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asalmareads's review against another edition
5.0
This is such a powerful book. It will make you cry and it will make you angry, but I implore you to read it anyway. It took me a few months to finish because it is a painful read, but I know I am more informed as well as heartbroken.
meredith_summers's review against another edition
dark
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
3.0
seasidefaye13's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
cygnusmoons's review
5.0
It took me so long to finish this book, not because it was uninteresting or typical of me to spend over a month finishing a book, but because I would read a few paragraphs or a section (never a full chapter in one go) and really think about what was being said. I recommend reading it this way too, because I find it unfair to rush through it with how informational and important it is to read about the history of Palestine. I am a white American who spent years believing that Israel & Palestine was a “conflict” and “complicated,” but when the events of October 7th unfolded I took the time to learn and listen about what was really happening, and I am deeply ashamed I listened to zionist propaganda without dissecting what they were saying, especially since I consider myself very left wing.
There is nothing “complicated” about Israel’s genocide of Palestinians. They are claiming a right to land they don’t have, and have the backing of the biggest colonial empires on Earth. Everyone who thinks Israel is in the right is in the wrong; Israel is an extension of the American empire exterminating the real people of the land. This has happened time and time again, with so called America, Canada and Australia, as well as the countless British occupations of (let’s be real) the whole world. You cannot claim Israel is within the right to “defend their land” while the biggest colonial nations back them. If colonial empires are backing the so-called “indigenous people” with billions of dollars, then the “indigenous people” are not indigenous people and are in fact a part of the colonization of Palestine’s real people and stealing of Palestinian’s land. I phrase this multiple times to get it through your heads. “Israelis” are not Indigenous people if they are destroying the land they claim is theirs, because indigenous people are deeply connected with and love their land; what comes to my mind when I say this is the Palestinian woman crying and holding her olive tree while “Israelis” in the background in military uniform stare at her. You cannot claim indigeneity to a land while pushing out and committing genocide against the people who were there centuries before you, destroying their trees, homes and livelihoods, and making life a living hell for them if they survive.
And if you don’t believe me, look at the way America has treated the indigenous people of this so-called country. The Indigenous people of so-called America are being treated the same way Israel is treating Palestinians. Destroying olive trees is no different than the colonizers of “America” killing bison to starve out indigenous people so they can take their land and shove them into tiny, unlivable boxes. If the colonization of America happened today, they would be using the same tactics and weapons to exterminate indigenous people.
Don’t cry to me about the beheaded babies, because they never existed in the first place and zionists care much more about alleged crimes and theoretical children rather than the real ones they are killing right in front of your eyes. If there were real babies, they would’ve posted them but they claim they can’t due to social media filters. Meanwhile, I see dead bodies of Palestinians on a daily basis. Hanging off of buildings, crushed under tanks, in body bags while their families hold them (if any are alive at all). I see the trauma and torture inflicted on Palestinians for daring to persist and live, and despite it all, their joy and community. Zionists care more about the hostages Israel has had multiple chances to get back (and then bombed). Zionists care more about alleged burned babies more than Israel snipping real ones.
There is no way to have a “two state solution,” just as much as it is wrong to shove the Indigenous people of “America” into tiny reservations, building residential schools to make them forget their own heritage and assimilate them into colonial society. Israel is destroying Palestinian culture and history to claim its own, which was never there to begin with. There is no peace living “in unity” with the colonizer. There is no way to be neutral in genocide. You either oppose it or you don’t.
This book weaves together past, present and future Palestinian history, culture and struggles and at the center of it all— how Palestinians keep moving forward despite it all: with joy, with anger, with grief, with loss and of course— sharing information. I learned so many different things through this book that I didn’t know— the deep history of farming, films, housing, lighting, libraries. And some things I knew but learned more about— the harsh traveling restrictions, bombing of schools & universities, publishing restrictions, usage of AI & modern technology against Palestinians. Learning about all the different aspects of history and how so much of it applies now is very important with Israel trying to erase it. Do not forget the crimes Israel is committing in the name of self defense. Do not let Israel erase Palestinian’s right to their land.
I would like to end off my review with a quote that stood out to me from “Exporting Oranges and Short Stories: Cultural Struggle in the Gaza Strip” by Mosab Abu Toha:
“By banning books, the Israeli occupation deprives Palestinians of seeing beyond Gaza to the outside world and learning about that world. So, not only have Palestinians been expelled from their homes and ancestral land, not only have they been thrown into prisons, not only have their trees been cut and burned, not only have they been subject to daily killing and humiliation, not only have they been denied the right to return to their homes, but they are also denied access to knowledge and literature, besieged even inside their homes during curfews and random air raids. They are not allowed to travel freely, even through books. If one doesn't get killed by Israel, then life must be made unbearable.”
Freedom and liberation for Palestinians, every day, every week, every year, for as long as I live and beyond that. May we all see a free and liberated Palestine in our lifetimes, from the river to the sea.
There is nothing “complicated” about Israel’s genocide of Palestinians. They are claiming a right to land they don’t have, and have the backing of the biggest colonial empires on Earth. Everyone who thinks Israel is in the right is in the wrong; Israel is an extension of the American empire exterminating the real people of the land. This has happened time and time again, with so called America, Canada and Australia, as well as the countless British occupations of (let’s be real) the whole world. You cannot claim Israel is within the right to “defend their land” while the biggest colonial nations back them. If colonial empires are backing the so-called “indigenous people” with billions of dollars, then the “indigenous people” are not indigenous people and are in fact a part of the colonization of Palestine’s real people and stealing of Palestinian’s land. I phrase this multiple times to get it through your heads. “Israelis” are not Indigenous people if they are destroying the land they claim is theirs, because indigenous people are deeply connected with and love their land; what comes to my mind when I say this is the Palestinian woman crying and holding her olive tree while “Israelis” in the background in military uniform stare at her. You cannot claim indigeneity to a land while pushing out and committing genocide against the people who were there centuries before you, destroying their trees, homes and livelihoods, and making life a living hell for them if they survive.
And if you don’t believe me, look at the way America has treated the indigenous people of this so-called country. The Indigenous people of so-called America are being treated the same way Israel is treating Palestinians. Destroying olive trees is no different than the colonizers of “America” killing bison to starve out indigenous people so they can take their land and shove them into tiny, unlivable boxes. If the colonization of America happened today, they would be using the same tactics and weapons to exterminate indigenous people.
Don’t cry to me about the beheaded babies, because they never existed in the first place and zionists care much more about alleged crimes and theoretical children rather than the real ones they are killing right in front of your eyes. If there were real babies, they would’ve posted them but they claim they can’t due to social media filters. Meanwhile, I see dead bodies of Palestinians on a daily basis. Hanging off of buildings, crushed under tanks, in body bags while their families hold them (if any are alive at all). I see the trauma and torture inflicted on Palestinians for daring to persist and live, and despite it all, their joy and community. Zionists care more about the hostages Israel has had multiple chances to get back (and then bombed). Zionists care more about alleged burned babies more than Israel snipping real ones.
There is no way to have a “two state solution,” just as much as it is wrong to shove the Indigenous people of “America” into tiny reservations, building residential schools to make them forget their own heritage and assimilate them into colonial society. Israel is destroying Palestinian culture and history to claim its own, which was never there to begin with. There is no peace living “in unity” with the colonizer. There is no way to be neutral in genocide. You either oppose it or you don’t.
This book weaves together past, present and future Palestinian history, culture and struggles and at the center of it all— how Palestinians keep moving forward despite it all: with joy, with anger, with grief, with loss and of course— sharing information. I learned so many different things through this book that I didn’t know— the deep history of farming, films, housing, lighting, libraries. And some things I knew but learned more about— the harsh traveling restrictions, bombing of schools & universities, publishing restrictions, usage of AI & modern technology against Palestinians. Learning about all the different aspects of history and how so much of it applies now is very important with Israel trying to erase it. Do not forget the crimes Israel is committing in the name of self defense. Do not let Israel erase Palestinian’s right to their land.
I would like to end off my review with a quote that stood out to me from “Exporting Oranges and Short Stories: Cultural Struggle in the Gaza Strip” by Mosab Abu Toha:
“By banning books, the Israeli occupation deprives Palestinians of seeing beyond Gaza to the outside world and learning about that world. So, not only have Palestinians been expelled from their homes and ancestral land, not only have they been thrown into prisons, not only have their trees been cut and burned, not only have they been subject to daily killing and humiliation, not only have they been denied the right to return to their homes, but they are also denied access to knowledge and literature, besieged even inside their homes during curfews and random air raids. They are not allowed to travel freely, even through books. If one doesn't get killed by Israel, then life must be made unbearable.”
Freedom and liberation for Palestinians, every day, every week, every year, for as long as I live and beyond that. May we all see a free and liberated Palestine in our lifetimes, from the river to the sea.
bookish_calirican's review
challenging
emotional
informative
reflective
medium-paced
rustedtrains's review
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Genocide, Xenophobia, Murder, and Colonisation
heartswhisper's review against another edition
5.0
"It is not enough to let the world know the truth—the world already knows the truth. We need to make the world take action, and we need to empower Palestinians and develop their ability to challenge the Israeli occupation in effective ways."
May we all live to witness a free Palestine
May we all live to witness a free Palestine
azadithelioness's review against another edition
challenging
hopeful
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
4.0
lananhdinh's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
sad
fast-paced
5.0