettled team for the BBC World Service.

Muhammad Jahaleen is a 30-year-old Bedouin shepherd in the occupied West Bank, living with his family in a remote place called Rashash. Listen to "The shepherd and the settler," then return to this episode for more of Muhammad's story and more details about his life under threat from the settlement next door.

In this short documentary, originally aired on the BBC World Service, Unsettled producer Max Freedman spends the day in Rashash, a small herding community in the West Bank, with a Bedouin shepherd named Muhammad.

Muhammad's family has been herding sheep and goats in Rashash for 30 years, and in Palestine for generations. But since Israeli settlers recently moved in nearby, it has become difficult for Muhammad to graze his flock undisturbed. After watching this conflict in action, Max sets out to understand what he saw in Rashash.

Israel’s blockade of the Gaza Strip shapes people’s lives in many different ways. In this episode, we focus on the chronic energy shortage. Energy is needed for much more than turning on the lights; water, sewage, and hospitals, schools, farms, and factories — they all depend on a steady supply of electricity.

First, producer Max Freedman speaks with Tania Hary, executive director of Gisha, to learn why Gaza’s energy infrastructure can only meet about half of the demand. Then, the story of Majd Mashharawi: a young engineer and entrepreneur who is harnessing Gaza’s most plentiful natural resource — sunlight — to bring power to her people.

Too many conversations about Gaza begin and end with one word: Hamas. And conversations about Hamas too often rely on reductive talking points.

In this episode, producer Max Freedman speaks with Tareq Baconi, author of the new book Hamas Contained: The Rise and Pacification of Palestinian Resistance. They discuss the origins of Hamas, its position in the Palestinian political landscape, and its governance of the Gaza Strip.

Hilmi Hammad was 18 years old in 1948 when Israeli forces entered his village. He became one of about 200,000 Palestinian refugees who ended up in the Gaza Strip at the end of the 1948 war. The site where Hilmi's village once stood is located today in the center of Israel, and though Hilmi has spent his life in Gaza, his home is still in that village, to which he hopes to return.

In the second episode of Gaza, a series from Unsettled, we hear from Hilmi and his son Isam. Isam was born in Gaza and is one of the organizers of the Great March of Return. Isam and Hilmi shared with us their history and talked to us about what it means to be Palestinian refugees in Gaza, still dreaming of returning to their native village.

American and Israeli politicians, religious leaders, and dignitaries met in Jerusalem on May 14, 2018 to mark the United States moving its embassy there. While they celebrated with songs about peace, thousands of Palestinians assembled at the fence that separates Israel from the Gaza Strip for the Great March of Return. This mass demonstration was originally planned to last six weeks, but has continued to this day. How did it all begin, and who are the protestors that continue to risk their lives to participate?

In the first episode of Gaza, a series from Unsettled, we hear about the Great March of Return from one of its organizers and two young participants.

In January, Unsettled is launching an eight-part series about the Gaza Strip. As Gaza has kept coming up in the news this year, you’ve probably had questions - and so have we.

Why did thousands of people risk so much to take part in the Great March of Return? Why does a majority of the population identify as refugees, even many who were born in Gaza? What do we miss when we refuse to try to understand Hamas on its own terms? And how are Gazans innovating in order to survive?

A few years ago, you would have found Ita Segev in the Israeli army, training to patrol the West Bank. Today, Ita is a transfeminine performance artist and anti-Zionist activist in New York City. In this episode, Ita tells her story: how gender and Zionism shaped her early years, and how excavating the truth about her home created space to understand and express her true self.