IMEU Institute for Middle East Understanding
Literature
The expanded Summer 2021 issue of World Literature Today foregrounds Palestine Voices in a cover feature showcasing 30 of the most prominent poets and writers from the West Bank, Gaza, Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, and the diaspora, guest-edited by Yousef Khanfar.
on July 1, 2021
Palestinian Profiles
Dr. Farouq Ahmad Zuaiter passed away on February 15, 2018. “Abu Abbas” as he was referred to often was a highly respected financial executive, investment manager and a significant contributor to the economic growth of the Palestinian economy in the face of Israeli occupation.
on February 26, 2018
As a new parent, I’m now alert to a substratum of media that passed below the radar of my younger, less narcissistic, self. In the space of mild leftist parenting, this means acquiring board-book samizdat such as Click Clack Moo (cows striking for workplace benefits), and A Rule is to Break (inculcating anarchist principles in pre-literate children.) Of course, the post-colonial space of this genre (Babar notwithstanding) is pretty unpopulated, so I was excited to spot P is for Palestine by Golbarg Bashi at my local Book Culture.
on December 20, 2017
My parents and grandparents are refugees from 1948. My mother’s side is from Jaffa; my father’s side is from Haifa, Nazareth. My grandmother was pregnant with my mom when they were ethnically cleansed from Palestine, so I grew up in a small town in Western Massachusetts and I moved to...
on January 31, 2017
Literature
The Parachute Paradox, a new book from Palestinian author Steve Sabella, provides a unique insight into the individual pursuit of global citizenship through the author’s life story. Sabella begins in Jerusalem’s Old City, where he was born, and he quickly learns that only his unfettered imagination and bold spirit will enable him to see beyond his identity...
on December 21, 2016
Literature
Writing Balcony on the Moon allowed Barakat “to heal some of the hardships imposed” on her by her Palestinian identity while offering a poignant message on the importance of education for young women. “Freedom of education for all children, and opportunities for lifelong learning for all people are fundamental human needs not only for individuals, but also for humanity as a collective,” she says. “Educational empowerment for girls and women especially promise massive possibilities of positive change.”
on December 14, 2016
Earlier this August, Donald Trump dragged American political discourse to what most pundits agreed was a new low by suggesting that “Second Amendment people” would know what to do if Hillary Clinton were to impose rigorous controls on gun ownership...
on August 17, 2016
When Ben Ehrenreich started spending time in the West Bank in 2011—the award-winning writer even lived there between 2013 and 2014—he went, in part, on assignment for the New York Times Magazine and Harper’s. What he returned home with is The Way to the Spring: Life and Death in Palestine (June 14), a collection of revelatory anecdotes offering a pragmatic, somber look…
on July 20, 2016
More than 150 literary figures, including nine Pulitzer Prize winners, are calling for Israel to free an Israeli-Arab poet charged with inciting violence through social media. The open letter announced Tuesday in support of Dareen Tatour, who has been under house arrest since October, was organized by Jewish Voice for Peace and Adalah-NY (The New York Campaign for the Boycott of Israel)…
on July 13, 2016