Palestine Festival of Literature

BREAKING: Today, more than 1000 authors are launching a mass boycott of Israeli publishers who are complicit in the dispossession of the Palestinian people. This declaration amounts to the largest cultural boycott of Israeli institutions in history. lithub.com/hundreds-of-au…

My statement in response to the racist decision to cancel me from Adelaide Writers' Week.

Palestine: a year in books A non-exhaustive selection of 2025's best books on Palestine, and - in the words of author Mahmoud Al-Shaer - on the abyss of genocide @PalFest @m7mdkurd @RafeefZiadah @AbuAkleen @LeftBookClub @VersoBooks @irishpages

Responding to historic tweets, Alaa today says: "I am shaken that, just as I am being reunited with my family for the first time in 12 years, several historic tweets of mine have been republished and used to question and attack my integrity and values, escalating to calls for the revocation of my citizenship. Looking at the tweets now - the ones that were not completely twisted out of their meaning - I do understand how shocking and hurtful they are, and for that I unequivocally apologise. They were mostly expressions of a young man’s anger and frustrations in a time of regional crises (the wars on Iraq, on Lebanon and Gaza), and the rise of police brutality against Egyptian youth. I particularly regret some that were written as part of online insult battles with the total disregard for how they read to other people. I should have known better. Looking back I see the writings of a much younger person, deeply enmeshed in antagonistic online cultures, utilising flippant, shocking and sarcastic tones in the nascent, febrile world of social media. But this young man never intended to offend a wider public and was, in the real world, engaged in the non-violent pro-democracy movement and repeatedly incarcerated for calling for full equality, human rights and democracy for all. Today, this middle aged father firmly believes all our fates are entwined and we can only achieve prosperous and safe lives for our children together. All the initiatives I’ve led reflect this. I must also stress that some tweets have been completely misunderstood, seemingly in bad faith. For example, a tweet being shared to allege homophobia on my part was actually ridiculing homophobia. I have paid a steep price for my public support for LGBTQ rights in Egypt and the world. Another tweet has been wrongly interpreted to suggest Holocaust denial - but in fact the exchange shows that I was clearly mocking Holocaust denial. I take accusations of antisemitism very seriously. I have always believed that sectarianism and racism are the most sinister and dangerous of forces, and I did my part and paid the price for standing up for the rights of religious minorities in Egypt. I faced a military tribunal and imprisonment for defending Christians in Egypt falsely accused of violence. This weekend was supposed to be the first time I celebrated my son’s birthday with him since 2012, when he was one year old. I have been imprisoned in Egypt for almost his entire life for my consistent promotion of equality, justice and secular democracy. That included publicly rejecting anti-Jewish speech in Egypt, often at risk to myself, defence of LGBTQ rights, defence of Egyptian Christians, and campaigning against police torture and brutality - all at great risk. And, indeed, my freedom was stripped from me for these defences of human rights. These values are core to my identity. It has been painful to see some people who supported calls for my release now feel regret for doing so. Whatever they feel now, they did the right thing. Standing up for human rights and a citizen unjustly imprisoned is something honourable, and I will always be grateful for that solidarity. I have received huge empathy and solidarity from people across the UK, enough to win me my freedom, and I will be forever grateful for this."

Join us for this year’s READ PALESTINE WEEK, coming November 29-December 5 organized by @pubforpalestine For 7 days, people around the world read – publicly and in community – as part of the global resistance to the genocide of the Palestinian people. Publishers, librarians, & booksellers will share free reads, host events, and recommend books. This year, we will have a particular focus on raising funds to support Palestinian writers in Gaza. In the coming weeks, we will share short features on writers we encourage you to support. @arablit @btlbookstore @haymarketbooks @PlutoPress @VersoBooks @orbooks @tracepress @DarajaPress @PalFest @PalestineWrites

Near the Freedom Theatre, Jenin, now. @PalFest

Nour Elassy was one of the very lucky few to be evacuated from Gaza and has just arrived in Paris. This crowdfunding campaign to cover her studies at l'École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales in Paris only needs €2,000 more. chuffed.org/project/137907…

It's endless and bottomless.

Absolutely stunning package in the mail today from The Palfest Bookshelf @PalFest Two books about the one and only Ghassan Kanafani. Importantly, really moved and grateful to have Anni Kanafani’s lovely book about her husband who was taken so soon and so brutally. The PLO published it a year after the assassination and it has been out of print for a while. And bonus, a small print of artwork by Ghassan Kanafani himself ❤️✊🏾🇵🇸

Read & share.

@SidhePress just released an anthology on Grief titled “To Lay Sun Into a Forest”. I have contributed a poem “My Father, A Refugee” All proceeds from the sales of the anthology will be sent by Sidhe Press to @sameerproject in Gaza. To order: sidhe-press.eu/product/to-lay…

While most attention is on Gaza and less so on places like Jenin, Israel is also driving Palestinians off their land in the Jordan Valley in occupied West Bank through bureaucratic restrictions, denial of access to resources, & increasing settler violence dropsitenews.com/p/west-bank-jo…

Artist Deem Zurub who drew the martyrs got killed an hour ago.

Israel is literally bombing everywhere: Gaza, east Gaza, north Gaza, central Gaza, Deir al-Balah, Khan Younis, Rafah, and Al-Mwasi. It’s getting sharper every day, with no reduction at all.

Mark Zuckerberg is yet another self-proclaimed free speech absolutist, a typically fraudulent moniker which in practice translates as DEI and a container ship of steroids for me, but none for thee: "The data show that Meta has complied with 94% of takedown requests issued by Israel since October 7, 2023. Israel is the biggest originator of takedown requests globally by far, and Meta has followed suit—widening the net of posts it automatically removes, and creating what can be called the largest mass censorship operation in modern history. Government requests for takedowns generally focus on posts made by citizens inside that government’s borders, Meta insiders said. What makes Israel’s campaign unique is its success in censoring speech in many countries outside of Israel." dropsitenews.com/p/leaked-data-…

An Israeli air strike hits the headquarters of the Deir Al Balah municipality, central Gaza Strip.

Statement from the Diocese of Jerusalem on Israel's bombing of Al Ahli Hospital. The Israeli attack also damaged St. Philip's Church x.com/muntherisaac/s…

Do you know what unsettles me most about this war? Not just the bombs. Not just the starvation. Not just the cold, calculated siege of two million souls. It’s the silence. It’s the choking, complicit silence of a world that once branded the 20th century as the “century of freedom.” A grand, televised drama of liberation. Where flags of justice were raised in parliaments. Where human rights were no longer ideals, but sacred laws. Where the marginalized were promised visibility, dignity, voice. We were told we had turned the page. That racism was a relic. That war crimes had courts. That every human life mattered. But today, in Gaza, human beings are being starved with bureaucratic precision. They are being bombed with Western-backed brilliance. Children are buried beneath concrete, not by accident, but by design. And the world watches on, not with shock, but with schedule. Press conferences. Ceasefire negotiations. Think pieces. Silence. Where are the moral architects now? The statesmen with their Nobel Prizes and ghostwritten memoirs? The UN envoys and rights champions who wept in Bosnia, marched in Darfur, and raised rainbow flags in Berlin? Where are they now, when the sky itself is a weapon, when hunger is strategy, when survival is a form of resistance? I find myself clawing at the walls of reason. I feel, I know, I’m losing my mind. How do leaders shave their faces in the morning without cutting their own throats from shame? How do they hold their daughters close, knowing they have signed off on the slaughter of ours? When they kiss their sons goodnight, do they not hear the screams of the children buried beneath the rubble? What kind of species are we? What kind of godless planet have we built, where war criminals wear suits, and truth is drowned in polite vocabulary? Why hasn’t the planet stopped? Are we all participants in a myth so elaborate, so polished, so televised, that we’ve forgotten it’s a lie? Because every time I try to speak, to scream, to reason, I feel like I’m tearing at the very fabric of sanity. And maybe that’s the point. Maybe the world was always mad. Maybe Gaza is just the place where it finally tore open. #GazaGenocide‌

Medical facilities overlayed over the IDF designated kill zone map. Many are now off-limits to Palestinians. 62.3% of Gaza (227.5 sq km) is IDF designated kill zone.

Places Israel ordered emptied of Palestinians since it restarted the mass-killing, includes both the buffer zone as well as forced displacement orders. Israel ordered over 60% of Gaza off-limits to Palestinians. Note: Does not yet include 2nd displacement order from today.

An important project - support it if you can.