Mohammed el-Kurd
Born (1998-05-15) 15 May 1998
Sheikh Jarrah, Jerusalem
NationalityPalestinian
Occupations
  • Writer
  • poet
Known forPalestinian activism
Notable workRifqa
RelativesMuna el-Kurd (twin sister)
Websitewww.mohammedelkurd.com

Mohammed el-Kurd (Arabic: محمد الكرد, born 15 May 1998) is a Palestinian writer and poet from Sheikh Jarrah in East Jerusalem.[1] Prior to the 2021 Israel–Palestine crisis, he was pursuing a master's degree in the United States, but returned to protest Israel's eviction of Palestinians from their homes in East Jerusalem (see Sheikh Jarrah controversy).[2][1] He has gained prominence for his description of Palestinians' lives in the Israeli-occupied West Bank; el-Kurd has referred to the evictions as a form of ethnic cleansing,[3] and has also accused Israel of imposing apartheid-style laws and regulations onto Palestinians in the occupied territories.[4][5]

Early life and education

El-Kurd was born into a family of Palestinian Muslims in the neighbourhood of Sheikh Jarrah, East Jerusalem, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank on 15 May 1998. In 2009, part of his family's home in Sheikh Jarrah was seized by Israeli settlers.[6] He was the main subject of the 2013 documentary film My Neighbourhood by Julia Bacha and Rebekah Wingert-Jabi.[7] He had emigrated to the United States and settled in New York to pursue higher education, but returned to East Jerusalem during the 2021 Israel–Palestine crisis.[1]

Return to East Jerusalem (2021)

Since his return to the Israeli-occupied West Bank amidst the Sheikh Jarrah controversy, El-Kurd has been documenting and speaking out against Palestinian displacement in East Jerusalem.[8][9][10] He and his twin sister, Muna el-Kurd, began campaigning to raise global awareness on Israeli policies in East Jerusalem through various social media channels.[11][12] In combination, the twins have amassed hundreds of thousands of followers on Twitter and millions of followers on Instagram. While Muna's posts are usually in Arabic, Mohammed frequently posts in English to cater to a Western audience.[13]

On 6 June 2021, Mohammed and Muna were both detained by Israel Police;[14][15] they were later released on the same day after being detained for several hours.[16] During the 2021 Israel–Palestine crisis, Mohammed appeared on American television channels CNN, MSNBC, and CBSN.[13]

In 2021, Mohammed and Muna were named on TIME 100 most influential people in the world.[17][18]

On 3 August 2023, he was announced to have been employed as the Culture Editor for Mondoweiss, a website which covers the Israel-Palestinian conflict.[19]

Published works

Since 2021, el-Kurd has been the Palestine correspondent for The Nation.[20]

His poetry and articles are in English, written on the themes of dispossession, ethnic cleansing, systemic and structural violence, settler colonialism, Islamophobia, and gender roles.

His views

Comparing settler behaviour to that of Nazis

The Anti-Defamation League has criticized El-Kurd for:[21]

  • El-Kurd tweeted that settlers were "neonazi", testifying that settlers were starting fires in his neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah, Jerusalem, where settlers harass, attack seek to evict his family and others from their homes in order for Jewish Israelis to occupy them;
  • On May 12, 2021 El-Kurd tweeted that violent settlers who had sprayed a Palestinian resident with sewage waters had internalized the ways of the Nazis
  • The same date, El-Kurd testified on Twitter that the Israeli State was "Kristallnachting" Palestinians

Israel "harvesting and eating organs" of Palestinians

A poem in El-Kurd’s poem "Rifqa",[22] in the eponymous 2021 book, contains a line where an Israeli "they" "harvest organs of the martyred, feed their warriors our own."[23]El-Kurd responded to criticism by clarifying he was referring to the 2009 Aftonbladet Israel controversy about Israeli doctors allegedly harvesting organs from Palestinian corpses without the permission of their families. El-Kurd said, “It’s a metaphor, it’s not something I literally believe. I’m just now realizing that they actually think, or are pretending to think for purposes of exaggeration, that I actually believe Israelis eat Palestinian organs.... At first it was comical, but now it seems very sinister. The line is about the practice of withholding Palestinian bodies and [...] exploiting the bodies in ways that have been documented and are widely discussed."[24] His scheduled speaking appearances have generated controversy and in several cases his speaking invitations have been rescinded.[25]

References

  1. 1 2 3 "This Palestinian Writer Is Going Viral for Challenging US Coverage of Israel-Palestine". vice.com. 12 May 2021. Retrieved 16 May 2021.
  2. ↑ "Mohammed El-Kurd". Al Jazeera News. Retrieved 12 May 2021.
  3. ↑ "Poet Mohammed El-Kurd Detained in Sheikh Jarrah After Condemning Israeli Apartheid on U.S. TV". Democracy Now!. Retrieved 16 May 2021.
  4. ↑ Hatuqa, Dalia (15 May 2021). "Settlement Push in East Jerusalem Neighborhood Shows Israeli 'Apartheid'". The Intercept. Retrieved 16 May 2021.
  5. ↑ "It's not a 'conflict': how to talk about Palestine". Dazed. 14 May 2021. Retrieved 16 May 2021.
  6. ↑ Alfred, Charlotte (29 January 2016). "Young Palestinian Poet Brings To Life The Troubles Of Jerusalem". HuffPost. Retrieved 17 May 2021.
  7. ↑ Wingert-Jabi, Rebekah; Bacha, Julia; Smith, Emily (17 March 2013). "My Neighbourhood: a Palestinian boy's view of Israeli settlements – video". The Guardian. Retrieved 17 May 2021.
  8. ↑ "A new generation of Palestinians will not abandon Sheikh Jarrah". Mondoweiss. 9 May 2021. Retrieved 12 May 2021.
  9. ↑ "'We're not leaving our rightful homes': Mohammed el-Kurd speaks to MEE on Sheikh Jarrah". Middle East Eye. Retrieved 17 May 2021.
  10. ↑ "Palestinian poet and writer Mohammed El-Kurd on being forced out of his Sheikh Jarrah home by Israeli forces". MSNBC. Retrieved 17 May 2021.
  11. ↑ "How East Jerusalem flashpoint Sheikh Jarrah got its own hashtag". Swissinfo. Retrieved 17 May 2021.
  12. ↑ El-Kurd, Mohammed (3 December 2020). "Why are Palestinians being forced to prove their humanity?". +972 Magazine. Retrieved 12 May 2021.
  13. 1 2 Saba, Claudia (2021). "Mainstreaming Anti-colonial Discourse on Palestine: Mohammed El-Kurd's Discursive Interventions". Tripodos (51): 49–67. doi:10.51698/tripodos.2021.51p49-67. ISSN 2340-5007. S2CID 246367115.
  14. ↑ "Israel arrests Palestinian activist Muna el-Kurd in East Jerusalem". BBC News. 6 June 2021. Retrieved 6 June 2021.
  15. ↑ "Israeli police detain Palestinian activist twins from East Jerusalem's Sheikh Jarrah". The Indian Express. Reuters. 6 June 2021. Retrieved 6 June 2021.
  16. ↑ "Israel releases Sheikh Jarrah activists after hours-long arrests". Al Jazeera News. Retrieved 6 June 2021.
  17. ↑ "Sheikh Jarrah's El-Kurd twins make TIME top 100 list". Al Jazeera. Retrieved 16 September 2021.
  18. ↑ "Muna and Mohammed El-Kurd: The 100 Most Influential People of 2021". Time. Retrieved 16 September 2021.
  19. ↑ "Mondoweiss on Twitter". Twitter. 3 August 2023. Archived from the original on 24 August 2023. Retrieved 24 August 2023.
  20. ↑ "Mohammed El-Kurd". The Nation. 26 June 2020.
  21. ↑ "Mohammed El-Kurd". ADL. Retrieved 12 January 2024.
  22. ↑ Mohammed, El-Kurd (2021). Rifqa. Haymarket. ISBN 978-1642596601. Retrieved 12 January 2024.
  23. ↑ Muller, Denis (17 February 2023). "Are calls to cancel two Palestinian writers from Adelaide Writers' Week justified?". The Conversation. Retrieved 11 October 2023.
  24. ↑ Hussain, Murtaza (29 April 2022). "Palestinian Poem Sets Off Antisemitism Fight at Georgetown". The Intercept. Retrieved 11 October 2023.
  25. ↑ Lu, Vivi; Teichholtz, Leah (25 October 2022). "Student Groups Host Event with Palestinian Activist Mohammed El-Kurd, Drawing Protest from Pro-Israel Students". Harvard Crimson. Retrieved 11 October 2023.
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