The View from Bethlehem

In September, we intended to have Reverend Munther Isaac from Bethlehem join us for an event. But because of Israeli border closures that prevented his travel, we were happy to host Dalia Qumsieh, a human rights lawyer and the founder and Director of the Balasan Initiative for Human Rights; and Mays Nassar of Kairos Palestine, an influential Palestinian Christian ecumenical non-violent movement. Dalia and Mays were joined by the Palestinian-Iraqi poet Zena Agha for a conversation on the anticolonial ethics of Palestinian Christianity and on the view of the past year from Bethlehem.

The event also featured the Gaza Families Reunited Campaign, which is calling on the UK government to institute a family reunification visa scheme for UK residents who have family members in Gaza.

The recordings are now available below and on our Youtube channel.

Upcoming Event: Edward Said’s THE QUESTION OF PALESTINE, Nov. 20

To mark the re-publication of Edward Said’s The Question of Palestine, this landmark event in London on November 20 gathers eight key authors to reflect on the enduring legacy of Said’s work and its role in the ongoing Palestinian struggle for self-determination.

Presented in cooperation with Fitzcarraldo Editions and Southbank Centre, we are proud to be hosting eight seminal writers to honour the legacy of Said’s work and to hone the tools he left us to imagine Palestinian liberation.

Can’t make the event? Preorder your copy of the book here.

What We’re Reading

A Rupture in Time - Reflecting on the anniversary of 10/7, Sarah Aziza writes of how the Palestinian commitment to life and the refusal to be subjugated hollow out the Zionist project.

The Beginning of the End of Israel - Craig Mokhiber argues that the ongoing reproduction of Israel’s military capabilities, and by extension its political feasibility, is becoming less and less tenable.

Israel is Turning Gaza into a Killing Cage - Jeremy Scahill and Sharif Abdel Kouddous report on the airstrikes in central Gaza which incinerated civilians in tents at Al Aqsa Hospital, and on the steps toward impunity already being taken by Israel and the United States.

Kill Lists - In the wake of Israel’s pager attacks in Lebanon, Sophia Goodfriend writes about the IDF’s use of technology to give itself a “veneer” of tactical “precision” to its ongoing campaigns of “largely indiscriminate destruction.”

On the Past, Future, and the Singularity of Belonging - Palestinian poet Deema K. Shehabi, in translation by Jess Rizkallah, meditates on how the paradigmatic time of the Palestinian land assures its caretakers of their survival.

What’s Next for the Pro-Palestine Student Movement? - Urvi Kumbhat and Sophie Bandarkar examine how campus conditions have shifted since the global Gaza solidarity encampments in the spring.

Poetry in the Face of History: Letter to An Israeli Soldier - A poem co-written by Mahmoud Darwish and Muin Bseiso on the eve of the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982, translated by Ahdaf Soueif, and introduced by Esmat Elhalaby.

No Propaganda on Earth Can Hide the Wound that is Palestine - Arundhati Roy’s speech accepting the PEN Pinter Prize, which she chose to share with Alaa Abd El-Fattah and in which she argues that the inevitable demolition of the apartheid state will be “like pulling an arrow from our wounded heart.:”

One Year - The Palestine Youth Movement appraises a year in struggle and solidarity, concluding that “Zionism thinks it has broken our spirits, but all we see around us are people who will fight forever.”