Reading Recommendations on Palestine



Let's take a slight detour from my usual reviews. 

Recently, I was compiling a list of books I've read about Palestine and Jerusalem to possibly share for the Corvallis Palestine Solidarity resource guide and realized I haven't reviewed most of those books or otherwise shared them. I decided to share a list of these books I've previously read complete with a few of my thoughts on each one. Future books will receive their own reviews like all the other books I read.

In the meantime, if you're looking for more information on Palestine, Israel, and Jerusalem as well as the intersection of Christianity, Islam, and Judaism in the discussion, here are a few books to get you started.


Nonfiction:

The Hundred Years’ War on Palestine: A History of Settler Colonialism and Resistance, 1917-2017 by Rashid Khalidi – A very informative and well-written book. See my full thoughts in my earlier review.




The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine by Ilian Pappe - I just started this one, so I will review it after I finish reading it. Still, it came highly recommended, and I can already tell it's going to be very informative.


Palestinian Walks: Forays into a Vanishing Landscape by Raja Shehadeh – I read this book several years ago and found it engaging as it traces how Shehadeh’s walks in Palestine went from peaceful to dangerous from 1978 to 2006. Shehadeh’s love of the land shines through in some really beautiful moments which make the dangerous ones feel that much more tragic. Yet, given all that he somehow managed to give me a feeling of hope.


This Side of Peace: A Personal Account by Hanan Ashrawi – I read this book back in the 1990s and remember being really immersed in her telling of not only her efforts in the peace negotiations between Palestine and Israel but also her life story. It’s a very interesting book and provides some insight into the peace process from the inside, from Ashrawi’s perspective.



Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid by Jimmy Carter – Again, I read this book a long time ago. I found Carter’s journey through the ideology surrounding Palestine and Israel fascinating. His documentation of things from his perspective is interesting, and while I don’t agree with some of his assertions, he makes some valid points and shares some interesting insight regarding his evolution on the ideology. Palestine is both thought-provoking and heart-wrenching but always with a dash of Carter's optimism thrown in. This is the kind of book that would appeal to people wanting to test the waters before fully committing.


Jerusalem: One City, Three Faiths by Karen Armstrong – So this one might seem a bit outside of the box in thinking about Palestine and the rights of Palestinians, but I think Armstrong’s examination of the history and mythology surrounding Jerusalem offers some insights and perhaps can lead to a better understanding of how to approach the issues that arise in a religious context.



Jerusalem: The Biography by Simon Montefiore – This one I’m reluctant to share, but there’s a perspective here that explains certain mindsets. He gives a warning in the beginning of the book that he had to work at not letting his biases influence his writing and it shows. Jerusalem is dense, intense, and covers a lot with extensive material in the footnotes that really must be read to understand context. It is also graphic in describing wars and crucifixions and other violence as well as corruption. Montefiore also readily admits that some things he shares are based on stories that lack documentation. There are times when the book is incredibly frustrating to read yet I felt like I learned from it.


A History of God: The 4,000-Year Quest of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam by Karen Armstrong helped me better understand the history of religion and its impact on how we see see history. History seen through a religious prism  changes the way we treat people as does religion seen through a historical prism. The book tends to be academic and balanced enough that I was surprised to learn Armstrong is a Christian. While A History of God is very interesting and I have long recommended it to people for a variety of reasons, only recently did I see how it could be helpful in the conversation about Palestine.



Erasing Palestine: Free Speech and Palestinian Freedom by Rebecca Ruth Gould – An interesting book. See my thoughts in my earlier review.





A Land With A People: Palestinians and Jews Confront Zionism edited by Esther Farmer, Rosalind Petchesky, and Sarah Sills - I just finished this one. It is scheduled for a review soon, but in the meantime, I want to say it is well worth the read. 





Poetry:

My Voice Sought the Wind by Susan Abulhawa - Beautiful and intense book of poetry! See my full thoughts in my earlier review.









Cookbooks:

A Taste of Palestine: Menus and Memories by Aziz Shihab - I can't find my copy of this cookbook to take a photo, but I wanted to mention it anyway. I'm not sure what happened to it. I really enjoyed the stories that accompanied the recipes. Also I'm not including a link because it appears to be out-of-print.




I am currently reading other books, but I'm opting not to include them in this post as per usual because I want to keep this list on topic. Reviews of those books will all be forthcoming.


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