Decolonize Palestine (DP) is an online research group with information for pro-Palestinian organizers. It was established by a pro-Palestinian, anti-Zionist married couple living in Ramallah in the Palestinian Territories: Rawan Masri (who also goes by Rawan Eid and Rawan Tayoon) and her husband, Fathi Nemer. Both have repeatedly claimed that the Zionist movement is not representative of most Jews living in the Middle East, but derived from fascist “blood and soil” movements out of Western Europe. ¹

DP has a significant social media presence, with over 42,000 followers on Instagram and over 17,000 followers on X (formerly known as Twitter). ^{2 3}

College Influence

Masri’s and Nemer’s work is used and advertised on multiple college campuses. In 2022, they presented at Bard College on the Decolonize Palestine project. ⁴ A University of California, Davis entity included the Decolonize Palestine website on an extensive list of Palestine/Israel reading suggestions designed to persuade readers that Palestine is an occupied territory with systematically oppressed people and victims of genocide living there. ⁵ Duke University Libraries included the site in its research guide for the Middle East and Islamic Studies Department. ⁶

Support for Violent Extremism

In 2021, the couple appeared on a podcast, Millennials are Killing Capitalism, to promote their website and call attention to evictions of Palestinians in Sheikh Jarrah. She claimed, “The reason that settlers get so freaked out about this concept of reparations, this idea of decolonization, this idea that there is going to be violent reprisals… They know they f*cking deserve violent reprisals.” ⁷

In October 2023, Masri wrote an article for anti-Israel website Mondoweiss that circulated widely among student protestors, justifying the October 7th “Operation Al-Aqsa Flood” terrorist attack on a music festival in Israel as a noble act of self-defense. The Resistance News Network, an anti-Israel hub, also promoted the article. ⁸

Leadership

Rawan Masri is a museum translator and researcher. She attended the University of Southern California where she served as head of the local chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine and co-leader of the Young Democratic Socialists of America (YDSA) and the National Coordinating Committee for YDSA. ⁹ In 2017, she was arrested at Los Angeles International Airport for protesting then-President Donald Trump’s immigration restrictions targeting several majority-Muslim nations. ¹⁰ In addition to her work favoring the pro-Palestinian point of view in the Israel-Hamas conflict, she traveled to South Africa after that nation formally filed a genocide charge against Israel at the International Court of Justice. ¹¹

Fathi Nemer is a policy fellow for Al-Shabaka, a think tank that produces pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel commentary and analysis. He has held research and academic positions around the world and holds a master’s degree in political science from Heidelberg University. ¹²

Financials

The founders of Decolonialize Palestine do not disclose their funding sources, but openly solicit donations from Patreon to expand the site and to fund their work. ¹³

1. The Red Nation on YouTube: “Rawan Eid and Fathi Nemer…” November 19, 2023. Accessed August 1, 2024. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cts–7P0zTg
2. Decolonize Palestine, Instagram https://www.instagram.com/decolonizepalestine/?hl=en
3. Decolonize Palestine profile, X. Accessed August 5, 2024. https://x.com/decolonizeps?lang=en
4. “Decolonize Palestine: A Discussion with Rawan Eid and Fathi Nemer.” Experimental Humanities Collaborative Network. Accessed August 1, 2024. https://ehcn.bard.edu/event/decolonize-palestine-a-discussion-with-rawan-eid-fathi-nemer/
5. “Resources on the Situation in Palestine and Israel.” UC Davis Asian American Studies. Updated October 18, 2023. Accessed August 1, 2024. https://asa.ucdavis.edu/resources-gaza
6. “Middle East and Islamic Studies: Palestine.” Duke University Libraries. Accessed August 1, 2024.  https://guides.library.duke.edu/c.php?g=289286&p=10093048
7. “Decolonize Palestine and #SaveSheikhJarrah with Rawan Eid and Fathi Nemer.” Millennials are Killing Capitalism. June 11, 2021. Accessed August 1, 2024. https://millennialsarekillingcapitalism.libsyn.com/decolonize-palestine-and-savesheikhjarrah-with-rawan-eid-and-fathi-nemer
8. “Resistance News Network.” Anti-Defamation League. Accessed August 1, 2024. https://extremismterms.adl.org/glossary/resistance-news-network-rnn
9. “Rawan Masri.” Scalawag Magazine. Accessed August 1, 2024. https://scalawagmagazine.org/author/rawanmasri/
10. Hawken Miller. “USC Student Detailed at LAX Protest: ‘It’s Important to Not Let Business Go On as Usual.” USC Annenberg Media. January 31, 2017. Accessed August 1, 2024. https://www.uscannenbergmedia.com/2017/01/31/usc-student-detained-at-lax-protest-its-important-to-not-let-business-go-on-as-usual/
11. Black Agenda Radio with Margeret Kimberley, “South Africa’s ICJ case revitalizes the struggle for liberation,” Black Agenda Report. February 9, 2024. Accessed August 5, 2024. https://www.blackagendareport.com/index.php/south-africas-icj-case-revitalizes-struggle-liberation
12. “Fathi Nemer.” Middle East Eye. Accessed August 1, 2024. https://www.middleeasteye.net/users/fathi-nemer
13. “Support Us.” Decolonialize Palestine. Accessed August 1, 2024. https://decolonizepalestine.com/support-us/