PALESTINE IS STILL THE ISSUE
Resources curated by Palestinian artist and writer
Izdihar Afyouni
As I am writing this in the UK, Prime Minister and major British Petroleum stakeholder, Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer, leader of the opposition and self-proclaimed ‘proud Zionist’ have joined the call for a ceasefire in Gaza after two and a half months of unwavering vocal and financial support for Israel’s relentless, indiscriminate bombing of the besieged Gaza strip, despite the overwhelming civilian protests against the UK’s active role in this genocide. This seemingly abrupt decision follows the oil giant British Petroleum being forced to halt their shipments to Israel through the Red Sea after Yemen’s Houthis blocked their cargos, thereby disrupting the flow of capital.
As a sordid reminder of the big players in the cultural sector’s incessant need to remain firmly on the wrong side of history whenever possible, The British Museum signed a major £50 million sponsorship deal with BP, a decision that led to the resignation of their deputy chairwoman Muriel Gray on December 21.
As I am writing this there has been yet another communications blackout in Gaza. As I am writing this the IOF is carrying out field executions of men and women in Gaza. As I am writing this I have Al Jazeera Arabic on in the background and there has been yet another airstrike in Jabalia Refugee Camp. A reporter interrupts a young man’s search through the rubble for survivors to ask him, in Arabic, if there is any justification for what is being done to him and his family: “Is there any justification for this relentless bombardment? Is there any justification you can think of?” The young man says he is a civilian, they are all civilians, he motions for the journalist to look through the rubble, the collapsed buildings, and a teenager’s corpse: “Do you see any weapons? We are civilians.” The reporter asks him, as he has previously asked his peers, what message he wants to send to the world, to which he responds:
We are civilians. We are just civilians. I don’t want food, I don’t want a house anymore, I just want salt and water, water and salt. I want to live in a tent, I don’t care. I just don’t want to be bombed. Tell that to the world. Tell that to the West. Tell that to the useless Arab leaders. I want water and salt. I don’t want to be bombed.
Every day Palestinians are asked to participate in their own dehumanisation as a method of survival. Under bombardment, under siege, under occupation and the boot of the ‘civilised’ and ‘civilising’ world. Every day we are asked to grovel for the scraps of what people in the West refer to as ‘humanity’.
What Palestinians experience, not only under occupation, but also under European and American ‘democracy’ is a government-sanctioned erosion of our lives and identities; the criminalisation of Palestinianhood. An even more difficult reality to reckon with is that the most respected voices on what is all-too-often criminally referred to as a ‘conflict’ are rarely Palestinians themselves. It is as if it is not compelling enough that a Palestinian should perform (in perfect English) their humanness for a Western audience, but that a gentile should take their place to reassure their peers that they are, and perhaps always have been, human.
In this struggle, it is Palestinians who are embodied. A reminder as well, that the project to dehumanise Palestinians is also a capitalist project. The Zionist project would like you to assume that pro-Palestine advocacy is a roadblock to commercial success. The cost of your silence is the loss of countless lives.
But Pro-Palestinian advocacy is not a roadblock; it is a generous invitation for every person who seeks to live a life of freedom and dignity. It is an invitation to root and deepen our decolonial frameworks. The Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI) has already put out a generous invitation for all cultural workers and organisations to join the movement by taking practical steps to disrupt the normalisation and culturewashing of Israel’s apartheid regime, prolonged ethnic cleansing project and systemic denial of Palestinians’ human rights. I urge you to join them and the wider BDS movement.
Palestinian liberation is a portal into a new kind of political consciousness and a new route towards radicalism. It is an invitation to expand on our understanding(s) of meaningful, long-term solidarity in an anti-colonial struggle.
- Izdihar Afyouni, December 2023
Heba Zagout, Jerusalem Is My City, 2023. 92 x 60 cm.
Heba Zaghout was a Palestinian visual artist and schoolteacher who was killed by an Israeli airstrike on October 13th in Gaza alomgside two of her children.
Articles
Let’s Talk About How the Media Covers Gaza
By Mohammed El-Kurd
Grounding the Current Moment: An Al-Shabaka Syllabus
Two Months
By Palestinian Youth Movement
Imagining Palestinian Futures Beyond Colonial Monumentality
By Karim Kattan
The Violence of Demanding Perfect Victims
By Noura Erakat
Why Must Palestinians Audition for Your Empathy?
By Hala Alyan
Ugly Enjoyment
By Nadia Bou Ali
(In Arabic)
العيش مع التلذّذ القبيح
ناديا بو علي
Can The Palestinian Mourn?
By Abdaljawad Omar
The Embargo On Empathy
by Jumana Manna
Plan Dalet: Master Plan for the Conquest of Palestine
by Walid Khalidi
To Those I’ve Lost
By Sahar Qeshta in Gaza
There Are No Silent Vigils during Genocide
By Nadine Naber
How Do We Reach Each Other: Towards Generative Solidarities
By Karim Kattan
Physical Destruction in Whole or in Part
By Saree Makdisi
One Tick, Two Ticks **
By Selma Dabbagh
A Chronology of Palestinian Women’s & Feminist Organizing: 1893-20 by PFC
Watch
Gaza Frontline
Palestine Deep Dive and Double Down News hosted an event featuring Palestinian speakers Ahmed Alnaouq, Dr. Shahd Abusalama, Dr. Mohammad Seyam and Saleem Lubbad on the ongoing genocide.
Gaza In Context
Art and Interactive Resources
We Had Dreams: The Gazans Living And Dying Under Siege
Gazans in their own words, produced by Visualizing Palestine
May amnesia never kiss us on the mouth: Online Platform
By Basel Abbas and Ruanne Abou-Rahme
Read, Perform, Share
The Gaza Monologues
By ASHTAR Youth
Download the monologues from 2010, 2013 and 2023 here.
Thicker Than Blood Digital
By Izdihar Afyouni
(Digital game, not mobile-compatible)
Remember Their Names
By Visualizing Palestine
Poetry/Prose
I Grant You Refuge
By Hiba Abu Nada, writer and educator killed by Israeli airstrikes in southern Gaza on Oct 20th 2023. Translated by Huda Fakhreddine.
If I Must Die
Dr. Refaat Alareer. Writer, poet, translator, university professor and activist who was killed by an Israeli airstrike along with his brother, sister and children on December 6, 2023 in Gaza.
This website compiles translations of his poem written five weeks before his killing.
Nostalgia For the Future
By Nadia Awad
War Machines Dress Up as Drag Queens
By Mohammed El-Kurd
Palestine: Ways of Being - Available in English and Arabic.
A season of stories centring under-explored areas of Palestinian life and liberation. Curated by Zena Agha, produced by Skin Deep.
Postcard from a Liberated Gaza
By Hadeel Assali
Guns and Figs
An excerpt from Heba Hayek’s memoir Sambac Beneath Unlikely Skies
Let Them Take Mars
By Karim Kattan
Through Song and Sacrifice, Silwad Remains
By Marah Abdel Jaber
Desires
By Rua Jendawe
A Smile on His Face
By Sheikha Helawy
We Teach Life Sir
By Rafeef Ziadeh
Advocacy Resources
Defending Your Advocacy Toolkit
Palestine Digital Action Toolkit
by Palestinian Feminist Collective
The Witness Boycott Apartheid Search Engine
Palestine Solidarity for the Long Term
A guide by Rooted Solidarities
Palestine Action Toolkit
by Palestinian Feminist Collective
Educational Resources
Palestine 101
The Nakba & Palestinian Refugees: IMEU Questions and Answers
Visualizing Palestine: Palestine 101
Policy Analysis
Al-Shabaka; the Palestinian Policy Network
The IMEU
Produces regular policy analysis for distribution to decision-makers on various Palestinian-Israeli legislative and policy topics.
Podcasts
This Is Palestine Podcast
By The IMEU
Let’s Talk Palestine Podcast
The NAKBA Archive
Radio Alhara: Learning Palestine Audio Lectures
The Free Palestine Library
A free online resource of texts on Palestine and related material, updated regularly.
Decolonize Palestine Reading List
Palestine Film Library
Palestine Film Foundation (PFF) archive of audiovisual materials related to Palestine.
Managed by a network of academics, curators, filmmakers, and volunteers from Palestine, the UK and elsewhere.
Social Media
(this section has been compiled by PalTrek)
Twitter / X
Organizations
@AlMezanCenter Al Mezan Centre for Human Rights
@alhaq_org Al-Haq
@theIMEU Institute for Middle East Understanding (IMEU)
@AlShabaka Al-Shabaka
@visualizingpal Visualizing Palestine
@meriponline Middle East Research and Information Project (MERIPO)
@grassroots_quds Grassroots Jerusalem
@Addameer Addameer Prisoner Support & Human Rights Association
@JvpAction Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) Action
@DCIPalestine Defense for Children International
Individuals
@m7mdkurd Mohammed Al-Kurd (The Nation)
@Amanykhalefa Amany Khalefa
@yarahawari Yara Hawari (Al-Shabaka)
@meznaqato Mezna Qato
@YousefMunayyer Yousef Munayyer
@4Noura Noura Ekakat (Rutgers University)
@aj_iraqi Amjad Iraqi (972 Magazine)
@OmarBaddar Omar Baddar
@sumayaawad Sumaya Awad (Adalah Justice Project)
@dianabuttu Diana Buttu
@alaatartir Alaa Tartir (Al-Shabaka)
@TareqBaconi Tareq Baconi (Al-Shabaka)
@stevesalaita Steve Salaita
@JehadAbusalim Jehad Abusalim (The Jerusalem Fund)
@nadiahijab Nadia Hijab (Al-Shabaka)
@benabyad Ben White (The British Palestine Media Centre)
@daoudkuttab Daoud Kuttab (AI Monitor, Arab News)
@zena_agha Zena Agha (Al-Shabaka)
@RiyaAlsanah Riya Alsanah
@randawahbe Randa Wahbe (Harvard University)
@MariamBarghouti Mariam Barghouti (Mondoweiss)
@JalalAK_JoJo Jalal Abu Khater (Blue Sky)
@OmarSShakir Omar Shakir (Human Rights Watch)
@LinahAlsaafin Linah Alsaafin (Al Jazeera)
@eye.on.palestine Eye On Palestine
@addameer_pal Addameer Prisoner Support & Human Rights Association
@hiddenpalestine Hidden Palestine
@JVPAction JVP Action
@adalahjusticeproject Adalah Justice Project
@Tal3at_sept26 Tal’at
@PalestinianYouthMovement Palestinian Youth Movement
@USCPRUS Campaign for Palestinian Rights (USCPR)
Donate
ASHTAR Theatre is launching an intervention in the West Bank, Palestine, providing immediate relief to express and mitigate the traumatic impact of the current war on Gaza. In partnership with Palestinian psychologists, ASHTAR will deliver psycho-social interventions for children, youth and adults using theater and art as a medium for trauma release in schools & youth centers.
Urgent Gaza Appeal:Save the Children of Fady Ahmed
Palestine Action’s Defense Fund
UK Solidarity campaign
Palestinian Youth Movement Britain
European Legal Support Center
Grassroots activists support group for protests and political action
"My Capital" by Palestinian painter Nabil Anani, 2014.
Izdihar Afyouni (1994) is Palestinian-Jordanian artist, writer and curator based in the UK. Her creative practice encompasses large-format painting, performance art, installation, ritual interventions and text. Her work is situated at the intersections of necropolitics, occultism and sexual dissidence, and explores phantasmic hereditaments of imperialism by interrogating the colonial gaze.
IG : @izdihar.studio
Website: https://izdiharafyouni.com/
