Learning about Palestine
by Anera
Posted in: Life in the Middle East, Society & culture
From movies and literature to blogs and informative news sources, there is a lot of information out there about Palestine and the current situation. We have put together a short list of some of our favorites. Whether you’re just getting started or have worked in Palestine for years, we hope there’s something for you in this list to inspire you to learn and explore further.
News Outlets
- Friends for Middle East Peace webinars
- Institute for Middle East Understanding
- Middle East Eye
- Mondoweiss
- Washington Report on Middle East Affairs
- We Are Not Numbers
Movies
Savoir Flare has put together a great list called “20 Must-See Documentaries and Films about Palestine.” Check it out!
التغريبة الفلسطينية (The Palestinian Alienation)
A television series – first aired in 2004 – that tells the story of a poor Palestinian family struggling for survival under the British Mandate, through the Great Palestinian Revolution, and finally in refugee tents after the Nakba.
Books
Non-fiction
Blind Spot: America and the Palestinians, from Balfour to Trump
by Khaled Elgindy
A political history of American foreign policy on Palestine.
Justice for Some
by Noura Erakat
A history and discussion of political and legal repressions imposed on Palestinians, failure of legal systems in protecting Palestinians.
Peace And Its Discontents: Essays On Palestine In The Middle East Peace Process
by Edward Said
A collection of essays challenging the official account of the Middle East “peace process.”
100 Years’ War on Palestine; Palestinian Identity
by Rashid Khalidi
A history of 100 of war against the Palestinians, told through pivotal events and family history.
Black Power and Palestine: Transnational Countries of Color
by Michael Fischbach
An exploration of the early role of the U.S. black freedom struggle of the 1960s and 1970s in popularizing pro-Palestinian sentiments.
Memoirs
Three Mothers Three Daughters
by Michael Gorkin, Rafiqa Othman
A collection of oral histories from six Palestinian women that gives a view into the daily lives of women who have lived, and continue to live, through a turbulent and rapidly changing era.
Children of Bethany
by Said K. Aburish
Aburish presents the history of his own family, starting from the dislocating events which began in Palestine and the Arab world in 1917. He really makes the history of his village come alive.
In Search of Fatima
by Ghada Karmi
A memoir follows personal experiences of Palestinian displacement and loss against a backdrop of the major political events which have shaped conflict in the Middle East.
I Was Born There, I Was Born Here
by Mourid Barghouti
The acclaimed memoir that told of returning in 1996 to his Palestinian home for the first time since
exile following the Six-Day War in 1967.
I Saw Ramallah
by Mourid Barghouti
As he returns home for the first time since the Israeli occupation, Barghouti crosses a wooden bridge over the Jordan River into Ramallah and is unable to recognize the city of his youth.
The Lemon Tree
by Sandy Tolan
An Israeli woman and a Palestinian man find lifelong friendship in a search for understanding. Tolan ties a story of two families and the house that connected them, to the history of the Mideast conflict.
Fiction
Mornings in Jenin
by Susan Abulhawa
This is a beautifully written novel that takes the reader through a journey of a Palestinian family – the Abulhejas – from before the creation of Israel to the early 2000s.
The Blue Between Sky and Water
by Susan Abulhawa
The story of flawed yet profoundly courageous women, of separation and heartache, endurance and renewal in the small Palestinian farming village of Beit Daras.
Men in the Sun
by Ghassan Kanafi
Short story about the beginning of the Nakba from the perspective of a truck driver smuggling refugees from Palestine to Kuwait, a metaphor for vocal Palestinian resistance met with silence.
Salt Houses
by Hala Alyan
Intergenerational displacement, how Palestinians ended up in Jordan, Lebanon, France, the US, told through women’s stories.
Three Daughters: A Novel
by Consuelo Saah Baehr
A historical chronicle of the lives, loves, and secrets of three generations of Palestinian Christian women, that takes the reader from rural Palestine at the dawn of the twentieth century to America, as each woman experiences a world in transition through war and social change.
The Woman from Tantoura
by Radwa Ashour
A powerful human story, following the life of a young girl from her days in the village of al-Tantoura in Palestine up to the dawn of the new century.
Some resources for advocacy
What Anera does as a non-political, non-sectarian humanitarian organization happens in parallel with what other worthy organizations are doing. We therefore share this short list of some nonprofits that are engaged in other aspects of work in and for Palestine.
