If you're interested in learning more about Palestine we have you Kuvrd! Below is a series of five books we recommend to get you started and will cover the most fundamental aspects of the Palestinian question. The five books below range from its colonial history, the monumental turning points in the Middle East, International Law, settler-colonial apparatuses and so much more to help us unpack Palestine’s overcomplicated history.
The Question of Palestine by Edward Said
Edward Said is one of the most distinguished Palestinian scholars of our time, best known for his influential research on Orientalism, his work continues to be revered today. By highlighting the role of the occupier and the occupied, In Said’s book The Question of Palestine, he takes us down the timeline of the most drastic events in the Middle East and their subsequent repressions on Palestine.
Freedom is a Constant Struggle from Ferguson to Palestine, by Angela Davis
In Davis’s book, Freedom is a Constant Struggle, she links the Palestinian struggle to the American one. She analyzes different systemic structures like mass incarceration, the prison industrial complex, surveillance, security technology, and settler-colonial apparatuses and the oppressive role they play on particular groups of people. Davis challenges the reader to imagine and build the movement for human liberation - and in doing so, she reminds us that "Freedom is a constant struggle."
The Hundred Years War on Palestine by Rashid Khalidi
Rashid Khaldi reclaims the Palestinian narrative in the book The Hundreds Years War on Palestine, and by doing so challenges the myths that have been propagated for too long. Khalidi traces the 100 year colonial war from the British occupation to the Zionist invasion and beyond. A powerful and authentic telling of events that give the reader insight beyond what is usually known.
Justice for Some: Law and the Question of Palestine by Noura Erakat
In the book Justice for Some, Noura Erakat illustrates the power of the judicial system in the Question of Palestine. Erakat makes an argument surrounding International Law and how it can be a tool of liberation if politicized and incorporated into a larger movement.
I Saw Ramallah by Mourid Barghouti
The book I Saw Ramallah by Mourid Barghouti tells a tragic yet harrowing experience of the life of a Palestinian impacted by the occupation. He is displaced from his home and lives in exile for 30 years only to eventually return and not recognize anything about a place he knew like the back of his hand. It is a powerful book that captures the pain and misery of war and occupation.
