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palestinian book recs
29
items literature that gives insights into the culture, history, and resilience of palestine and its people and provide a vital understanding of palestine’s past and present
Sections
6
fiction
nonfiction/factual
poetry
essays/memoirs
short stories
cartoons
fiction
this one broke my heart. novella split into two parts; the first takes place in 1949, when israeli soldiers capture and rape a young palestinian girl. second part takes place in the present day, when a young woman in becomes obsessed with learning mo...
Minor Detail by Adania Shibli
isra is a young mother who finds herself in an abusive arranged marriage far from her home country, palestine. years later, deya, her daughter, is a teenager growing up in modern-day brooklyn
A Woman Is No Man by Etaf Rum
yara is a palestinian-american woman trying to figure out how to balance her responsibilities as a wife, mother, and a working woman. after growing up in a conservative household where tensions often ran high, she feels that she is finally free from ...
Evil Eye by Etaf Rum
coming-of-age novel about a young palestinian american woman who struggles with her identity as she navigates her cultural, religious, and sexual identities
You Exist Too Much by Zaina Arafat
follows three generations of a palestinian family and asks us to confront that most devastating of all truths: you can't go home again
Salt Houses by Hala Alyan
a palestinian american woman wrestles with faith, loss, and identity before coming face-to-face with a school shooter in this searing debut
The Beauty of Your Face by Sahar Mustafah
the unlikely friendship between two fathers, one israeli and one palestinian, who come together after the loss of their daughters
Apeirogon by Colum McCann
follows a young arab-israeli journalist who returns to his hometown, an arab village within israel, after being discriminated against by his jewish neighbors and colleagues
Let It Be Morning by Sayed Kashua and Miriam Shlesinger
a writer who lives in illinois with his family returns to his hometown, an arab village in israel, to visit his dying father whom he has not spoken to in over a decade
Track Changes by Sayed Kashua
a palestinian israeli teenager is admitted to an elite school in jerusalem. explores his lifelong struggle between his pride in his palestinian identity and the desire to be a part of israeli society
Dancing Arabs by Sayed Kashua
A stunning rendering of present-day palestine. a story of diaspora, displacement, and the connection to be found in family and shared resistance
Enter Ghost by Isabella Hammad
a bold and unabashed novel about a young palestinian woman's unraveling as she teaches at an nyc middle school, gets caught up in a scheme reselling birkin bags, and strives to gain control over her body and mind
The Coin by Yasmin Zaher
a sweeping and lyrical novel that follows a young palestinian refugee as she slowly becomes radicalized while searching for a better life for her family
Against the Loveless World by Susan Abulhawa
nonfiction/factual
the author describes the zionist claim to palestine in the century spanning 1917–2017 as late settler colonialism and an instrument of british and then later american imperialism, doing so by focusing on a series of six major episodes the author char...
The Hundred Years' War on Palestine by Rashid Khalidi
explores the links between the struggle for freedom in the united states and that in palestine, and beyond
Palestine: A Socialist Introduction by Brian Bean and Sumaya Awad
focusing on key junctures, Erakat shows how the strategic deployment of law has shaped current conditions. over the past century, the law has done more to advance Israel's interests than the palestinians'. but this outcome was never inevitable
Justice for Some: Law and the Question of Palestine by Noura Erakat
exploration of the political space created by israel’s colonial occupation by unraveling the mechanisms of control and its transformation of the occupied territories into a theoretically constructed artifice
Hollow Land: Israel's Architecture of Occupation by Eyal Weizman
thoughtful and incisive analysis of how progressive commitments to racial and social justice are undermined by the 'palestinian exception'.
Except for Palestine: The Limits of Progressive Politics by Marc Lamont Hill and Mitchell Plitnick
surveys the fallout from Israel's conduct in gaza and place it into the context of israel's longstanding occupation of palestine
Gaza in Crisis: Reflections on the Us-Israeli War Against the Palestinians by Ilan Pappé and Noam Chomsky
discusses the road ahead for palestinians and how the international community can pressure israel to end its human rights abuses against the people of palestine.
On Palestine by Noam Chomsky, Ilan Pappé, and Frank Barat
illuminates the connections between struggles against state violence and oppression throughout history and around the world
Freedom Is a Constant Struggle: Ferguson, Palestine, and the Foundations of a Movement by Angela Y. Davis, Cornel West, and Frank Barat
poetry
poetry examining the violence, racism, politics, and culture of the middle east
Born Palestinian, Born Black & the Gaza Suite by Suheir Hammad
a meditation on the state of world affairs, with special attention paid to the current hardships faced by palestinians near and within the west bank and gaza strip
The Tiny Journalist by Naomi Shihab Nye
collection of poetry about El-Kurd's grandmother, Rifqa, who was a symbol of palestinian resilience tracing Rifqa's exile from Haifa to the dispossession of El-Kurd's family in Sheikh Jarrah, Jerusalem
Rifqa by Mohammed El-Kurd and Aja Monet
essays/memoirs
explores through ten innovative essays new insights into ways of understanding and building solidarities with palestine
Their Borders, Our World: Building New Solidarities with Palestine by Mahdi Sabbagh, Yasmin El-Rifae, Keller Easterling, et al.
a subtle psychological portrait of the author’s relationship with his father during the twentieth-century battle for palestinian human rights
We Could Have Been Friends, My Father and I: A Palestinian Memoir by Raja Shehadeh
in this urgent, insightful essay, a respected historian places the israeli-palestinian war in context, challenging western attitudes about the region.
Gaza Faces History by Enzo Traverso
short stories
drawn from her experiences of growing up as a young woman in the ‘world’s largest prison’—gaza—qarmout’s stories stitch together a stirring patchwork of perspectives exploring what it means to be a palestinian today
The Sea Cloak & Other Stories by Nayrouz Qarmout
cartoons
collection of the cartoon work of one of the arab world’s greatest cartoonists, Naji al-Ali, known as ‘the Palestinian Malcolm X
A Child in Palestine: The Cartoons of Naji al-Ali