Palestine and the Unspeakable

Death and destruction reigns in Gaza.

16 OCTOBER 2023 • By Lina Mounzer
Senior editor Lina Mounzer prefaces this week’s special Palestine issue with an editorial about the death and destruction that visited Israelis and is now the daily and nightly horror faced by Gazans.

 

This moment, as I’m writing these words, this moment, as you’re reading them, Gaza is being ground to dust under Israeli bombardment. At this very moment, people are trying to pull the bodies of their loved ones out from under the pulverized remains of their own homes. Entire families have been wiped from the civil register. It is estimated that some 1,000 bodies remain trapped under the wreckage, very likely bringing the death toll to an unfathomable 4,000 people. Four thousand people in just over a week. That is an average of over 400 people a day being killed. It is incredibly cruel math to have to do, but Palestinian lives under Israeli occupation have always been subject to this inhuman calculus. How many Palestinian lives equal one Israeli life? Many have been asking that question this past week, some with incredulity and horror, and some with total seriousness. The answer this time seems to be none, and all. No amount of Palestinian lives can avenge the Israeli lives lost. And so all the people of Gaza must be exterminated.

The bombardment of Gaza this time comes in retaliation for a brutal and unprecedented attack carried out by Hamas fighters on October 7. A number of fighters paraglided over the fence encircling the Strip and went door to door on a rampage through the kibbutzes and settlements surrounding Gaza, massacring hundreds of people and taking about 150 others back as hostages. An attack of singular horror for the Israeli people, reverberating through Jewish communities across the world as the nightmare of the past — the past of ghettoes and pogroms and concentration camps, the past that they and the world had vowed would take place “never again” — came roaring awake once more. For the people of Gaza, this latest round of bombardment is just that, the latest round of bombardment, only this time it’s worse than anything that has come before.

The editor-in-chief of Jewish Currents, Arielle Angel, tries, in an expansive, brilliant editorial, to grapple with holding these two realities side by side, with how to allow for the resonances of two different generational traumas for two different peoples without having them negate one another, while at the same time acknowledging the crushing actuality of the Israeli occupation, which is not past but cruelly present. “One of the most terrible things about this event is the sense of its inevitability,” she writes. “The violence of apartheid and colonialism begets more violence. Many people have struggled with the straightjacket of this inevitability, straining to articulate that its recognition does not mean its embrace.” It bears repeating: its recognition does not mean its embrace. At the same time, it must be recognized. An annihilation looms before us. In fact, it has already begun.

In a press conference on October 9, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant announced the state’s intentions. “We are imposing a complete siege on Gaza,” he declared. “There will be no electricity, no food, no water, no fuel, everything will be closed.” And then, as though this wasn’t clear from his previous words, from the bantustans in the West Bank, from the 16-year siege of Gaza, from the thousands of shells and bombs dropped on that same besieged population, he decided to drive the point home: “We are fighting against human animals, and we act accordingly.”

Such collective punishment is considered a war crime under international law, but of course international law only applies to human beings, not “human animals.” The phrase stood, disseminated as is without judgment in the Western media, seen only as a harsh but fitting expression of Israeli anger and, therefore, unquestioned and unquestionable.

There is no safe place in Gaza. No shelter, no reprieve. Hospitals have been warned to evacuate, grievously injured, immovable patients and all. Gazans were given 24 hours to flee the north: an exodus of 1.1 million people, all asked to leave their homes within 24 hours. Then, the routes south they’d been assured were safe were bombed. Entire convoys of people incinerated. There is no more room for the dead in the morgues.

Anger. Many words have been written this last week about grief and mourning, about which deaths are grievable, about which lives deserve mourning, about mourning and grief as acts of solidarity or the lack of vocal grief and mourning as proof of indifference. Less has been written about anger. About who has the right to be angry, and why, and how anger might be spent when it is an entire people raging, raging about the present but goaded to biblical fury by the ghosts of the past. Israeli anger has always been seen as righteous and historically rooted, while Palestinian anger arises simply out of an innate barbarism without other cause. If the recent history of Western warfare has taught us anything it is that if your anger is righteous enough, then any violence born of that anger is righteous too. Thus you may engage in mass slaughter and remain mostly blameless in the eyes of the world. Those that have been slaughtered are not people, after all, but human animals.

There is no safe place in Gaza. No shelter, no reprieve. Hospitals have been warned to evacuate, grievously injured, immovable patients and all. Gazans were given 24 hours to flee the north: an exodus of 1.1 million people, all asked to leave their homes within 24 hours. Then, the routes south they’d been assured were safe were bombed. Entire convoys of people incinerated. There is no more room for the dead in the morgues. There is “no time to dig up the bodies” either, as Ghassan Abu Sitta, a plastic surgeon from Gaza, wrote on X. “When I drove from North Gaza to Shifa last night, the stench of decaying bodies every time you drove by a destroyed building was overwhelming.” Social media sites are full of photos of dead Gazans, crying Gazans, Gazans begging for help, Gazans saying their last goodbyes to the world. The last post from Dr. Belal Aldabbour reads: “Soon, the last sliver of electricity and connection will be exhausted. If I die, remember that I, we, were individuals, humans, we had names, dreams, and achievements, and our only fault was that we were just classified as inferior.” That was October 11. Nothing since.

The out-of-control depravity of the violence now in Gaza shows us, hard as it is to believe, that in previous bouts of rage the Israeli state remained restrained in its response. The international community, chief among them the US, would always eventually pull it back from the brink. After some unstated ceiling to the death toll, the international community would, like an indulgent parent, cluck “now, now, that’s enough of that.” This time there is no such restraint and no such admonishments. The narrative of “Israel has a right to defend itself” remains steadfast, repeated like a mantra. In fact, a state department memo circulated on October 13 — already nearly a week into the bombing — warned diplomats working on the Middle East against using three specific phrases in their press materials: “de-escalation/ceasefire,” “end to violence/bloodshed” and “restoring calm.” In other words, there is no hope of ceasefire, no end to bloodshed, no calm. But it’s not just diplomats acting as stenographers for the Israeli state. Many journalists have enthusiastically signed up for the job as well, repeating claims from the IDF without checking facts, twisting themselves into rhetorical pretzels to avoid damning language, referring to Gazans, en masse, as terrorists, all together responsible for the Israeli tragedy, as though they were a single hand wielding Hamas’s guns.

Make no mistake, this is a war of words, too. Of foregrounding certain words, certain narratives, and silencing others. Gazans are being gradually cut off from the world as their power goes out. According to Reuters, “the Israeli communications minister is seeking cabinet approval to shut down Al Jazeera’s bureau in Israel.” Human rights lawyer Noura Erakat relays that CBS News refused to air an interview they’d done with her, while ABC refused to air one with writer Mohammad El-Kurd and CNN with political analyst Youssef Munayyer. The Frankfurt Book Fair has canceled an award ceremony for Palestinian writer Adania Shibli, then lied that she had consented to the decision. Pro-Palestinian demonstrations have been demonized the world over as “celebrations of terrorism” or outright banned.

Since words are so important, so dangerous, then let us call what’s unfolding in Gaza, right before the world’s eyes, exactly what it is: a genocide. A second Nakba. What else might we call this mass slaughter, this forced expulsion of a people from their homes, their cities, their lives? Israel and the US are attempting to pressure Egypt to take in refugees from Palestine, to build them a tent city in the desert. The Palestinians don’t want to leave. They know what happens if they leave, for it has happened before. If they leave, there is no return.

But there are also voices and acts of solidarity. Jews the world over, including in Israel, have been declaring and protesting: “not in my name.” Irish press and politicians have been vocal in their condemnation. The Vatican put out a statement “expressing worry primarily for Gazan civilians while Israel is burying 1,300 people who have been murdered.” Yet even this mildest of remarks, which still foregrounds the Israeli tragedy, was deemed “unacceptable” by Israel’s foreign minister.

A ground invasion of Gaza is being planned. Settler attacks in the West Bank have increased, with settlers arming themselves further. There has been constant fighting on the Lebanese border between Israel and different factions inside Lebanon, its tenor escalating by the day. Civilians in Lebanon have been killed, including a journalist, who, like Shireen Abu Akleh before him, was clearly wearing a press vest and helmet. There are no sane voices by the powers that be calling for an end to the violence, let alone an end to the occupation. There seems to be no concern either that a regional war is possible, almost imminent, even as we stare down the barrels of its anti-tank missiles and aircraft carriers. I write this from Beirut, where this morning I received a message from my other embassy — a passport acquired when my family fled from a previous war in Lebanon — advising me to “consider leaving while commercial options remain available.” The implication, of course, is that the airport will be the first thing to be bombed, as it was in the 2006 Israeli war against Lebanon, and there will be no easy way out. I have a passport that permits me to leave at a moment’s notice. My husband doesn’t. We stay, and wait, glued to the news, our anxiety drowned out by the absolute horror we are watching befall the people of Gaza.

There is no recompense for all this death, destruction, and ongoing trauma. There are hardly any words that fit its magnitude. But let us at least use the words they don’t want us to use: Occupation. Apartheid. Colonization. Forced expulsion. Ethnic cleansing. Nakba. Genocide. Let us keep using them, insisting on them, and let us also hear Palestinian voices, read Palestinian words, understand Palestinian narratives, give grace to Palestinian subjectivity and grief and anger. Give it just as much weight as Israeli subjectivity, Israeli grief, Israeli anger. That is all. Just equal weight, equal grace. Even if it seems the two can’t coexist without negating one another. Now, more than ever, we must have enough imagination for a different kind of world. For we know exactly what happens when we start seeing human beings, speaking of human beings, as human animals. It is the horror of annihilation. And it has already begun.

—Lina Mounzer

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Lina Mounzer

Lina Mounzer is a Lebanese writer and translator. She has been a contributor to many prominent publications including the Paris Review, Freeman’s, Washington Post, and The Baffler, as well as in the anthologies Tales of Two Planets (Penguin 2020), and Best American Essays 2022 (Harper Collins 2022). She is Senior Editor... Read more

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Driving in Palestine Now is More Dangerous Than Ever

29 JANUARY 2024 • By TMR
Driving in Palestine Now is More Dangerous Than Ever
Featured article

Israel-Palestine: Peace Under Occupation?

29 JANUARY 2024 • By Laëtitia Soula
Israel-Palestine: Peace Under Occupation?
Books

Illuminated Reading for 2024: Our Anticipated Titles

22 JANUARY 2024 • By TMR
Illuminated Reading for 2024: Our Anticipated Titles
Fiction

“New Reasons”—a short story by Samira Azzam

15 JANUARY 2024 • By Samira Azzam, Ranya Abdelrahman
“New Reasons”—a short story by Samira Azzam
Essays

Messages from Gaza Now / 3

8 JANUARY 2024 • By Hossam Madhoun
Messages from Gaza Now / 3
Art & Photography

Cyprus: Return to Petrofani with Ali Cherri & Vicky Pericleous

8 JANUARY 2024 • By Arie Amaya-Akkermans
Cyprus: Return to Petrofani with Ali Cherri & Vicky Pericleous
Essays

Jesus Was Palestinian, But Bethlehem Suspends Christmas

25 DECEMBER 2023 • By Ahmed Twaij
Jesus Was Palestinian, But Bethlehem Suspends Christmas
Essays

Meditations on Occupation, Architecture, Urbicide

25 DECEMBER 2023 • By Arie Amaya-Akkermans
Meditations on Occupation, Architecture, Urbicide
Books

Inside Hamas: From Resistance to Regime

25 DECEMBER 2023 • By Paola Caridi
Inside <em>Hamas: From Resistance to Regime</em>
Columns

Messages from Gaza Now / 2

18 DECEMBER 2023 • By Hossam Madhoun
Messages from Gaza Now / 2
Music

We Will Sing Until the Pain Goes Away—a Palestinian Playlist

18 DECEMBER 2023 • By Brianna Halasa
We Will Sing Until the Pain Goes Away—a Palestinian Playlist
Columns

Messages From Gaza Now

11 DECEMBER 2023 • By Hossam Madhoun
Messages From Gaza Now
Featured excerpt

The Palestine Laboratory and Gaza: An Excerpt

4 DECEMBER 2023 • By Antony Loewenstein
<em>The Palestine Laboratory</em> and Gaza: An Excerpt
Beirut

“The Summer They Heard Music”—a short story by MK Harb

3 DECEMBER 2023 • By MK Harb
“The Summer They Heard Music”—a short story by MK Harb
Fiction

“I, Hanan”—a Gazan tale of survival by Joumana Haddad

3 DECEMBER 2023 • By Joumana Haddad
“I, Hanan”—a Gazan tale of survival by Joumana Haddad
Opinion

Gaza vs. Mosul from a Medical and Humanitarian Standpoint

27 NOVEMBER 2023 • By Ahmed Twaij
Gaza vs. Mosul from a Medical and Humanitarian Standpoint
Art & Photography

Palestinian Artists & Anti-War Supporters of Gaza Cancelled

27 NOVEMBER 2023 • By Nada Ghosn
Palestinian Artists & Anti-War Supporters of Gaza Cancelled
Book Reviews

The Fiction of Palestine’s Ghassan Zaqtan

13 NOVEMBER 2023 • By Cory Oldweiler
The Fiction of Palestine’s Ghassan Zaqtan
Opinion

Beautiful October 7th Art Belies the Horrors of War

13 NOVEMBER 2023 • By Mark LeVine
Beautiful October 7th Art Belies the Horrors of War
Arabic

Poet Ahmad Almallah

9 NOVEMBER 2023 • By Ahmad Almallah
Poet Ahmad Almallah
Opinion

Palestine’s Pen against Israel’s Swords of Injustice

6 NOVEMBER 2023 • By Mai Al-Nakib
Palestine’s Pen against Israel’s Swords of Injustice
Essays

On Fathers, Daughters and the Genocide in Gaza 

30 OCTOBER 2023 • By Deema K Shehabi
On Fathers, Daughters and the Genocide in Gaza 
Islam

October 7 and the First Days of the War

23 OCTOBER 2023 • By Robin Yassin-Kassab
October 7 and the First Days of the War
Editorial

Palestine and the Unspeakable

16 OCTOBER 2023 • By Lina Mounzer
Palestine and the Unspeakable
Art

Vera Tamari’s Lifetime of Palestinian Art

16 OCTOBER 2023 • By Taline Voskeritchian
Vera Tamari’s Lifetime of Palestinian Art
Book Reviews

A Day in the Life of Abed Salama: A Palestine Story

16 OCTOBER 2023 • By Dalia Hatuqa
<em>A Day in the Life of Abed Salama</em>: A Palestine Story
Weekly

World Picks from the Editors, Oct 13 — Oct 27, 2023

12 OCTOBER 2023 • By TMR
World Picks from the Editors, Oct 13 — Oct 27, 2023
Poetry

Home: New Arabic Poems in Translation

11 OCTOBER 2023 • By Sarah Coolidge
<em>Home</em>: New Arabic Poems in Translation
Books

Edward Said: Writing in the Service of Life 

9 OCTOBER 2023 • By Layla AlAmmar
Edward Said: Writing in the Service of Life 
Books

Fairouz: The Peacemaker and Champion of Palestine

1 OCTOBER 2023 • By Dima Issa
Fairouz: The Peacemaker and Champion of Palestine
Book Reviews

Saqi’s Revenant: Sahar Khalifeh’s Classic Nablus Novel Wild Thorns

25 SEPTEMBER 2023 • By Noshin Bokth
Saqi’s Revenant: Sahar Khalifeh’s Classic Nablus Novel <em>Wild Thorns</em>
Poetry

Two Poems, Practicing Absence & At the Airport—Sholeh Wolpé

3 SEPTEMBER 2023 • By Sholeh Wolpé
Two Poems, Practicing Absence & At the Airport—Sholeh Wolpé
Essays

September 11, 1973 and Ariel Dorfman’s The Suicide Museum

3 SEPTEMBER 2023 • By Francisco Letelier
September 11, 1973 and Ariel Dorfman’s <em>The Suicide Museum</em>
Book Reviews

Laila Halaby’s The Weight of Ghosts is a Haunting Memoir

28 AUGUST 2023 • By Thérèse Soukar Chehade
Laila Halaby’s <em>The Weight of Ghosts</em> is a Haunting Memoir
Book Reviews

What’s the Solution for Jews and Palestine in the Face of Apartheid Zionism?

21 AUGUST 2023 • By Jonathan Ofir
What’s the Solution for Jews and Palestine in the Face of Apartheid Zionism?
Opinion

The Middle East is Once Again West Asia

14 AUGUST 2023 • By Chas Freeman, Jr.
The Middle East is Once Again West Asia
Book Reviews

Ilan Pappé on Tahrir Hamdi’s Imagining Palestine

7 AUGUST 2023 • By Ilan Pappé
Ilan Pappé on Tahrir Hamdi’s <em> Imagining Palestine</em>
Art

What Palestine Brings to the World—a Major Paris Exhibition

31 JULY 2023 • By Sasha Moujaes
<em>What Palestine Brings to the World</em>—a Major Paris Exhibition
Opinion

The End of the Palestinian State? Jenin Is Only the Beginning

10 JULY 2023 • By Yousef M. Aljamal
The End of the Palestinian State? Jenin Is Only the Beginning
Fiction

STAMP ME—a monologue by Yussef El Guindi

2 JULY 2023 • By Yussef El Guindi
STAMP ME—a monologue by Yussef El Guindi
Fiction

Tears from a Glass Eye—a story by Samira Azzam

2 JULY 2023 • By Samira Azzam, Ranya Abdelrahman
Tears from a Glass Eye—a story by Samira Azzam
Arabic

Arab Theatre Grapples With Climate Change, Borders, War & Love

4 JUNE 2023 • By Hassan Abdulrazzak
Arab Theatre Grapples With Climate Change, Borders, War & Love
Essays

Alien Entities in the Desert

4 JUNE 2023 • By Dror Shohet
Alien Entities in the Desert
Featured Artist

Nasrin Abu Baker: The Markaz Review Featured Artist, June 2023

4 JUNE 2023 • By TMR
Nasrin Abu Baker: The Markaz Review Featured Artist, June 2023
Islam

From Pawns to Global Powers: Middle East Nations Strike Back

29 MAY 2023 • By Chas Freeman, Jr.
From Pawns to Global Powers: Middle East Nations Strike Back
Book Reviews

How Bethlehem Evolved From Jerusalem’s Sleepy Backwater to a Global Town

15 MAY 2023 • By Karim Kattan
How Bethlehem Evolved From Jerusalem’s Sleepy Backwater to a Global Town
TMR Conversations

TMR CONVERSATIONS: Amal Ghandour Interviews Raja Shehadeh

11 MAY 2023 • By Amal Ghandour, Raja Shehadeh
TMR CONVERSATIONS: Amal Ghandour Interviews Raja Shehadeh
Opinion

Nurredin Amro’s Epic Battle to Save His Home From Demolition

24 APRIL 2023 • By Nora Lester Murad
Nurredin Amro’s Epic Battle to Save His Home From Demolition
Film Reviews

Yallah Gaza! Presents the Case for Gazan Humanity

10 APRIL 2023 • By Karim Goury
<em>Yallah Gaza!</em> Presents the Case for Gazan Humanity
Beirut

Tel Aviv-Beirut, a Film on War, Love & Borders

20 MARCH 2023 • By Karim Goury
<em>Tel Aviv-Beirut</em>, a Film on War, Love & Borders
Beirut

Interview with Michale Boganim, Director of Tel Aviv-Beirut

20 MARCH 2023 • By Karim Goury
Interview with Michale Boganim, Director of <em>Tel Aviv-Beirut</em>
Book Reviews

In Search of Fathers: Raja Shehadeh’s Palestinian Memoir

13 MARCH 2023 • By Amal Ghandour
In Search of Fathers: Raja Shehadeh’s Palestinian Memoir
Centerpiece

Broken Home: Britain in the Time of Migration

5 MARCH 2023 • By Malu Halasa
Broken Home: Britain in the Time of Migration
Essays

More Photographs Taken From The Pocket of a Dead Arab

5 MARCH 2023 • By Saeed Taji Farouky
More Photographs Taken From The Pocket of a Dead Arab
Essays

Home Under Siege: a Palestine Photo Essay

5 MARCH 2023 • By Anam Raheem
Home Under Siege: a Palestine Photo Essay
Fiction

“Holy Land”—short fiction from Asim Rizki

27 FEBRUARY 2023 • By Asim Rizki
“Holy Land”—short fiction from Asim Rizki
Art & Photography

Becoming Palestine Imagines a Liberated Future

27 FEBRUARY 2023 • By Katie Logan
<em>Becoming Palestine</em> Imagines a Liberated Future
Columns

Sudden Journeys: Deluge at Wadi Feynan

6 FEBRUARY 2023 • By Jenine Abboushi
Sudden Journeys: Deluge at Wadi Feynan
TV Review

Palestinian Territories Under Siege But Season 4 of Fauda Goes to Brussels and Beirut Instead

6 FEBRUARY 2023 • By Brett Kline
Palestinian Territories Under Siege But Season 4 of <em>Fauda</em> Goes to Brussels and Beirut Instead
Poetry Markaz

Poet Mihaela Moscaliuc—a “Permanent Immigrant”

5 FEBRUARY 2023 • By Mihaela Moscaliuc
Poet Mihaela Moscaliuc—a “Permanent Immigrant”
Art

The Creative Resistance in Palestinian Art

26 DECEMBER 2022 • By Malu Halasa
The Creative Resistance in Palestinian Art
Essays

Conflict and Freedom in Palestine, a Trip Down Memory Lane

15 DECEMBER 2022 • By Eman Quotah
Art

Art World Picks: Albraehe, Kerem Yavuz, Zeghidour, Amer & Tatah

12 DECEMBER 2022 • By TMR
Art

Museums in Exile—MO.CO’s show for Chile, Sarajevo & Palestine

12 DECEMBER 2022 • By Jordan Elgrably
Museums in Exile—MO.CO’s show for Chile, Sarajevo & Palestine
Art

Where is the Palestinian National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art?

12 DECEMBER 2022 • By Nora Ounnas Leroy
Where is the Palestinian National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art?
Columns

Sudden Journeys: Israel’s Intimate Separations—Part 3

5 DECEMBER 2022 • By Jenine Abboushi
Sudden Journeys: Israel’s Intimate Separations—Part 3
Book Reviews

Fida Jiryis on Palestine in Stranger in My Own Land

28 NOVEMBER 2022 • By Diana Buttu
Fida Jiryis on Palestine in <em>Stranger in My Own Land</em>
Fiction

“Eleazar”—a short story by Karim Kattan

15 NOVEMBER 2022 • By Karim Kattan
“Eleazar”—a short story by Karim Kattan
Opinion

Fragile Freedom, Fragile States in the Muslim World

24 OCTOBER 2022 • By I. Rida Mahmood
Fragile Freedom, Fragile States in the Muslim World
Interviews

Interview with Ahed Tamimi, an Icon of the Palestinian Resistance

15 OCTOBER 2022 • By Nora Lester Murad
Interview with Ahed Tamimi, an Icon of the Palestinian Resistance
Columns

Sudden Journeys: Israel’s Intimate Separations—Part 1

26 SEPTEMBER 2022 • By Jenine Abboushi
Sudden Journeys: Israel’s Intimate Separations—Part 1
Columns

Phoneless in Filthy Berlin

15 SEPTEMBER 2022 • By Maisan Hamdan, Rana Asfour
Phoneless in Filthy Berlin
Columns

Unapologetic Palestinians, Reactionary Germans

15 SEPTEMBER 2022 • By Abir Kopty
Unapologetic Palestinians, Reactionary Germans
Art & Photography

Photographer Mohamed Badarne (Palestine) and his U48 Project

15 SEPTEMBER 2022 • By Viola Shafik
Photographer Mohamed Badarne (Palestine) and his U48 Project
Opinion

Attack on Salman Rushdie is Shocking Tip of the Iceberg

15 AUGUST 2022 • By Jordan Elgrably
Attack on Salman Rushdie is Shocking Tip of the Iceberg
Editorial

Editorial: Is the World Driving Us Mad?

15 JULY 2022 • By TMR
Editorial: Is the World Driving Us Mad?
Latest Reviews

American Theocracy and Failed States

15 JULY 2022 • By Ani Zonneveld
American Theocracy and Failed States
Fiction

“The Peacock” — a story by Sahar Mustafah

4 JULY 2022 • By Sahar Mustafah
“The Peacock” — a story by Sahar Mustafah
Book Reviews

A Poet and Librarian Catalogs Life in Gaza

20 JUNE 2022 • By Eman Quotah
A Poet and Librarian Catalogs Life in Gaza
Art & Photography

Featured Artist: Steve Sabella, Beyond Palestine

15 JUNE 2022 • By TMR
Featured Artist: Steve Sabella, Beyond Palestine
Essays

Sulafa Zidani: “Three Buses and the Rhythm of Remembering”

15 JUNE 2022 • By Sulafa Zidani
Sulafa Zidani: “Three Buses and the Rhythm of Remembering”
Film

Saeed Taji Farouky: “Strange Cities Are Familiar”

15 JUNE 2022 • By Saeed Taji Farouky
Saeed Taji Farouky: “Strange Cities Are Familiar”
Fiction

Selma Dabbagh: “Trash”

15 JUNE 2022 • By Selma Dabbagh
Selma Dabbagh: “Trash”
Opinion

Israel and Palestine: Focus on the Problem, Not the Solution

30 MAY 2022 • By Mark Habeeb
Israel and Palestine: Focus on the Problem, Not the Solution
Essays

We, Palestinian Israelis

15 MAY 2022 • By Jenine Abboushi
We, Palestinian Israelis
Book Reviews

In East Jerusalem, Palestinian Youth Struggle for Freedom

15 MAY 2022 • By Mischa Geracoulis
Featured excerpt

Palestinian and Israeli: Excerpt from “Haifa Fragments”

15 MAY 2022 • By khulud khamis
Palestinian and Israeli: Excerpt from “Haifa Fragments”
Latest Reviews

Palestinian Filmmaker, Israeli Passport

15 MAY 2022 • By Jordan Elgrably
Palestinian Filmmaker, Israeli Passport
Opinion

Palestinians and Israelis Will Commemorate the Nakba Together

25 APRIL 2022 • By Rana Salman, Yonatan Gher
Palestinians and Israelis Will Commemorate the Nakba Together
Columns

Green Almonds in Ramallah

15 APRIL 2022 • By Wafa Shami
Green Almonds in Ramallah
Columns

Libyan, Palestinian and Syrian Family Dinners in London

15 APRIL 2022 • By Layla Maghribi
Libyan, Palestinian and Syrian Family Dinners in London
Film Reviews

Palestine in Pieces: Hany Abu-Assad’s Huda’s Salon

21 MARCH 2022 • By Jordan Elgrably
Palestine in Pieces: Hany Abu-Assad’s <em>Huda’s Salon</em>
Opinion

U.S. Sanctions Russia for its Invasion of Ukraine; Now Sanction Israel for its Occupation of Palestine

21 MARCH 2022 • By Yossi Khen, Jeff Warner
U.S. Sanctions Russia for its Invasion of Ukraine; Now Sanction Israel for its Occupation of Palestine
Columns

“There’s Nothing Worse Than War”

24 FEBRUARY 2022 • By Jordan Elgrably
“There’s Nothing Worse Than War”
Fiction

Three Levantine Tales

15 DECEMBER 2021 • By Nouha Homad
Three Levantine Tales
Beirut

Sudden Journeys: The Villa Salameh Bequest

29 NOVEMBER 2021 • By Jenine Abboushi
Sudden Journeys: The Villa Salameh Bequest
Essays

Syria Through British Eyes

29 NOVEMBER 2021 • By Rana Haddad
Syria Through British Eyes
Fiction

The Promotion (a short story from Saudi Arabia)

22 NOVEMBER 2021 • By Waqar Ahmed
The Promotion (a short story from Saudi Arabia)
Featured article

Killing Olive Trees Fails to Push Palestinians Out

15 NOVEMBER 2021 • By Basil Al-Adraa
Killing Olive Trees Fails to Push Palestinians Out
Film Reviews

Victims of Discrimination Never Forget in The Forgotten Ones

1 NOVEMBER 2021 • By Jordan Elgrably
Victims of Discrimination Never Forget in <em>The Forgotten Ones</em>
Featured excerpt

Memoirs of a Militant, My Years in the Khiam Women’s Prison

15 OCTOBER 2021 • By Nawal Qasim Baidoun
Memoirs of a Militant, My Years in the Khiam Women’s Prison
Centerpiece

The Untold Story of Zakaria Zubeidi

15 OCTOBER 2021 • By Ramzy Baroud
The Untold Story of Zakaria Zubeidi
Book Reviews

Poetry: Mohammed El-Kurd’s Rifqa Reviewed

15 OCTOBER 2021 • By India Hixon Radfar
Poetry: Mohammed El-Kurd’s <em>Rifqa</em> Reviewed
Film Reviews

Will Love Triumph in the Midst of Gaza’s 14-Year Siege?

11 OCTOBER 2021 • By Jordan Elgrably
Will Love Triumph in the Midst of Gaza’s 14-Year Siege?
Columns

In Flawed Democracies, White Supremacy and Ethnocentrism Flourish

1 AUGUST 2021 • By Mya Guarnieri Jaradat
In Flawed Democracies, White Supremacy and Ethnocentrism Flourish
Columns

When War is Just Another Name for Murder

15 JULY 2021 • By Norman G. Finkelstein
When War is Just Another Name for Murder
Fiction

Gazan Skies, from the novel “Out of It”

14 JULY 2021 • By Selma Dabbagh
Gazan Skies, from the novel “Out of It”
Essays

The Gaza Mythologies

14 JULY 2021 • By Ilan Pappé
The Gaza Mythologies
Essays

Gaza, You and Me

14 JULY 2021 • By Abdallah Salha
Gaza, You and Me
Essays

In Retrospect: An American Educator in Gaza

14 JULY 2021 • By Diane Shammas
In Retrospect: An American Educator in Gaza
Latest Reviews

Review: Open Gaza: Architectures of Hope

14 JULY 2021 • By Hadani Ditmars
Review: <em>Open Gaza: Architectures of Hope</em>
Columns

Gaza’s Catch-22s

14 JULY 2021 • By Khaled Diab
Gaza’s Catch-22s
Essays

Making a Film in Gaza

14 JULY 2021 • By Elana Golden
Making a Film in Gaza
Weekly

The Unfinished Presidency of Jimmy Carter

4 JULY 2021 • By Maryam Zar
The Unfinished Presidency of Jimmy Carter
Columns

The Diplomats’ Quarter: Wasta of the Palestinian Authority

14 JUNE 2021 • By Raja Shehadeh
The Diplomats’ Quarter: Wasta of the Palestinian Authority
Book Reviews

The Triumph of Love and the Palestinian Revolution

16 MAY 2021 • By Fouad Mami
Essays

The Wall We Can’t Tell You About

14 MAY 2021 • By Jean Lamore
The Wall We Can’t Tell You About
Essays

Is Tel Aviv’s Neve Tzedek, Too, Occupied Territory?

14 MAY 2021 • By Taylor Miller, TMR
Is Tel Aviv’s Neve Tzedek, Too, Occupied Territory?
Essays

Between Thorns and Thistles in Bil’in

14 MAY 2021 • By Francisco Letelier
Between Thorns and Thistles in Bil’in
Essays

Panopticon of Kashmir

14 MAY 2021 • By Ifat Gazia
Panopticon of Kashmir
Columns

Free Speech, Palestinian Stories and the Oscars

21 APRIL 2021 • By Jordan Elgrably
Free Speech, Palestinian Stories and the Oscars
Weekly

“I Advance in Defeat”, the Poems of Najwan Darwish

28 MARCH 2021 • By Patrick James Dunagan
“I Advance in Defeat”, the Poems of Najwan Darwish
TMR 7 • Truth?

Poetry Against the State

14 MARCH 2021 • By Gil Anidjar
Poetry Against the State
Poetry

A visual poem from Hala Alyan: Gaza

14 MARCH 2021 • By TMR
A visual poem from Hala Alyan: Gaza
Book Reviews

The Howling of the Dog: Adania Shibli’s “Minor Detail”

30 DECEMBER 2020 • By Layla AlAmmar
The Howling of the Dog: Adania Shibli’s “Minor Detail”
TMR 4 • Small & Indie Presses

Children of the Ghetto, My Name Is Adam

14 DECEMBER 2020 • By Elias Khoury
Children of the Ghetto, My Name Is Adam
Centerpiece

The Road to Jerusalem, Then and Now

15 NOVEMBER 2020 • By Raja Shehadeh
The Road to Jerusalem, Then and Now
World Picks

Interlink Proposes 4 New Arab Novels

22 SEPTEMBER 2020 • By TMR
Interlink Proposes 4 New Arab Novels

1 thought on “Palestine and the Unspeakable”

  1. I just can’t wrap my mind about yet another cruel question (almost in the same vein of your rhetorical mathematical questions elsewhere in the editorial): How can colonized Palestinians who believe in armed struggle engage in violent resistance against their oppressors and colonizers without giving the Israelis the impression that they’re killing them as Jews? Israel is an ethno-theocracy created for the Jews with an underpinning principle made into law and actively applied since 1950 that Jews around the world have a right of “return” to Israel. How come then Palestinians can target whatever they count as non-civilian Israelis without necessarily being “targeting Jews”, i.e. military targets that happened to be Jews because that’s exactly the very racist nature and demographic structure of Zionist Israeli?!
    That said, I believe we must make a clear and crucial distinction between two aspects of what Palestinians did on October 7: (1) There was an unprecedented act of purely legitimate armed resistance against the Israeli army and police, (2) There were cold-blood massacres, kidnappings, and attacks against civilian settlers, revelers, and kibbutzim communities.
    Treating these two aspects equally as condemnable, criminal (and possibly anti-Semitic) aggressions is a grave mistake, just as treating them equally as commendable acts is a grave mistake. Indeed, one of them is entirely commendable and the other is entirely condemnable.

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