Many folks have asked for reading recommendations relating to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Below I will offer suggestions across a number of genres.
Beyond the first two books listed, I prioritize fiction and poetry above non-fiction. I believe literature reveals distinct forms of depth, perspective, texture, wisdom, and dare we say “truth.” Many Israeli and Palestinian works of literature have had such a profound impact upon me, one could divide my life into “before” and “after” I read them. I’ve seen a similar impact on students with no previous background or connection to the region: a deepening of subjective wisdom that seems beyond the powers of history or journalism, notwithstanding their virtues.
I believe that the best way to understand the conflict is to understand the composition of these two societies, Palestinian and Israeli. Right now, social media is awash in data visualizations of horrific statistics – lives lost, homes destroyed, bodies missing. Quantitative or timeline-based tools are marshaled by advocates on each side to push forth political interpretations and imperatives. One of my students wisely articulated the obstacle that arises when we try to turn the conflict into a flat chronology: “The problem isn’t that it’s a cycle. It’s a spiral. And each war is a wave with ever-greater amplitude. So from the vantage point of today, the wave of this turn in the spiral is too large for us to see behind it, beyond it. You can’t see the 1990’s, for example, from 2024. And you can’t see 1948 either.”
This is why I believe that it’s so vital to dig into the literature as a mirror of the societies’ souls, from multiple vantage points. It’s important to recall that Israel is a nation that owes its existence to literature. The movement to revive Hebrew as a modern language for Jews across the world preceded political Zionism by a century. Without the concerted and creative efforts of writers to revive Hebrew literature in the 19th-20th century, it’s hard to imagine how a Hebrew-speaking nation could have come into existence. Israel is perhaps a singular example of a country whose majority language was not the native language of the inhabitants of its territory, nor was it the mother tongue of the immigrants and settlers who established the society and state. Hebrew literature was the magical ingredient that enabled the most ambitious project of Jewish cultural life to launch merely three years after the Jewish people suffered the largest genocide in human history. And Hebrew literature remains the most revealing tool, in my view, for reflecting the divergent histories that Jewish immigrants, refugees, and settlers brought from dozens of countries, languages, and ethnic backgrounds. It shows us the cross-sections of the many cultures that have been forged into Israeli Jewish society.
But to focus things somewhat, these lists are geared for those wanting more depth on “the conflict.” They reflect my academic research, which focuses on the representation of the conflict (a list focused on Israel or Palestine in general would look much different). I endeavored to make the lists as balanced and binational as possible, though this is a good place to cite a brilliant thought from one of my mentors, Aamir Mufti: “Comparison is not equivalence. And equivalence is not justification.” That’s a guiding mantra for me. It should be obvious that it’s impossible to understand the conflict utilizing only one perspective. But the moment we put Israel and Palestine in relation, we confront issues of incommensurability between the two sides. Indeed, it’s difficult to construct a reading list with a 1:1 ratio of texts from “each side” (especially given that the best texts can’t be aligned with only one side).
For one thing, the overall power differential has countless implications. The activity on campus and online these past 8 months may herald a generational change in attitudes, but it should not obscure an important fact: the Israeli perspective has accumulated tremendous cultural influence over 75 years of intimate ties to Western (especially American) power. This goes beyond stalwart political, diplomatic, and military support. Think of all the spheres in which one may come into contact with Israeli industries, trade, or commerce: Sabra hummus, Exodus for the Boomers and Fauda for Millennials, Google Maps’ technology, biomedical research, Hebrew menus for backpackers in Thailand, etc. All of these phenomena expose people to Israeli people and perspectives. And all these avenues for the distribution of Israeli products and culture are inextricably tied to the existence of a sovereign political state, one that can support industries, form political and economic partnerships, etc. (This is the fulfillment of both “Political” and “Cultural” Zionist ideologies from the turn of the past century).
Meanwhile, until the 21st century at the earliest, the Palestinian narrative was stigmatized in mainstream American politics and culture to such an extent that even using the name of this national community was a cause for scandal well into the 1990’s. And as American power grew to dominate a unipolar world, our domestic approach to the Palestinian nation was reflected globally in a lack of official political and cultural representation. Therefore, so much of Palestinian cultural and intellectual life has necessarily focused on simply affirming that Palestinians do indeed exist; that their perspectives on the land and the conflict are the products of real, verifiable historical events; that they should enjoy the same individual and collective rights as any other national group; and that Israel is the party primarily responsible for their ongoing, forcible displacement and homelessness (private and collective) since 1948. In practical terms, these realities can narrow the purview of texts about Palestinians. While the Palestinian people have produced some of the most sophisticated intellectuals and accomplished artists of the past century (like Israelis, in great disproportion to their numbers), the unresolved and asymmetrical status of the conflict necessitates that more Palestinian-centered narratives engage in various forms of documentation and advocacy. This is especially pronounced in the U.S., where clear majorities still side with Israel and are therefore prone to affirm sets of facts that accord more with the Israeli narrative.
In building this list, I have followed my own sense that, if one is an American (especially if one grew up in the American-Jewish community), the importance of establishing the basic facts of the Palestinian perspective – its history, politics, sociology, etc. – is paramount. At the same time, once you “get it” (if you do), there is (arguably) limited utility to establishing these same facts over and over again. At a certain point, as my mentor Gil Hochberg argues in Becoming Palestine: Toward an Archival Imagination of the Future (2021), an insistence on documentation can end up reinforcing the imbalance of power in ways that postpones justice. When people refuse to absorb evidence of a phenomenon, more evidence seldom changes their mind. My recommendations point toward texts that work on mindsets, perhaps more than data sets. Still, digital media has made it much easier for anyone so inclined to find ample evidence of Israeli responsibility (if not accountability) for the Palestinian condition.
As a committed follower of Edward Said, I believe that no author, text, or institution exists in abstract isolation from the worldly conditions of its production. In our case, one can always find evidence of a perspective that will align more with the interests of one national group than the other. But while an enormous amount of ink is devoted to partisan advocacy on this issue, I have tried to select works whose integrity decidedly outweighs whatever “one-sidedness” one may detect. I also assume that we’re all capable of knowing when “one-sidedness” is happening and are intellectually agile enough to learn something greater than whatever is omitted by nationalistic blinders. In my view, no text will ever satisfy an abstract, absolute notion of justice. If we were not to open any book until it satisfied our own notions, we would remain ignorant of things vital to know. I have learned so much from books and authors with whom I vehemently disagree. More than that, my positions have changed – and continue to change – because I do not let disagreement (and even moral offense) hold a veto over what I read. Amidst such contradictions, nondualities, and, yes, complexity, one can find Israel and Palestine. Without these features, one may think they’ve encountered Israel or Palestine, but to locate one without the other is to understand neither.
Ultimately, I believe these lists will equip the curious with a sufficiently diverse set of resources to enrich your understanding of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in an equitable way. I have included links that will send you to profiles, interviews, and PDF’s for some of the literary texts. In some cases, it felt more appropriate to recommend an author rather than one text. I especially encourage you to read from the types of sources you’re not ordinarily exposed to – the impact will be more profound for you.
Please feel free to comment or write me with any questions!
I extend gratitude for your interest.