Other Group

Palestine Institute for Public Diplomacy (PIPD)

Website:

www.thepipd.com

Type:

Non-governmental organization (NGO)

Formation:

2017

Executive Director:

Inès Abdel Razek

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The Palestine Institute for Public Diplomacy (PIPD) is a left-of-center, non-governmental organization (NGO) that aims to advance Palestinian-nationalist and anti-Israel policy across the world, with the goal of the liberation of Palestine from Israel. PIPD is based in the Palestinian territories and is led by a board of Palestinians from the private sector, government, and academia. It is a member of the boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) movement to delegitimize and isolate the state of Israel. 1 2 3

Among its many activities, PIPD publishes Palestinian stories to the world through its digital production platform, Rābet. 1 Ines Abdel Razek is the executive director of PIPD. 4

PIPD exercises international influence, most notably through its participation in several United Nations-sponsored panels and webinars during which PIPD representatives shared Palestinian-nationalist and anti-Israel stories and perspectives. 5 6 7

Initiatives

Palestine Institute for Public Diplomacy’s central initiative is its digital platform hub, Rābet, which helps connect international audiences to Palestinian stories and storytellers. Rābet is a digital social forum through which PIPD spreads a left-of-center, anti-Israel view of Palestinian nationalism and organizes international campaigns in support of Palestinian nationalism. PIPD’s website describes Rābet as the group’s central organizing hub for ending “complicity with the Israeli apartheid regime.” 1

PIPD also operates a tool called Palestine VR, a YouTube series on PIPD’s channel that takes viewers on a virtual reality tour through Gaza, the West Bank, Jerusalem, Ramallah, and other territories claimed by Palestinians. The group claims that the virtual reality experience is a response to travel limits imposed by the Israeli government, which it says do not allow international audiences to get a first-person understanding of what happens in the region. 8

PIPD also maintains a blog on its website that publishes short posts aimed at framing the Israel-Palestine situation in the context of broader left-of-center, intersectional issues, including environmentalism. 9 Throughout the blog, PIPD repeats its claim that Israel has inflicted settler colonialism against the Palestinian people who must be liberated from Israeli oppression. 10

International Influence

United Nations Work

In addition to its other work, the Palestine Institute for Public Diplomacy plays an active role in advocating for the Palestinian cause on various United Nations panels and at UN-sponsored non-governmental organization events. In November 2020, Ines Abdel Razek, then-advocacy director for PIPD, participated in a Palestinian-Chilean webinar event co-hosted by the UN and the International Observatory of the Foundation for Democracy titled, “The Continuing Struggle for the Decolonization of Palestine: New Obstacles, Same Goal.” The webinar description claimed that Israel engages in “apartheid” against Palestinians. Omar Barghouti, founder of the BDS movement, also spoke during the webinar. 11

In May 2021, PIPD’s Ines Abdel Razek appeared again at a UN event co-sponsored by the Foundation for Middle East Peace titled “The PLO & the Palestinian Diaspora: Reviving a Source of Power.” The event spanned multiple days and included a keynote address from U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI). 6

In April 2024, PIPD’s then-co-director Rula Shadeed spoke at a UN event on what it called “Israel’s Genocide” in Gaza, during which Shadeed claimed “that, amid ongoing genocide, the narrative has been changing: people are starting to comprehend better that this is a blockade, a genocide, a settler-colonial project with the main aim to displace Palestinians.” Shadeed also “[urged] States to end relations with Israel, call for sanctions and impose arms embargos [sic].” 7

Other International Impact

In May 2024, the Palestine Institute for Public Diplomacy wrote a letter to Colombian President Gustavo Petro encouraging him to ban the export of Colombian coal to Israel. 12 Due to the pressure applied by PIPD and pro-Palestinian groups in Colombia, Petro went through with the halt on coal exports to Israel in June 2024. 13

Again in May 2024, PIPD supported the European Legal Support Center (ELSC), Al-Haq, SOMO (the Centre for Research on Multinational Corporations) and The Rights Forum in filing a criminal complaint to the Dutch Public Prosecution Service to hold Booking.com accountable for profiting from what they called the commission of war crimes by facilitating the rental of vacation homes in disputed territories. 14 The lawsuit remains ongoing as of January 2025. 15

In April of 2024, German human rights lawyers sued the German government for exporting munitions to Israel during the Israel-Hamas War. PIPD was among several NGOs that supported the lawsuit. By September 2024, the German government rejected halting  weapons exports to Israel. 16 17

On November 15, 2024, the People’s Tribunal in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, a democratic-socialist group of judges, lawyers, and activists, purported to convict Israel of genocide against the Palestinian population in Gaza. This followed a November 14, 2024 declaration by a United Nations special committee stating that the methods of warfare used by Israel in the Gaza Strip “correspond to the characteristics of genocide.” Both declarations of genocide were supported by PIPD co-director Rula Shadeed, who claimed the declarations were a “very important symbolic action” in the efforts to stop Israeli military aggression in the region. 18

People

Staff

Ines Abdel Razek is the executive director of the Palestine Institute for Public Diplomacy and its digital platform Rābet, an independent Palestinian organization focusing on international mobilization and digital campaigning. From 2019 to 2022, Abdel Razek was the advocacy director of the PIPD, helping to develop the political networks and international advocacy pillar of the organization. Prior to joining the PIPD, Abdel Razek held policy advisor positions in the Union for the Mediterranean in Barcelona, the UN Environment Programme in Nairobi and the Palestinian Prime Minister’s Office in Ramallah, where she advised executive leadership on international aid for development policies. Abdel Razek is also a board member of the social enterprise BuildPalestine, advisory board member of Palestine DeepDive, and policy member at Al-Shabaka, the Palestinian Policy Network. She holds a master’s degree in public affairs from Sciences-Po in Paris. 4

Rula Shadeed is the co-director and program and advocacy director of PIPD. Before joining PIPD, she worked at Al-Haq as head of the Monitoring and Documentation department. Before that, Shadeedd worked for five years with the Swedish Migration Agency as a senior analyst on migration, preceded by heading the Protection Department of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Iraq and Kuwait. 19

Board of Directors

Ghassan Khatib sits on the board of directors of the Palestine Institute for Public Diplomacy. He is the vice president for advancement, and lecturer of cultural studies and international studies at Birzeit University. Previously, he served in various capacities for the Palestinian Authority, including as director of the Palestinian Authority Government Media Center, Minister of Labor, and Minister of Planning. He founded and directed the Jerusalem Media and Communication center. He was a member of the Palestinian delegation for the Madrid Middle East Peace Conference in 1991 and the subsequent bilateral negotiations in Washington, D.C. from 1991 to 1993. Khatib holds a Ph.D. in Middle East politics from the University of Durham, and is the author of “Palestinian Politics and the Middle East Peace Process: Consensus and Competition in the Palestinian Negotiation Team.” 2

In April 2024, Khatib expressed reserved support for a two-state solution in the Middle East, noting that if Hamas were to dissolve its militant terrorist wing and accept Palestinian state sovereignty according to the 1967 borders, it could usher in an era of peace between Israel and Palestine. 20

Sara Husseini also sits on the board of directors of PIPD. She is director of the British Palestinian Committee, a left-of-center advocacy group for British policy towards Palestinian nationalism. Husseini has served as an advisor to senior Palestinian officials, including the Chief Negotiator and the Palestinian Ambassador to Germany, and has supported the work of civil-society organizations in Palestine. Along with PIPD, she currently sits on the boards of BuildPalestine and The Britain Palestine Media Centre. Husseini holds a bachelor’s in German Studies and European History, a master’s in Islamic Studies, and a Ph.D. in early Christian-Muslim relations, all from the University of Birmingham in the United Kingdom. 2

In January 2025, Husseini expressed her support for a ceasefire in Gaza, blaming the violence in the Middle East on what she calls Israel’s “expansionist agenda.” She also expressed her support for a two-state solution which she said would put an end to what she considers the Israeli occupation of Palestine. 21

Finances

As an organization based in the Palestinian territories, the Palestine Institute for Public Diplomacy does not report its finances through United States federal financial forms. Still, the group has received substantial grants from major left-wing philanthropic groups in the United States, most notably from philanthropist George Soros’s Open Society Network. In 2023, Soros’ Foundation to Promote Open Society gave $390,000 in grants to PIPD. 22

From 2022 to 2023, PIPD received $55,000 in grants from the Foundation for Middle East Peace, a left-of-center grantmaking foundation that has given grants to several organizations involved in the boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) movement to delegitimize Israel. 23 24 25

References

  1. “Who We Are.” PIPD. Accessed January 19, 2025. https://www.thepipd.com/about-us/who-we-are/
  2. “Board Members.” PIPD. Accessed January 19, 2025. https://www.thepipd.com/about-us/board-members/
  3. “Apartheid – A Resource Guide.” PIPD. March 16, 2023. Accessed January 19, 2025. https://www.thepipd.com/resources/apartheid-guide/
  4. “Inès Abdel Razek.” Al-Shabaka, Palestinian Policy Network. Accessed January 19, 2025. https://al-shabaka.org/authors/ines-abdel-razek/
  5. “NGO Action News – 3 December 2020 – Question of Palestine.” United Nations. December 3, 2020. Accessed January 19, 2025. https://www.un.org/unispal/ngo-action-news-3-december-2020/
  6. “NGO Action News – 6 May 2021 – Question of Palestine.” United Nations. May 6, 2021. Accessed January 19, 2025.  https://www.un.org/unispal/ngo-action-news-6-may-2021/
  7. “Israel’s Genocide Must Not Go Unpunished, Speakers Say as Civil Society Organizations Conference Working on Question of Palestine Concludes – Press release – Question of Palestine.” United Nations.April 4, 2024. Accessed January 19, 2025.  https://www.un.org/unispal/document/israels-genocide-must-not-go-unpunished-4apr24/
  8.  “Palestine-VR.” PIPD. Accessed January 19, 2025. https://www.thepipd.com/palestine-vr/
  9. “Blog.” PIPD. Accessed January 19, 2025. https://www.thepipd.com/content/blog/
  10. “Myths vs reality: Israel has the right to defend itself.” PIPD. January 5, 2024. Accessed January 19 2025. https://www.thepipd.com/content/blog/myths-vs-reality-israel-has-the-right-to-defend-itself/
  11. “NGO Action News – 3 December 2020 – Question of Palestine.” United Nations. May 6, 2021. Accessed January 19, 2025. https://www.un.org/unispal/ngo-action-news-3-december-2020/
  12. “PRESS RELEASE: Palestine and Glencore.” Google Doc from PIPD. May 28, 2024. Accessed January 20, 2025. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1RB50ZO6mQNTaqoaKLF0xJMeNFrVlCRphFo-lix2e_F8/edit?tab=t.0
  13. Hearst, Katherine. “Bogota’s Israel coal exports ban fuelled by Palestinian-Colombian coalition.” Middle East Eye. June 11, 2024. Accessed January 20, 2025. https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/colombia-israel-coal-export-ban
  14. “BREAKING-Booking.com Sued for Laundering Profits from Israeli War Crimes in Palestine.” European Legal Support Center. May 22, 2024. Accessed January 20, 2025. https://elsc.support/news/booking-com-sued-for-laundering-profits-from-israeli-war-crimes-in-palestine
  15. De Leeuw, Lydia. “Additional evidence filed against Booking.com for profiting from illegal settlements.” SOMO. January 16, 2025. Accessed January 20, 2025. https://www.somo.nl/additional-evidence-filed-against-booking-com-for-profiting-from-illegal-settlements/
  16. Xhindi, Emanuel. “German human rights lawyers file motion to stop arms exports to Israel.” Jurist News. April 7, 2024. Accessed January 19, 2025. https://www.jurist.org/news/2024/04/german-human-rights-lawyers-file-motion-to-stop-arms-export-to-israel/
  17. “‘No Moratorium’ – Germany Denies Halting Arms Export to Israel.” The Palestine Chronicle. September 19, 2024. Accessed January 19, 2025. https://www.palestinechronicle.com/no-moratorium-germany-denies-halting-arms-export-to-israel/
  18. “Israel convicted of genocide at People’s Tribunal in Rio de Janeiro.” People’s Dispatch. November 18, 2024. Accessed January 20, 2025. https://peoplesdispatch.org/2024/11/16/israel-convicted-of-genocide-at-peoples-tribunal-in-rio-de-janeiro/
  19. “Rula Shadeed.” Doha Forum. Accessed January 20, 2025. https://dohaforum.org/2023/speakers/rula-shadeed
  20. Klabin, Nathan. “Dissolving Hamas’ military, forming sovereign Palestinian state would bring ‘change’ – expert.” The Jerusalem Post. April 26, 2024. Accessed January 19, 2025. https://www.jpost.com/arab-israeli-conflict/dissolving-hamas-military-forming-sovereign-palestinian-state-would-bring-powerful-change-798770
  21. Mohdin, Aamna and Osuh, Chris. “‘A ray of light’: Palestinian and Jewish leaders in UK respond to ceasefire deal.” The Guardian. January 16, 2025. Accessed January 19, 2025. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/jan/16/a-ray-of-light-palestinian-and-jewish-leaders-in-uk-respond-to-ceasefire-deal
  22. “Foundation To Promote Open Society – 2023 Federal Form 990.” ProPublica. Accessed January 19, 2025. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/263753801/202413199349105961/IRS990PF
  23. “Foundation For Middle East Peace – 2022 Federal Form 990.” ProPublica. Accessed January 19, 2025.https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/526055574/202322909349100112/IRS990PF
  24. “Foundation For Middle East Peace – 2023 Federal Form 990.” ProPublica. Accessed January 19, 2025. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/526055574/202442149349100604/IRS990PF
  25. “Our Grantees.” Foundation for Middle East Peace. September 2024. Accessed January 19, 2025. https://fmep.org/our-grantees/
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