Riman Barakat
Riman Barakat is co-CEO of FeelBeit, an Israeli-Palestinian cultural center on Jerusalem’s east-west boundary, and founder of Experience Palestine. A veteran East Jerusalem peacebuilder and social entrepreneur, she has led cultural and reconciliation initiatives including work with Jerusalem Season of Culture, Breaking the Impasse, and the Israel/Palestine Center for Research and Information.
Israeli-Palestinian Artists Keep a Shared Jerusalem Space Open Through War
At the Aspen Ideas Festival, Feel Beit co-directors Riman Barakat and Karen Brunwasser present their Jerusalem cultural center as a test of Israeli-Palestinian partnership under war, not apart from it. They argue that the center has survived since October 7 because it does not ask artists or audiences to mute their identities or grief, but uses music, performance and conversation to keep a shared civic space open when politics and violence are pulling it apart.
Feel Beit Sustains Israeli-Palestinian Artistic Partnership Through Wartime Grief
At the Aspen Ideas Festival, Feel Beit co-directors Riman Barakat and Karen Brunwasser described how their Israeli-Palestinian cultural center in Jerusalem nearly fractured after October 7, then recommitted to partnership by making room for grief, anger and fear rather than trying to smooth them away. Their case was that art cannot resolve the political conflict, but can create a shared space where Israelis and Palestinians keep enough trust, beauty and human contact alive to mourn, disagree and work together.