Palestine: The continued struggle for survival
Amy Abdelnoor in conversation with Dr Abdelfattah Abusrour and Dr Zahira Jaser
An evening asking the question, what is the Palestinian struggle for survival? Author Amy Abdelnoor in conversation with Dr Abdelfattah Abusrour, founder and director of Alrowwad Cultural and Arts Society, Bethlehem, and Dr Zahira Jaser, an Italian-Palestinian Associate Professor at the University of Sussex Business School.
Bios
Abdelfattah Abusrour, PhD
Dr. Abdelfattah Abusrour who will speak about cultural resistance and the survival of the Palestinian nation
Abdelfattah Abusrour is founder and director of Alrowwad Cultural and Arts Society, established in 1998 in Aida Refugee Camp, Bethlehem. His concept and philosophy “Beautiful Resistance”, focuses on using performing and visual arts, culture and education, as a creative and peaceful expression in situations of oppression and trauma to provide possibilities to save lives and inspire hope and build peace within individuals to be peace builders in their communities and beyond.
Abusrour is an author, actor, and theatre director, with a PhD in Biological and Medical Engineering from France in 1993. In 2005, he abandoned his career in Biology because he believed in the power of arts and culture as pure humanity where stereotypes vanish and people are on equal grounds. These are the bridges that people can build together as equals to shape a better future for all the generations to come.
Dr Zahira Jaser
Dr Zahira Jaser is an Italian-Palestinian Associate Professor at the University of Sussex Business School, where she convenes modules in leadership, diversity, and applied research (at Undergraduate, MSc and MBA level). She is the Director of the MBA program. Her research and writing focus power in hierarchical settings, and lately on the impact of anti-Palestinian racism in organizations and society. Her research and writings have been featured in popular (Science, the Financial Times, The Guardian, the BBC, Wired, the Harvard Business Review and the MIT Sloan Management Review) as well as academic publications (the Journal of Management Studies, Organization Theory, Organization Studies, Academy of Management Learning and Education Journal, Political Psychology and Leadership).
Amy Abdelnoor (Moderator)
Amy Abdelnoor is a writer and teacher. While studying English and Arabic at Trinity Hall, Cambridge, she reconnected with her Arab family roots, living in Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon and later under Israeli military occupation in the West Bank during the second intifada. Her debut novel, Ever Land, grew out of these experiences. It was shortlisted for the 2023 Lucy Cavendish Fiction Prize and has been acquired by Hutchinson Heinemann, Penguin Random House, and will be published in 2026.
She now lives in Essex with her husband and three children. Alongside writing and teaching English at secondary level, she is a member of Critical Collective, a woman’s group advocating against racism and crimes against humanity. While waiting for the publication of her novel, you can find her work on Electronic Intifada and Substack.
