October 7 killed the spectre of Western liberalism. With the rupture of the rules-based international order and the unveiling of Israel’s gross violations of international law, October 7 has exposed Israel as the occupier. According to the Jerusalem Post, Israel allocated $730 million to its public diplomacy budget in 2026. Known in Hebrew as hasbara, it oversees the dissemination of Israeli propaganda, disinformation on the genocide, and the rewriting of Palestinian history.
Publishing on Palestine, particularly by those from Palestine, thus becomes increasingly crucial in amplifying their voices amidst the ongoing genocide. Israel targets both lives and libraries: to prevent history from being distorted, and from the facts of genocide from being buried, we must read and write to resist. This reading list showcases the multitude of works published since October 7, encapsulating various perspectives ranging from history and politics to ecology and literature. The written word cannot be silenced: writing in and on Palestine paves the path to collective liberation.
A Very Short History of the Israel-Palestine Conflict by Ilan Pappe (Oneworld Publications, UK, October 2024)
History did not begin on October 7. It did not begin in 1967, nor 1948. Situating the roots of the conflict within the wider context of European settler-colonialism, Ilan Pappé posits that history began in the 19th century with the arrival of Zionist settlers in Palestine in 1882. Starting with the ideological foundations of Zionism, Pappé’s succinct 146-page historical overview condenses the complexities of the conflict by tracing the historical developments of the implementation of the Zionist ideology, the Palestinian resistance movements, and the involvement of international actors in impeding peace by emphasizing its central theme: that the conflict predates the foundations of the state of Israel. An acclaimed Israeli-British historian and a key figure of the revisionist New Historians who challenged the official Israeli narrative on Zionism in the 1980s, Pappé’s compelling and concise work is an important contribution to the literature, a valuable resource written for those unfamiliar with the historical trajectory before October 7.
Perfect Victims: and the Politics of Appeal by Mohammed El-Kurd (Haymarket Books, US, February 2025)
“Do you condemn Hamas?” was the oft-repeated question after October 7. Solidarity with the Palestinians became a point of contention, where many were uncomfortable with the reality of armed resistance and violence, preferring instead to support the idea of the “pacified” Palestinian. Mohammed El-Kurd, the co-founder of the grassroots #SaveSheikhJarrah campaign in 2021 that protested the forced eviction of their homes in East Jerusalem, questions such mainstream modes of representation in Perfect Victims. Under the Western gaze and robbed of their narrative credibility, El-Kurd argues that Palestinians are prohibited from existing as civilians or regular people. Rather, the Palestinian must perform the “politics of appeal”—acts of victimhood to prove the worth of their humanity whilst framing themselves as the “perfect victim”. El-Kurd dissects such myths of dehumanization and “defanging”, forcing the reader to rethink the established frameworks of solidarity, solely demanding for the Palestinian—dignity.
Every Moment Is a Life: Gaza in the Time of Genocide edited by Susan Abulhawa (Atria/One Signal Publishers, US, March 2026)
After managing to cross the Rafah border in 2024, writer and activist Susan Abulhawa held a series of eight writing workshops in Gaza with the Culture and Free Thought Association (CFTA). Born out of the short stories by the eighteen young writers, Every Moment is a Life is a bilingual anthology whose essays etch the repressive realities and raw moments of living life under genocide: from childbirth, repairing a shoe, making coffee, to losing a beloved aunt. Originally in Arabic and published in English, the bilingual nature of the anthology is especially pertinent, for giving voice to the Gazan vignettes underscores the importance of its reception across the siege to an audience who may only know Gaza through mere media headlines. A seminal anthology in unveiling the truth of genocide, all proceeds will go to the contributors and to the Palestine Writes Literature Festival.
The Eyes of Gaza: A Diary of Resilience by Plestia Alaqad (Little, Brown and Company, US, September 2025)
Having recently graduated with a degree in journalism, the 21-year-old Plestia Alaqad was due to begin her new job on October 8 2023. Amidst Israel’s subsequent bombardment of Gaza, Alaqad emerged as a vital voice amidst the unfolding of atrocities, where she began reporting the reality on the ground on social media. Known as the “Eyes of Gaza”, her videos on Instagram gave millions a glimpse of the atrocities in Gaza, unveiling what mainstream Western media sought to obscure. Yet, Plestia documented more than just videos. Based on a series of diary extracts she had kept before October 7, The Eyes of Gaza: A Diary of Resilience captures the lived realities of her life amidst the horrors in Gaza, whilst weaving in the resolution and resilience of her people.
When the World Sleeps: Stories, Words and Wounds of Palestine by Francesca Albanese (Other Press, US, April 2026)
As the first woman to hold the position of UN Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, the human rights lawyer and academic Francesca Albanese was also the first Special Rapporteur to be sanctioned by the US government in July 2025. Originally in Italian, it was at this point in her life that she wrote the preface to the English translation of When the World Sleeps. Beginning with the five-year-old Hind Rajab whose family was murdered by the IDF, Albanese interweaves the stories of the ten Palestinians who have shaped her during her personal and professional journey with critical debates surrounding the Israeli occupation, posing questions on the “past and present of Palestine”. Their portraits paint the pain and suffering of living under the Israeli regime, yet illuminate the possibility of peace. When the world sleeps, we have a moral obligation to wake her up.
Genocide in Gaza: Israel, Hamas, and the Long War on Palestine by Avi Shlaim (The Irish Pages Press, UK, February 2025
“As a Jew I feel that I have a moral duty to stand up and be counted, to speak truth to power, to denounce the Netanyahu government in the strongest possible terms, and to stand by the Palestinians in their hour of need,” writes Avi Shlaim in Genocide in Gaza. A pioneering scholar of the New Historians, the Iraqi-born, Arab-Jewish British-Israeli professor’s latest work is a new addition to his vast repertoire. Unfolding across twelve chapters that begin with Britain’s role in the Nakba, Genocide in Gaza incorporates Shlaim’s previous essays, such as “Operation Cast Lead, 2008–2009” (2009) and “The Two-State Solution: Illusion and Reality” (2021) with three new essays that address the aftermath of October 7: locating it within the wider historical trajectory of the Zionist settler-colonial movement. A testament to his nearly four decades-long scholarship, Genocide in Gaza does not hold back in incriminating Israel and its “Zionist fascism” for genocide—the crime of all crimes.
Publisher’s Note: This book can be ordered directly at the publisher’s website: https://irishpages.org/product/genocide-in-gaza/?v=7885444af42e
The Destruction of Palestine Is the Destruction of the Earth by Andreas Malm (Verso Books, UK, January 2025)
The parallelism in Andreas Malm’s title poignantly posits his central thesis: the destruction of Gaza by Israelis since October 8 cannot simply be attributed as a humanitarian crisis, but must be understood amidst a backdrop of a different don of destruction—a nakba of the climate. The Swedish professor of ecology unearths the roots of the relationship and Palestine’s subjugation to the fossil fuel empire through a longue durée analysis that begins in 1840: the year of Britain’s initial deployment of steam-powered warfare that attacked Palestinian port Akka, and the year of the conception of the Zionist project. Arguing that Israel’s atrocities since October 7 have been “technogenocidal”, the ongoing genocide is “unfolding at a time when the state of Israel is more deeply integrated in the primitive accumulation of fossil capital than it has ever been.”
Genocide Bad: Notes on Palestine, Jewish History, and Collective Liberation by Sim Kern (Interlink Publishing, US, April 2025)
On October 9, Sim Kern broke the silence with their TikTok titled “Jewish author speaks…” calling out those who did not care about Palestine until two days prior as “[ones who see] Israelis as people, but [not] Palestinians as people.” In the following days, Kern gained international recognition as an anti-Zionist Jewish activist whose witty yet tactfully clear videos concerning Palestinian history and dismantling Zionist misinformation eventually led to a book offer. For Kern, the choice of the two-word title is a no-brainer, for recognizing the truth that genocide is bad “should be that simple”. Part memoir, Kern begins with their journey from being indoctrinated with Israeli propaganda growing up to becoming renowned as a “Jewish influencer for Palestine”. What follows are nine chapters that deconstruct the most common tropes of hasbara, the Israeli term for propaganda, refuting key Zionist talking points such as defending the Holocaust and denouncing Hamas. Accessible in nature, Genocide Bad charts a crucial course towards collective liberation.
Road to October 7: A Brief History of Palestinian Islamism by Erik Skare (Verso Books, UK, May 2025)
Why did Hamas launch its attack on October 7? Many made the assumption that Islamist ideology was the key determinant, where Hamas was seen as a genocidal movement and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad as an extremist Palestinian faction. Yet, as Erik Skare contends in Road to October 7, Palestinian Islamism is a more complex and dynamic phenomenon than commonly assumed. Through a historical analysis of how the once-marginalized Islamism became the dominant dimension of the Palestinian resistance against Israel, he argues that Palestinian Islamism has been “continuously shaped and determined by the fierce discussions and competition between moderates and hardliners about the way forward”, as well as being driven by external factors. A historian and researcher at the University of Oslo, Skare’s contribution reveals that the road of Palestinian Islamism to October 7 was indeed long yet non-linear.
Recognizing the Stranger: On Palestine and Narrative by Isabella Hammad (Grove Atlantic, US, September 2024)
Nine days before October 7 2023, Isabella Hammad delivered the annual Edward W. Said Memorial Lecture at Columbia University. Her speech, as well as an afterword written in 2024, forms the body of Recognizing the Stranger. Written by one of Granta’s “Best of Young British Novelists” and the author of The Parisian and Enter Ghost, it examines the Palestinian struggle and what seems to be a turning point in the narrative. A blend of literary and cultural analysis that explores the intersection of ethics and aesthetics, she draws on Aristotle’s concept of anagnorisis, the construction of recognition scenes—when a character recognizes the truth and phases from a state of ignorance to that of knowledge. In her analysis of Ghassan Kanafani, she argues that such a recognition mirrors that of political reality. Her afterword, ‘On Gaza’, relates the aforementioned paradigm shift happening in real time, and reminds us of the dangers of leaping theoretically into the future where hindsight has the ability to absolve. “Do not give in,” she heeds, “be like the Palestinians in Gaza. Say: that’s me!”
Forest of Noise: Poems by Mosab Abu Toha (Knopf, US, October 2024)
When Israel began its assault on Gaza, destroying his home in Beit Lahiya and the Edward Said Community Library he built, Mosab Abu Toha was writing Forest of Noise. Oscillating between fleeting moments of peace and the collective loss of life under occupation, Toha opens his second poetry collection with “Younger Than War”. Recounting his childhood under military occupation, his seven-year-old self witnesses war raging around him that destroys everything in sight, for even the “ants’ ears hurt with each bullet”. His poems in the Forest painfully pay tribute to the members of his family who are no longer here, to 1948, to what a Gazan mother does during an Israeli night strike. Will the atrocities ever end? “This is not a poem. This is a grave,” goes the final piece of Forest. If a tree falls amidst the genocide, the Forest of Noise is its eulogy.
Author
Itrisyia Dayini
Itrisyia Dayini is a Malaysian scholar and writer. She holds undergraduate and postgraduate degrees from University of Oxford and specializes in Modern Middle Eastern Studies, focusing on late Ottoman history.
