Books to Read

A list of books on the fight for Palestinian liberation

Being informed is one of the strongest forms of resistance, as you become increasingly aware and able to form your opinions. This is especially true in the fight for Palestinian liberation as Israeli officials, media, and propaganda efforts continuously discredit Palestinian narratives.

History of Palestine Today's Narrative Activism & Solidarity Memoirs & Stories Poetry Novels

Top Three Books to Start

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Suspendisse tincidunt sagittis eros. Quisque quis euismod lorem.

The Hundred Years' War on Palestine

Rashid Khalidi

A landmark history of one hundred years of war waged against the Palestinians from the foremost US historian of the Middle East, told through pivotal events and family history.

Original, authoritative, and important, this masterpiece is not a chronicle of victimization, nor does it whitewash the mistakes of Palestinian leaders or deny the emergence of national movements on both sides. In reevaluating the forces arrayed against the Palestinians, it offers an illuminating new view of a conflict that continues to this day.

Link to books coming soon

Justice for Some: Law and the Question of Palestine

Noura Erakat

Justice for Some offers a new approach to understanding the Palestinian struggle for freedom, told through the power and control of international law. Focusing on key junctures—from the Balfour Declaration in 1917 to present-day wars in Gaza—Noura 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, Erakat argues, this outcome was never inevitable.

Link to books coming soon

The Question of Palestine

Edward W. Said

With the signing of the Israel-Egypt peace treaty, the issue that has colored the history of the Middle East since the half century of armed conflict between Arab and Jew, still continues to threaten international security almost as if Camp David had never happended: it is The Question of Palestine.

Link to books coming soon

History of Palestine

We get it – history class wasn't everyone's favorite. However, understanding history is among the most critical as the Israeli narrative often twists the history of Palestine. We strongly recommend both Rashid Khalidi, a Palestinian-American historian, and Ilan Pappé, a Israeli historian.

The Hundred Years' War on Palestine

Rashid Khalidi

A landmark history of one hundred years of war waged against the Palestinians from the foremost US historian of the Middle East, told through pivotal events and family history

Link to books coming soon

The Balfour Declaration: The Origins of the Arab-Israeli Conflict

Jonathan Schneer

Issued in London in 1917, the Balfour Declaration was one of the key documents that committed Britain to supporting the establishment in Palestine of “a National Home for the Jewish people,” and its reverberations continue to be felt to this day. Now the entire story of the document is revealed in this impressive work.

Link to books coming soon

The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine

Ilan Pappe

Renowned Israeli historian, Ilan Pappe's groundbreaking book revisits the formation of the State of Israel. Between 1947 and 1949, over 400 Palestinian villages were deliberately destroyed, civilians were massacred and around a million men, women, and children were expelled from their homes at gunpoint.

Link to books coming soon

Debunking the Israeli Narrative

There is much to be proud of for the Jewish identity, but what is the Israeli identity? These books highlight and debunk the talking points often used by Israeli officials and media to conflate the Jewish and Israeli identities.

Ten Myths About Israel (2017)

Ilan Pappe

In this groundbreaking book, published on the fiftieth anniversary of the Occupation, the outspoken and radical Israeli historian Ilan Pappe examines the most contested ideas concerning the origins and identity of the contemporary state of Israel.

Link to books coming soon

How I Stopped Being a Jew (2010)

Shlomo Sand

This book discusses the negative effects of the Israeli exploitation of the “chosen people” myth and its “holocaust industry.” Sand criticizes the fact that, in the current context, what “Jewish” means is, above all, not being Arab and reflects on the possibility of a secular, non-exclusive Israeli identity, beyond the legends of Zionism.

Link to books coming soon

Blaming the Victims (2010)

Edward Said and Christopher Hitchens

Since the 1948 war which drove them from their heartland, the Palestinian people have consistently been denied the most basic democratic rights. Blaming the Victims shows how the historical fate of the Palestinians has been justified by spurious academic attempts to dismiss their claim to a home within the boundaries of historical Palestine and even to deny their very existence.

Link to books coming soon

Image and Reality of the Israel-Palestine Conflict

Norman G. Finkelstein

This acclaimed study challenges generally accepted truths of the Israel-Palestine conflict as well as much of the revisionist literature. This new edition critically reexamines dominant popular and scholarly images in the light of the current failures of the peace process.

Link to books coming soon

Beyond chutzpah: On the misuse of anti-Semitism and the abuse of history

Norman G. Finkelstein

Meticulously researched and tightly argued, Beyond Chutzpah points to a consensus among historians and human rights organizations on the factual record of the Israel-Palestine conflict. Finkelstein exposes the corruption of scholarship and the contrivance of controversy shrouding human rights abuses, and interrogates the new anti-Semitism.

Link to books coming soon

The Idea of Israel: A History of Power and Knowledge

Ilan Pappe

Since its foundation in 1948, Israel has drawn on Zionism, the movement behind its creation, to provide a sense of self and political direction. In this groundbreaking new work, Ilan Pappe looks at the continued role of Zionist ideology. The Idea of Israel considers the way Zionism operates outside of the government and military in areas such as the country’s education system, media, and cinema, and the uses that are made of the Holocaust in supporting the state’s ideological structure.

Link to books coming soon

The Punishment of Gaza (2010)

Gideon Levy

"The Punishment of Gaza" by Gideon Levy is a critical examination of the long-standing Israeli blockade and military actions in Gaza, highlighting the severe humanitarian crisis and suffering endured by its Palestinian population. Levy calls for international attention and action to address this ongoing tragedy.

How we can help you

On Activism & Solidarity

Interested in learning about the ongoing activism for Palestinian liberation? These books cover various movements, including BDS,

Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions: The Global Struggle for Palestinian Rights (2011)

Omar Barghouti

"BDS: The Global Struggle for Palestinian Rights" is a book that explores the BDS movement as a non-violent means to advocate for Palestinian rights, drawing attention to its global impact and the debate surrounding it, with various contributors sharing perspectives on the movement's goals and tactics.

Link to books coming soon

On Palestine

Noam Chomsky + Ilan Pappe

Operation Protective Edge, Israel's 2014 assault on Gaza, left thousands of Palestinians dead and cleared the way for another Israeli land grab. The need to stand in solidarity with Palestinians has never been greater. Ilan Pappe and Noam Chomsky, two leading voices in the struggle to liberate Palestine, discuss the road ahead for Palestinians and how the international community can pressure Israel to end its human rights abuses against the people of Palestine.

Link to books coming soon

Greater Than the Sum of Our Parts: Feminism, Intern/Nationalism, & Palestine (2023)

Nadia Elia

In this bold book, Palestinian activist Nada Elia unpacks Zionism, from its hyper-militarism to incarceration, its environmental devastation, and gendered violence. She insists that Palestine's fate is linked through bonds of solidarity with other communities crossing racial and gender lines, weaving an intersectional feminist understanding of Israeli apartheid throughout her analysis.

Link to books coming soon

They Called Me a Lioness: A Palestinian Girl's Fight for Freedom (2022)

Ahed Tamimi and Dena Takruri

A Palestinian activist jailed at sixteen after a confrontation with Israeli soldiers illuminates the daily struggles of life under occupation in this moving, deeply personal memoir.

An essential addition to an important conversation, They Called Me a Lioness shows us what is at stake in this struggle and offers a fresh vision for resistance.

Link to books coming soon

Memoirs and Stories

Hear directly from Palestinians who share their stories through memoirs, autobiographies, and stories. Their experiences describe the beauty that is Palestine, and the darkness that is oppression.

I Saw Ramallah (2008)

Mourid Barghouti

Barred from his homeland after 1967’s Six-Day War, the poet Barghouti spent 30 years in exile. As he returns home for the first time since the Israeli occupation, Barghouti crosses a wooden bridge over the Jordan River into Ramallah and is unable to recognize the city of his youth. Sifting through memories of the old Palestine as they come up against what he now encounters in this mere “idea of Palestine,” he discovers what it means to be deprived not only of a homeland but of “the habitual place and status of a person.” A tour de force of memory and reflection, lamentation and resilience, I Saw Ramallah is a deeply humane book, essential to any balanced understanding of today’s Middle East.

Link to books coming soon

In My Mother's Footsteps (2021)

Mona Hajjar Halaby

"In My Mother's Footsteps: A Palestinian Refugee Returns Home" is a memoir by Mona Hajjar Halaby that chronicles her emotional journey as a Palestinian-American woman returning to her ancestral homeland, Palestine. Through vivid storytelling, she describes her connection to the land, the impact of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict on her family, and her efforts to bridge the gap between her American upbringing and her Palestinian heritage. The book sheds light on the personal and collective experiences of Palestinian refugees, offering a poignant perspective on identity, displacement, and the enduring hope for peace and justice in the region.

Link to books coming soon

Out of Place: A Memoir (2000)

Edward W. Said

Said writes with great passion and wit about his family and his friends from his birthplace in Jerusalem, schools in Cairo, and summers in the mountains above Beirut, to boarding school and college in the United States, revealing an unimaginable world of rich, colorful characters and exotic eastern landscapes. Underscoring all is the confusion of identity the young Said experienced as he came to terms with the dissonance of being an American citizen, a Christian and a Palestinian, and, ultimately, an outsider. Richly detailed, moving, often profound, "Out of Place" depicts a young man's coming of age and the genesis of a great modern thinker.

Link to books coming soon

Poetry

Interested in learning about the ongoing activism for Palestinian liberation? These books cover various movements, including BDS,

Rifqa (2008)

Mohammed El-Kurd

Rifqa is Mohammed El-Kurd’s debut collection of poetry. The book narrates the author’s own experience of dispossession in Sheikh Jarrah, whose population of refugees continues to live on the brink of homelessness at the hands of the Israeli government and US-based settler organizations. The book, named after the author’s late grandmother who was forced to flee from Haifa upon the genocidal establishment of Israel, makes the observation that home takeovers and demolitions across historical Palestine are not reminiscent of 1948 Nakba, but are in fact a continuation of it: a legalized, ideologically-driven practice of ethnic cleansing.

Link to books coming soon

Dear God, Dear Bones, Dear Yellow (2022)

Noor Hindi

This collection interrogates, subverts, and expands these questions through poems that are formally and lyrically complex, dynamic, and innovative. With rich intertextuality and an unwavering eye, Hindi explores and interrogates colonialism, religion, patriarchy, and the complex intersections of her identity.

Featuring her widely circulated poem, “Fuck Your Lecture on Craft, My People Are Dying,” this book is an incomparable force of fury and precision from a powerful and unstoppable poet. Noor Hindi’s collection is ultimately a provocation: on trauma, on art, and on what it takes to truly see the world for what it is/isn’t and change it for the better.

Link to books coming soon

The Butterfly's Burden (2007)

Mohammed Darwish

"The Butterfly's Burden" is a collection of poetry by Palestinian-American poet Mahmoud Darwish. This acclaimed work delves into themes of exile, identity, love, and the Palestinian experience. Darwish's lyrical verses convey a profound sense of longing, loss, and resilience, reflecting the complexities of the Palestinian narrative. Through evocative language and powerful imagery, the book explores the emotional and political dimensions of displacement, offering a poignant perspective on the enduring struggle for Palestinian rights and the yearning for a homeland. Darwish's poetry captures the essence of the Palestinian diaspora and the universal human quest for freedom and belonging.

Link to books coming soon

Novels & Fiction

Interested in learning about the ongoing activism for Palestinian liberation? These books cover various movements, including BDS,

Mornings in Jenin (2006)

Susan Abulhawa

"Mornings in Jenin" is a powerful novel that follows the lives of a Palestinian family over generations, with a focus on Amal, a young girl who witnesses the Israeli occupation and the tragedy of the 1948 Nakba. The book explores themes of love, loss, identity, and the enduring resilience of the Palestinian people. It provides a humanizing and heart-wrenching perspective on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, shedding light on the complexities and human cost of the ongoing struggle for justice and freedom in the region. The narrative spans decades, offering a poignant portrayal of the enduring hope for a better future.

Link to books coming soon

Minor Detail (2017)

Adania Shibli

Minor Detail begins in 1949, one year after the Nakba. Israeli soldiers murder an encampment of Bedouin, and among their victims, they capture a Palestinian teenager and rape her, kill her, and bury her in the sand.

In the present day, a young woman in Ramallah tries to uncover some of the details surrounding this particular rape and murder, and becomes fascinated, not only because of the nature of the crime, but because it was committed exactly twenty-five years to the day before she was born. Adania Shibli masterfully overlays these two translucent narratives of exactly the same length to evoke a present forever haunted by the past.

Link to books coming soon

The Blue Between Sky and Water (2015)

Susan Abulhawa

"The Blue Between Sky and Water" by Susan Abulhawa is a moving novel that traces the lives of the Baraka family, Palestinian refugees, through generations. Set in Gaza and spanning decades, it delves into the family's struggles, love, and resilience amidst the turbulent backdrop of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The story explores the complexities of identity, exile, and the enduring bonds of family. It paints a vivid picture of the human cost of displacement and occupation while highlighting the indomitable spirit of those who seek to preserve their heritage and dreams amidst adversity.

Link to books coming soon

Against the Loveless World (2019)

Susan Abulhawa

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 throughout the Middle East.

As Nahr sits, locked away in solitary confinement, she spends her days reflecting on the dramatic events that landed her in prison. Born in Kuwait in the 70s to Palestinian refugees, she dreamed of falling in love with the perfect man and opening a beauty salon. Instead, the man she thinks she loves jilts her after a brief marriage, her family teeters on the brink of poverty, and the US invasion of Iraq makes her a refugee. After trekking through another temporary home in Jordan, she lands in Palestine, where she finally falls in love, and her destiny unfolds under Israeli occupation.

Link to books coming soon

The Woman from Tantoura (2010)

Radwa Ashour

Ruqayya was only thirteen when the Nakba came to her village in Palestine in 1948. The massacre in Tantoura drove her from her home and from everything she had ever known. She had not left her village before, but she would never return. Now an old woman, Ruqayya looks back on a long life in exile, one that has taken her to Syria, Lebanon, the Gulf, and given her children and grandchildren. Through her depth of experience and her indomitable spirit, we live her love of her land, her family, and her people, and we feel the repeated pain of loss and of diaspora.

Link to books coming soon

Salt Houses

Hala Alyan

Lyrical and heartbreaking, Salt Houses follows three generations of a Palestinian family and asks us to confront that most devastating of all truths: you can’t go home again.

On the eve of her daughter Alia’s wedding, Salma reads the girl’s future in a cup of coffee dregs. She sees an unsettled life for Alia and her children; she also sees travel and luck. While she chooses to keep her predictions to herself that day, they will all soon come to pass when the family is uprooted in the wake of the Six-Day War of 1967.

Link to books coming soon

Men in the Sun (1999)

Ghassan Kanafani

By Palestinian author Kanafani, is a short story that follows the journey of three Palestinian refugees seeking a better life in Kuwait. They hide in a water tanker truck, hoping to cross the border into Kuwait and escape their harsh living conditions. The story explores themes of displacement, desperation, and the dehumanizing impact of conflict on ordinary people. Tragically, the story ends with their deaths due to suffocation in the scorching heat, highlighting the harsh realities faced by Palestinian refugees and the sacrifices they make in their pursuit of a brighter future.

Link to books coming soon

Palestine's Children: Returning to Haifa and Other Stories (2000)

Ghassan Kanafani

Politics and the novel, Ghassan Kanafani once said, are an indivisible case. Fadl al-Naqib has reflected that Kanafani wrote the Palestinian story, then he was written by it. His narratives offer entry into the Palestinian experience of the conflict that has anguished the people of the Middle East for more than a century.

Each story involves a child who is victimized by political events and circumstances, but who nevertheless participates in the struggle toward a better future. These stories explore the need to recover the lost homeland by action.

Link to books coming soon

The Beauty Of Your Face (2020)

Sahar Mustafah

The Beauty of Your Face tells a uniquely American story in powerful, evocative prose. Afaf Rahman, the daughter of Palestinian immigrants, is the principal of a Muslim school in the Chicago suburbs. One morning, a shooter―radicalized by the online alt-right―attacks the school. As Afaf listens to his terrifying progress, we are swept back through her memories, and into a profound and “moving” (Bustle) exploration of one woman’s life in a nation at odds with its ideals.

Link to books coming soon

PROTECT PALESTINE

Protect Palestine is an action guide by Altruisa. Launched in November 2023, our objective is to design a guide that will urge silent supporters to find fast and impactful ways to get involved.

The entire guide is crowdsourced by volunteers from diverse backgrounds, but we may still make mistakes. If you spot any, we appreciate your constructive feedback through this form here.

Resources for Action

Resources to Get Informed

Follow us on Instagram

Support Us

© 2024 Altruisa Inc.