MERIP Podcast Highlights Historian Beshara Doumani’s Landmark Essay on Palestinian Working-Class Struggles
A new episode of the MERIP Podcast features an interview with historian Beshara Doumani about his influential 1989 essay, “Abu Farid’s House,” which examines the history of working-class life in Palestine leading up to and during the First Intifada. The podcast, released on November 6, 2025, is part of a series showcasing significant work from the Middle East Research and Information Project (MERIP) archive.
“Abu Farid’s House” and the First Intifada
Doumani’s essay, published in Middle East Report in March-April 1989 as part of the issue “Israel Faces the Uprising,” centers on the experiences of the Abu Farid family in Salfit, a village situated between Ramallah and Nablus. “Abu Farid’s House” encapsulates the history of working class struggles in Palestine up to and during the First Intifada.
Beshara Doumani’s Career and Expertise
Beshara Doumani is a leading historian specializing in Palestine during the Ottoman era. He served as President of Bir Zeit University in the West Bank from 2021 to 2023 and currently holds the position of inaugural Mahmoud Darwish Professor of Palestinian Studies at Brown University. The podcast interview, recorded on October 30th from the West Bank, explores Doumani’s research and observations of changes in Salfit and the broader Occupied Territories, from the Oslo Accords to the present conflict in Gaza.
Podcast Details and Further Reading
The MERIP Podcast episode features a conversation between Doumani and MERIP Executive Director James Ryan. Listeners are encouraged to explore further resources, including:
- Beshara Doumani, “Abu Farid’s House”
- “Israel Faces the Uprising”
- Beshara Doumani, Rediscovering Palestine: Merchants and Peasants in Jabal Nablus, 1700-1900 (Berkeley, University of California Press, 1995)
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