Podcast: The Question of Palestine

The audio recording for our event in partnership with Fitzcarraldo Editions, marking the republication of Edward Said’s landmark book The Question of Palestine, has now been released on Fitzcarraldo’s podcast.

The podcast features Jehad Abusalim, Tamim Barghouti, Budour Hassan, Saree Makdisi, Max Porter, Jacqueline Rose, Wadie Said, Avi Shlaim, Ahdaf Soueif, weighing in on the enduring legacy of this book and Said’s intellectual work. You can listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, or wherever you get your podcasts.

London: Art of Palestine at P21

This week is the last week to visit the exhibition Art of Palestine: From The River to the Sea, at P21 Gallery in London. The exhibition closes this Saturday, 21 December.

Over 25 Palestinian artists are participating in the exhibition, presented in partnership with Palestine Museum US. Notable works include pieces by renowned abstract artist Samia Halaby, West Bank-based Nabil Anani, and muralist Taqi Spateen. The exhibit will also showcase works by Gaza residents Maisara Baroud and Mohammed Alhaj, along with art from recently evacuated Gaza artists. A special display features artwork by Gaza children depicting their experiences during previous attacks. Additionally, this exhibit will highlight a selection of relevant embroidery panels from The Palestinian History Tapestry.

The showcase not only celebrates the creativity and talent of Palestinian artists but also provides a critical space for dialogue, reflection, and awareness about the Palestinian culture and heritage. It aims to foster understanding, empathy, and solidarity with the Palestinian people, highlighting their vibrant artistic expressions as a form of resistance and resilience in the face of occupation, apartheid rule, and the Gaza genocide. 

Find out more, including gallery hours, on the P21 website.

New York: Two Films by Mai Masri

Join the Palestinian Youth Movement at The People’s Forum this Thursday, December 19th for a film screening and discussion on Lebanon’s role in confronting the forces of Zionism and imperialism in the region.

The screening will feature two films by the Palestinian filmmaker Mai Masri: 33 Days and Longing of the Laurels. These films document Lebanon’s long struggle against Zionism and help to historicize the regional and Arab dimensions of Palestinian liberation.

Tickets are available at the door for a suggested $5 donation to the Middle East Children’s Alliance (MECA). Find out more from the Palestinian Youth Movement.

Book of the Week

Probing questions of identity, inheritance, faith, feminism and home, Namesake is a masterful tapestry. It will leave you seeing both self and world with new eyes.”

—Erica Berry

“I may not be brave enough, but somewhere deep inside of me there is, perhaps, the kernel of someone who is.”

That brave someone was the legendary Nusayba bint Ka’ab al Khazrajia, who fought alongside the Prophet Muhammad at the dawn of Islam, the author N.S Nuseibeh’s ancestor. In drawing on Nusayba’s stories, Nuseibeh delves into the experience of being an Arab woman today and in the distant past—taking her from superheroes and the glorification of violence to the rise of Arab feminism, to what courage looks like in the context of interminable conflict.

By seeking to understand her namesake in the context of her own twenty-first century concerns, Nuseibeh links our current ideas of Muslims and Arabs with their origins, exploring myth-making and identity, religion and nationhood, feminism and race. As intimate as they are thoughtful, these linked essays in Namesake offer a dazzling exploration of heritage, gender and the idea of home, while also showing how connecting with our history can help us understand ourselves and others today.

You can get the book from our Bookshop (US / UK).

Reading Roundup

We Must Kill Her Very Young: On Childhood and Genocide in Palestine – Mira Mattar elaborates how the entire edifice of Israeli settler colonialism is built upon the incarceration, injury, and destruction of Palestine’s children.

Camouflage – A new story from Adania Shibli, translated by Max Weiss, for the Paris Review.

The View from Gaza – A new issue of The Massachusetts Review spotlighting Gaza that features writing by Batool Abu Akleen, Naomi Shihab Nye, Sahar Mustafah, and Yasir Suleiman-Malley.

Gaza’s Libraries Will Rise from the Ashes – Detailing the destruction of Gaza’s libraries, Shahd Alnaami writes about the resilience of one particular library where she spent her childhood.

A Cry for Humanity: Dima’s Survival Story – Fatena Abu Moustafa relates the story of one of her mother’s students whose whole family was killed by Israel.

‘International Law’ Is An Illusion for Palestinians – Describing the many failures of international law to protect Palestinians, Ahmad Ibsais argues that Palestinian liberation will not be found through international legal bodies.

Netanyahu Must Be Brought to Justice. But We Can’t Stop There. – In the wake of the ICC arrest warrants, Dyab Abou Jahjah, chairman of the Hind Rajab Foundation, suggests that many beyond Israel’s leadership are culpable of war crimes, and must themselves be brought to justice as well.

Gaza Diary: The Privilege of Survival – In this dispatch from Gaza, Malak Hijazi appraises everything she has lost over the past year, concluding nonetheless that “survival is a privilege.”

My Grandfather’s Wounded Shadow – Ghada Abu Muaileq writes an ode to her grandfather, who survived the Nakba, lived as a refugee in Gaza, and died several days after October 7, 2023.

Of Ancient, Abiding Roots – Esraa Abo Qamar writes about the olive harvest, wondering what the season means amidst the bombardments that destroyed her grandmother’s olive grove.

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