Reading Through the Headlines
The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict in Literature
Today, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict dominates our daily news and fills our social media feeds with harrowing images of violence and loss. These books provide more context on this conflict from the Palestinian perspective and where we go from here.
Against the Loveless World by Susan Abulhawa
I think about this book every day and, despite its countless accolades, I still believe it’s underrated. Against the Loveless World introduces us to Nahr, a Palestinian woman who has spent a majority of her life as a refugee in Kuwait and Jordan trying to find a place she can feel at home. Told from her memories as she sits imprisoned in solitary confinement, Nahr shows us a life shattered by conflict but reclaimed by the love of her family, culture, and land. While Against the Loveless World is a fictional work of art, it is firmly rooted in historical events and the current realities for many Palestinians living both in their homeland or in refuge from it. This is a great read for anyone who wants to learn more about the Palestinian experience without jumping into nonfiction titles focused geopolitics and history.
The Hundred Years’ War on Palestine by Rashid Khalidi
Rashid Khalidi speaks from a wealth of knowledge and experience about the impact of Israeli occupation on the lives of the Palestinian people. As the great-great-nephew of Yusuf Diya al-Khalidi, who was once mayor of Jerusalem in the late 19th century, Khalidi presents a sweeping historical argument on colonialism, displacement, and resistance that have occurred on this land; from early settlements in Palestine to the 1917 Balfour Declaration to the Arab-Israeli War of 1948 and Israel's invasion of Lebanon in the 1980s. This book covers a comprehensive history in an intelligible and memorable way. The Hundred Years’ War on Palestine is an essential read for everyone who wants to understand the comprehensive geopolitical history of how this conflict came to be.
Kissinger’s Shadow by Greg Grandin
You may be wondering what a biography about Henry Kissinger is doing on a list of books about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Well Greg Grandin makes the connection clear by taking readers through the life and career America’s most infamous diplomat and political advisor, in Kissinger’s Shadow. Grandin paints a picture of how Kissinger’s decisions had consequential impacts on a number of global affairs throughout history, including the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. From his involvement in the Camp David Accords to his relationship with the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) as Secretary of State, I learned that Kissinger’s actions ripple throughout this conflict today. And while the Israeli-Palestinian conflict occupies only a part of this book, I would recommend Kissinger’s Shadow to anyone who wants to learn more about American involvement in this conflict, and many others. Greg Grandin is a phenomenal writer who guides readers across the globe and through the decades, following the shadow of one of the deadliest men in American political history.
