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Education Resources
We have not provided links to purchase these books; they are available from a variety of online vendors such as Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and others, including their publishing houses. A quick search online should locate any of them easily.
Recommended Books
There are so many excellent books on Palestine/Israel, too many for us to present here. On this page we have some of the more prominent authors and personal favorites of leaders in UMKR.
For a more comprehensive list, we recommend the book collections at PalestinePortal.org.
See also ourResources sectionfor many educational materials in diverse mediums.
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CATEGORIES ON THIS PAGE
Books are listed in random order,
not alphabetically or according to importance.
IN THE LEFT COLUMN:
• By Palestinian Christians (14 books)
• Jewish Identity, Zionism, Antisemitism (5 books)
• Theology & Bible (4 books)
IN THE RIGHT COLUMN:
• Modern History & the Current Situation (16 books)
• Political Analysis, Activism (3 books)
• Novels and Memoirs (4 books)
BY PALESTINIAN CHRISTIANS
Yet in the Dark Streets Shining:
A Palestinian Story of Hope and Resilience in Bethlehem
By Bishara Awad and Mercy Aiken
Yet In the Dark Streets Shining details the little-known story of Palestinian Christians through the heartbreaking but inspiring account of a boy who grew up to be a spiritual and community leader in Bethlehem. Bishara Awad was just a child when his father was killed by a sniper during the Israeli-Arab war of 1948. After the family fled their Jerusalem home, Bishara and his siblings grew up as refugees. His spiritual journey brought him through poverty and danger, while witnessing loss and death. Under the shadows of persecution and war, he learned how to live his Christian faith in Bethlehem, the birthplace of Christ. When Bishara learned how to forgive, he became a firebrand of faith and hope. Rising to the many challenges, he launched Bethlehem Bible College, the first Bible college in the West Bank. Through the dashed hopes of one war after another, as well as opposition on all sides, Bishara’s story conveys how he and other Palestinian Christians continue to live their faith and envision a better future, while wrestling with these questions:
Popular Resistance in Palestine:
A History of Hope and Empowerment
By Mazin Qumsiyeh
The Western media paint Palestinian resistance against Israeli occupation as exclusively violent: armed resistance, suicide bombings, and rocket attacks. In reality these methods are the exception to what is a peaceful and creative resistance movement. In this fascinating book, Dr Mazin Qumsiyeh synthesises data from hundreds of original sources to provide the most comprehensive study of civil resistance in Palestine.
The book contains hundreds of stories of the heroic and highly innovative methods of resistance employed by the Palestinians over more than 100 years. The author also analyses the successes, failures, missed opportunities and challenges facing ordinary Palestinians as they struggle for freedom against incredible odds. This is the only book to critically and comparatively study the uprisings of 1920-21, 1929, 1936-9, 1970s, 1987-1991 and 2000-2006.
The compelling human stories told in this book will inspire people of all faiths and political backgrounds to chart a better and more informed direction for a future of peace with justice.
We Belong to the Land: The Story ofa Palestinian Israeli
Who Lives for Peace and Reconciliation
by Elias Chacour (2001)
Nominated several times for the Noble Peace Prize, world-renowned Palestinian priest, Elias Chacour, narrates the gripping story of his life spent working to achieve peace and reconciliation among Israeli Jews, Christians, and Muslims. From the destruction of his boyhood village and his work as a priest in Galilee to his efforts to build school, libraries, and summer camps for children of all religions, this peacemaker’s moving story brings hope to one of the most complex struggles of our time.
Blood Brothers
by Chacour, Elias (1984)
As a child, Elias Chacour lived in a small Palestinian village in Galilee. When tens of thousands of Palestinians were killed and nearly one million forced into refugee camps in 1948, Elias began a long struggle with how to respond. In Blood Brothers, he blends his riveting life story with historical research to reveal a little-known side of the Arab-Israeli conflict, touching on questions such as:
What behind-the-scenes politics touched off the turmoil in the Middle East?
What does Bible prophecy really have to say?
Can bitter enemies ever be reconciled?
Now updated with commentary on the current state of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, as well as a new foreword by Lynne Hybels and Gabe Lyons, this book offers hope and insight that can help each of us learn to live at peace in a world of tension and terror.
Kairos for Palestine
by Rifat Odeh Kassis
Part memoir, part political history, part theological reflection, this volume examines the history of Kairos documents from Christians in various global contexts, shares the background of the Kairos Palestine Document of December 2009, and demonstrates the importance and urgency of this movement of Palestinian Christians. Kassis also answers some of the critique that Kairos Palestine has received.
Faith in the Face of Empire
by Mitri Raheb (2014)
This is an essential read to anyone who desires new insight into scripture, seeks a reorientation of geopolitical perspective, and maintains hope for justice for Palestinians. Preeminent Palestinian contextual theologian Mitri Raheb has woven a profound biblical study and theological reflection on empire with contemporary realities and personal reflection in his new book. Inspired by the prophetic tradition and a liberating understanding of the Trinity, Rev. Raheb challenges accepted notions and offers a vision of imagination and hope that he is already making real.
I am a Palestinian Christian
by Rev. Dr. Mitri Raheb (1995)
Rev. Raheb is pastor of Bethlehem’s Christmas Lutheran Church, and president of the Diyar Consortium. This book is a thorough examination of the issues faced by Palestinian Christians today, and is set in the context of history and theological reflection. Rev. Raheb’s book has become a classic on this less-known community.
Bethlehem Besieged
by Rev. Dr. Mitri Raheb (2004)
The pastor of Christmas Church, a Palestinian Lutheran congregation, Mitri Raheb here presents a powerful collection of compelling personal stories of desperation and hope in the midst of lethal conflict, bringing the Palestinian/Israeli conflict up close and personal. Raheb’s lifelong commitment to his people has kept him in the legendary birthplace of Christianity, even as Bethlehem has become a flashpoint in the world’s most volatile and hate-filled conflict. His passionate personal testimony lifts up the stray gesture toward friendship, the brave attempts to rebuild life and livelihood in a destroyed land, and the unquenchable desire for justice and peace.
Sailing through Troubled Waters: Christianity in the Middle East
by Mitri Raheb (2013)
In this collection of seven lectures and papers, Rev. Raheb offers historical and theological insight into the current reality of Christians in the Middle East. The chapters offer the current context of the Christian communities, including encounter with Islam and contextual scriptural readings of the Qur’an; the situation of Palestinian Christians; a brief history of the Lutheran Church in Palestine and Jordan; and reflections on revolution and human rights.
Witnessing For Peace in Jerusalem and the World
by Bishop Munib Younan (2003)
The rapidly deteriorating situation in Israel/Palestine has dashed hopes of any imminent peace or even accommodation between the Israeli people and the Palestinian people. A leader in Palestinian Christianity, and an outspoken advocate of nonviolence and of Palestinian rights, Bishop Munib Younan directly addresses this situation and its imperatives. Born of Palestinian refugee parents and raised in Jerusalem, Younan has spent his life pastoring Palestinian Christians and searching for nonviolent solutions in this complex and volatile religious and political scene. In this volume, Younan presents first the historical and social context of the Palestinian situation, beginning with the not-well-known story of Arab Christianity and his own background. He elaborates his own theology of nonviolence, centered in the idea of martyria-heeding a call to justice, inclusion, and forgiveness. He illustrates the notion with dramatic and often tragic episodes and shows how it can address key issues in the current struggle with Israel over statehood, land, and refugees. Younan’s model of Christian nonviolence also has demonstrable benefits in addressing terrorism, interreligious strife, and global peacemaking. Younan’s is a voice all Christians of conscience should hear.
A Palestinian Christian Cry for Reconciliation
by Rev. Naim Ateek
Rev. Ateek is the founder and director for the Sabeel Ecumenical Liberation Theology Center in Jerusalem, a partner of Global Ministries. Ateek’s new book is remarkable, provocative and challenging, and quite poignant. It is part personal narrative and part political commentary, all framed through a theological lens.
Justice and Only Justice
by Rev. Naim Ateek
Published first in 1989, this book is considered by many to be the foundational book of Palestinian liberation theology. It is seminal in that it addresses, from a theological and experiential point of view, the issues at stake in seeking justice and peace between Israelis and Palestinians.
Occupied with Nonviolence: A Palestinian Woman Speaks
by Jean Zaru
Jean Zaru, a longtime activist and Quaker leader in Palestine, here brings home the pain and central convictions that animate Christian nonviolence and activity today. This collection of her writings is full of insightful content on a wide range of issues relating to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, including interfaith relations, women’s rights, human rights, Jerusalem, violence and nonviolence, and more.
Zaru vividly paints the complex realities faced by all parties in Palestine - Jews and Muslims and Christians, Israelis and Palestinians, women and men. Yet even as Zaru eloquently names the common misunderstandings of the history, present situation, and current policies of the parties there, she vividly articulates an alternative: a faith-inspired nonviolent path to peace and justice in the world's most troubled region.
Jewish Identity, Zionism,
Antisemitism, & Interfaith Relations
Fatal Embrace:
Christians, Jews, and the Search For Peace In the Holy Land
by Mark Braverman (2010)
The State of Israel was established as a safe haven for the Jewish people, but its expansionism and treatment of the Palestinians have made the prospects for peace in the Holy Land recede further and further. In Fatal Embrace, author Mark Braverman shows how the Jewish quest for safety and empowerment and the Christian endeavor to atone for centuries of anti-Semitism have united to suppress the conversations needed to bring peace. Tracing his own journey as a Jew struggling with the difficult realities of modern Israel, Braverman delivers a strong message to Jews and Christians alike: it is not anti-Semitic to stand up for justice for the Palestinian people. Describing the spiritual and psychological forces driving the discourse in America, in Israel, within the Jewish community, and within the church, Braverman turns to the prophets’ cry for justice and to Jesus’ transformative ministry to show the way forward.
On Anti-Semitism: A collection of essays on Anti-Semitism
Edited by Jewish Voice for Peace (2017)
When the State of Israel claims to represent all Jewish people, defenders of Israeli policy redefine anti-Semitism to include criticism of Israel. Anti-Semitism is harmful and real in our society. What must also be addressed is how the deployment of false charges of anti-Semitism or redefining anti-Semitism can suppress the global progressive fight for justice. There is no one definitive voice on anti-Semitism and its impact.
Jewish Voice for Peace has curated a collection of essays that provides a diversity of perspectives and standpoints. Each contribution explores critical questions concerning uses and abuses of antisemitism in the twenty-first-century, focusing on the intersection between anti-Semitism, accusations of anti-Semitism, and Palestinian human rights activism.
This anthology provides a much-needed tool for Palestinian solidarity activists, teachers, as well as Jewish communities. Featuring contributions from Omar Barghouti, Judith Butler, and Rebecca Vilkomerson, as well as activists, academics, students, and cultural workers, On Political Solidarity and Justice includes the voices of Palestinian students and activists, and Jews that are often marginalized in mainstream discussions of anti-Semitism, including Jews of Color and Sephardi/Mizrahi Jews.
The Invention of the Jewish People
by Shlomo Sand
A historical tour de force, The Invention of the Jewish People offers a groundbreaking account of Jewish and Israeli history. Exploding the myth that there was a forced Jewish exile in the first century at the hands of the Romans, Israeli historian Shlomo Sand argues that most modern Jews descend from converts, whose native lands were scattered across the Middle East and Eastern Europe.
In this iconoclastic work, which spent nineteen weeks on the Israeli bestseller list and won the coveted Aujourd’hui Award in France, Sand provides the intellectual foundations for a new vision of Israel’s future.
Shlomo Sand studied history at the University of Tel Aviv and at the École des hautes études en sciences sociales, in Paris. He currently teaches contemporary history at the University of Tel Aviv. His books include The Invention of the Jewish People, On the Nation and the Jewish People, L’Illusion du politique: Georges Sorel et le débat intellectuel 1900, Georges Sorel en son temps, Le XXe siècle à l’écran and Les Mots et la terre: les intellectuels en Israël.
“Sand’s questions about how Israel’s democracy can be liberalized and stabilized are thought-provoking and deserve serious discussion.”
—Haaretz
“A radical dismantling of a national myth.”
—Guardian
“[Sand’s] quiet earthquake of a book is shaking historical faith in the link between Judaism and Israel.”
—Rafael Behr, Observer
“No discussion of the region any longer seems complete without acknowledgement of this book.”
—Independent on Sunday, Best History Books of 2009
Wrestling in the Daylight: A Rabbi’s Path to Palestinian Solidarity
By Rabbi Brant Rosen (2017)
Wrestling in the Daylight is an insightful conversation on Zionism initiated by Rabbi Brant Rosen, a prominent Jewish activist from Chicago, on his social-justice blog Shalom Rav. After Israel’s brutal military attack on Gaza in 2008-2009, Rosen began to question his lifelong Zionist beliefs. Unlike the biblical Jacob, who wrestled with his conscience in the dark of night, Rosen chose to “wrestle in the daylight” with this issue through many thoughtful essays on his blog. In this selection of content from Shalom Rav, Rosen includes both his own posts and those of his online commenters, granting readers unique insight into the largest controversy facing the American Jewish community today. In the new introduction he has written for this second edition, Rosen updates the story of the “wrestling” that both he and the American Jewish community have undertaken in recent years.
The Holocaust Industry:
Reflections on the Exploitation of Jewish Suffering
By Norman Finkelstein
It was not until the Arab-Israeli War of 1967, when Israel’s evident strength brought it into line with US foreign policy, that memory of the Holocaust began to acquire the exceptional prominence it enjoys today. Leaders of America’s Jewish community were delighted that Israel was now deemed a major strategic asset and, Finkelstein contends, exploited the Holocaust to enhance this new-found status. Their subsequent interpretations of the tragedy are often at variance with actual historical events and are employed to deflect any criticism of Israel and its supporters. Finkelstein contends that the main danger posed to the memory of Nazism’s victims comes not from the distortions of Holocaust deniers but from prominent, self-proclaimed guardians of Holocaust memory. Drawing on a wealth of untapped sources, he exposes the double shakedown of European countries as well as legitimate Jewish claimants, and concludes that the Holocaust industry has become an outright extortion racket. Thoroughly researched and closely argued, The Holocaust Industry is all the more disturbing and powerful because the issues it deals with are so rarely discussed.
THEOLOGY & BIBLE
Chosen? Reading the Bible Amid the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict
by Walter Brueggemann
From one of the most celebrated and influential biblical scholars and Christian theologians of the last half century.
"The conflict is only ‘seemingly’ beyond solution, because all historical-political problems have solutions, if there is enough courage, honesty, and steadfastness.”
In Chosen? Walter Brueggemann explores the situation in modern-day Israel and addresses questions that arise for many Christians who are confused when reading biblical accounts of God’s saving actions with the Israelites.
Are modern Israeli citizens the descendants of the Israelites in the Bible whom God called chosen? Was the promise of land to Moses permanent and irrevocable? What about others living in the promised land? How should we read the Bible in light of the modern situation? Who are the Zionists, and what do they say?
In four chapters, Brueggemann addresses the questions many people have with regard to what the Bible says about Palestine/Israel. A question-and-answer section with the author, a glossary of terms, a study guide, and guidelines for respectful dialogue are also included. The reader will find answers to key questions about how to understand God’s promises to the biblical people often called Israel and in relation to the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians today.
“This important volume could be a “game changer” for pastors, congregational study, denominational policy, the academy, religious journals, and hopefully elected officials who continue to fail the Palestinians, Israelis, and their own constituents with decades of misguided Middle East policies.”
―Rev. Dr. Don Wagner, National Program Director, Friends of Sabeel-North America.
Whose Land? Whose Promise?
What Christians are not being told about Israel and the Palestinians
by Gary Burge
A personal exploration of feelings about the crisis in the Middle East and seeks answers to questions such as: How do I embrace my commitment to Judaism, to which I am bound by the Bible, when I sense in my deepest being a profound injustice afoot in Israel? How do I celebrate the birth of Israel when I also mourn the suffering of Arab Christians who are my brothers and sisters in Christ? This book lays out the critical biblical and political issues that affect a modern Christian’s perceptions of the Holy Land and its peoples. In this revised and updated edition, Burge further explores his personal emotions and opinions; and sharpens his theological argument in the context of the new developments surrounding the crisis in the Middle East. Whose Land? Whose Promise? offers insight on an explosive topic and challenges personal truths on peace.
The Wrath of Jonah: The Crisis of Religious Nationalism in the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict
By Rosemary Radford Ruether and Herman Ruether
The wrenching situation in the Middle East, recent events have shown, is as complex as it is volatile. In this immensely learned and clarifying volume-here updated and issued in paper for the first time-the Ruethers trace the tortured and contested history of Israel/Palestine from biblical times through the Diaspora, the development of Zionism, the creation of the modern state of Israel, and the subsequent conflict with Arab and Palestinian nationalism. Magisterial in its grasp of the historical, political, economic, and religious roots of the conflict, The Wrath of Jonah also offers convincing analysis of the moral and political dilemmas facing Israelis and Palestinians today. Though they see possibilities for peace, the Ruethers are forthright about what they and others see as Israel’s betrayal of its own original mandate. Their purpose, state the Ruethers, “continues to be to make a modest contribution to truthful historical accountability that must underlie the quest for justice, without which there can be no ‘peace.'”
The Bible & Zionism
By Nur Musalha
Does the bible justify Zionism? Since the foundation of the Israeli state in 1948, Torah and tank have become increasingly inseparable, resulting in the forced expulsion and subjugation of millions of indigenous Palestinians. Nur Masalha’s groundbreaking new book traces Zionism’s evolution from a secular, settler movement in the late 19th century, to the messianic faith it has become today. He shows how the biblical language of ‘chosen people’ and ‘promised land’ has been used by many Christian and Jewish Zionists as the ‘title deeds’ for Israel, justifying ethnic division and violence. With Edward Said, Masalha argues that a new politics of peace can only be achieved through a single, democratic state, which replaces religious zealotry with secular equality.
MODERN HISTORY &
THE CURRENT SITUATION
Understanding the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict: A Primer
By Phyllis Bennis (6th edition, 2015)
This irreplaceable introduction to the conflict is highly recommended for all who want to better understand what is happening in the Holy Land. If you have ever wondered “Why is there so much violence in the Middle East?”, “Who are the Palestinians?”, “What are the occupied territories?” or “What does Israel want?”, then this is the book for you. With straightforward language, Phyllis Bennis, longtime analyst of the region, answers basic questions about Israel and Israelis, Palestine and Palestinians, the US and the Middle East, Zionism and anti-Semitism; about complex issues ranging from the Oslo peace process to the election of Hamas. Together her answers provide a comprehensive understanding of the longstanding Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Sections include: The Crisis; The Other Players: The Role of the US, the UN, the Arab States, and Europe; Recent History: Rising Violence; Looking Backward (1900-1991); The Future.
The Hundred Years’ War on Palestine:
A History of Settler Colonialism and Resistance, 1917–2017
By Rashid Khalidi
A landmark history of one hundred years of war waged against the Palestinians from the foremost US historian of the Middle East, told through pivotal events and family history
In 1899, Yusuf Diya al-Khalidi, mayor of Jerusalem, alarmed by the Zionist call to create a Jewish national home in Palestine, wrote a letter aimed at Theodore Herzl: the country had an indigenous people who would not easily accept their own displacement. He warned of the perils ahead, ending his note, “in the name of God, let Palestine be left alone.” Thus Rashid Khalidi, al-Khalidi’s great-great-nephew, begins this sweeping history, the first general account of the conflict told from an explicitly Palestinian perspective.
Drawing on a wealth of untapped archival materials and the reports of generations of family members—mayors, judges, scholars, diplomats, and journalists—The Hundred Years’ War on Palestine upends accepted interpretations of the conflict, which tend, at best, to describe a tragic clash between two peoples with claims to the same territory. Instead, Khalidi traces a hundred years of colonial war on the Palestinians, waged first by the Zionist movement and then Israel, but backed by Britain and the United States, the great powers of the age. He highlights the key episodes in this colonial campaign, from the 1917 Balfour Declaration to the destruction of Palestine in 1948, from Israel’s 1982 invasion of Lebanon to the endless and futile peace process.
Original, authoritative, and important, The Hundred Years’ War on Palestine is not a chronicle of victimization, nor does it whitewash the mistakes of Palestinian leaders or deny the emergence of national movements on both sides. In reevaluating the forces arrayed against the Palestinians, it offers an illuminating new view of a conflict that continues to this day.
The Iron Cage:
The Story of the Palestinian Struggle For Statehood
By Rashid Khalidi (2007)
In The Iron Cage, Rashid Khalidi, one of the most respected historians and political observers of the Middle East, homes in on Palestinian politics and history. By drawing on a wealth of experience and scholarship, Khalidi provides a lucid context for the realities on the ground today, a context that has been, until now, notably lacking in our discourse. Rashid Khalidi’s engrossing narrative of this torturous history offers much-needed perspective for anyone concerned about peace in the Middle East.
The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine
By Ilan Pappe (2007)
Renowned Israeli historian, Ilan Pappe’s groundbreaking book revisits the formation of the State of Israel. Between 1947 and 1949, over 400 Palestinian villages were deliberately destroyed, civilians were massacred and around a million men, women, and children were expelled from their homes at gunpoint. Denied for almost six decades, had it happened today it could only have been called “ethnic cleansing.”
Decisively debunking the myth that the Palestinian population left of their own accord in the course of this war, Ilan Pappe offers impressive archival evidence to demonstrate that, from its very inception, a central plank in Israel’s founding ideology was the forcible removal of the indigenous population. Indispensable for anyone interested in the current crisis in the Middle East.
The Biggest Prison on Earth:
A History of the Occupied Territories
by Ilan Pappe
A powerful, groundbreaking history of the Occupied Territories from one of Israel’s most influential historians
From the author of the bestselling study of the 1948 War of Independence comes an incisive look at the Occupied Territories, picking up the story where The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine left off.
In this comprehensive exploration of one of the world’s most prolonged and tragic conflicts, Pappe uses recently declassified archival material to analyse the motivations and strategies of the generals and politicians – and the decision-making process itself – that laid the foundation of the occupation. From a survey of the legal and bureaucratic infrastructures that were put in place to control the population of over one million Palestinians, to the security mechanisms that vigorously enforced that control, Pappe paints a picture of what is to all intents and purposes the world’s largest ‘open prison’.
The Forgotten Palestinians:
A History of the Palestinians in Israel
By Ilan Pappé
For more than 60 years, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have lived as Israeli citizens within the borders of the nation formed at the end of the 1948 conflict. Occupying a precarious middle ground between the Jewish citizens of Israel and the dispossessed Palestinians of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, the Israeli Palestinians have developed an exceedingly complex relationship with the land they call home; however, in the innumerable discussions of the Israel-Palestine problem, their experiences are often overlooked and forgotten. In this book, historian Ilan Pappé examines how Israeli Palestinians have fared under Jewish rule and what their lives tell us about both Israel’s attitude toward minorities and Palestinians’ attitudes toward the Jewish state. Drawing upon significant archival and interview material, Pappé analyzes the Israeli state’s policy towards its Palestinian citizens, finding discrimination in matters of housing, education, and civil rights. Rigorously researched yet highly readable, The Forgotten Palestinians brings a new and much-needed perspective to the Israel-Palestine debate.
Ten Myths About Israel
By Ilan Pappe
In this groundbreaking book, published on the fiftieth anniversary of the Occupation, the outspoken and radical Israeli historian Ilan Pappe examines the most contested ideas concerning the origins and identity of the contemporary state of Israel.
The “ten myths” that Pappe explores—repeated endlessly in the media, enforced by the military, accepted without question by the world’s governments—reinforce the regional status quo. He explores the claim that Palestine was an empty land at the time of the Balfour Declaration, as well as the formation of Zionism and its role in the early decades of nation building. He asks whether the Palestinians voluntarily left their homeland in 1948, and whether June 1967 was a war of “no choice.” Turning to the myths surrounding the failures of the Camp David Accords and the official reasons for the attacks on Gaza, Pappe explains why the two-state solution is no longer viable.
Palestine Hijacked:
How Zionism Forged an Apartheid State from River to Sea
By Thomas Suarez
How terror was used by Zionist militias to transform Palestine into an apartheid settler state.
The Israel-Palestine “conflict” is typically understood to be a clash between two ethnic groups—Arabs and Jews—inhabiting the same land. Thomas Suárez digs deep below these preconceptions and their supporting “narratives” to expose something starkly different: The violent take-over of Palestine by a European racial-nationalist settler movement, Zionism, using terror to assert by force a claim to the land that has no legal or moral basis.
Drawing extensively from original source documents, many revealed here for the first time, Suárez interweaves secret intelligence reports, newly-declassified military and diplomatic correspondence, and the terrorists’ own records boasting of their successes. His shocking account details a litany of Zionist terrorism against anyone in their way—the indigenous Palestinians, the British who had helped establish Zionism, and Jews who opposed the Zionist agenda.
Far from being isolated atrocities by rogue groups, the use of terror was deliberate and sustained, carried out or supported by the same leaders who then established and led the Israeli state. We are still living this history: The book proves that Israel’s regime of Apartheid against the Palestinians and the continued expropriation of their country are not the result of complex historical circumstances, but the intended, singular goal of Zionism since its beginning.
The Invention of the Jewish People
by Shlomo Sand
A historical tour de force, The Invention of the Jewish People offers a groundbreaking account of Jewish and Israeli history. Exploding the myth that there was a forced Jewish exile in the first century at the hands of the Romans, Israeli historian Shlomo Sand argues that most modern Jews descend from converts, whose native lands were scattered across the Middle East and Eastern Europe.
In this iconoclastic work, which spent nineteen weeks on the Israeli bestseller list and won the coveted Aujourd’hui Award in France, Sand provides the intellectual foundations for a new vision of Israel’s future.
Shlomo Sand studied history at the University of Tel Aviv and at the École des hautes études en sciences sociales, in Paris. He currently teaches contemporary history at the University of Tel Aviv. His books include The Invention of the Jewish People, On the Nation and the Jewish People, L’Illusion du politique: Georges Sorel et le débat intellectuel 1900, Georges Sorel en son temps, Le XXe siècle à l’écran and Les Mots et la terre: les intellectuels en Israël.
“Sand’s questions about how Israel’s democracy can be liberalized and stabilized are thought-provoking and deserve serious discussion.”
—Haaretz
“A radical dismantling of a national myth.”
—Guardian
“[Sand’s] quiet earthquake of a book is shaking historical faith in the link between Judaism and Israel.”
—Rafael Behr, Observer
“No discussion of the region any longer seems complete without acknowledgement of this book.”
—Independent on Sunday, Best History Books of 2009
A Day in the Life of Abed Salama:
An Anatomy of a Jersusalem Tragedy
by Nathan Thrall
This book is an expanded narrative of Thrall's widely praised 2021 article of the same name in the New York Review of Books. It tells the true story of Abed Salama, a Palestinian father, trying to find his son after a deadly bus crash outside of Jerusalem. The narrative interweaves the lives of those involved in the crash and those who come to help, ultimately providing an intimate story of the daily life and history of those in the region.
From “one of the best-informed and most trenchant observers of the conflict” (Financial Times), the intimate true story of a deadly accident outside Jerusalem that unravels a tangle of lives, loves, enmities, and histories over the course of one revealing, heartbreaking day.
The Last Earth: A Palestinian Story
By Ramzy Baroud
This is a history of modern Palestine like no other: built from the testimony of people who have lived through it. Ramzy Baroud here gathers accounts from countless Palestinians from all walks of life, and from throughout the decades, to tell the story of the nation and its struggle for independence and security. Challenging both academic and popular takes on Palestinian history, Baroud unearths here the deep commonalities within the story of Palestine, ones that draw the people together despite political divisions, geographical barriers and walls, factionalism, occupation, and exile. Through these firsthand reports—by turns inspiring and terrifying, triumphant and troubled—we see Palestine in all its complexity and contradictions, ever vibrant in the memories of the people who have fought, physically and otherwise, for its future. A remarkable book, The Last Earth will be essential to understanding the struggles in the contemporary Middle East.
POLITICAL ANALYSIS; ACTIVISM
Brokers of Deceit:
How the US has undermined peace in the Middle East
By Rashid Khalidi
An historian and participant in some of the negotiations discussed, Khalidi examines three “moments” in peacemaking efforts: the 1982 efforts and foundational documents; the Madrid/Oslo period; and Pres. Obama’s first term. This is a much broader history, though, connecting the consistency and evolution of US involvement, identifying guiding US interests and their consequences, and showing the ultimately negative role the US has played. Khalidi’s focus on language, describing it as Orwellian, is astute. This is a short, but quite valuable, contribution.
The Israel Lobby and US Foreign Policy
By John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt (2008)
The Israel Lobby was one of the most controversial articles in recent memory. Originally published in the London Review of Books in March 2006, it provoked both howls of outrage and cheers of gratitude for challenging what had been a taboo issue in America: the impact of the Israel lobby on U.S. foreign policy.
Now in a work of major importance, Mearsheimer and Walt deepen and expand their argument and confront recent developments in Lebanon and Iran. They describe the remarkable level of material and diplomatic support that the United States provides to Israel and argues that this support cannot be fully explained on either strategic or moral grounds. This exceptional relationship is due largely to the political influence of a loose coalition of individuals and organizations that actively work to shape U.S. foreign policy in a pro-Israel direction.
Mearsheimer and Walt provocatively contend that the lobby has a far-reaching impact on America’s posture throughout the Middle East—in Iraq, Iran, Lebanon, and toward the Israeli-Palestinian conflict—and the policies it has encouraged are in neither America’s national interest nor Israel’s long-term interest. The lobby’s influence also affects America’s relationship with important allies and increases dangers that all states face from global jihadist terror.
Writing in The New York Review of Books, Michael Massing declared, “Not since Foreign Affairs magazine published Samuel Huntington’s ‘The Clash of Civilizations?’ in 1993 has an academic essay detonated with such force.”
They Dare to Speak Out:
People and Institutions Confront Israel's Lobby
by Paul Findley
Originally published in the 1980's and updated since then, this is the first book to speak out about the pervasive influence of the American-Israeli Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) on American politics, policy, and institutions resonates today as never before.
With careful documentation and specific case histories, former congressman Paul Findley demonstrates how the Israel lobby helps to shape important aspects of U.S. foreign policy and influences congressional, senatorial, and even presidential elections. Findley describes the undue influence AIPAC exerts in the Senate and the House, the pressure AIPAC brings to bear on university professors and journalists, and the general lack of open debate in the U.S. with regard to the U.S. policy in the Middle East. In updated editiosn, connections are drawn between America’s unconditional support of Israel and the raging anti-American passions around the world—and, ultimately, the tragic events of 9/11.
BDS: The Global Struggle for Palestinian Rights
By Omar Barghouti
Thirty years ago, an international movement utilizing boycott, divestment, and sanction (BDS) tactics rose in solidarity with those suffering under the brutal apartheid regime of South Africa. The historic acts of BDS activists from around the world isolated South Africa as a pariah state and heralded the end of apartheid. Now, as awareness of the apartheid nature of the State of Israel continues to grow, Omar Barghouti, founding member of the Palestinian Civil Society Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign against Israel, presents a renewed call to action. Aimed at forcing the State of Israel to uphold international law and universal human rights for the Palestinian people, here is a manifesto for change.
“No one has done more to build the intellectual, legal and moral case for BDS than Omar Barghouti. The global Palestinian solidarity movement has been transformed and is on the cusp of major new breakthroughs.”
—Naomi Klein, author of The Shock Doctrine and No Logo
“There is no more comprehensive and persuasive case than his for boycott, divestment, and sanctions to end the Israeli occupation and establish the ethical claim of Palestinian rights.”
—Judith Butler, University of California at Berkeley
NOVELS; MEMOIRS
There are also a number of memoirs in the category
"By Palestinian Christians"
Mornings in Jenin
By Susan Abulhawa
Mornings in Jenin is a multi-generational story about a Palestinian family. Forcibly removed from the olive-farming village of Ein Hod by the newly formed state of Israel in 1948, the Abulhejos are displaced to live in canvas tents in the Jenin refugee camp. We follow the Abulhejo family as they live through a half century of violent history. Amidst the loss and fear, hatred and pain, as their tents are replaced by more forebodingly permanent cinderblock huts, there is always the waiting, waiting to return to a lost home. The novel’s voice is that of Amal, the granddaughter of the old village patriarch, a bright, sensitive girl who makes it out of the camps, only to return years later, to marry and bear a child. Through her eyes, with her evolving vision, we get the story of her brothers, one who is kidnapped to be raised Jewish, one who will end with bombs strapped to his middle.
But of the many interwoven stories, stretching backward and forward in time, none is more important than Amal’s own. Her story is one of love and loss, of childhood and marriage and parenthood, and finally the need to share her history with her daughter, to preserve the greatest love she has. Set against one of the twentieth century’s most intractable political conflicts, Mornings in Jenin is a deeply human novel – a novel of history, identity, friendship, love, terrorism, surrender, courage, and hope. Its power forces us to take a fresh look at one of the defining conflicts of our lifetimes.
Apeirogon
by Colum McCann
From the National Book Award–winning and bestselling author of Let the Great World Spin comes an epic novel rooted in the unlikely real-life friendship between two fathers.
Bassam Aramin is Palestinian. Rami Elhanan is Israeli. They inhabit a world of conflict that colors every aspect of their lives, from the roads they are allowed to drive on to the schools their children attend to the checkpoints, both physical and emotional, they must negotiate.
But their lives, however circumscribed, are upended one after the other: first, Rami’s thirteen-year-old daughter, Smadar, becomes the victim of suicide bombers; a decade later, Bassam’s ten-year-old daughter, Abir, is killed by a rubber bullet. Rami and Bassam had beenraised to hate one another. And yet, when they learn of each other’s stories, they recognize the loss that connects them. Together they attempt to use their grief as a weapon for peace—and with their one small act, start to permeate what has for generations seemed an impermeable conflict.
This extraordinary novel is the fruit of a seed planted when the novelist Colum McCann met the real Bassam and Rami on a trip with the non-profit organization Narrative 4. McCann was moved by their willingness to share their stories with the world, by their hope that if theycould see themselves in one another, perhaps others could too. With their blessing, and unprecedented access to their families, lives, and personalrecollections, McCann began to craft Apeirogon, which uses their real-life stories to beginanother—one that crosses centuries and continents, stitching together time, art, history,nature, and politics in a tale both heartbreaking and hopeful. The result is an ambitious novel, crafted out of a universe of fictional and nonfictional material, with these fathers’moving story at its heart.
New York Times Bestseller
Winner of the National Jewish Book Award
Named one of the best books of the year by The Independent, The New York Public Library, and Library Journal
Fast Times in Palestine
By Pamela Olsen (2011)
Pamela Olson, a small town girl from eastern Oklahoma, had what she always wanted: a physics degree from Stanford University. But instead of feeling excited for what came next, she felt consumed by dread and confusion. This irresistible memoir chronicles her journey from aimless ex-bartender to Ramallah-based journalist and foreign press coordinator for a Palestinian presidential candidate. The gripping narrative focuses not only on violence, terror, and social and political upheavals but also on the daily rounds of house parties, concerts, barbecues, weddings, jokes, harvests, and romantic drama that happen in between. From idyllic olive groves to Palestinian beer gardens, from Passover in Tel Aviv to Ramadan in a Hamas village, from rooftop parties in Ramallah to militant rallies in Nablus, the book is packed with suspense, humor, and unforgettable characters. Its seamless blend of travelogue, memoir, and narrative journalism ramps the average American up to a sophisticated, multi-faceted understanding of the Israel/Palestine conflict.Funny, gorgeous, shocking, and galvanizing, Fast Times in Palestine challenges the way we think not only about the Middle East but albout human nature and our place in the world.
The General’s Son: Journey of an Israeli in Palestine
By Miko Peled
A powerful account, by Israeli peace activist Miko Peled, of his transformation from a young man who’d grown up in the heart of Israel’s elite and served proudly in its military into a fearless advocate of nonviolent struggle and equal rights for all Palestinians and Israelis. His journey is mirrored in many ways the transformation his father, a much-decorated Israeli general, had undergone three decades earlier. Alice Walker contributed a foreword to the first edition in which she wrote, “There are few books on the Israel/Palestine issue that seem as hopeful to me as this one.” In the new Epilogue he takes readers to South Africa, East Asia, several European countries, and the West Bank, Gaza, and Israel itself.