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This Is Not a Border: Reportage & Reflection from the Palestine Festival of Literature
The Palestine Festival of Literature was established in 2008. Bringing together writers from all corners of the globe, it aims to help Palestinians break the cultural siege imposed by the Israeli military occupation, to strengthen their artistic links with the rest of the world, and to reaffirm, in the words of Edward Said, 'the power of culture over the culture of power'.
Celebrating the tenth anniversary of PalFest, This Is Not a Border is a collection of essays, poems and stories from some of the world's most distinguished artists, responding to their experiences at this unique festival. Both heartbreaking and hopeful, their gathered work is a testament to the power of literature to promote solidarity and courage in the most desperate of situations.
Contributors: Susan Abulhawa, Suad Amiry, Victoria Brittain, Jehan Bseiso, Teju Cole, Molly Crabapple, Selma Dabbagh, Mahmoud Darwish, Najwan Darwish, Geoff Dyer, Yasmin El-Rifae, Adam Foulds, Ru Freeman, Omar Robert Hamilton, Suheir Hammad, Nathalie Handal, Mohammed Hanif, Jeremy Harding, Rachel Holmes, John Horner, Remi Kanazi, Brigid Keenan, Mercedes Kemp, Omar El-Khairy, Nancy Kricorian, Sabrina Mahfouz, Jamal Mahjoub, Henning Mankell, Claire Messud, China Miéville, Pankaj Mishra, Deborah Moggach, Muiz, Maath Musleh, Michael Palin, Ed PavliçAtef Abu Saif, Kamila Shamsie, Raja Shehadeh, Gillian Slovo, Ahdaf Soueif, Linda Spalding, Will Sutcliffe, Alice Walker
With messages from China Achebe, Michael Ondaatje and J. M. Coetzee
Celebrating the tenth anniversary of PalFest, This Is Not a Border is a collection of essays, poems and stories from some of the world's most distinguished artists, responding to their experiences at this unique festival. Both heartbreaking and hopeful, their gathered work is a testament to the power of literature to promote solidarity and courage in the most desperate of situations.
Contributors: Susan Abulhawa, Suad Amiry, Victoria Brittain, Jehan Bseiso, Teju Cole, Molly Crabapple, Selma Dabbagh, Mahmoud Darwish, Najwan Darwish, Geoff Dyer, Yasmin El-Rifae, Adam Foulds, Ru Freeman, Omar Robert Hamilton, Suheir Hammad, Nathalie Handal, Mohammed Hanif, Jeremy Harding, Rachel Holmes, John Horner, Remi Kanazi, Brigid Keenan, Mercedes Kemp, Omar El-Khairy, Nancy Kricorian, Sabrina Mahfouz, Jamal Mahjoub, Henning Mankell, Claire Messud, China Miéville, Pankaj Mishra, Deborah Moggach, Muiz, Maath Musleh, Michael Palin, Ed PavliçAtef Abu Saif, Kamila Shamsie, Raja Shehadeh, Gillian Slovo, Ahdaf Soueif, Linda Spalding, Will Sutcliffe, Alice Walker
With messages from China Achebe, Michael Ondaatje and J. M. Coetzee
353 pages, Kindle Edition
First published July 18, 2017
48 people are currently reading
2161 people want to read
About the author
J.M. Coetzee
189 books5,180 followersJ. M. Coetzee is a South African writer, essayist, and translator, widely regarded as one of the most influential authors of contemporary literature. His works, often characterized by their austere prose and profound moral and philosophical depth, explore themes of colonialism, identity, power, and human suffering. Born and raised in South Africa, he later became an Australian citizen and has lived in Adelaide since 2002.
Coetzee’s breakthrough novel, Waiting for the Barbarians (1980), established him as a major literary voice, while Life & Times of Michael K (1983) won him the first of his two Booker Prizes. His best-known work, Disgrace (1999), a stark and unsettling examination of post-apartheid South Africa, secured his second Booker Prize, making him the first author to win the award twice. His other notable novels include Foe, Age of Iron, The Master of Petersburg, Elizabeth Costello, and The Childhood of Jesus, many of which incorporate allegorical and metafictional elements.
Beyond fiction, Coetzee has written numerous essays and literary critiques, contributing significantly to discussions on literature, ethics, and history. His autobiographical trilogy—Boyhood, Youth, and Summertime—blends memoir with fiction, offering a fragmented yet insightful reflection on his own life. His literary achievements were recognized with the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2003.
A deeply private individual, Coetzee avoids public life and rarely gives interviews, preferring to let his work speak for itself.
Coetzee’s breakthrough novel, Waiting for the Barbarians (1980), established him as a major literary voice, while Life & Times of Michael K (1983) won him the first of his two Booker Prizes. His best-known work, Disgrace (1999), a stark and unsettling examination of post-apartheid South Africa, secured his second Booker Prize, making him the first author to win the award twice. His other notable novels include Foe, Age of Iron, The Master of Petersburg, Elizabeth Costello, and The Childhood of Jesus, many of which incorporate allegorical and metafictional elements.
Beyond fiction, Coetzee has written numerous essays and literary critiques, contributing significantly to discussions on literature, ethics, and history. His autobiographical trilogy—Boyhood, Youth, and Summertime—blends memoir with fiction, offering a fragmented yet insightful reflection on his own life. His literary achievements were recognized with the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2003.
A deeply private individual, Coetzee avoids public life and rarely gives interviews, preferring to let his work speak for itself.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 35 reviews
July 4, 2017
A literary wake up call. As a Palestinian I know all about the absurd experiences the authors had to live, reading every essay I kept nodding my head. Not only did I relive the experiences (which is my reality and basically life in Palestine) but I was truly moved by them. I don't think I have ever nodded and strongly agreed to a book this much. The Palestine Festival of Literature is a beautiful proof of what literature can do, and in the words of Edward Said, it is: 'the power of culture over the culture of power'.
April 13, 2019
“The humiliations and limitations of Palestinian were so blunt and evident one cannot believe that they still exist in our twenty-first century, and still continue unimpeded and unprotested.”
This book is filled with hard hitting reflections about what these writers and poets experience as they visit Palestine for the Palestine Literature Festival. The writers talk about what it’s like being there, the injustices they witness, the long routes it takes them to do anything and how much worse it is for Palestinians, witnessing the difference of treatments between foreigners with foreign names and those with Arab names, learning about the history, hosting writing and creative workshops, talking to students and hearing about their first world problem along side their activism and survival stories. These writers also reflect on the similarities between what is happening in Palestine and the apartheid in South Africa.
Palestine is not yet free and should not be forgotten. Palestinians are still suffering from the repercussions of Al-Nakba. Palestinians are still having their land and their families taken away from them. They are treated like trash in their own home country. I cannot fathom how the world continues living and how none of the countries with power are doing anything let alone the Arab counties that are just watching in silence. They invaded Palestine and are taking their land and displacing people and everyone is just turning a blind eye as if all of this is normal. There are a few notes in this book that talk about how if you bring up this particular point people start calling you an anti-semitic when those two are on the complete end of the spectrum. It’s one thing to call out people who are literally taking a whole country that was living in peace and displacing them and killing them and between being hostile and having any sort of prejudice against Jews, and if you need this spelled out for you then you need to educate yourself.
And it’s not surprising to anyone when I googled the list of all the countries for my around the world reading Palestine was not listed and Israel was.
[Around the world pick for Palestine.]
This book is filled with hard hitting reflections about what these writers and poets experience as they visit Palestine for the Palestine Literature Festival. The writers talk about what it’s like being there, the injustices they witness, the long routes it takes them to do anything and how much worse it is for Palestinians, witnessing the difference of treatments between foreigners with foreign names and those with Arab names, learning about the history, hosting writing and creative workshops, talking to students and hearing about their first world problem along side their activism and survival stories. These writers also reflect on the similarities between what is happening in Palestine and the apartheid in South Africa.
Palestine is not yet free and should not be forgotten. Palestinians are still suffering from the repercussions of Al-Nakba. Palestinians are still having their land and their families taken away from them. They are treated like trash in their own home country. I cannot fathom how the world continues living and how none of the countries with power are doing anything let alone the Arab counties that are just watching in silence. They invaded Palestine and are taking their land and displacing people and everyone is just turning a blind eye as if all of this is normal. There are a few notes in this book that talk about how if you bring up this particular point people start calling you an anti-semitic when those two are on the complete end of the spectrum. It’s one thing to call out people who are literally taking a whole country that was living in peace and displacing them and killing them and between being hostile and having any sort of prejudice against Jews, and if you need this spelled out for you then you need to educate yourself.
And it’s not surprising to anyone when I googled the list of all the countries for my around the world reading Palestine was not listed and Israel was.
[Around the world pick for Palestine.]
August 27, 2017
Writing a review is difficult. I bought this on publication day. It is easily the best book I have read in some years. There isn't much else that I can pick up that will rival this writing for its richness, for its depth. As a collection of essays and poetry, that curious mix of 'reportage and reflection', it's already in a class of its own. But it's the message that matters. If you read nothing else this year, do at least read this book.
December 6, 2017
This is a really wonderful collection of writers and it was moving to read them all collected in this volume. I was fortunate enough to attend 2 years of the Palestine Festival of Literature - including the one narrated here with the Israeli police shut down the festival at the Palestinian National Theatre on its opening night and it had to be moved to the French Cultural Centre down the street. It was especially heartening to see how these writers, upon reflection, have come to see that BDS (boycott, divestment, and sanctions) is the only way forward. I wish some of the authors represented here had more to say - especially people like Coetzee and Achebe - but the other people compiled here make up for it. There is some redundancy in the narration of what these writers see, particularly in places like al Khalil (Hebron). But I suppose for those who haven't been to Palestine it is important to see that their views aren't just an impression.
November 29, 2024
The Palestinian Festival of Literature was established to enable a writers from across the globe travel to Palestine, experience the situation for themselves and do literary events for the locals. The organizers were clear that the international delegates would travel in the same manner as the local audience. Palestinians with a West Bank ID cannot enter Jerusalem, so they need to fly into Jordan and cross the Allenby Bridge to enter Palestine. This journey makes an appearance in many of the pieces in this collection. This book is a collection of essays and poems written by writers who attended the PalFest, some of them more than once.
The group of writers is diverse. There are men and women. Writers and performers. Poets, play writers, authors and journalists. There are whites, there are Arabs holding passports of Western nations, there are even South Africans who provide a contrast with the apartheid in their own country.
The pieces are as diverse as the people writing them. Poems, plays, personal reflections, reportage, history, travelogues, stories narrated by people they met, family histories. Certain themes and experiences keep popping up, leaving you with an acute sense of de ja vous. You wonder if the collection could have been better edited, then realise that it is only by seeing many perspectives that you can start to make out the truth.
The book was published in 2017, and obviously doesn't cover recent developments. But reading the book, you realise that what is happening in Palestine today did not begin on October 7, 2023. It began because the Israeli government practiced its own version of apartheid for many years before October 2023. If you have to budget spending upto 2 hours at a checkpost everyday when you head to work, if you constantly worry about being the target of random violence because of your nationality, if you are constantly treated as a second class citizen in the land of your forefathers, how long before you decide you have had enough?
I read this book in March almost entirely on transcontinental flights and long layovers at international airports- reading it at a time when I was in a place beyond borders made me appreciate the book more.
Do read to better understand what is happening in Palestine today.
The group of writers is diverse. There are men and women. Writers and performers. Poets, play writers, authors and journalists. There are whites, there are Arabs holding passports of Western nations, there are even South Africans who provide a contrast with the apartheid in their own country.
The pieces are as diverse as the people writing them. Poems, plays, personal reflections, reportage, history, travelogues, stories narrated by people they met, family histories. Certain themes and experiences keep popping up, leaving you with an acute sense of de ja vous. You wonder if the collection could have been better edited, then realise that it is only by seeing many perspectives that you can start to make out the truth.
The book was published in 2017, and obviously doesn't cover recent developments. But reading the book, you realise that what is happening in Palestine today did not begin on October 7, 2023. It began because the Israeli government practiced its own version of apartheid for many years before October 2023. If you have to budget spending upto 2 hours at a checkpost everyday when you head to work, if you constantly worry about being the target of random violence because of your nationality, if you are constantly treated as a second class citizen in the land of your forefathers, how long before you decide you have had enough?
I read this book in March almost entirely on transcontinental flights and long layovers at international airports- reading it at a time when I was in a place beyond borders made me appreciate the book more.
Do read to better understand what is happening in Palestine today.
March 25, 2020
Most of the authors of this book are international writers- part of the Palestine Festival of Literature (Palfest) event that was created back in 2008 as an act of cultural solidarity with Palestine. while some others are Palestinian Poet/writers.
While most of the time what we read from the media mostly are about political situation, this book brought the deeper and more intimate stories from the ground: the daily life of Palestinians. Story about feminist grandma who'd never heard of the concept, a boy who needs to walk 2 hours (previously he only needs 15 mins) from his home to his work place just because in between there is a forbidden street/area for Palestinian. Or about how you can tell Palestinian by water tanks on their roof, because Israeli settlers dont need the tank, as the water always flow in their home. Or how the fisherman in Gaza could only get small catches, since they have no territory left and more modern tools to catch the fish. Or a satire joke telling that Palestinians are just victims of geography, in which the homeland happened to be at the most holy place on earth. Or the light story how Palestian loves to name their kids after city. Or how normal it is to have the lights go off every ten minutes at Al Aqsa University, and how poetry is read by the lights of mobile phone.
Well I could write more since each story has its own way of touching heart, but it will take me forever. Anyway, five stars for the book 💎💎💎💎💎
While most of the time what we read from the media mostly are about political situation, this book brought the deeper and more intimate stories from the ground: the daily life of Palestinians. Story about feminist grandma who'd never heard of the concept, a boy who needs to walk 2 hours (previously he only needs 15 mins) from his home to his work place just because in between there is a forbidden street/area for Palestinian. Or about how you can tell Palestinian by water tanks on their roof, because Israeli settlers dont need the tank, as the water always flow in their home. Or how the fisherman in Gaza could only get small catches, since they have no territory left and more modern tools to catch the fish. Or a satire joke telling that Palestinians are just victims of geography, in which the homeland happened to be at the most holy place on earth. Or the light story how Palestian loves to name their kids after city. Or how normal it is to have the lights go off every ten minutes at Al Aqsa University, and how poetry is read by the lights of mobile phone.
Well I could write more since each story has its own way of touching heart, but it will take me forever. Anyway, five stars for the book 💎💎💎💎💎
May 9, 2024
“We kept returning to basic questions. Should one write what one knows? What if nobody wants to read what I know? What if I hate what I know?
There was anger over occupation, but more anger over why we must always be telling this story.”
writing a review of this is next to impossible, i’m not exaggerating when i say this is the most incredible piece of work i’ve ever encountered. despite being as diverse as their authors, every single essay, every single poem, every single entry in this beautifully, hauntingly, and infuriatingly tells the same story. makes the same point.
the story: of apartheid. the point: free palestine.
There was anger over occupation, but more anger over why we must always be telling this story.”
writing a review of this is next to impossible, i’m not exaggerating when i say this is the most incredible piece of work i’ve ever encountered. despite being as diverse as their authors, every single essay, every single poem, every single entry in this beautifully, hauntingly, and infuriatingly tells the same story. makes the same point.
the story: of apartheid. the point: free palestine.
January 21, 2019
A difficult book to rate. While the situation in Palestine is heart-rending, having the same few incidents described by so many authors ends up feeling very repetitive. Though there were definitely some stand out pieces, most don't really rise above the level of a journalistic report of their visit to Palestine. It's 5 star for how it tells me that things are worse than I thought (and I though they were bad) but as a book, it eventually didn't satisfy me.
February 18, 2019
I really really appreciate getting more insight to the day-to-day lives of Palestinians, and understanding that the situation is soooo much worse than I had imagined (which is saying a lot) and it's startling how silent we (globally) are to this slow moving genocide.
This book could've been half the size. It's a very important collection but it becomes repetitive after a while since they're all telling the same story from different perspectives.
3.5 rounded up.
This book could've been half the size. It's a very important collection but it becomes repetitive after a while since they're all telling the same story from different perspectives.
3.5 rounded up.
November 19, 2023
In light of the current war in Gaza this is a must read. Very difficult to understand and to finish.
May 23, 2024
Although some readers might be disappointed that some of the bigger names on its cover only contributed a few paragraphs to this collection, it is an excellent contribution to the discussion about Palestine. The diversity of literary voices contained within this volume, all of whom were participants in the Palestine Festival of Literature, collectively paint an incredibly moving portrait of the nature of Israel’s subjugation of the Palestinians, which was already quite clear long before the latest and most devastating onslaught.
Read
January 7, 2025disclaimer: I don’t really give starred reviews. I hope my reviews provide enough information to let you know if a book is for you or not. Find me here: https://linktr.ee/bookishmillennial
This is from 2017, and it is 2024 as I write this review, and the sentiments that these writers shared here are still relevant. It's upsetting and heartbreaking that Palestinians are still enduring a genocide, and it feels as if the world is screaming for it to stop, yet our governments refuse to take action. My heart hurts, and I am trying to do what I can in my tiny corner of the earth, but I highly recommend yall read this, as it is another piece of required reading (I feel imho).
Quotations that stood out to me:
In Palestine almost every situation you can be in is layered. Nothing, not a single thing, is free of the occupation, its instruments, its outcomes. (3%)
If you have a West Bank ID you cannot enter Jerusalem or go beyond the 1948 line without a special permit. This means that, in effect, you are not allowed to use Ben Gurion Airport and must travel in and out of the country via Jordan, over the King Hussein (or Allenby) Bridge. The bridge, therefore, became PalFest’s entry point for the festival. Israel has never agreed to an official delineation of its borders. However, it controls all access routes into historic Palestine. So even though the bridge connects Jordan to the occupied Palestinian territories, it is under Israeli – rather than Palestinian Authority – control and is the first point at which the visitor is subject to Israeli procedures. And so it makes an appearance in many of the pieces in this book. (4%)
There are now those who are dancing on the graves of our dead, and who consider our Nakba their festival. But the Nakba is not a memory; it is an ongoing uprooting, filling Palestinians with dread for their very existence. The Nakba continues because the occupation continues. And the continued occupation means a continued war. This war that Israel wages against us is not a war to defend its existence, but a war to obliterate ours. (5%)
You cannot be in Palestine without saying your grandfather’s name to Israeli officials at the border or the airport. You cannot eat in Palestine without buying or dodging Israeli products. You cannot buy anything at all without using Israeli currency. In Palestine, Israel is everywhere. (6%)
These foreigners, with absolutely no identifiable ancestry in the land, believe it is their right to remove us and take our place. To erase us and make our heritage their own. To destroy our monuments, cemeteries and history. To live in my grandmother’s ancient home and pretend that the stories of those like Mohammad Khalil are their own. Because God chose them. Because God loves them more. (21%)
Gaza is the ‘enemy without’; unseen. It’s the biggest concentration camp in the world, where no one has any freedom of movement in or out of the country and unemployment approaches 50 per cent (25%)
In the world’s assessment of the situation in Palestine, in coming to understand why the Palestinian situation is urgent, the viciousness of law must be taken as seriously as the cruelties of war. As in other instances in which world opinion forced a large-scale systemic oppression to come to an end, we must begin by calling things by their proper names. Israel uses an extremely complex legal and bureaucratic apparatus to dispossess Palestinians of their land, hoping perhaps to forestall accusations of a brutal land grab. No one is fooled by this. Nor is anyone fooled by the accusation, common to many of Israel’s defenders, that any criticism of Israeli policies amounts to anti-Semitism. The historical suffering of Jewish people is real, but it is no less real than, and does not in any way justify, the present oppression of Palestinians by Israeli Jews. (43%)
ALL ART IS POLITICAL All art is political because those who create art are governed by it, as is every space that that art may occupy once it is created. So in a country where your birth, existence and even your death is a political act, I understood that PalFest and – more importantly – our audience in Palestine would not benefit from nor appreciate further politicisation of their private spaces by my design work. They are all too aware of the visceral realities of the colonisation and cancerous occupation of Palestine and its unrelenting suffocation of every aspect of their every day. Graphic design, or visual communication, is not only the process of effectively articulating a message to an intended audience, but understanding the impact of how it is delivered and its legacy. The Palestinians in Palestine need not be lionised, nor do they need to be pitied or preached at. They are people, just like us; it is their dignity and creativity in the face of the brutal threat of oblivion that makes them exceptional and inspirational. They too need respite to reconnect their hearts and minds to beauty, happiness and laughter. (53%)
Settler is an odd term for these vectors of the unsettling, government-sponsored agents of government-desired permanent crisis, for whom stability and everyday life are anathemata to be fought unstintingly, with bullets and beatdowns and strategies of berserker spite. (87%)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Genocide, Racism, Violence, Police brutality, Religious bigotry, and Colonisation
This is from 2017, and it is 2024 as I write this review, and the sentiments that these writers shared here are still relevant. It's upsetting and heartbreaking that Palestinians are still enduring a genocide, and it feels as if the world is screaming for it to stop, yet our governments refuse to take action. My heart hurts, and I am trying to do what I can in my tiny corner of the earth, but I highly recommend yall read this, as it is another piece of required reading (I feel imho).
Quotations that stood out to me:
In Palestine almost every situation you can be in is layered. Nothing, not a single thing, is free of the occupation, its instruments, its outcomes. (3%)
If you have a West Bank ID you cannot enter Jerusalem or go beyond the 1948 line without a special permit. This means that, in effect, you are not allowed to use Ben Gurion Airport and must travel in and out of the country via Jordan, over the King Hussein (or Allenby) Bridge. The bridge, therefore, became PalFest’s entry point for the festival. Israel has never agreed to an official delineation of its borders. However, it controls all access routes into historic Palestine. So even though the bridge connects Jordan to the occupied Palestinian territories, it is under Israeli – rather than Palestinian Authority – control and is the first point at which the visitor is subject to Israeli procedures. And so it makes an appearance in many of the pieces in this book. (4%)
There are now those who are dancing on the graves of our dead, and who consider our Nakba their festival. But the Nakba is not a memory; it is an ongoing uprooting, filling Palestinians with dread for their very existence. The Nakba continues because the occupation continues. And the continued occupation means a continued war. This war that Israel wages against us is not a war to defend its existence, but a war to obliterate ours. (5%)
You cannot be in Palestine without saying your grandfather’s name to Israeli officials at the border or the airport. You cannot eat in Palestine without buying or dodging Israeli products. You cannot buy anything at all without using Israeli currency. In Palestine, Israel is everywhere. (6%)
These foreigners, with absolutely no identifiable ancestry in the land, believe it is their right to remove us and take our place. To erase us and make our heritage their own. To destroy our monuments, cemeteries and history. To live in my grandmother’s ancient home and pretend that the stories of those like Mohammad Khalil are their own. Because God chose them. Because God loves them more. (21%)
Gaza is the ‘enemy without’; unseen. It’s the biggest concentration camp in the world, where no one has any freedom of movement in or out of the country and unemployment approaches 50 per cent (25%)
In the world’s assessment of the situation in Palestine, in coming to understand why the Palestinian situation is urgent, the viciousness of law must be taken as seriously as the cruelties of war. As in other instances in which world opinion forced a large-scale systemic oppression to come to an end, we must begin by calling things by their proper names. Israel uses an extremely complex legal and bureaucratic apparatus to dispossess Palestinians of their land, hoping perhaps to forestall accusations of a brutal land grab. No one is fooled by this. Nor is anyone fooled by the accusation, common to many of Israel’s defenders, that any criticism of Israeli policies amounts to anti-Semitism. The historical suffering of Jewish people is real, but it is no less real than, and does not in any way justify, the present oppression of Palestinians by Israeli Jews. (43%)
ALL ART IS POLITICAL All art is political because those who create art are governed by it, as is every space that that art may occupy once it is created. So in a country where your birth, existence and even your death is a political act, I understood that PalFest and – more importantly – our audience in Palestine would not benefit from nor appreciate further politicisation of their private spaces by my design work. They are all too aware of the visceral realities of the colonisation and cancerous occupation of Palestine and its unrelenting suffocation of every aspect of their every day. Graphic design, or visual communication, is not only the process of effectively articulating a message to an intended audience, but understanding the impact of how it is delivered and its legacy. The Palestinians in Palestine need not be lionised, nor do they need to be pitied or preached at. They are people, just like us; it is their dignity and creativity in the face of the brutal threat of oblivion that makes them exceptional and inspirational. They too need respite to reconnect their hearts and minds to beauty, happiness and laughter. (53%)
Settler is an odd term for these vectors of the unsettling, government-sponsored agents of government-desired permanent crisis, for whom stability and everyday life are anathemata to be fought unstintingly, with bullets and beatdowns and strategies of berserker spite. (87%)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Genocide, Racism, Violence, Police brutality, Religious bigotry, and Colonisation
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 16, 2017
A book I won on Goodreads. I sometimes reluctant to enter a giveaway of a book with various authors, because with my experience half are good while the rest is not weather it is for a good cause or not, which this book does by educating people what really goes on in Palestine. These writings are mostly exceptional.
June 21, 2018
10/5 stars.
December 12, 2018
Superb and devastating, all at the same time.
August 25, 2021
Ode to Palestine, from every conceivable angle. The dark transformation of place: an ethnic cleansing, the theft of Palestinian territory, piece by piece, until very close to nothing is left. Palestine, the name, soon erased, only a memory slowly fading. The myriad of stories is unsettling - diaries, poems, essays, journalism... The narratives cover personal ones to cold, political, and matter-of-fact ones - the emphasis on these "cold" narratives is the reason I read my way through this collection on-and-off during a period of four months.
SNAPSHOTS
Susan Abulhawa:
somehow, I never really left. Because Palestine is the landscape of my DNA. My lineage sings in her rivers. Her soil holds the bones and prayers of the family that came before me. She is the keeper of secrets and anguish whispered from the beds of my foremothers. Palestine is the body of all our stories, the place where we begin and return. Her olive trees, her ancient stone homes, her pomegranates and oranges, wild thyme, green valleys and sun-bleached hills are the stuff of our ballads and our books. (62)
Remi Kanazi:
suffering 2.0
keyboard clicks
like bombs so effortlessly
dropping
all damage collateral
never personal
voyeurs hop on and off
like carnival rides
death becomes
exciting
until it isn't
until boredom sets in
and desensitisation begins
until the next ride emerges
somewhere else
more captivating (182-183)
Ru Freeman:
Unlike the elegance of old Palestinian architecture, camps are rudimentary. There beauty was visible, though the occupation wove through with the virulence of weeds, choking life out of orchards, homes, people. Here survival dictates everything. What were originally tents became sheds became rubble became brick became homes. (192)
Sabrina Mahfouz:
find a morning that spreads butter on your toes,
let the sauce of a storm levitate whatever hair you have left,
ride the wind's broken tracks to a triangle of glass you've
never slid on before ... (287)
Omar Robert Hamilton:
Words are important in Palestine. Nowhere is it more important to call a wall a wall. To call apartheid, apartheid. (316)
SNAPSHOTS
Susan Abulhawa:
somehow, I never really left. Because Palestine is the landscape of my DNA. My lineage sings in her rivers. Her soil holds the bones and prayers of the family that came before me. She is the keeper of secrets and anguish whispered from the beds of my foremothers. Palestine is the body of all our stories, the place where we begin and return. Her olive trees, her ancient stone homes, her pomegranates and oranges, wild thyme, green valleys and sun-bleached hills are the stuff of our ballads and our books. (62)
Remi Kanazi:
suffering 2.0
keyboard clicks
like bombs so effortlessly
dropping
all damage collateral
never personal
voyeurs hop on and off
like carnival rides
death becomes
exciting
until it isn't
until boredom sets in
and desensitisation begins
until the next ride emerges
somewhere else
more captivating (182-183)
Ru Freeman:
Unlike the elegance of old Palestinian architecture, camps are rudimentary. There beauty was visible, though the occupation wove through with the virulence of weeds, choking life out of orchards, homes, people. Here survival dictates everything. What were originally tents became sheds became rubble became brick became homes. (192)
Sabrina Mahfouz:
find a morning that spreads butter on your toes,
let the sauce of a storm levitate whatever hair you have left,
ride the wind's broken tracks to a triangle of glass you've
never slid on before ... (287)
Omar Robert Hamilton:
Words are important in Palestine. Nowhere is it more important to call a wall a wall. To call apartheid, apartheid. (316)
October 22, 2023
I recently read a book with an author review of "urgent and necessary" on its cover. I thought it was a rather hyperbolic review for the story it offered.
But this book, this is urgent. This is necessary.
Following the personal recollections of authors from various backgrounds during PalFest when they were taken through a Palestinian experience, this book was heartbreaking to read, a difficult sea of words that I couldn't put down. What struck me the most was how the different authors reflected a lot of the same observations; the terrible crossing of Allenby Bridge, the treatment of illegal settlers towards Palestinians in Hebron, the checkpoints that were meant to strip any human of their dignity, their surprise that illegal settler civilians, some as young as teenagers are carrying around guns freely, how settlement had stripped the region not only of its human harmony but also of its natural beauty --- the uprooted, native olive trees and fields replaced with concrete buildings and northern pine, the overconsumption of Jordan River supply just to satisfy the luxury needs of the settlers. Some saw the region's exact reflection in the past South Africa Apartheid.
Then, of course, there was Gaza.
Of course, there was the tragedy of war.
And some authors were bewildered that despite some of the inhuman treatment that Palestinians have to go through daily, many of them were not inclined to violence. Rather, many of them kept their warmth, hope and humanity in a hopeless, hostile environment.
Unfair. Unfair.
The only thing constantly running through my mind as I flipped the pages but the world is unfair.
Some aspects have gotten redundant towards the end because they have been discussed so much but you know what? I'll take that redundancy. This is a painful redundancy that the Palestinians had to live through every day and the least I could do was to absorb and read of it every single time it comes up because it doesn't stop for them.
A necessary book that shows a glimpse of Palestinian plights and I implore you all to add this to your list.
But this book, this is urgent. This is necessary.
Following the personal recollections of authors from various backgrounds during PalFest when they were taken through a Palestinian experience, this book was heartbreaking to read, a difficult sea of words that I couldn't put down. What struck me the most was how the different authors reflected a lot of the same observations; the terrible crossing of Allenby Bridge, the treatment of illegal settlers towards Palestinians in Hebron, the checkpoints that were meant to strip any human of their dignity, their surprise that illegal settler civilians, some as young as teenagers are carrying around guns freely, how settlement had stripped the region not only of its human harmony but also of its natural beauty --- the uprooted, native olive trees and fields replaced with concrete buildings and northern pine, the overconsumption of Jordan River supply just to satisfy the luxury needs of the settlers. Some saw the region's exact reflection in the past South Africa Apartheid.
Then, of course, there was Gaza.
Of course, there was the tragedy of war.
And some authors were bewildered that despite some of the inhuman treatment that Palestinians have to go through daily, many of them were not inclined to violence. Rather, many of them kept their warmth, hope and humanity in a hopeless, hostile environment.
Unfair. Unfair.
The only thing constantly running through my mind as I flipped the pages but the world is unfair.
Some aspects have gotten redundant towards the end because they have been discussed so much but you know what? I'll take that redundancy. This is a painful redundancy that the Palestinians had to live through every day and the least I could do was to absorb and read of it every single time it comes up because it doesn't stop for them.
A necessary book that shows a glimpse of Palestinian plights and I implore you all to add this to your list.
February 15, 2024
The first Palestinian Festival of Literature was conducted in 2008, and this volume of writing was produced to celebrate its tenth anniversary.
Attracting noted Western authors, the presenters were bussed from region to region, intentionally exposing them to what the Israeli government does not want outside visitors to see, with the hope and expectation that these authors would return home and use their words - their tools of trade- to expose what is happening.
So who are some of these authors? Among others: J. M. Coetzee, Geoff Dyers, Alice Walker, Deborah Moggach, Henning Mankell, Michael Ondaatje, Michael Palin, Chinua Achebe, and China Mieville, and many other Middle Eastern writers I am not so familiar with.
Most of the contributions are only about 4 pages in length, or else single-page poems, and I must confess to feeling a bit as if I were reading a lot of "What I Did on my Trip" responses. However ror me, the power of a book can be measured by how much I tell other people about it, and I have been bailing up anyone who will listen with "Hey, there's this book I'm reading and did you know....?"
For my complete review, please visit:
https://residentjudge.com/2024/02/15/...
Attracting noted Western authors, the presenters were bussed from region to region, intentionally exposing them to what the Israeli government does not want outside visitors to see, with the hope and expectation that these authors would return home and use their words - their tools of trade- to expose what is happening.
So who are some of these authors? Among others: J. M. Coetzee, Geoff Dyers, Alice Walker, Deborah Moggach, Henning Mankell, Michael Ondaatje, Michael Palin, Chinua Achebe, and China Mieville, and many other Middle Eastern writers I am not so familiar with.
Most of the contributions are only about 4 pages in length, or else single-page poems, and I must confess to feeling a bit as if I were reading a lot of "What I Did on my Trip" responses. However ror me, the power of a book can be measured by how much I tell other people about it, and I have been bailing up anyone who will listen with "Hey, there's this book I'm reading and did you know....?"
For my complete review, please visit:
https://residentjudge.com/2024/02/15/...
November 17, 2024
This book has been on my shelf for several years, through moves and big life changes, and I'm so glad I finally opened it, especially in this horrifying political moment in Palestine/Israel, the US and globally. It covers a lot of ground historically, spatially, and topically through dozens of brilliant, heartbreaking, visionary essays and poetry. The collection also illuminates the power of witnessing through a critical lens (the festival brings many writers into the realities of Palestinian life) and the potential of cultural interventions in changing the story, and (hopefully), the material reality.
My favorite pieces were "Where Does Palestine Begin?" by Yasmin El Rifae, "Three Encounters in the West Bank" by Mercedes Kemp, "India and Israel: An Ideological Convergence" by Pankaj Mishra, "Cold Violence" by Teju Cole, "The Writer's Job" by William Sutcliffe, "Until It Isn't" by Remi Kanazi, "Cruxification" by Nathalie Handal, "The Strangehold" by Victoria Brittain, "Gaza" by Sabrina Mahfouz" and "What We Talk about When we Talk about Palestine" by Jamal Mahjoub.
My favorite pieces were "Where Does Palestine Begin?" by Yasmin El Rifae, "Three Encounters in the West Bank" by Mercedes Kemp, "India and Israel: An Ideological Convergence" by Pankaj Mishra, "Cold Violence" by Teju Cole, "The Writer's Job" by William Sutcliffe, "Until It Isn't" by Remi Kanazi, "Cruxification" by Nathalie Handal, "The Strangehold" by Victoria Brittain, "Gaza" by Sabrina Mahfouz" and "What We Talk about When we Talk about Palestine" by Jamal Mahjoub.
January 5, 2021
I attended the Palestine Festival of Literature in 2017 with my youngest sibling, my friends, professors from my undergraduate university. It was a beautiful night in the courtyard of Khalil Sakakini Cultural Center in Ramallah listening to beautiful writing - of non-fiction, of poetry, of song. I left inspired, and when, a few months later, I had to return to the United States to wrap up my final year of graduate school, I found this book awaiting in the mail for me.
I was instantly immersed in the essays and stories told throughout this book. It is a reminder that Palestine lives within all those who visit her, call her home, dream of her. It is testament to the strength of the Palestinian people. I hold this book dear to my heart and thankful to Ahdaf Soueif and Omar Robert Hamilton for putting it together.
I was instantly immersed in the essays and stories told throughout this book. It is a reminder that Palestine lives within all those who visit her, call her home, dream of her. It is testament to the strength of the Palestinian people. I hold this book dear to my heart and thankful to Ahdaf Soueif and Omar Robert Hamilton for putting it together.
June 20, 2025
4.5 stars
Upon the 10th anniversary of the Palestinian Festival of Literature this book is a collection of works from writers who participated in the festival at different points of time. They range from Palestinian authors to well known Western writers offering perspectives on what Palestinians under occupation is like. A great range of emotions and perspectives offered which were all insightful and eye opening. Perhaps the flaw of the book is that some of the recollection of humiliating experiences subjected to them by Israeli authorities and/or extremist settlers could get redundant at times.
Worth the read.
Upon the 10th anniversary of the Palestinian Festival of Literature this book is a collection of works from writers who participated in the festival at different points of time. They range from Palestinian authors to well known Western writers offering perspectives on what Palestinians under occupation is like. A great range of emotions and perspectives offered which were all insightful and eye opening. Perhaps the flaw of the book is that some of the recollection of humiliating experiences subjected to them by Israeli authorities and/or extremist settlers could get redundant at times.
Worth the read.
July 18, 2025
a dense collection of essays, fiction, and poems about palestine inspired by a festival of literature that took place there for over ten years in the aughts and teens.
loved the various perspectives on the same or similar experience-- really emphasizing the way that we all experience the same moment in different ways, except when it comes to dehumanizing experiences (which are explicitly engineered to disconnect you from your body and your feelings, where it's a fight to remain engaged with your senses in all their turmoil).
i wish there had been more poetry, but if essays are your thing, this is a great volume of those.
loved the various perspectives on the same or similar experience-- really emphasizing the way that we all experience the same moment in different ways, except when it comes to dehumanizing experiences (which are explicitly engineered to disconnect you from your body and your feelings, where it's a fight to remain engaged with your senses in all their turmoil).
i wish there had been more poetry, but if essays are your thing, this is a great volume of those.
June 21, 2020
One of the most touching pieces of literature, especially considering our current political, social and cultural situation.
A lot about Palestine and Israel in post-war life is reflected on from the Palestinian diaspora, and it touches my soul that borders are still apparent everywhere; separating those we love from one another. ‘The end of art is peace’, because art comes from suffering and war.
A lot about Palestine and Israel in post-war life is reflected on from the Palestinian diaspora, and it touches my soul that borders are still apparent everywhere; separating those we love from one another. ‘The end of art is peace’, because art comes from suffering and war.
April 27, 2025
“There can be no knowledge without emotion. we may be aware of the truth, yet until we have felt its force, it is not ours.”
For all of the writers in the book visiting Palestine has been live-changing. As one writer wrote “unbelievable “ is such a cliche word but it does describe the situation perfectly. Nothing can prepare you for the reality on the ground and you will not forget because it will reach something deeper, an emotional understanding of injustice. Not just an intellectual.
For all of the writers in the book visiting Palestine has been live-changing. As one writer wrote “unbelievable “ is such a cliche word but it does describe the situation perfectly. Nothing can prepare you for the reality on the ground and you will not forget because it will reach something deeper, an emotional understanding of injustice. Not just an intellectual.
April 20, 2025
While this book was incredibly difficult for me to read, I thoroughly enjoyed it. The combination of poetry and prose was refreshing, and helped to break up the tension. The next time I read, I think I’ll refer back to the author biographies more frequently, rather than just saving them until the end.
November 15, 2023
5.0
Amazing!!!
Amazing!!!
April 17, 2024
Took a while to get through, and lots of heavy and upsetting content. One or two of the essays I really disliked but otherwise fascinating context to read up on.
May 24, 2024
Heart Breaking stories
December 10, 2023
Here, on this slice of historic Palestine, two generation of Palestinians have been born and raised under occupation. They have never known another—normal—life. Their memories are filled with images of hell. They see their tomorrow slipping out of their reach. And though it seems to them that everything outside this reality is heaven, yet they do not want to go that heaven. They stay because they are afflicted with hope.
— Mahmoud Darwish.
•••
I am ashamed, honestly, this is my very first time reading a book about Palestine. Sebelum baca buku ini juga baru bisa menyempatkan diri untuk nonton film dokumenter seperti 5 Broken Cameras, Born in Gaza, dan Jenin Jenin—yang setiap kisahnya membuat aku kaget, kehilangan kata-kata, dan berujung nangis.
Betapa sibuknya manusia akan 'hiruk-pikuk' dunia sampai dia melupakan dan cenderung tidak peduli dengan apa yang sebenarnya—selama ini—terjadi di Palestina.
Dari semua berita dan film dokumenter yang aku cerna, buku ini seolah membantu aku untuk melihat lebih dekat lagi—dari sudut pandang para turis, termasuk penulis berdarah Palestina. Nah, beberapa penulis dalam buku ini bilang—kira-kira begini: kita mau nulis apa kalo nggak terjun langsung?
Karena ini bukan buku fiksi, warna-warni highlight pun mulai bermunculan sejak membaca tulisan Selamat Datang oleh Mahmoud Darwish. Sepanjang membaca buku tuh: Oh, begini perasaan mereka. Oh—perbuatan bejat ini bukan pertama kali. Oh, aku baru tahu.
Penulis dalam antologi ini bukan cuma penulis fiksi, tapi juga ada penyair, dan jurnalis. Mereka nggak segan-segan menuliskan secara gamblang tentang Palestina, begitu juga tentang Israel (omong-omong ada penulis zionis yahudi di sini)
Puisi kesukaanku dua di antaranya karya Suheir Hammad, tapi aku bakal masukin salah satu potongan puisi lain
Dua dari puluhan fakta dalam buku ini:
Apa sih yang orang-orang Palestina pengen kita lakukan? Boikot. Mereka nyebut itu berkali-kali.
Bener gak sih orang Palestina gak pernah mengutuk zionis? Ya, di sini diceritakan secara singkat.
— Mahmoud Darwish.
•••
I am ashamed, honestly, this is my very first time reading a book about Palestine. Sebelum baca buku ini juga baru bisa menyempatkan diri untuk nonton film dokumenter seperti 5 Broken Cameras, Born in Gaza, dan Jenin Jenin—yang setiap kisahnya membuat aku kaget, kehilangan kata-kata, dan berujung nangis.
Betapa sibuknya manusia akan 'hiruk-pikuk' dunia sampai dia melupakan dan cenderung tidak peduli dengan apa yang sebenarnya—selama ini—terjadi di Palestina.
Dari semua berita dan film dokumenter yang aku cerna, buku ini seolah membantu aku untuk melihat lebih dekat lagi—dari sudut pandang para turis, termasuk penulis berdarah Palestina. Nah, beberapa penulis dalam buku ini bilang—kira-kira begini: kita mau nulis apa kalo nggak terjun langsung?
Karena ini bukan buku fiksi, warna-warni highlight pun mulai bermunculan sejak membaca tulisan Selamat Datang oleh Mahmoud Darwish. Sepanjang membaca buku tuh: Oh, begini perasaan mereka. Oh—perbuatan bejat ini bukan pertama kali. Oh, aku baru tahu.
Penulis dalam antologi ini bukan cuma penulis fiksi, tapi juga ada penyair, dan jurnalis. Mereka nggak segan-segan menuliskan secara gamblang tentang Palestina, begitu juga tentang Israel (omong-omong ada penulis zionis yahudi di sini)
I don't succeed in escaping; always worrying for my family and thinking of the death that seeks them. We were born during war and we die during war. What we live are moments stolen from the devouring mouth of death.
— Atef Abu Saif.
Puisi kesukaanku dua di antaranya karya Suheir Hammad, tapi aku bakal masukin salah satu potongan puisi lain
International law is clearly for internationals only.
By now, a seven-year-old in Gaza have survived three wars already, and you're still talking about talks, and sending John Kerry to the Middle East and thanking Egypt for facilitating nothing.
There's more blood than water today in Gaza.
—Jehan Bseiso.
Dua dari puluhan fakta dalam buku ini:
Apa sih yang orang-orang Palestina pengen kita lakukan? Boikot. Mereka nyebut itu berkali-kali.
Bener gak sih orang Palestina gak pernah mengutuk zionis? Ya, di sini diceritakan secara singkat.
White phosphorus.
The lights with a flare and six burning stars fall to the ground and one lands on you, you're running but it's on you and your skin and you smell it burning smell your flesh singeing and water won't help water won't put it out it just burns and burns deeper through you.
No.
We need a new language. The old one has been corrupted.
They have engineered the Red Cow.
Burning gas falls from the sky.
They are building.
We need a new language.
Negotiated settlement, natural expansion, security barrier, internal refugees, defense forces, seam zone, blockade, conflict, humanity, democracy, dialogue, peace.
—Omar Robert Hamilton.
... the notion that Palestinians are not human beings at all, not even animals, but germs, or a virus that must be isolated and destroyed.
—Jamal Mahjoub.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 13, 2020
As i just finished this book, i cant help but wonder how much longer people will take to notice thats what happened in Palestine is a modern day apartheid. If western medias and countries can denounce South Africa during their apartheid days, why not keeping the same energy on Palestine? I found this on Big Bad Wolf Book Sales last year and contemplating to get it or not. Then i saw few of my favorite authors that i recognized on the cover like Raja Shehadeh, Pankaj Mishra and Mohammed Hanif. A prominent activist like Alice Walker also contributed a piece of her mind in this. Overall, this book comprised of a cluster of thoughts, proses, poems and stories written by the authors who joined Palestinian Literary Festivals, shared a common hatred towards zionism and wants a peaceful lives for Palestinian.
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