Zine: Recommended Reading on Gaza and the Struggle for Justice in Palestine

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a photo of three zines, with the text "the call for a free palestine is a call for freedom everywhere"
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New zine: Collecting some of the writing that has been useful or meaningful to me over the past months. I’ve already shared some of my own thoughts; this zine is about signal-boosting voices that I think we should all be listening to in this moment, as well as being a concrete thing people can share as a doorway into taking action.

  • NOTE: I shared this zine in January 2024, and have since updated/revised it. The text/links later in this post share the quotes and articles from *both* versions.

The cover is a design by Natalie Hinahara, which is part of this fantastic folder of “Palestine Art for Protests.”

PRINT YOUR OWN: Here is a link to the PDF, in case anyone out there wants to share (just make sure to print on 11×17 paper; here is my favorite “foldy zine” tutorial for how to cut and fold them).

Below, you can view the page-by-page version (click on it to move to the next page), and below that, you can find the full text, including links to sources.

Palestine Zine Web Version

SELECTED QUOTES AND LINKS TO RECOMMENDED READINGS

I now pause for a brief moment of silence for the murdered Palestinians in Gaza and elsewhere. And for all the murdered and maimed everywhere, civilians or not. Imagine extending this equal humanity to everyone, every time. It’s what oppressors fear most.
– Fady Joudah, “A Palestinian Meditation in a Time of Annihilation” (Lit Hub, 11/1/23)

I can’t believe I have to say this, but Palestinian people are not disposable. We are human beings just like anyone else… The cries of the Palestinian and Israeli children sound no different to me. What I don’t understand is why the cries of Palestinians sound different to you all.
– Rep. Rashida Tlaib (MI-12), from a speech on the House floor, 11/7/23

Gazans — the journalists, the doctors, the nurses, the teachers, the academics, the children — have been the main victims of this war… It’s been a war on hospitals, on schools, on mosques and, yes, a war on children.
– Marwan Bishara on Democracy Now, 12/18/23

The level of humanitarian need is beyond the capacity of humanitarian actors to address because we, along with the entire civilian population, are intentionally blocked by Israel from accessing food, water, electricity, and the medical supplies we need to care for our patients… The siege of Gaza has deprived most of the population of access to essential goods and services. Subjecting an entire population to collective punishment is a war crime under international humanitarian law.
– Avril Benoît of Doctors Without Borders, “The US must call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza” (12/4/23)

There is always an attempt at justification. There is always a rationalization. But understanding history, and particularly from the point of view of the marginalized, demands that we not accept those lines of reasoning in the present. There is no need for us to wait for hindsight to render these explanations toothless. We should know enough to understand that violence like this never occurs within a vacuum. There is always context. And a near century of increasingly brutal occupation is the context here.
– Maggie Tokuda-Hall, “Justifying the Unjustifiable: Why Japanese Americans Must Stand with Palestine” (Densho, 11/30/23)

Palestine is neither the beginning nor the end. Palestine is the place from which we fight for this new world, where so much of it comes together. If I’m going to fight this hard, I want to fight this hard for all of us.
– Noura Erakat, “Palestinians illuminate the colonial nature of the world” (Hammer & Hope, Spring 2024)

Eventually, the call to freedom moves us collectively to the core because it rings louder than fear… And it is our task, each one of us, to ask what we will do with that call, with what we have witnessed. Because we owe it to the future. Because we owe it to the dead. Before being killed in November, Dr. Mahmoud Abu Nujaila scrawled on a hospital whiteboard in Gaza: ‘We did what we could. Remember us.’
– Hala Alyan, “Do protests show support for Palestinians has reached a turning point?” (LA Times, 5/8/24)

Recognizing the root causes of the current violence doesn’t require condoning attacks on civilians. Offering context is not offering an excuse. On the contrary: the only way to honor the loss of life – Palestinian and Israeli – is to address its source. The US must end its complicity in Israeli apartheid, systemic oppression, military occupation and collective punishment – not double down on its support.
– Diala Shamas, “How should the US respond to the Israel-Palestine crisis?” (The Guardian, 10/10/23)

What we are not allowed to say, in other words, is that if you want the violence to stop, you must stop the conditions that produced it.
– Saree Makdisi, “No Human Being Can Exist” (n+1 Magazine, 10/25/23)

The concept of power is inextricable from stories we’re told. This has been true throughout history… It is worth paying attention to who can tell which stories: who is entitled to which language? Who is allowed to levy criticism, with which vocabulary?
– Hala Alyan, “What a Palestinian-American Wants You To Know About Dehumanization” (Teen Vogue, 12/20/23)

We believe that “Never Again” means “Never Again for Anybody.” We believe that the path to justice starts with justice, not retribution. As Jews, we know that inevitably, oppressed people everywhere will seek — and gain — their freedom. We all deserve liberation, safety and equality. The only way to get there is by uprooting the sources of the violence. We believe in, and are committed to working for, a world where all life is precious.
– via a press release from “Jews and allies, including members of Jewish Voice for Peace-Twin Cities and If Not Now-Twin Cities” (Unicorn Riot, 10/10/23)

For each of us, Jewish identity is not a weapon to wield in a fight for statist power but a fount of generational wisdom that says justice, justice, you shall pursue. Tzedek, tzedek, tirdof. We object to the exploitation of our pain and the silencing of our allies. We call for a ceasefire in Gaza, a solution for the safe return of the hostages in Gaza and Palestinian prisoners in Israel, and an end to Israel’s ongoing occupation.
– from “A Dangerous Conflation: An open letter from Jewish writers” (n+1 Magazine, 11/2/23)

Wherever you are, whatever sand you can throw on the gears of genocide, do it now. If it’s a handful, throw it. If it’s a fingernail full, scrape it out and throw.
– Rasha Abdulhadi, quoted in “In Grief and Solidarity: a statement of solidarity with Palestine” (Rampant Magazine, 10/23/23)

The reason we’re seeing so much censorship is because so many people are speaking out. We’re getting calls from doctors, lawyers, novelists, professors, teachers, models, you name it… working people across the country are speaking out against Israel’s attempted ethnic cleansing and genocide.
– Radhika Sainath of Palestine Legal, interviewed in “This Is America’s War On Palestinians As Much As Israel’s” (Hammer & Hope, 10/25/23)

That’s my message to you [demonstrators in the US]: Please keep going. We are listening to you. We are following you… Please keep doing what you’re doing now.
– Fadi Abu Shammalah, “Palestinian Father Pleads with Americans to Stop Funding Israeli Assault on Gaza” (Democracy Now, 11/2/23)

Speaking out opens up a million possibilities — one small voice can inspire ten thousand more — we don’t truly know what effect our words or our platform can have… It is very literally a question of life and death. Silence will certainly allow the bombs we already paid for to not only keep dropping, but to do so with the tacit approval of the world, certified by our collective silence.
– Daniel José Older, “The Cost of Silence” (Sketchbooks & Scratchpads, 12/13/23)

In “A State of Siege,” the Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish writes something that is difficult to translate. “We do what jobless people do,” he says. “We raise hope.” The verb nurabi, meaning to raise or to rear, is what a parent does for a child, or what a farmer does for crops. “Hope” is a difficult word for Palestinians. It is not something that others give us but something that we must cultivate and care for on our own. We have to help hope grow.
– Mosab Abu Toha, “A Palestinian Poet’s Perilous Journey Out of Gaza” (The New Yorker, 12/25/23)

We don’t turn our backs on those in need, no matter what. You didn’t leave the boy or his sisters alone. You carried their brother with them. You stayed by their side and told me: ‘They have no one else but us.’ I won’t forget any of this. I’ve become certain that the occupation can never destroy our faith, our strength, our courage, our goodness, or our compassion.

I don’t know if the war will stop while we’re still alive, but what matters is that there are many people resisting with what is more important than weapons. Every day, a father walks under bombardment to feed us. A mother stands against bulldozers and tanks hoping to protect her daughter, knowing that even if she dies, what matters is that her daughter will live. A grandson carries his grandmother and never thinks of leaving her behind for even a moment. A sister pulls her brother out from under the rubble, away from death, and tries to save him.

Mom, this is my country, this is my people. Every generation of Palestinians will pass these lessons onto the next.
– Lujayn, 14, Rafah (from “The Bulldozer Kept Coming: A Girl Stares Down Death in Gaza,” The Nation, 4/24/24)

CALLS TO ACTION + RELATED LINKS

POEM: IF I MUST DIE

By Refaat Alareer (1979 – 2023)

If I must die,
you must live
to tell my story
to sell my things
to buy a piece of cloth
and some strings,
(make it white with a long tail)
so that a child, somewhere in Gaza
while looking heaven in the eye
awaiting his dad who left in a blaze—
and bid no one farewell
not even to his flesh
not even to himself—
sees the kite, my kite you made, flying up
above
and thinks for a moment an angel is there
bringing back love
If I must die
let it bring hope
let it be a tale.

And a last link here to my database of “Poems as Doorways into Dialogue About Palestine”