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Erasing Palestine – Rebecca Ruth Gould (2023) [Non-fiction]
‘Our silence is complicity. This complicity also silences Palestinians, keeping their experiences hidden from public view.’
Rebecca Ruth Gould’s Erasing Palestine is a well-researched exploration of free speech and the struggle for Palestinian freedom. Not only does it describe Gould’s experience in being accused of antisemitism for writing about the injustices she witnessed while living in Palestine, but it also delves into detail about the history of Zionism and Anti-Zionism, the IHRA Definition of Antisemitism, and the censorship of pro-Palestinian sentiments in academic settings.
Forest of Noise – Mosab Abu Toha (2024) [Poetry collection]
‘Before I sleep,
Death is always
sitting on my windowsill,
whether in Gaza or Cairo.’
Mosab Abu Toha’s collection of poems talks about life in Gaza under the constant bombardment and extreme violence of Israel. As a review by S. Penkevich puts it, ‘Forest of Noise chronicles the daily horrors juxtaposed with the dreams of peaceful moments that only sharpen the trauma in contrast.’ These poems paint a beautiful yet tragically vivid picture of life, culture, and the fight for survival in Gaza.
Minor Detail – Adania Shibli (2017) [Historical Fiction]
‘Man, not the tank, shall prevail.’
Set in the summer of 1949, Adania Shibli’s Minor Detail recalls the true story of the Nirim affair, in which Israeli soldiers rape and murder a young Palestinian woman. It also depicts an unnamed Palestinian woman who investigates the horrific crime. This novel is an exploration of Palestinian dispossession and life under occupation.
The Hundred Years’ War on Palestine: A History of Settler Colonialism and Resistance, 1917–2017 – Rashid Khalidi (2020) [Non-fiction, History]
‘Jaffa was besieged and ceaselessly bombarded with mortars and harassed by snipers. Once finally overrun by Zionist forces during the first weeks of May, it was systematically emptied of most of its sixty thousand Arab residents. Although Jaffa was meant to be part of the stillborn Arab state designated by the 1947 Partition Plan, no international actor attempted to stop this major violation of the UN resolution.’
The Hundred Years’ War on Palestine focuses on six major ‘declarations of war’ on the Palestinian people, spanning from the Balfour Declaration of 1917 to the Israeli military’s attacks on Gaza in 2008, 2012, and 2014. It is described as oriented towards an American mainstream audience and ‘is a history of the high-level political struggle located at the fulcrum of the power imbalance between Israelis and Palestinians.’ (Laila Parsons).
Letters from Gaza: A Collection by the people; unveiling their stories and emotions from the year that has been. – Mohammed Al-Zaqzooq & Mahmoud Alshaer (2025) [Non-fiction, Collection]
‘We have no time to wonder: Who am I? How did I end up here? … We spend whatever remaining time we have going through memories, out of fear that they might be destroyed.’
As the blurb to Letters from Gaza reads, ‘Surviving war isn’t a blanket experience; there are many facets which remain unheard.’ This collection of letters and poems written by 30 people living in Gaza brings to light diverse human stories surrounding the genocide, and as Cherry Mae says in their review, ‘is a counter-archive against historical amnesia.’
Written by El Bancroft
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