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An empowering story of resistance that gently introduces children to the history of residential schools in Canada.

Winner of the 2017 Governor General's Literary Award!

A young girl notices things about her grandmother that make her curious. Why does her grandmother have long, braided hair and beautifully coloured clothing? Why does she speak Cree and spend so much time with her family? As the girl asks questions, her grandmother shares her experiences in a residential school, when all of these things were taken away.

Also available in a bilingual Swampy Cree/English edition. Download the free teacher guide on the Portage & Main Press website.

Winner, Governor General's Literary Awards 2017

Runner-up, TD Canadian Children's Literature Award 2017

Winner, McNally Robinson Best Book for Young People Award/Younger Category 2017

A quiet story...of love and resistance. ... Flett's collage illustrations, with their simplicity and earthy colors, are soulful and gentle.... All readers will connect with how Nókom lives in celebration of colors, her long hair, her language, and, most of all, her family. a starred review, The Horn Book Magazine

When We Were Alone is rare. It is exquisite and stunning, for the power conveyed by the words Robertson wrote, and for the illustrations that Flett created. I highly recommend it.
Debbie Reese, American Indians in Children's Literature

...Robertson handles a delicate task here admirably well: explaining residential schools, that shameful legacy, and making them understandable to small children. It's a dark history, and the author doesn't disguise that, but he wisely focuses the grandmother's tale on how, season by season, the students use creativity, imagination, and patience to retain their sense of identity. A beautifully quiet, bold strength arises from the continued refrain "When we were alone" and in how the children insisted on being themselves. Flett's gorgeous, skillful illustrations have a flattened, faux naïve feel to them, like construction paper collage, a style that works perfectly with the story. She nicely contrasts the school's dull browns and grays with the riotous colors surrounding Nókom and gets much expression from her simple silhouettes. Spare, poetic, and moving, this Cree heritage story makes a powerful impression. Kirkus Reviews

Beautiful, painful, and shining with truth and dignity. Richard Van Camp

Robertson's soft rhythmic text and Julie Flett's simple, yet expressive, illustrations combine to create a beautiful story of strength and resistance. The muted colours used in the pictures of residential school life remind readers of the suffering endured by Indigenous children. The contrast between these pages, and the vibrant greens, reds, and blues of the illustrations depicting residential school students temporarily escaping into nature, is heartbreakingly effective. Robertson never tries to disguise the underlying tragedy of Nókom's experience, but together he and Flett have crafted a book that is still suitable for younger readers, in spite of the intense subject matter.
When We Were Alone is an incredible work of art and is very highly recommended.
Roseanne Gauthier, National Reading Campaign

Robertson's text moves between the present and the past, the girl's questions and Nókom's memories, which deepen and intensify the quiet, powerful way she lives out her own culture, day by day, in the present. A beautifully rendered story of resisitance and love, this is made all the more luminous by Flett's art - not just by flashes of fuschsia or scarlet among ochre grasses, but by her precisely observed images of the compact bodies of the uniformed children, bowed beneath the weight of the scissors, or lovingly tending each other's hair. Highly recommended. Deirdre Baker, Toronto Star

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Winner of the 2017 Governor General's Literary Award!A young girl notices things about her grandmother that make her curious. Why does her grandmother have long, braided hair and beautifully coloured ...

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connection to manifest destiny and US settler-colonialism

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John Gast, a Brooklyn based painter and lithographer, painted this picture in 1872 on commission for George Crofutt, the publisher of a popular series of western travel guides. Few Americans saw the actual painting, but many encountered it in reproduction. Crofutt included an engraving of it in his guidebooks and produced a large chromolithographic version for his subscribers. The painting is so rich in detail that my students-encountering it as a slide projected on a screen-usually imagine it to be a large canvas. But in fact it is tiny, just 12 3/4 x 16 3/4 inches in size.

I use this image early on in my western history classes for several reasons. First, even students with little experience in talking about visual images find it easy to talk about what they see here. Second, students quickly grasp that although the painting does not convey a realistic representation of actual events, it nonetheless expresses a powerful historical idea about the meaning of America's westward expansion. This sparks a discussion about the ways in which ideas-whether grounded in material fact or not-can both reflect and shape human actions. Finally, after a discussion of the larger cultural ideas embodied in this image, we move to a discussion of Frederick Jackson Turner's celebrated 1893 essay, "The Significance of the Frontier in American History." Students quickly perceive that while Turner had a way with words, his argument was not wholly original. He distilled ideas already present in American popular thought and many of them are present in this painting, painted some two decades earlier.

As students begin to describe what they see, they quickly realize that they're looking at a kind of historical encyclopedia of transportation technologies. The simple Indian travois precedes the covered wagon and the pony express, the overland stage and the three railroad lines. The static painting thus conveys a vivid sense of the passage of time as well as of the inevitability of technological progress. The groups of human figures, read from left to right, convey much the same idea. Indians precede Euro-American prospectors, who in turn come before the farmers and settlers. The idea of progress coming from the East to the West, and the notion that the frontier would be developed by sequential waves of people (here and in Turner's configuration, always men) was deeply rooted in American thought.

Then, of course, there is that "beautiful and charming female," as Crofutt described her, whose diaphanous gown somehow remains attached to her body without the aid of velcro or safety pins. On her head she bears what Crofutt called "the Star of Empire." And lest viewers still not understand her role in this vision of American destiny, he explains: "In her right hand she carries a book-common school-the emblem of education and the testimonial of our national enlightenment, while with the left hand she unfolds and stretches the slender wires of the telegraph, that are to flash intelligence throughout the land." The Indians flee from progress, unable to adjust to the shifting tides of history. The painting hints at the past, lays out a fantastic version of an evolving present, and finally lays out a vision of the future. A static picture conveys a dynamic story.

The ideas embodied in this painting not only suggest the broad sources for Turner's essay about the importance of the frontier in American life, they suggest that his essay reached an audience for whom these ideas were already familiar. Students often imagine the issues raised by visual images to be peripheral to the more central questions raised by literary sources. The Gast painting, however, allows one to demonstrate the ways in which painters, too, could engage large historical questions, cultural stereotypes and political ideas, by using a visual vocabulary that viewers found both familiar and persuasive.

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John Gast, a Brooklyn based painter and lithographer, painted this picture in 1872 on commission for George Crofutt, the publisher of a popular series of western travel guides. Few Americans saw the actual painting, but many encountered it in reproduction. Crofutt included an engraving of it in his guidebooks and produced a large chromolithographic version for his subscribers.

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Ahlan Wasahlan! Welcome to Arab American Cultural Center! Heading link

Ahlan Wasahlan! In the Arab region and its diasporas, people say Ahlan Wasahlan to welcome guests or visitors. The ArabAmCC extends the literal meaning of this phrase to anyone interested in creating awareness about Arab American cultures and histories, building community and solidarity, and promoting social justice and cultural diversity: "May you arrive as part of the family and tread easily."

During Summer 2024, the Arab American Cultural Center welcomes you to our space to study, eat, relax, converse, and be in community with us and other students.

Regardless if in person or remote we are always here for you to ask questions about the campus, get support with any challenges, or participate in our programs. Join us

Center Hours: T-Th 10 AM - 3 PM; Fridays 10-3 available virtually

One on One appointments: For students who would like to drop in for a conversation, please email any of our staff to schedule an appointment. You can also always send a message to our arabamcc@uic.edu email address.

Resources, News, and Opportunities: ArabAmCC will be sharing resources, updates, and opportunities for engagement and learning via our listserv, Facebook and Instagram, so make sure to follow-us.

Student Support Program: Have questions about campus? Not help navigating the university? email nesreenh@uic.edu to set up an appointment

In solidarity

The ArabAmCC team (Nesreen, Zeina, Abdallah, Nadiah, Sarah, David, and Amira)

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Arab American Cultural Center | University of Illinois Chicago

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Ahlan Wasahlan! Welcome to Arab American Cultural Center! Heading link Ahlan Wasahlan! In the Arab region and its diasporas, people say Ahlan Wasahlan to welcome guests or visitors. The ArabAmCC extends the literal meaning of this phrase to anyone interested in creating awareness about Arab American cultures and histories, building community and solidarity, and promoting social justice and cultural diversity: "May you arrive as part of the family and tread easily."

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A viral video of high school students and a Native elder in D.C.—and the responses that followed—shows why we need to introduce students to the concept of settler-colonialism.

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Over the course of my 11th grade classes' reading of The Grapes of Wrath, I used a wide variety of excellent Zinn Education Project resources to connect the novel to the realities of the past and our present day, touching on the climate change, labor, farming, the New Deal, and the Green New Deal.

As we approached the end of the novel, words like "red" and "agitator" became more prevalent; the migrants became more radicalized in mind if not yet in deed; and the violence of the state was directed at those championing fairness and dignity. I wanted an activity that would help contextualize the words and actions of the novel and immerse the students in the real life history of the Red Scare and those who bravely stood up to McCarthyism.

Subversives: Stories from the Red Scare by Ursula Wolfe-Rocca, once again from Zinn Education Project, was an excellent mixer lesson that did just what I needed.

What I love about Zinn Ed Project's teaching resources are that they are expertly researched and detailed, and they show both the indignities real people suffered, while still centering the way these same people fought back. In this way, students learn the shocking truths of our history, while still seeing where the spaces for action and revolt can exist in our present moment. They can see how they themselves can act in the face of injustice.

Before beginning the mixer activity (which includes excellent, detailed instructions to ensure it goes off without a hitch), I asked my students to write about what they knew, or think they knew about topics related to the Red Scare, putting some specific words like "red," "commie," "Senator Joseph McCarthy," and more on the board to prompt their writing and thinking. This provoked a fairly long conversation in my classes about the history behind the Red Scare and the Cold War, allowing students an opportunity to show what they know, and to ensure students had a firm background on the history before we began. We then proceeded to mix with one another, sharing our stories, and recording what we learned about those affected by McCarthyism and the Red Scare.

I always like to play a role myself, as it models the seriousness of the roles and speeds buy-in from even skeptical students. After we mixed and answered all the questions, students answered the further questions in the lesson individually in their journals, and we discussed as a class.

Students were absolutely shocked by the many and various ways people from all jobs and walks of life were hounded and persecuted by their own government. Perhaps most importantly, students were able to see that these persecutions, while carried out under the guise of national security and the American way of life, were nothing more than thinly veiled attacks on those who would dare to challenge the white, heteronormative, capitalist hegemony of the United States. They were also amazed by the stories of resilience and strength of those they mixed with.

I closed the activity with reflective writing on the final question on the mixer sheet asking students to draw conclusions about who was targeted by the Red Scare and why, as well as my own question on connecting the activity to The Grapes of Wrath, and a question from the next steps section of the activity asking students to identify what terms (similar to "red" or "commie") today are used to isolate, criminalize, and target current social movements?

As usual, this activity from the Zinn Ed Project was an energetic success that elicited excellent connections to the novel and our present day. I've included some sample responses from my students below:

The people who were targeted all wanted fair and equal rights or knowledge. They targeted people and called them Communists for wanting things like flushing toilets and equal pay among Black communities. They targeted gays and people who fought against their injustices. I think a lot of what Tom and Casy experienced was similar to the red scare characters in our mixer. Like wanting fair pay they could support a family with. Casy was killed for fighting for what he beloved in. Killed for fighting for a good life and the ability to live financially free. They were seen as Okies and things just like the people were seen as commies. Even though most of them just wanted basic rights and liberty. I think a lot of people can agree derogatory terms are always going to be around. today people see words like trannie to describe and discriminate against the trans community. During the BLM movement trump would call the African American protesters thugs, even when they had peaceful protests. But he called white RIOTERS who broke into the capitol building were simply "rightfully anger American civilians. " I believe Trump used thugs to discriminate against African Americans simply fighting for the end of Black and colored police brutality.

People who fought for equal rights, African Americans, and people [who are] part of the LGBT community were targeted during the Red Scare because they had differing ideas from white America.

Stories in the mixer are related to the stories of those in the novel because it seems as though people who have more power are scared of people who are different from them. Some terms that are used to isolate, criminalize, or target people, groups, or movements include "Social Justice Warrior", "snowflake", and racial/homophobic slurs.

People targeted for being a communist during the red scare are mostly people fighting for equality. People like homosexuals, union members, and people with communist ideals were targeted as they could most likely be communists. Tom and Casy are trying to get a job so that they can get their footing in California. These people's stories could relate to Tom and Casy as they want to be paid as equally as anyone else. Their fight for equality in pay is similar to these stories of other equality fighters

Many minorities seemed to be targeted during the Red Scare, and they were targeted simply because they didn't fit in with the norms of the time. The stories we heard in the mixer are related to the stories of those in the novel because these were people of lower class who wanted more from the upper class. In short the power of the elites were threatened and the book utilizes terms about communism with a bad connotation. The elites seemed to use that term to villainize the migrants such as Tom and Casy, who led a strike as a leader and was killed as a result. Some terms that are used today to isolate or target people groups. Maybe one of the most prominent in today's context would be using Covid-19 to target Asian groups. The term is used interchangeably, in particular, with the Chinese. There is a negative connotation associated with the virus and the place of origin.

Thanks again Zinn Education Project for another successful, high impact lesson!

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Subversives: Stories from the Red Scare - Zinn Education Project

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Teaching Activity. By Ursula Wolfe-Rocca. In this mixer lesson, students meet 27 different targets of government harassment and repression to analyze why disparate individuals might have become targets of the same campaign, determining what kind of threat they posed in the view of the U.S. government.

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Yahia Lababidi is an Arab-American writer of Palestinian background. He is the author of 11 books of poetry and prose, including most recently Quarantine Notes, short meditations composed during the Covid-19 pandemic. His new collection of poetry, Palestine Wail, is forthcoming.

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"All beautiful poetry is an act of resistance," wrote Mahmoud Darwish, the poet laureate of Palestine.

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This is an excerpt from the Haymarket Books (local Chi!) Podcast series, featuring writer, academic, and organizer William C. Anderson. (Podcast: Palestine 1492: Settler-Colonialism, Solidarity, and Resistance) In this portion, he reads aloud a reflective letter about his growth, shift in understanding towards Palestinian oppression, racial capitalism, and US Imperialism.

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Recommended titles for K-12 and adults on Palestine. This list is important for children of Palestinian heritage to see themselves represented in the curriculum.

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complexity of Jewish responses to the genocide (consider Jewish Voice for Peace vs Anti-Defamation League)

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about two American Jews and how their relationship to Israel shifted after witnessing atrocities against the Palestinian people

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When two young American Jews raised to unconditionally love Israel witness the brutal way Israel treats Palestinians, their lives take sharp left turns.

They join a movement of young American Jews battling the old guard to redefine Judaism's relationship with Israel, revealing a deepening generational divide over modern Jewish identity.

Directed by two first-time Jewish filmmakers who share a similar story to the film's protagonists, ISRAELISM is produced by Peabody-winner & 6-time Emmy-nominee Daniel J. Chalfen (Loudmouth, Boycott) along with activist and filmmaker Nadia Saah (Mo, Omar, 5 Broken Cameras), executive produced by two-time Emmy-winner Brian A. Kates (Marvelous Ms. Maisel, Succession, The Plot Against America) and edited by Emmy-winner Tony Hale (The Story of Plastic).

ISRAELISM uniquely explores how Jewish attitudes towards Israel are changing dramatically, with massive consequences for the region and for Judaism itself.

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When two young American Jews raised to unconditionally love Israel witness the brutal way Israel treats Palestinians, their lives take sharp left turns. They join a movement of young American Jews battling the old guard to redefine Judaism's relationship with Israel, revealing a deepening generational divide over modern Jewish identity.

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Using Indigeneity in the Struggle for Palestinian Liberation

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Using Indigeneity in the Struggle for Palestinian Liberation

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Using Indigeneity in the Struggle for Palestinian Liberation | Al-Shabaka

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Indigeneity has re-emerged within the discourse on Palestine and is becoming a facet of political mobilization. But what does this mean in practice and how can indigeneity be harnessed to further Palestinian rights? Al-Shabaka’s 24347 and 24588 examine indigeneity in the context of international law and suggest ways to employ it in the Palestinian quest for liberation.

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Teaching Students How to Identify Credible Sources

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Teachers can guide students toward a clear understanding of the factors that make a particular source of information reliable or not.

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Use this site to reflect on information bias/ reliability while ALSO exploring how much money the US spends on Israel.

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The United States was the first country to recognize the provisional government of the state of Israel upon its founding in 1948, and it has for many decades been a strong and steady supporter of the Jewish state. Israel has received hundreds of billions of dollars in U.S. foreign aid in the post-World War II era, a level of support that reflects many factors, including a U.S. commitment to Israel's security and the countries' shared foreign policy interests in a volatile and strategically important part of the world.

The two countries do not have a mutual defense pact, as the United States has with allies such as Japan and fellow members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). However, Israel is among a short list of "major non-NATO allies" and has privileged access to the most advanced U.S. military platforms and technologies.

About half of Americans hold favorable views of Israel, according to recent polls. But ongoing U.S. military aid to Israel has come under greater scrutiny amid Israel's war with Hamas, now entering its seventh month. Israel is responding to the Palestinian militant group's October 7 terrorist attack that killed more than 1,200 Israelis, the deadliest such attack in the country's history. Some U.S. lawmakers and foreign leaders, the United Nations, human rights and activist groups, and other parties have voiced growing concern about the scale of Israel's war to eliminate Hamas. They have been especially critical of its heavy bombing of the Gaza Strip, which has reportedly killed more than thirty-three thousand Palestinians-mostly civilians.

How much U.S. aid does Israel receive?

Israel has been the largest cumulative recipient of U.S. foreign aid since its founding, receiving about $300 billion (adjusted for inflation) in total economic and military assistance. The United States has also provided large foreign aid packages to other Middle Eastern countries, particularly Egypt and Iraq, but Israel stands apart.

The United States provided Israel considerable economic assistance from 1971 to 2007, but nearly all U.S. aid today goes to support Israel's military, the most advanced in the region. The United States has provisionally agreed (via a memorandum of understanding) to provide Israel with nearly $4 billion a year through 2028, and U.S. lawmakers are considering billions of dollars in supplementary funding for Israel amid its war with Hamas.

How does Israel use the aid?

Most of the aid-approximately $3.3 billion a year-is provided as grants under the Foreign Military Financing (FMF) program, funds that Israel must use to purchase U.S. military equipment and services. Israel has also historically been permitted to use a portion of its FMF aid to buy equipment from Israeli defense firms-a benefit not granted to other recipients of U.S. military aid-but this domestic procurement is to be phased out in the next few years. U.S. aid reportedly accounts for some 15 percent of Israel's defense budget. Israel, like many other countries, also buys U.S. military products outside of the FMF program.

Additionally, $500 million a year is slated for Israeli and joint U.S.-Israeli missile defense programs, in which the two countries collaborate on the research, development, and production of these systems used by Israel, including the Iron Dome, David's Sling, and Arrow II. Iron Dome was solely developed by Israel, but the United States has been a production partner since 2014. For instance, the U.S. military contractor Raytheon manufactures Tamir interceptor missiles for Israel's Iron Dome at its facilities in Arizona.

Are there any conditions or restrictions attached to the aid?

Transfers of U.S. military equipment to Israel, as to other foreign governments, are subject to relevant U.S. law. The president must notify Congress [PDF] before selling foreign powers major weapon systems or services valued above a certain dollar threshold, and lawmakers are allowed a period to review the sale. For transactions with Israel (and other close U.S. allies), the threshold that triggers a fifteen-day congressional review ranges from $25 million to $300 million, depending on the defense articles or services.

Congress can block a sale through a joint resolution, although this has never happened. In special cases, the president can bypass the congressional review if they deem that a national security emergency exists. President Joe Biden has used this expedited waiver process for both Israel and Ukraine. For smaller transactions that don't meet the dollar threshold, no congressional review is required.

The United States cannot provide security assistance to foreign governments or groups that commit gross human rights violations, a red line enshrined in the so-called Leahy Law. Moreover, the Biden administration announced in February 2023 that it would not provide arms to recipients deemed likely to commit serious human rights violations. Some legal scholars and other critics have alleged that the United States has not applied the Leahy Law with regard to Israel as it has with other Middle Eastern countries.

Any military aid that the United States provides to recipients must only be used according to agreed-upon terms and conditions, and it is incumbent on the U.S. government to monitor the end use of the equipment it provides. For instance, the Ronald Reagan administration banned transfers of cluster munitions to Israel for several years in the 1980s after it determined that Israel had used them on civilian targets during its invasion of Lebanon. In a recent example, the Biden administration withheld a planned shipment of U.S.-made assault rifles to Israel in December 2023 due to concerns that the weapons would end up in the hands of extremist Israeli settlers in the West Bank.

Israel has agreed to use U.S. weapons only in self-defense. Outside of this, Biden administration officials have said they have not placed further limitations or constraints on how Israel uses U.S. weapons, although they say that Israel should observe international law. In February 2024, four months into the Israel-Hamas war, Biden issued a national security memo requiring recipients of U.S. military aid to give written assurances that they would observe international law in their use of the aid, and that they would facilitate the delivery of U.S. humanitarian assistance in the area of armed conflict where the U.S. military aid is being used.

What military aid has the United States provided Israel since the October 7 attacks?

Israel has been using American-made weapons against its foes, including Hamas, Hezbollah, and Iran, for decades. Since October 7, the Biden administration has reportedly made more than one hundred military aid transfers to Israel, although only two-totalling about $250 million-have met the aforementioned congressional review threshold and been made public. The Israeli military has reportedly received expedited deliveries of weapons from a strategic stockpile that the United States has maintained in Israel since the 1980s. Shortly after Hamas's attack, the United States also agreed to lease Israel two Iron Dome missile defense batteries that Washington had previously purchased from the country.

The extraordinary flow of aid has included tank and artillery ammunition, bombs, rockets, and small arms. In April 2024, news reports said the Biden administration was considering new military sales to Israel that are valued at more than $18 billion and would include fifty F-15 fighter aircraft.

What is Israel's qualitative military edge (QME)?

QME has been a conceptual backbone of U.S. military aid to Israel for decades, and it was formally enshrined in U.S. law in 2008 [PDF]. It requires the U.S. government to maintain Israel's ability "to defeat any credible conventional military threat from any individual state or possible coalition of states or from non-state actors, while sustaining minimal damage and casualties." QME is based on NATO military planning vis-a-vis a potential conflict with the Soviet Union and Warsaw Pact countries during the Cold War.

Under the 2008 law, the United States must ensure that any weapons it provides to other countries in the Middle East do not compromise Israel's QME. In several cases, this has required the United States to provide Israel with offsetting weaponry as part of larger regional arms sales. QME has also ensured that Israel is the first in the region to receive access to the most sophisticated U.S. military weapons and platforms, such as the F-35 stealth fighter, of which Israel has fifty.

Why is there growing public scrutiny of U.S. aid to Israel?

Recent polls suggest that American adults are divided in their views of U.S. military aid to Israel, with a significant divergence among age groups. Support for military aid to Israel is strongest among older respondents (ages sixty-five and older) and weakest among younger adults (ages eighteen to twenty-nine). Israel enjoyed widespread support in the West immediately following Hamas's surprise terrorist attack on October 7, which included alleged war crimes and atrocities against civilians. However, pro-Israel sentiment in the United States and many other countries has weakened as Israel's campaign against Hamas also kills thousands of Palestinian civilians in Gaza and exacerbates a humanitarian crisis that aid groups say is spiraling toward famine.

Biden has been an ardent supporter of Israel's right to self-defense and continues to supply Israel with military aid, but he and some members of the U.S. Congress have become increasingly critical of the Benjamin Netanyahu government's prosecution of the war. In December 2023, as the U.S. Congress debated legislation that included $14 billion in emergency funding for Israel, Biden warned that Israel's "indiscriminate bombing" of Gaza risked costing Israel its international support. Meanwhile, some Democrat lawmakers sought to condition U.S. aid on commitments from Israel to limit civilian casualties. In recent weeks, the Biden administration signaled its growing frustration with Israeli policy by abstaining from a UN Security Council resolution calling for an immediate cease-fire in Gaza, and by warning Israel that U.S. policy will hinge on what it does to ameliorate the humanitarian crisis in the territory.

Prior to the war, the U.S.-Israel relationship had suffered some strains over the rhetoric and policies of Netanyahu's government, including its plans to curb the Israeli Supreme Court's powers and its approval of more Jewish settlements in the West Bank-critics say the settlements violate international law and undermine prospects for a future state for Palestinians. The so-called two-state solution has been a long-running U.S. foreign policy goal, including for the Biden administration. Some U.S. lawmakers have raised these criticisms in the debate over U.S. aid to Israel during the war in Gaza.

In recent years, some U.S. and Israeli analysts have said that U.S. aid to Israel should be reevaluated because Israel is now a wealthy country-the fourteenth richest per capita-with one of the most advanced militaries in the world. Unlike Cold War Israel in the 1970s, when large amounts of U.S. aid started to flow, modern Israel is more than capable of providing for its own security, and the U.S. aid unnecessarily distorts the bilateral relationship and the countries' respective foreign policies, these observers say. "It's time for an agreed-on path to phase out military aid," wrote CFR Senior Fellow Steven A. Cook in 2020. "This is not punishment but rather recognition that the United States has been successful in achieving its goal, assistance is not an entitlement, and the United States does not think that annexation [of the West Bank] is in Israel's interest."

Martin Indyk, former U.S. ambassador to Israel and current CFR Distinguished Fellow, has also called for reductions in U.S. aid. "The US-Israel relationship would be a lot healthier without this dependence. Time for Israel at 75 to stand on its own two feet," he wrote on Twitter in June 2023.

Other experts argue that U.S. aid actually weakens Israel's own defense industrial base while serving primarily as a guaranteed revenue stream for U.S. defense contractors.

On the other hand, supporters of continued aid say that it fosters ongoing, important collaboration between U.S. and Israeli defense industries and experts, and in the end helps the countries counter shared threats in the Middle East, particularly Iran. U.S. aid remains a " vital and cost-effective expenditure" that enhances U.S. national security, and it should not be reduced or conditioned, wrote more than three hundred Republican lawmakers in 2021. Ending U.S. military aid today "would send a message to all of Israel's enemies that Israel's greatest friend was stepping away, so they should double down on their plans for more, and more deadly, assaults on the Jewish state," wrote CFR Senior Fellow Elliott Abrams in September 2023.

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Israel has long been the leading recipient of U.S. foreign aid, including military support. That aid has come under heightened scrutiny amid Israel's monthslong war to eliminate Hamas.

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In this award-winning documentary, the first time directors take a detailed looks at the apartheid analogy commonly used to describe the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Narrated by Alice Walker (author of The Color Purple), Roadmap to Apartheid is as much a historical document of the rise and fall of apartheid in South Africa, as it is a film about why many Palestinians feel they are living in an apartheid system today, and why an increasing number of people around the world agree with them. While not perfect, the apartheid analogy is a useful framework by which to educate people on the complex issues facing Israelis and Palestinians. This film delves into those issues, comparing the many similar laws and tools used by both Israel and apartheid-era South Africa. The audience will see what life is like for Palestinians in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and inside Israel while gaining a deeper understanding of the conflict with the help of respected analysts on the subject. Combined with archival material and anecdotes from South Africans, the film forms a complete picture as to why the analogy is being used with increasing frequency and potency.

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In this award-winning documentary, the first time directors take a detailed looks at the apartheid analogy commonly used to describe the Israeli-Pales...

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Vocabulary

fake news [feyk nooz] ( noun) False information or propaganda published as if it were authentic news

social media [ soh-shuh l mee-dee-uh] ( noun) Websites and other online means of communication that are used by large groups of people to share information and to develop social and professional contacts

evaluation tool [ih-val-yoo- ey-shuh n tool] ( noun) A process or procedure to judge or assess the trustworthiness of something

credibility [kred-uh- bil-i-tee] ( noun) The trustworthiness or reliability of something

bias [bahy-uh s] ( noun) prejudice; consciously or subconsciously favoring one person or point of view more than others

accuracy [ ak-yer-uh-see] ( noun) The condition or quality of being true, correct or exact; freedom from error or defect

reliability [ri-lahy-uh- bil-i-tee] ( noun) The ability to be relied on or depended on, as for accuracy, honesty or achievement
Sources: Dictionary.com, freethesaurus.com
Lesson Overview

A democracy thrives on an open flow of information and the public's trust that the information they're consuming is credible. In this lesson, students will locate and verify reliable sources of information. Working in small groups, students will discuss methods for evaluating the credibility of online sources and then use these strategies to review several websites or news stories.

Suggested Procedure

1. Open the lesson by asking students how they get their news. Social media? News apps? Television? Traditional newspapers? Then give them some historical perspective-before cable and the internet, there were only four television networks, and the only method for readers to comment on news was to write letters to the editor. Ask students how they think the expansion of ways we can receive, share and comment on news has affected society and people's understanding of the world.

2. Show students the CNN story " Fake News Stories Thriving on Social Media." As a class, discuss the following questions:

Why do you think some people share fake news stories?

What is the potential problem with fake news and not being able to tell what is fake and what isn't?

Why do you think the public has become skeptical of the media's credibility?

3. Analysis of online behavior in 2016 found that fake news stories are more likely to be shared than factual stories on social media. As a class, discuss the following questions:

Why does it matter if fake news stories are shared more than legitimate ones?

What are the dangers of sharing fake information?

Do social media companies like Facebook and Twitter have a responsibility to warn readers that some stories are fake?

As consumers of news, do we have a responsibility to make sure stories we share on social media are factual?

4. Organize students into think-pair-share groups and have them take the quick survey below in those groups. Ask a few volunteers to share how they answered each question and why.

I am more likely to read a story if I have an emotional reaction to it. Yes or no?

I am more likely to share a story if I have an emotional reaction to it. Yes or no?

I think about whether a story is true before I share it with others. Yes or no?

5. After you've discussed the survey results, broaden the conversation by asking students the following questions:

Why does democracy depend on fair and accurate media?

Why is it important that we receive accurate information (factual and without errors)?

Why is it important that we learn to detect bias (unreasonable beliefs or prejudices) in news reporting?

6. Tell students that there are many tools for evaluating information for bias and accuracy. Most of these tools look at the source of the information (author, publisher), the purpose of the story, the story's objectivity and accuracy, reliability and credibility of sources, and audience.

7. Organize the class into groups of four to five students. Have each group review the Evaluating Sources for Reliability handout. Then assign each group a misleading website. Possible websites to assign can be found at Misinformation Directory. Be sure to review each website to ensure appropriateness for your students.

8. Give the groups time to complete the Evaluating Sources for Reliability handout.

9. After students have finished, use the following questions to facilitate a group discussion about the effectiveness of the evaluation tools. Be sure to point out the importance of effectively evaluating the credibility of sources before sharing them.

What conclusion did you draw about your website using only your knowledge and experience? Did you correctly determine whether the website was credible?

Did the tools help you determine the credibility of the website or news story?

Which aspects of the tool do you feel were most effective?

Which aspects of the tool do you feel were least effective?

What would you do to improve this tool?

Compare and contrast your first method of evaluating websites with the tool you used the second time. How did they differ? Which did you feel was more effective in avoiding common reasoning errors and why?

Alignment to Common Core State Standards
CCSS 9-10
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.9-10.1
Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.9-10.2
Determine a central idea of a text and analyze its development over the course of the text, including how it emerges and is shaped and refined by specific details; provide an objective summary of the text.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.9-10.7
Analyze various accounts of a subject told in different mediums (e.g., a person's life story in both print and multimedia), determining which details are emphasized in each account.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.9-10.8
Delineate and evaluate the argument and specific claims in a text, assessing whether the reasoning is valid and the evidence is relevant and sufficient; identify false statements and fallacious reasoning.

CCSS 11-12
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.11-12.1
Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text, including determining where the text leaves matters uncertain.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.11-12.2
Determine two or more central ideas of a text and analyze their development over the course of the text, including how they interact and build on one another to provide a complex analysis; provide an objective summary of the text.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.11-12.7
Integrate and evaluate multiple sources of information presented in different media or formats (e.g., visually, quantitatively) as well as in words in order to address a question or solve a problem.

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fake news [feyk nooz] ( noun) False information or propaganda published as if it were authentic news social media [ soh-shuh l mee-dee-uh] ( noun) Websites and other online means of communication that are used by large groups of people to share information and to develop social and professional contacts

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Toolkit to defend K-12 educators & librarians against false accusations of antisemitism | Ida in the Middle

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View the Complete Toolkit Download an Editable Version Toolkit to Defend K-12 Educators and Librarians Against False Accusations of Antisemitism When librar ...

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Poets and Authors Recite 'On this Land' by Mahmoud Darwish

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Drawing upon extensive resources, the curriculum sessions include excerpts from articles and books; videos; visuals; poetry and music; handouts; and reflection questions for discussion and analysis.

The curriculum's introductory session sets the tone and lays out the philosophical and conceptual frameworks and themes rooted in the curriculum. It begins with a discussion of "understanding antisemitism" and then considers what it means to challenge antisemitism within a framework of collective liberation.

In session 2, participants explore the framework that understands antisemitism as historically contextual- situated amidst interrelated social, political, and economic conditions. This session also focuses on the racially, ethnically, economically, and culturally diverse Jewish communities that have lived throughout the world for centuries-reflecting a multiplicity of histories, experiences, and forms of identification.

Also covered is an exploration of key historical moments of antisemitism and experiences of violence and discrimination and the ways antisemitism intersects with other targets and histories of systemic violence and oppression.

Session 3, Part I addresses antisemitism and Jewish experience in the U.S., including framing and historical contexts around Christian hegemony, immigration, and race and racialization. Also included is a snapshot of history: Repression and resistance 1920's-1950's.

Session 3, Part 2 includes current examples of how antisemitism manifests-e.g., acts of violence, impact of rise in white nationalism, stereotypes/tropes, philosemitism, conspiracy theories, and more-in the U.S. today and the connections and intersections with other forms of racism and injustice.

Section 4 explores what antisemitism is, and what it is not, and how mis-definitions further political goals that are harmful to movements for justice, as well as how (and why) criticism of Israel has been falsely equated with antisemitism. This session also raises the issues of how both data and the "hate crimes" framework are used/misused, and why that matters.

V. Challenging antisemitism from a framework of collective liberation

In Session 5, participants look at antisemitism in relation to state violence, racial construction, and capitalism. We also think about who has the "right" to speak about antisemitism and consider the importance of resisting a framework that "exceptionalizes" antisemitism and isolates it from other systems of oppression.

Session 6 shares examples of a range of foundational principles, solidarities and organizing for justice with a deep commitment to collective liberation. Participants reflect upon questions to help strengthen and deepen our analysis and our work to challenge antisemitism from a framework of collective liberation.

Please be in touch to learn more about the curriculum and ways to bring us to your community or school.

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Drawing upon extensive resources, the curriculum sessions include excerpts from articles and books; videos; visuals; poetry and music; handouts; and reflection questions for discussion and analysis. The curriculum's introductory session sets the tone and lays out the philosophical and conceptual frameworks and themes rooted in the curriculum.

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When two young American Jews raised to unconditionally love Israel witness the brutal way Israel treats Palestinians, their lives take sharp left turns.

They join a movement of young American Jews battling the old guard to redefine Judaism's relationship with Israel, revealing a deepening generational divide over modern Jewish identity.

Directed by two first-time Jewish filmmakers who share a similar story to the film's protagonists, ISRAELISM is produced by Peabody-winner & 6-time Emmy-nominee Daniel J. Chalfen (Loudmouth, Boycott) along with activist and filmmaker Nadia Saah (Mo, Omar, 5 Broken Cameras), executive produced by two-time Emmy-winner Brian A. Kates (Marvelous Ms. Maisel, Succession, The Plot Against America) and edited by Emmy-winner Tony Hale (The Story of Plastic).

ISRAELISM uniquely explores how Jewish attitudes towards Israel are changing dramatically, with massive consequences for the region and for Judaism itself.

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When two young American Jews raised to unconditionally love Israel witness the brutal way Israel treats Palestinians, their lives take sharp left turns. They join a movement of young American Jews battling the old guard to redefine Judaism's relationship with Israel, revealing a deepening generational divide over modern Jewish identity.

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Coalition for Liberated Ethnic Studies CLES

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Critical Media Literacy Rooted in Ethnic Studies Curriculum Toolkit (CLES & LESMCC)

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I Am From Palestine | Award-Winning Short Animation (full) | Rifk Books

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Video tour of musem

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Jewish Museum: Palestinian Experience | Promised Land Museum

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Welcome to the Promised Land Museum--the Jewish Museum of the Palestinian experience. Feel free to view our Galleries and Exhibits.

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Historical Tie-In With Slavery and Anti-Literacy

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Historical Tie-In With Slavery and Anti-Literacy

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A touching clip that showed the dangers of learning to read and how literacy can be liberating.

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1996   Nightjohn DisneyChannel Premiere Film

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The United States and the Refugee Crisis, 1938–41

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The United States and the Refugee Crisis, 1938–41

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Text from the US Holocaust Memorial Museum reviewing how the creation of Israel was due to most countries refusing to take in Jewish refugees during WWII. Israel created as a place for refugees to continue fleeing to because of failure of all nations to guarantee future safe-havens to Jewish folks.

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Nazi Territorial Conquest

German troops entered Austria on March 12, 1938, and, with the enthusiastic support of most of the Austrian population, annexed the country the next day (an event known as the ). Nazi leadership quickly implemented antisemitic laws against the 192,000 Austrian Jews. Tens of thousands of Austrian Jews lined up at the US consulate in Vienna to apply for immigration visas to the United States.

At the urging of Secretary of Labor Frances Perkins, President Franklin D. Roosevelt combined the US immigration quotas for Germany and Austria to give greater immigration opportunities to Austrian Jews. The State Department could then issue a maximum of 27,370 visas per year for immigrants born in those countries. By June 30, 1938, however, nearly 140,000 people were on the German quota waiting list for US immigration visas.

Recognizing that the plight of German Jews had reached a point of crisis, Roosevelt called for an international conference to discuss the refugee problem. Delegates from 32 nations met in Evian-les-Bains , France, in July 1938, but most, including the United States, refused to expand their laws to admit more immigrants. Even as the conference was going on, the American press criticized the participants at Evian for their inaction. As magazine concluded: "All nations present expressed sympathy for the refugees but few offered to allow them within their boundaries." By September, the waiting list for a German quota visa jumped to 220,000 people. Even if the State Department issued the maximum number of visas it could have under the existing laws each year, new German- and Austrian-born applicants could anticipate at least a nine-year wait for a US immigration visa.

In September 1938, Hitler threatened to unleash a European war unless the Sudetenland, a border area of Czechoslovakia with a majority ethnic German population, was surrendered to Germany. The leaders of Britain, France, Italy, and Germany held a conference in Munich, Germany, on September 29-30, 1938, during which they agreed to allow Germany to annex the Sudetenland in exchange for a pledge of peace from Hitler. British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain , convinced the appeasement had averted a world war, declared that the agreement meant "peace for our time." However, six months later, Hitler violated this "Munich agreement" and the German military occupied the Czech provinces of Bohemia and Moravia. Czechoslovakia ceased to exist.

Kristallnacht

In the evening and early morning of November 9-10, 1938, Nazi party leaders unleashed a wave of antisemitic violence across Germany and its newly annexed territories, an event known as . Storm troopers (SA) and Hitler Youth members burned hundreds of synagogues, ransacked thousands of Jewish-owned businesses, and the German police arrested nearly 30,000 Jewish men and boys, sending them to concentration camps. Though German newspapers reported that the violence had been spontaneous-a public retaliation in response to the assassination of a minor German diplomat in Paris by a Jewish teenager-the American diplomatic corps in Berlin immediately reported to colleagues in Washington, DC, that the attacks were obviously part of a "prearranged plan."

In the United States, the Kristallnacht attacks were front-page news nationwide for several weeks. At his November 15th press conference, President Franklin D. Roosevelt said that the attack had "deeply shocked" the American public, and announced that he was ordering the US ambassador in Germany to return home. The United States was the only nation to take this diplomatic response, and it would not have an ambassador in Germany again until after World War II ended in 1945. Roosevelt did not ask the US Congress to reconsider the quota system that limited immigration. Labor Secretary Frances Perkins, however, persuaded him to allow approximately 12,000 Germans-most of whom were Jews-then in the United States on temporary visitors' visas to remain in the country indefinitely. President Roosevelt told reporters, "I cannot, in any decent humanity, throw them out."

Increased Immigration

The refugee crisis intensified after Kristallnacht. Between 1939 and 1941, more than 300,000 Germans-mostly Jews-remained on the waiting list for immigration visas to the United States. For the first time during the period of Nazi rule, the State Department issued the maximum number of visas legally allowed under the German quota. Other European countries had long waiting lists for US visas as well; the wait for a visa under the small Romanian quota (377), for instance, was forty-three years long. The majority of these applicants were Jewish.

Most potential immigrants to the United States had to collect many different documents in order to obtain an US immigration visa to leave Germany, as well as to travel to a port of departure within Europe. They could use their time on the waiting list to gather all the necessary documents needed to obtain a visa, which included identity paperwork, police certificates, exit and transit permissions, a financial affidavit, and others. These documents could be expensive and had to be obtained in a particular order. Many of these papers-including the visa itself-had expiration dates. Immigrants also had to find an American sponsor who had the financial resources to guarantee they would not become burden (or "public charge") on the state, and a valid ship ticket. After World War II began, many passenger lines stopped entirely or at least reduced the number of vessels crossing the ocean, making it more difficult and expensive for refugees to find berths.

In February 1939, Democratic senator Robert Wagner (NY) and Republican congresswoman Edith Nourse Rogers (MA) introduced legislation in Congress to admit 20,000 German children under the age of 14 to the United States outside of the immigration quotas. Eleanor Roosevelt lent her support to the bill, the first time she publicly endorsed a piece of pending legislation as First Lady. Public opinion polls on this proposal, however, revealed that Americans did not support the idea, and opponents argued that the bill would take resources, and eventually jobs, from American children. Congress never voted on the Wagner-Rogers Bill.

The St. Louis

On May 13, 1939, the German transatlantic liner sailed from Hamburg, Germany, for Havana, Cuba, carrying 937 passengers. The majority of passengers were Jewish, and they planned to stay in Cuba only until their turns came up on the waiting list for a US immigration visa. When the arrived in Havana, the passengers learned that the landing certificates they had purchased were invalid. The Cuban government refused to allow the refugees to disembark and forced the ship to leave Cuban waters. The sailed towards Miami, as the passengers sent pleading telegrams to loved ones and public officials in the United States.

The became the subject of many articles, editorial cartoons, and opinion columns. Since the German quota had already been filled, Congress would have had to pass a new law, or Roosevelt would have to issue a presidential order in order for the passengers to be admitted. In a January 1939 poll, 83% of Americans opposed accepting additional European refugees, and although newspaper coverage generally sympathized with the plight of the passengers, few editorials or letters to the editor advocated admitting the passengers.

After Cuba finally refused to allow the passengers to land and the United States (and other Western Hemisphere nations) did not offer to take the passengers, the ship returned to Europe . The American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) worked with the State Department, ultimately convincing four countries: Great Britain, France, the Netherlands, and Belgium, to admit the passengers. Many of the refugees, however, found themselves living under the dangers of Nazi occupation again when Germany invaded multiple Western Europe nations in May 1940. Approximately 254 of the passengers were murdered in the Holocaust.

The was not the only ship to cross the Atlantic Ocean carrying Jewish refugees during this period of refugee crisis. More than 1,200 ships carrying nearly 111,000 Jewish refugees arrived in New York between March 1938, when Germany annexed Austria, and October 1941, when Germany banned emigration. As the passengers held US visas, they were admitted into the United States as new immigrants.

Outbreak of War

On September 1, 1939, Germany invaded Poland , defeating the Polish Army within a few weeks. Great Britain and France declared war on Nazi Germany on September 3, marking the official beginning of World War II. Many Americans had been anticipating world war, but the overwhelming majority wanted to remain neutral rather than see the United States become involved in the war. In a fireside chat on September 3, President Roosevelt reassured Americans listening on their radios: "This nation will remain a neutral nation, but I cannot ask that every American remain neutral in thought as well."

In the spring of 1940, Nazi Germany occupied , the Netherlands , and northern . Many Americans believed that Germany defeated these countries so quickly because of a "fifth column" of spies and saboteurs working on behalf of the Nazis to bring the countries down from within. In June 1940, seventy-one percent of Americans thought Germany had already started to organize a fifth column in the United States. Roosevelt warned that even Jewish refugees could become a threat, aiding Nazi Germany in exchange for the lives of loved ones held hostage in Europe. (Historians now agree that Jewish refugees posed no security threat to the United States.) The FBI warned Americans to be on guard.

The State Department instituted additional restrictions on immigration in 1941, citing national security concerns. Among these was the announcement that any refugee with close family still in enemy territory would be ineligible for a US immigration visa. American consulates closed in Nazi-occupied territory in July 1941, cutting off many applicants from the US diplomats issuing visas. At the same time, the State Department announced that all visa applicants had to be approved by a interdepartmental visa review committee in Washington, DC. This decision lengthened the delays for refugees who had managed to make it to southern France or Lisbon, the only places in Europe from which they could still escape.

Networks of Rescue

As applicants sought US immigration visas, private relief agencies, such as the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, the National Refugee Service, the Emergency Rescue Committee , the , the American Friends Service Committee (Quakers), the Unitarian Service Committee , and others formed networks of rescue to aid as many refugees as possible. They helped refugees navigate the US immigration system, explained the required paperwork, located potential financial sponsors, purchased ship tickets, and, for those fortunate enough to enter the United States, assisted with Americanization, employment, and housing. These agencies, both Jewish and non-Jewish (though many of the non-Jewish agencies were funded through Jewish philanthropy) also provided food, clothing, and medicine for those still in Europe; some relief workers even worked directly in French internment camps. These relief agencies and the individuals who worked for them operated under tremendous strain. Often, their work involved significant risk. Some of the organizations worked strenuously in public and private to raise money and provide assistance for refugees. Others advocated within the existing government bureaucracy to keep the country's doors open in the face of public antagonism towards immigrants.

Debates over Intervention

The United States remained neutral during the first two years of World War II, from September 1939, when . Though the majority of Americans continued to oppose Nazi Germany invaded Poland , to December 1941, when Japan attacked Pearl Harbor Act, passed in March 1941. Lobbying organizations formed within the United States to argue either for either proactive intervention or against involvement in the war. In August 1940, a group of college students at Yale founded the America First Committee (AFC) which rallied Americans in an antiwar movement. The AFC, with some 800,000 members and at least 450 local chapters, encouraged civic engagement, such as letter-writing campaigns to elected officials, and sponsored rallies and speeches throughout the country. In the fall of 1941, one of the AFC's main spokesmen, famed aviator Charles Lindbergh, gave a speech blaming Jews and the Roosevelt administration for drawing the country closer to war. Critics claimed Lindbergh's remarks promoted antisemitism, intolerance, and even bolstered claims made by Nazi propagandists. intervention in the war, Roosevelt and Congress increasingly began to prepare the country for war. Congress approved the first peacetime draft in American history, which passed just as Roosevelt began an unprecedented campaign for a third term as president. Roosevelt increased both monetary and military aid to Great Britain, eventually extending material aid to Allied nations through the

The Committee to Defend America by Aiding the Allies (CDAAA), in contrast, ultimately boasted 750 local chapters and an estimated membership of 750,000. The CDAAA staged rallies and performances, took out full-page newspaper ads, and handed out flyers in an effort to gain support for aiding Great Britain. Though both organizations were very active in 1940-1941, US governmental support for aiding Great Britain (and the Soviet Union, after the June 1941 invasion of Russia) placed the AFC on the defensive, and the group disbanded almost immediately after Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor.

Pearl Harbor

On December 7, 1941, the Imperial Japanese Navy launched a surprise aerial assault on the US Pacific fleet at Pearl Harbor , Hawaii. The next day, the United States declared war on Japan but not on Germany. Three more days passed before Nazi Germany declared war on the United States on December 11. President Roosevelt was able then to portray war against both Japan and Germany as defensive measures against Axis powers who declared war on the United States first.

The vast majority of Americans rallied to defeat the Axis powers as soon as the United States entered World War II. As President Roosevelt told Americans two days after the attack on Pearl Harbor:

"We are now in this war. We are all in it-all the way. Every single man, woman, and child is a partner in the most tremendous undertaking of our American history."

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The United States and the Refugee Crisis, 1938-41

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German troops entered Austria on March 12, 1938, and, with the enthusiastic support of most of the Austrian population, annexed the country the next day (an event known as the ). Nazi leadership quickly implemented antisemitic laws against the 192,000 Austrian Jews.

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Cinéma Public Young Voices short film series

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Cinéma Public Young Voices short film series

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What does it mean to be free?

What is worth fighting for?

What inspires some to fight for the freedom of others?

What are the circumstances that lead to resistance?

What beliefs and ideas inspire people to wage resistance? What methods and strategies are used in resistance efforts and movements?

How have liberation movements across time, place, and culture intersected and show solidarity?

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Today we're thrilled to reveal the cover for Homeland: My Father Dreams of Palestine by Hannah Moushabeck, illustrated by Reem Madooh! The jacket was designed by Mariam Quraishi. The book will be released on March 28, 2023 by Chronicle Books. Preorder it here or here. Read on for an exclusive author's note and sneak peek inside the book! As bedtime approaches, three young girls eagerly await the return of their father, who tells them stories of a faraway homeland-of Palestine. Through their father's memories, the Old City of Jerusalem comes to life: the sounds of juice vendors beating rhythms with brass cups, the smell of argileh drifting through windows, and the sight of doves flapping their wings toward home. These daughters of the diaspora feel love for a place they have never been, a home they cannot visit. But, as their father's story comes to an end, they know that through his memories they will always return.
A Palestinian family celebrates the stories of their homeland in this moving autobiographical picture book debut by Hannah Moushabeck. With heartfelt illustrations by Reem Madooh, Homeland: My Father Dreams of Palestine is a love letter to home, to family, and to the persisting hope of a people, which transcends borders.

*

My sisters and I grew up hearing stories of Palestine from our many family members. As children, the stories told to us before bed were better than any storybook. In the same night, we would hear a tale of a princess in a magical kingdom, and then we would learn about our father as a boy, playing tricks on his elderly neighbors, stealing sweets from his teta's kitchen...and fart jokes. Always fart jokes! Now it's hard to remember which were fairy tales and which were true, as the stories blend together, and our homeland feels more and more like a magical place. Sometimes stories were told to my mother by my father's mother, a sacred bond between women, secrets meant to be passed like recipes to her daughters. Someday I hope to pass these stories on to my own children along with my nieces and nephews.

My family, like millions of others, were forced from our homeland and scattered across the world, unable to return. I have relatives in Chile, Peru, Canada, Europe, Jordan, Lebanon, and the United States. We speak different languages. We celebrate different holidays. We eat different foods. But one thing we all share: stories of our homeland.

This book is a gift to my ancestors. A reminder to preserve and celebrate your culture in the diaspora. A celebration of a homeland where I have never been. And an ode to the power of storytelling. I hope you enjoy it. - Hannah Moushabeck

******

Hannah Moushabeck is a second-generation Palestinian American author, editor, and book marketer who was raised in a family of publishers and booksellers in Western Massachusetts and England. Born in Brooklyn into Interlink Publishing, a family-run independent publishing house, she learned the power of literature at a young age. She is the author of Homeland: My Father Dreams of Palestine (Chronicle Books, March 2023). She lives in Amherst, Massachusetts on the homelands of the Pocumtuc and Nipmuc Nations.

Reem Madooh is an illustrator from Kuwait with an MA in Children's Book Illustration. She is an avid picture book collector and loves narrative storytelling and incorporating a dreamlike atmosphere into her art. As a child, she enjoyed listening to stories of the old days from her parents and grandparents. She also loves za'atar and makes sure to have some every day. Homeland: My Father Dreams of Palestine is her first picture book. She lives in Kuwait. http://www.reemadooh.com/

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Cover Reveal & Exclusive Excerpt for Homeland: My Father Dreams of Palestine by Hannah Moushabeck, illustrated by Reem Madooh

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Today we're thrilled to reveal the cover for Homeland: My Father Dreams of Palestine by Hannah Moushabeck, illustrated by Reem Madooh! The jacket was designed by Mariam Quraishi. The book wil...

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On sale date: December 17, 2001

A landmark of journalism and the art form of comics. Based on several months of research and an extended visit to the West Bank and Gaza Strip in the early 1990s, this is a major work of political and historical nonfiction.

Prior to Safe Area Gorazde: The War In Eastern Bosnia 1992-1995-Joe Sacco's breakthrough novel of graphic journalism-the acclaimed author was best known for Palestine, a two-volume graphic novel that won an American Book Award in 1996. Fantagraphics Books is pleased to present the first single-volume collection of this landmark of journalism and the art form of comics. Based on several months of research and an extended visit to the West Bank and Gaza Strip in the early 1990s (where he conducted over 100 interviews with Palestinians and Jews), Palestine was the first major comics work of political and historical nonfiction by Sacco, whose name has since become synonymous with this graphic form of New Journalism. Like Safe Area Gorazde, Palestine has been favorably compared to Art Spiegelman's Pulitzer Prize-winning Maus for its ability to brilliantly navigate such socially and politically sensitive subject matter within the confines of the comic book medium. Sacco has often been called the first comic book journalist, and he is certainly the best. This edition of Palestine also features an introduction from renowned author, critic, and historian Edward Said (Peace and Its Discontents and The Question of Palestine), one of the world's most respected authorities on the Middle Eastern conflict.

"Sacco uses the comic book format to its fullest extent, creating bold perspectives that any photojournalist would envy." - Utne Reader

"Sacco is a pioneer." - Journal of Palestinian Studies

"Based on his research, interviews, and personal experiences in Palastinian Occupied Territories in 1991 and 92, [Palestine] takes you there and gives you a first-hand account of the atrocities and suffering in the conflict with Israel. He gives you a close up visual rendering of the physical and emotional conditions of the people, who struggle daily for survival... Sacco has rendered the terrible conditions of life into a compelling and sympathetic artistic documentary. It is sad, but most good stories are sad... What's better, his drawing is detailed and realistic, very approachable and interesting." - American in Auckland

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A landmark of journalism and the art form of comics. Based on several months of research and an extended visit to the West Bank and Gaza Strip in the early 1990s, this is a major work of political and historical nonfiction.

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About The Book

A stunning non-fiction children's book celebrating everything Palestinian!
From culture and food, to music and literature, We Are Palestinian is a celebration of Palestinian heritage. Brought to life by award-winning writer Reem Kassis, every spread is filled with wonderful anecdotes, fascinating facts, and memorable quotes. It is beautifully illustrated by Noha Eilouti, an emerging Palestinian-Canadian illustrator.

Discover ALL about the history of iconic Palestinian symbols like tatreez embroidery, or the inspiration behind Mahmoud Darwish's poetry. As you turn every page, you'll find yourself lost in the world of Dabke (the folk dance of Palestine) and amazed by its famous old cities; you'll try traditional food like knafeh, explore the different religions, and find out much more. Each spread of We Are Palestinian is accessible, richly inspiring, and visually stunning.

Young readers are going to love discovering more about Palestine. This is the perfect book for parents, educators, and caregivers wishing to explore new worlds of culture and custom with children!

About The Author

Reem Kassis is a Palestinian-American writer and award-winning author of two cookbooks: The Palestinian Table and The Arabesque Table. Her articles have been featured in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, the Philadelphia Inquirer, Food & Wine, Saveur and others. Although she studied business and psychology at UPenn and London School of Economics, she chose a writing career in order to preserve the traditions and stories of Palestinians for her two daughters (soon to be three!) and to share them with the world. We Are Palestinian is the first children's book.

About The Illustrator

Noha Eilouti is a Palestinian-Canadian illustrator and visual development artist, with a BSc in Multimedia Design from the American University of Sharjah.

Product Details

Publisher: Crocodile Books (September 19, 2023)

Length: 112 pages

ISBN13: 9781623717254

Ages: 9 - 99

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Raves and Reviews

"Reading and cooking from this essential book-a thoughtful collection of great recipes, historical and cultural insights, and beautiful photographs-will move you closer to understanding this complex, fascinating part of the world."

- -Anthony Bourdain on The Palestinian Table

" The Arabesque Table is full to the brim with dishes which are rooted in tradition and at the same time creatively (and deliciously!) transcend it. It is wonderful!"

- -Yotam Ottolenghi on The Arabesque Table

"Anyone who is raising Palestinian children in the diaspora owes Reem Kassis a huge debt of gratitude. The acclaimed cookbook author decided to write a children's book, she tells us in the introduction to We Are Palestinian, because she wanted to show her young daughters and all young readers 'how beautiful their culture is and that they can take part in it and be proud of it no matter where they are in the world.' Kassis accomplishes this-and more. This wonderful book is really a love letter to Palestine itself, describing what it is that makes Palestinians an identifiable Arab nation and imparts to children the reasons they can take pride in their culture. That foundational understanding will stand them in good stead as they grow up in what can often feel like a hostile environment. The text is arranged into seven chapters, each describing a different component of Palestine: geography, cultural symbols, specific people who make a difference, agriculture, cuisine, song and dance, and history and religion. Written for young readers ages nine years and older, every chapter includes a 'Did You Know?' and 'Fun Fact' blurb that is designed to inform, engage and inspire. Adults can learn a thing or two from them, too. The text is beautifully illustrated by Noha Eilouti, a Canadian-Palestinian visual artist whose drawings complement the text and make every single page a visual treat. Appropriately, the book begins with geography: the cities, towns and villages in which Palestinians have lived their lives over the centuries. People are rooted in specific places, and few people have had their connection to a specific geography come under sustained and relentless attack as have Palestinians. Kassis selects 11 cities and presents distinctive features of each. I was glad to see that Kassis devoted a chapter to agriculture, a tribute to Palestinian agrarian heritage. The text encourages young readers to give some thought to the richness of that tradition, which evolved over centuries of intentionally tending the land. Children need role models, and Kassis chose internationally known writers and poets such as Edward Said and Mahmoud Darwish, but also singers, artists, oud players and novelists whose names are less familiar but who have contributed substantially to Arab culture, such as novelist Sahar Khalifeh and Arab Idol singer Mohammed Assaf. Shireen Abu Akleh, a long-time Al Jazeera journalist, made international headlines when she was killed by the Israeli military in May 2022, but here Kassis' focus is on what made Abu Akleh a role model for young girls and beloved throughout the Arab world: her determination to tell the stories of ordinary people, a purpose that overrode every other consideration. Palestine produced Abu Akleh as it did the people, places and cultural expressions celebrated in this book, and Palestinian parents now have a book to give their children that will help them appreciate their rich heritage."

- -Washington Report on Middle East Affairs

"This wonderful book is really a love letter to Palestine itself, describing what it is that makes Palestinians an identifiable Arab nation and imparts to children the reasons they can take pride in their culture ... [B]eautifully illustrated by Noha Eilouti, a Canadian-Palestinian visual artist whose drawings complement the text and make every single page a visual treat ...."

- -Washington Report on Middle East Affairs

"A Palestinian cookbook author and food writer explores her country's rich cultural heritage. Organizing the book into seven sections, Kassis covers geography, cultural symbols, major figures, agriculture, cuisine, performing arts, and history and religion. The author discusses major cities like Jericho (arguably the world's oldest city as well as "the lowest city on Earth, sitting 258 meters below sea level"), Akka, and Haifa, as well as significant landmarks. She explains the importance of cultural symbols like tatreez, the art of embroidery, and how these designs often tell stories. She also describes traditional garments, such as the thobe (a long-sleeved belted dress) and the keffiya (a scarf worn by men). A chapter devoted to "creative minds" profiles poet Mahmoud Darwish; Mustafa Murrar, often called "the pillar of Palestinian children's literature"; scholar Edward Said; charity worker Samiha Khalil; and journalist and field correspondent Shireen Abu Akleh, among others. Given the author's culinary background, it's no surprise that food is well covered, too, from maqlubeh (a dish typically made of layers of meat, rice, and vegetables) to knafeh (a dough-based dessert). Kassis' details are well chosen and convey her love of her homeland; fun facts and "Did you know?" sidebars enliven the engaging text. Eilouti's bright illustrations complement the writing, portraying important landmarks in cities, capturing the cross-stitch patterns in cushions, and bringing to life examples of native plants. A joyful and accessible introduction. (index) (Nonfiction. 9-12)"

- -Kirkus Reviews

"A joyful and accessible introduction ... A Palestinian cookbook author and food writer explores her country's rich cultural heritage ... Kassis covers geography, cultural symbols, major figures, agriculture, cuisine, performing arts, and history and religion ... Kassis' details are well chosen and convey her love of her homeland; fun facts and 'Did you know?' sidebars enliven the engaging text. Eilouti's bright illustrations complement the writing, portraying important landmarks in cities, capturing the cross-stitch patterns in cushions, and bringing to life examples of native plants. (index) (Nonfiction. 9-12)"

- -Kirkus Reviews

"Gr 4-8-Palestine is located on the Eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea in Southern Asia. How much, though, does one know about the history and culture of this long-standing civilization? With her daughters in mind, Kassis has set out to share parts of Palestine's culture with young readers by selecting content that would educate, excite, and engage them. Divided into seven sections, Kassis introduces readers to topics that include Palestinian cities, cultural symbols, agriculture, cuisine, performing arts, and notable people. The presented information is shared on visually appealing spreads per subject. In addition to the relevant and beautiful illustrations by Eilouti, readers will find "fun facts" and "did you know?" boxes for each topic. A table of contents and index are included. VERDICT Kassis's love and care for the Palestinian culture are made clear through this lovely and accessible educational tool; a valuable purchase for libraries."

- -School Library Journal

"Kassis's love and care for the Palestinian culture are made clear through this lovely and accessible educational tool; a valuable purchase ... Kassis has set out to share parts of Palestine's culture with young readers by selecting content that would educate, excite, and engage them ... The presented information is shared on visually appealing spreads per subject. In addition to the relevant and beautiful illustrations by Eilouti, readers will find 'fun facts' and 'did you know?' boxes for each topic."

- -School Library Journal

Resources and Downloads

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We Are Palestinian by Reem Kassis - A stunning non-fiction children's book celebrating everything Palestinian! From culture and food, to music and literature...

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Israel and Palestine: A Very Short Intro

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Israel and Palestine: A Very Short Intro

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Israeli Palestinian conflict explained: an animated introduction to Israel and Palestine

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As a parent, are you finding it difficult to explain what's happening in Palestine and Israel to your child? We've put together a PDF book for all to download for free, with a child-friendly explanation of the current situation in Palestine, with Islamic and historical context.

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Def Poetry - Suheir Hammad - What I Will

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Project48 delivers the history and ongoing realities of the Nakba and its impact on Palestinian lives.

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The Palestinian Youth Movement ("PYM") is a transnational, independent, grassroots movement of young Palestinians in Palestine and in exile worldwide as a result of the ongoing Zionist colonization and occupation of our homeland. Our belonging to Palestine and our aspirations for justice and liberation motivate us to assume an active role as a young generation in our national struggle for the liberation of our homeland and people. Irrespective of our different political, cultural and social backgrounds, we strive to revive a tradition of pluralistic commitment toward our cause to ensure a better future, characterized by freedom and justice on a social and political level, for ourselves and subsequent generations.

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The Palestinian Youth Movement ("PYM") is a transnational, independent, grassroots movement of young Palestinians in Palestine and in exile worldwide as a result of the ongoing Zionist colonization and occupation of our homeland. Our belonging to Palestine and our aspirations for justice and liberation motivate us to assume an active role as a young generation in our national struggle for the liberation of our homeland and people.

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I got some questions on my mind

about you, about the hood

about what you've lowkey done

if the valley has really dried

if what's left are only stones

I got some questions on my mind

about you, about the hood

about what you've lowkey done

if the valley has really dried

if what's left are only stones

it's beautiful, full of crowds

and you is what I miss most

it's beautiful, full of crowds

and you is what I miss most

Tell me all the news you have,

give me some gossip you got

without the chatty neighbors

coffee's lost all meaning

Who leased their house to a collaborator?

well, who became the cheapest dealer?

who was caught by his wife

with his girlfriend at a cabin

the one who lifts and works out

is spending two years in jail

for robbing the post office

Is Atef still in the construction work?

fatigue still didn't break him down?

do police still every night

come to fuck with ِArab kids

Does rage still eat us up?

There's still fights with Russians?

does the whole neighborhood still cry

when a bride leaves her parents home

Does Hassan still punch holes

in the tires of the car parked in his spot?

the balcony near the balcony

closer than two locking lips

The neighborhood got bigger, I hear

and you moved out with your mate

to live in the German quarter

So, you spend time at Fattoush?

do you still see Um Wadie'?

does Ashraf Hanna every morning

still gets his coffee and quickly leaves?

Hanging still are the cable cars?

moving still is the Carmelite?

does Moussa of the Rai still insists

on going fishing at Atlit?

closing doors only at dawn?

do they still talk politics

and up your head dig a hole?

You still take your word for it

when you say "my last shot"?

have you ever left with anyone other than me

from the bar then slept on the beach?

They say you've been cruel

that you're the reason i've gone mad

that you're the one that left me

so I left this town for good

I know that's not what happened

but this neighborhood will never change

they always speak of the woman

and leave the man out of it

But i'm not calling to say sorry

about the fact that they tell our story

I like the story they made up

the story's better than the truth

their lie is so much prettier

than the lie of you as a friend

I'm calling to tell you not to worry

couple of months and they'll forget

and i'm just like the kids in the hood

my heart will soon turn back rough

I'm calling to tell you about Berlin

it's beautiful and full of crowds

and you is what I miss most.

it's beautiful, full of crowds

and you is what I miss most.

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Faraj Suleiman - في أسئلة براسي (Feh As2eleh Brasy) (English translation)

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Faraj Suleiman - في أسئلة براسي (Feh As2eleh Brasy) lyrics (Arabic) + English translation: I got some questions on my mind / about you, about the hood /

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A liberation movement is an organization or political movement leading a rebellion, or a non-violent social movement, against a colonial power or national government, often seeking independence based on a nationalist identity and an anti-imperialist outlook.

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No. 3

Spring 2024

Reflecting on the past 60 years.

Angela Davis in Paris, France, March 2013. Photograph by Richard Dumas/Agence VU/Redux.

S olidarity with Palestinians and their decades-long struggle in defense of their land, culture, and freedom has long been a central theme of my political life. I am gratified to see so many young people - especially young Black people - supporting the struggle in Palestine today. The emotional turbulence so many of us have experienced for the past five months as we've witnessed the unprecedented damage the Israeli military has inflicted reminds me just how central the Palestinian quest for justice is to liberation struggles here in the U.S. and in other parts of the world, as well as to my own sense of self in our extremely complicated political world.

The state of Israel is the purveyor not only of a settler-colonial project but also of one that actively continues its violent expansion in the 21st century. Over the past months we have witnessed widespread, unnecessary death and extraordinary devastation that has led to the uprooting of practically the entire population of Gaza. Massive demonstrations all over the planet and deep collective grief about the conditions in Gaza have turned my attention back to the emotion-laden political mobilizations during the summer of 2020. People everywhere, including in Palestine, felt both rage and profound sadness at the racist police lynching of George Floyd. Some might say that the issues driving the George Floyd mobilizations and the current protests against the war on Gaza are different. But are they?

The collective mourning elicited by the racist violence that claimed the lives of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and so many others galvanized demonstrations aimed at the systems, structures, and histories that enabled such racist state violence. And those demonstrations were implicitly directed at the global imperialism that furthers the proliferation of racial capitalist strategies. Some of the protests also highlighted the lessons the U.S. has learned as a direct result of its close alliance with Israel, which has included trainings offered by the Israel Defense Forces to U.S. police departments all over the country. Whether or not the Minnesota police ever directly learned combat moves from the IDF, the increased militarization of policing here is directly related to global capitalism, including the economic and military ties between Israel and the U.S.

Israel's genocidal war against the Palestinian people in Gaza - who, along with those in the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and inside Israel itself, have been conscripted to serve as involuntary embodiments of the foundational enemy of Israel - has produced unimaginable grief and sorrow. Gazan families will never fully recover from the deaths of their loved ones, from the destruction of their homes (as many as 70 percent of homes and more than half of all buildings have been damaged or destroyed), from their monthslong attempts to survive without food and water, or from sleeping in the open as human counterparts of the scarred landscape, which may not recover in the foreseeable future. The vicious and dehumanizing verbal assaults by representatives of the government and armed forces have compounded this trauma. In announcing a "complete siege" of Gaza, the Israeli defense minister, Yoav Gallant, announced: "There will be no electricity, no food, no fuel. Everything is closed." He justified this action by adding, "We are fighting human animals and we are acting accordingly." The international press widely quoted these remarks in the aftermath of the Oct. 7 assault by Hamas.

These atrocities, according to the charges South Africa brought before the International Court of Justice, have acquired genocidal proportions. But amid all of this, we have witnessed the rise of an unprecedented degree of global resistance and solidarity with Gazans and Palestinians. Like many others during these heartbreaking times, I have been encouraged by the leadership proffered by Jewish Voice for Peace, IfNotNow, and other progressive Jewish organizations. Their dramatic presence in the movement is a reminder that binary constructions obscure more accurate and nuanced understandings of what it means to engage in freedom quests.

I was fortunate to witness Jewish solidarity with Palestine, however minoritized, during the early history of the state of Israel, which coincided with my undergraduate years at Brandeis University. My own lifelong sense of solidarity with Palestine is rooted in those experiences of my young political life. I learned the moral value of political solidarity and what it means to express that solidarity not only as a minority position within a larger progressive community but also through a deep identification with those who have been designated as enemies. Solidarity is never entirely straightforward, but in this situation, it requires us to reach beyond simplistic explanations that attribute positions of moral rectitude to one side and utter depravity to the other. Solidarity commands us to recognize the fallacious either/or construction that effectively forbids the proximity of positions of solidarity for Palestine and of deep and heartfelt condemnations of antisemitism.

In the process of reflecting on the meaning of solidarity, I have also learned over the years how dangerous it is to objectify one's perceived enemies such that nothing they do or say can ever change or even challenge the qualities they are assumed to embody. It is always easy to defer to prevailing discourses that rely on these objectifications, and I think that most of us (myself included) have given in to such pressures at times. Colonialism, racism, and patriarchy all thrive on such capitulations.

But some of us have had the good fortune to have been presented with alternative ways of understanding, critical engagements that question the ideological underpinnings of what we are confronting. I am thankful to many people in the various collective movements and organizations to which I have belonged - the Communist Party USA, L.A. SNCC, Black Panther Political Party, Black Panther Party, Socialist German Students' Union, Black Women's Health Project, and others too numerous to name - for having pointed me and others in more productive directions, regardless of the consequences for their own lives. I have always gravitated toward those who are prepared to challenge the status quo. And I am grateful to those who have offered support when I have come under attack personally.

In 2018, the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute offered me a human rights award named after Fred Shuttlesworth, a co-founder of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, and then rescinded the honor because of my activism in support of Palestine. Before I even had the opportunity to decide what my response would be, Jewish Voice for Peace and other progressive Jewish organizations began to organize.

Their support was especially important, because it was clear that I was not being targeted as an individual. Several months after the rescission of the award, Representative Ilhan Omar was singled out by Donald Trump, who misrepresented her as he argued that she was insufficiently critical of the perpetrators of 9/11 and accused her of antisemitism because of her principled support of Palestine. Scholar and activist Barbara Ransby and others organized an outdoor convergence and protest in Washington, D.C., to support Omar, alongside her fellow representatives Rashida Tlaib, Ayanna Pressley, and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. In November 2018, CNN fired academic and activist Marc Lamont Hill because he had used the phrase "from the river to the sea" at a UN meeting on the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People. His firing prefigured Zionists' widespread contemporary effort to ban a rallying call that for many, in the words of Tlaib, is "an aspirational call for freedom, human rights, and peaceful coexistence, not death, destruction, or hate."

It was clear then that the Zionist lobby was stepping up its offensive because it had been losing ground. During and after the 2014 Ferguson protests, young Black activists and their supporters had begun to fiercely challenge the ideological representation of Israel as the central outpost of democracy in the Middle East, which had to be defended at all costs. The longstanding work of Palestinian activists Linda Sarsour, Ahmad Abuzaid and others to develop productive alliances that could amplify Black solidarity with Palestine and further cultivate internationalism within the Black Lives Matter movement began to resonate broadly. The Dream Defenders, founded in Florida by Phillip Agnew, Ahmad Abuznaid, and Gabriel Pendas in the aftermath of Trayvon Martin's murder, not only brought Palestinian Americans and African Americans together in an organization that identifies as abolitionist, feminist, and socialist but also has organized a number of delegations to Palestine. I see a direct line connecting this recent history - and, of course, all the history linking Black and Palestinian movements since the Nakba in 1948 - with the rising numbers of Black people who now refuse to toe the Democratic Party line on support for Israel.

As radical advocates and activists, we don't often have the opportunity to experience the changes for which we struggle; instead we expect that our work will affirm new starting points for generations to come. But sometimes, if we manage to live long enough, we may also have the good fortune of experiencing the transformative impact of struggles in which we have participated. When I first heard the news that the Fred Shuttlesworth Human Rights Award was being rescinded as a response to my Palestine activism, I felt unable to breathe - as if this blow had literally knocked the wind out of my body - which was why my statement at the time indicated that I was "stunned." That feeling soon dissipated, however, as many expressions of solidarity from all over the world, including from organizations of rabbis and other Jewish formations, began to circulate. Overwhelmingly supportive responses from Black and other politically progressive organizations reminded me that freedom work, even when it may not appear to be making an appreciable difference, can lead to profound and transformative results.

Though the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute's gala had been canceled, community activists, together with the mayor and other city officials, came together to organize a public event at the Boutwell Auditorium that probably attracted 10 times more people than the fund-raiser would have. For me personally and politically, this event occasioned a rare and deep-seated sense of collective triumph. In this historical bastion of racist segregation where I had been born and grew up - the Johannesburg of the South - a vast collection of people of different racial, religious, and cultural backgrounds attested to the weakening influence of Zionist ideology. When I looked out into the audience from the stage, I saw so many of my childhood friends, a number of whom had helped organize this gathering, protesting the BCRI decision, and all of whom were putting their bodies on the line by showing up en masse.

Before visiting Birmingham, I had traveled to Waltham, Mass., to participate in the 50th anniversary celebration of the Department of African and African American Studies at Brandeis. Students at Brandeis during the early 1960s were constantly reminded that Israel was founded in 1948, the same year Brandeis was established. While none of us could avoid the pervasive Zionism, I was grateful to have a Jewish roommate during my first year who constantly steered me to think critically about the representation of Israel as the only possible defense for the global Jewish community. She turned my attention to the condition of Palestinians, who were being systematically divested of their land, their rights, and their future. She also helped me to understand that standing with the Palestinian resistance was the best way to fight for a world where we could all be safe.

I invoke my own experience at Brandeis because despite its perpetuation of the claim that Palestinians embody a continuing existential threat to Israel (it was the first private university to ban a Students for Justice in Palestine campus chapter), I do not remember any major conflicts around this issue during my time there. But I do recall many subterranean conversations about the impact of this militaristic nation-building process on the Palestinian people. What I now deeply appreciate is that I retained crucial insights regarding the kinship between racism and antisemitism (violent white supremacists dynamited Black churches and homes in my natal city of Birmingham and targeted a synagogue), and these insights continued to lead me to the people I organized with and the people with whom I socialized. They were not displaced by my evolving consciousness of the dangers of Zionism.

After I graduated from Brandeis in 1965, I traveled to Frankfurt, Germany, to study with Max Horkheimer, Theodor Adorno, and others associated with the Institute for Social Research at the University of Frankfurt. Shortly after arriving, I became involved with the Socialist German Students' Union (SDS). This was precisely when SDS began to turn away from Israel and toward solidarity with the Arab states challenging Israel. A few days before the outbreak of the 1967 war, the police killed a student named Benno Ohnesorg while he attended an SDS protest against the shah of Iran's visit to Berlin. Fascist police violence happened at the same time as the Israeli army's aggression. This led the SDS to create an interesting connection between supporting Third World Liberation efforts (including solidarity with Palestine) and challenging police violence and other forms of state repression within what was then West Germany. That a student could be killed for participating in peaceful protests provided clear evidence that West Germany had not overcome the dangers of fascism.

After I returned to the U.S. in the fall of 1967, I was determined to find my way into the revolutionary Black Liberation Movement, and I reconnected with Herbert Marcuse, my Brandeis mentor, who was now teaching at UC San Diego. My experiences in Germany - especially among students from Africa and other parts of what was then known as the Third World - had consolidated my embrace of revolutionary internationalism, and I gravitated toward organizations and individuals who shared that identification. At a time of growing global solidarity with Third World struggles, all of the groups I worked with - the Communist Party, the Black Panther Party, and the Los Angeles chapter of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) - were absolutely clear about their solidarity with Palestine. During that period, I participated in a series of exciting and enlightening political conversations with James Forman, who was then the international affairs director of SNCC. At that time, SNCC encouraged its members to study the situation in the Middle East; the organization insisted that making significant progress in our domestic struggles required us to embrace internationalism. In a letter Forman wrote to the executive secretary of SNCC during the 1967 war, he explained:

The class struggle in the black community will become sharper if the war continues. Obviously the "gut" reaction in many people is against Israel and for the Arabs, reflecting the black-white tension, the hardening of racism, and the particular circumstances in which we find ourselves in this country. However, it becomes very necessary for those of us in the organization, especially those of us in leadership positions, to study the historical development and the contemporary economic policies of Israel. Actually Israel represents an extension of United State foreign policy as well as an attempt by the Zionists to create a homeland for the Jews. The latter merges with the former in many countries, especially the United States, Great Britain, and France in some respects.

When the FBI arrested me in October 1970, I could not have predicted that my own political proximity to Palestine would increase exponentially. Of the many expressions of solidarity forwarded to me during my imprisonment, I was most deeply moved by the messages emanating from prisons. I can still remember how humbled I felt upon receiving a beautiful letter of solidarity signed by Palestinian political prisoners. The letter had been smuggled out of an Israeli jail and transmitted to my lawyers, who brought it into the California jail where I was being held. Some 40 years later, when I joined a solidarity delegation to Palestine of women of color and indigenous scholar-activists, I met a Palestinian activist who told me that he was one of the imprisoned people who had signed that solidarity message so many years ago. When we embraced, I experienced a profound sense of satisfaction with the trajectory of my life and how it has intersected with so many others around the world who again and again collectively generate the hope that radical transformation is being inscribed on the agendas of our futures.

Today the unceasing military assaults on Gaza are reason for deep despair, especially as we learn every day about a loss of life and community destruction that is unprecedented in comparison to all recent wars. Despite the obvious need for a cease-fire - a permanent cease-fire - the U.S. government continues to lend aid and support to Israel. Young activists today are trying to unravel this conundrum, even as the government and both major political parties remain in thrall to Zionism. Despite efforts to persuade the public that any critique or even questioning of the state of Israelis equivalent to antisemitism, astute young people, including radical Jewish activists, are pointing out that the most effective struggles against antisemitism are necessarily linked to opposition to racism, Islamophobia, and other modes of repression and discrimination. This is the first time in my own political memory that the Palestine solidarity movement is experiencing such broad support both throughout the U.S. and all over the world. Here in the United States, despite the McCarthyist strategies employed against those who call for freedom and justice for Palestine on campuses, in the entertainment industry, and elsewhere, we are in a new political moment, and we cannot - we must not - capitulate to those who represent the interests of racial capitalism and the legacies of colonialism. As June Jordan wrote in "Poem for South African Women":

And who will join this standing up
and the ones who stood without sweet company
will sing and sing
back into the mountains and
if necessary
even under the sea

we are the ones we have been waiting for

Angela Y. Davis is Professor Emerita of History of Consciousness and Feminist Studies at UC Santa Cruz. An activist, writer, and lecturer, her work focuses on prisons, police, abolition, and the related intersections of race, gender, and class. She is the author of many books, from Angela Davis: An Autobiography to Freedom Is a Constant Struggle.

Hammer & Hope is free to read. Sign up for our newsletter, donate to our magazine, and follow us on Instagram, Threads, TikTok, Facebook, and Twitter.

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Angela Davis: Standing With Palestinians

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Video: South Africa Calls Israeli Policies Toward Palestinians ‘Apartheid’

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South Africa’s ambassador to the Netherlands recalled his country’s history of racial discrimination during a hearing at the International Court of Justice on the legality of Israeli policies in Palestinian territories.

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FREE PALESTINE: A Visual History Instazine for Kids - Woke Kindergarten

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Teaching White Supremacy reveals in great detail the battle over historical memory in public schools and how the white elite has devoted extraordinary resources to perpetuating racist ideas in each generation through the K-12 curriculum. As Yacovone notes, in 1932 the NAACP warned that public schools are a "breeding ground for bigotry and prejudice" and "textbooks are often germ carriers of the most vicious [anti-Black] propaganda."

Yacovone documents the timeworn playbook guiding contemporary legislators in their campaign to censor teaching truthfully about racism and other forms of oppression in U.S. history.

Just as important, Yacovone's book should be read for the scholarship and organizing by African Americans throughout the 19th and 20th century to teach against white supremacy and with a vision for a more just society. Those stories of resistance permeate the book and offer strategies and inspiration for those defending the right to teach outside the textbook today.

ISBN: 9780593316634 | Pantheon Books

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Teaching White Supremacy: America's Democratic Ordeal and the Forging of Our National Identity

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Book - Non-fiction. By Donald Yacovone. 2022. 464 pages. This book details the battle over historical memory in public schools and how the white elite has devoted extraordinary resources to perpetuating racist ideas in each generation through K-12 curriculum.

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8 Ways Teachers Can Address White Supremacy

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8 Ways Teachers Can Address White Supremacy

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White supremacy, and the concept of whiteness that it relies on, grows when it goes unnamed and unchallenged. In the absence of honest conversations about race, it festers like a wound. It's more important than ever to have these tough conversations with our students.

Let's be real: It might feel scary to take this plunge. But the thought of you and your students discussing race is much scarier to white supremacists. Frank, open conversations about race -- grounded in understanding, solidarity, and equity -- are dangerous only to those who fear difference.

We've put together some helpful resources, including lesson plans, articles, and tools, to help you get started. You'll need to make adjustments based on your student population and community, and you should adapt the focus for your grade level and subject area. These important conversations can benefit all classrooms.

Here are eight ways to make a difference.

1. Review the research on reducing bias and prejudice.

The two articles here offer concise summaries of the proven strategies for reducing kids' racial predispositions. These strategies are effective from kindergarten to high school.

2. Unpack "color blind" ideology.

Acknowledge and discuss that we have complex identities, and that while race is a construct, it can shape how we're perceived and the privileges we have.

3. Find relevant, high-quality teaching resources and professional development.

Dig into Facing History and Learning for Justice, the two best websites for social justice education.

4. Expose the history of racism and white supremacy.

Gain perspective on past and present incarnations of white supremacy and their effect on modern institutions.

5. Expand students' horizons through cross-cultural communication.

Counter bias and prejudice by helping students get exposure to and form relationships with people from different backgrounds and perspectives.

6. Focus on news, web, and media literacy.

White supremacists use propaganda, specifically on social media, to recruit young people to the cause. Give your students the critical skills to counter these messages.

7. Cultivate your students' capacity for empathy.

Racists demonstrate an inability to take the perspectives of others and acknowledge their histories, experiences, and feelings. Build this capacity in your students by practicing listening and taking perspective.

8. Empower students to take action.

It's important to encourage students -- especially those entering adulthood -- to take action to stop racism and white supremacy. These resources offer strategies, lessons, and tools to help students make a commitment to social change.

Help students get beyond the buzzword with this classroom discussion activity.
Image courtesy of Allison Shelley/The Verbatim Agency for American Education: Images of Teachers and Students in Action

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8 Ways Teachers Can Address White Supremacy in the Classroom | Common Sense Education

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Help your students build a better world with these strategies, lessons, and tools.

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Coalition for Liberated Ethnic Studies CLES

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Determined to Stay: Palestinian Youth Fight for their Village

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DETERMINED TO STAY: Palestinian Youth Fight for Their Village by Jody Sokolower; Introduction by Nick Estes Silwan is a Palestinian village just outside the ancient walls of Jerusalem's Old City. Determined to Stay is the moving story of its people in the face of occupation.

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Just Vision fills a media gap on Israel-Palestine through independent storytelling and strategic audience engagement.

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Teach Palestine | Teaching Educators How to Teach Palestine

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Notes: Needless to say, most of these videos aren't available on Netflix and won't be found in your district's video library. Out of respect for the filmmakers, url links are to the videos' originators and/or distributors. In some cases the videos can be downloaded free of charge at these sites. Many can also be accessed through Kanopy; many universities and some library systems have Kanopy site licenses. Video reviews by Mora Ognian and Jody Sokolower.

Videos are in alphabetic order, separated into three groups: Elementary and Above, Secondary and Above, and Post-secondary and Teacher Resources. We've listed each video at the youngest level we think is age-appropriate, but all of them work well with older students-don't hesitate to use a video in the "Elementary and Above" category with high school students.

All of the videos listed are either in English or have English subtitles. Many can also be viewed with subtitles in Arabic, French, Spanish and other languages. Available subtitles are listed on their websites.

Elementary and Above

Shoruq and MECA
Arabic with English subtitles.

Shoruq, a cultural and community center in Dheisheh Refugee Camp near Bethlehem, took Palestinian youth to visit their ancestral villages. Sarah Faraj was one such youth, and her livestream of her visit is seen by Aya, a teenager living in Gaza. Aya asks Sarah to visit her ancestral village, Al Jura, located a few miles north of the Gaza Strip. Ayat surprises her grandmother, Um Nabeel, with a video call with Sarah, who takes them on a live virtual tour of Al Jura, the village Um Nabeel calls home and refuses to forget.

This short, heartfelt video captures the intergenerational Palestinian refusal to forget about their homelands, and would make an excellent introduction to studying forced migrations, the Nakba, Gaza, and/or the right of return.

Grade level: 6th grade and above.

Nitin Sawhney and Roger Hill, dirs. (2014). Flying Paper Productions. Arabic with easy-to-read English subtitles.

This gentle film focuses on 14-year-old Musa, his 12-year-old sister Widad, and their younger siblings and neighbors. The children are building kites as part of a school-sponsored effort to break the Guinness World Record for number of kites flown from the same place. We watch the children build and test their kites and later join thousands of kite-flying students on a Gaza beach. Children talk about the impact of the siege on themselves and their families, but it's in the background. This rare video opportunity to see Palestinian children just being children would make a good introduction to a deeper look at the lives of Palestinian children under occupation or to a discussion of how children participate in carrying culture from one generation to the next.

Flying Paper might be a little long for elementary school students; some sections in the middle could easily be skipped.

Grade level: Upper elementary, Secondary

Key words: Children in Gaza, Children in the Middle East, Gaza, Kites

Frontiers of Dreams and Fears, 55 min.

Mai Masri (2001) Nour Productions Film. Arabic with English subtitles.
Available on Netflix.
This documentary follows the experiences of two young girls-Mona, who lives in the Shatila refugee camp in Beirut, Lebanon, and Manar, who lives in Dheisheh refugee camp near Bethlehem in Palestine's West Bank. Through written correspondence, the girls form a friendship and compare their experiences. After the Israelis are forced out of southern Lebanon in 2000, the friends are able to meet at the border fence between Lebanon and the West Bank, solidifying their relationship despite their physical separation. They are joined by hundreds of Palestinian refugees, reaching across the border wire to touch family members and friends they haven't seen in decades.

Manar tells Mona about her trips to Palestinian villages that were destroyed by the Israelis. At friend's request, Manar visits Mona's family's village as well, relaying how beautiful but deplete the area is now. These sequences contribute to the on-going theme of right of return, which the children repeatedly reference as a source of hope for their futures.

The documentary overall does an excellent job of demonstrating the shared experiences of oppression for young Palestinians, embedded in the everyday highs and lows that are universal for adolescents, and highlighting their resilience and commitment to their heritage and rights.

Key words: refugee camps, Palestinian resistance, right of return.

Grade level: Upper elementary, middle, secondary.

Yumna Patel and Palestine Productions (2022). English.

This short video introduces the concept of "apartheid" and its relevance to Israeli policies toward Palestinians. It discusses the factors that constitute a definition of apartheid and how they are experienced by Palestinians every day.

Through exposing different facets of Israeli rule over Palestinians-from segregated housing to control of movement from one place to another, to hierarchies of citizenship, etc.-the video reveals the policies and legal mechanisms that marginalize and discriminate against Palestinians.

Although there are limitations to an anti-apartheid framework (equality under the law is not the same as liberation), this video is a good resource as an introduction- the brief historical information and up-to-date conditions demonstrate in an easily accessible format the severity of the human rights violations taking place.

Key words: Apartheid, systemic discrimination.

Grade level: Middle, secondary.

Julia Bacha and Rebekah Wingert-Jabi, dirs. (2012). Just Visions. Arabic and English with English subtitles.

This short film chronicles the story of Mohammed El Jurd, a Palestinian 11-year-old, whose family is forced out of their home in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah by Israeli settlers. In fact, the settlers are trying to take over all the homes in Sheikh Jarrah. Mohammed comes of age in the midst of unrelenting tension with the Israeli settlers and growing resistance among both Palestinians and progressive Israelis.

In addition to Mohammed, there are interviews with members of his family, other evicted residents, Israeli settlers, and Israelis who come to see the injustice and join the demonstrations, including one Israeli mother who is influenced by her teenage children to join the movement to save Sheikh Jarrah.

Grade level: Upper Elementary, Middle and High school, Post-Secondary

Key words: Homelessness, Evictions, Ethnic cleansing, Settler violence, Israeli settlers, East Jerusalem, Forced displacement, Children under occupation.

The Present, 25 minutes.

Farah Nabulsi (2020) Philistine Films. Arabic and English with English subtitles.
Available on Netflix.
This great introduction to Palestine for younger students focuses on a young girl, Yasmine, and her father, Yusef, as they travel from one West Bank town to another to buy Yasmine's mother a new refrigerator as an anniversary gift.

The film centers on their experiences at the Israeli checkpoint that lies between their house and the appliance store. Yasmine watches as her father is interrogated, ridiculed, and briefly caged by the Israeli soldiers, while Israeli cars breeze through the checkpoint without question. Finally, Yasmine and Yusef make it through.

On the trip back, pushing the refrigerator on a wobbly dolly, the father endures more abuse, only to discover that the refrigerator won't fit through the narrow Palestinian gate; the soldiers refuse to let him use the wide Israeli passage. Tempers mount between Yusef and the soldiers. It seems that the day will end in tragedy, but Yasmine takes the lead. Taking advantage of the soldiers' distraction, she calmly pushes the refrigerator through the Israeli gate and toward her home.

Because the relationship between Yasmine and her father is so transparent and tender, students from elementary school on will have a strong connection to the story and many questions. This makes The Present an excellent cultural energizer to start learning about Palestine.

Key words: Children; checkpoints; Palestinian youth; West Bank.

Grade level: Upper elementary, secondary.

Donna Baillie, dir. (2003). Journeyman Pictures. In Arabic, Hebrew and English with English subtitles.

This video shows young Palestinian children in the West Bank city of Hebron who risk being attacked by Israeli soldiers as they try to go to school each morning. The children are kept under curfew for months at a time, making it impossible for them to travel on the "Israeli only" streets to get to school. The youngsters are shown scrabbling across the roofs of buildings in an effort to avoid the soldiers below. The film shows the efforts of groups like the Christian Peacemakers Teams to help the children get safely to school. Although the presence of international observers sometimes helps, Israeli soldiers regularly use percussion grenades, tear gas and rubber bullets against the children.

The first section of this video provides an excellent example for elementary and older students of the impact of the occupation on Palestinian children. However, as the video continues, it focuses on the efforts of international peacekeepers to get "clarity" about the regulations, which takes the focus off the children and the efforts of Palestinian parents, teachers, and the community to get them to school despite the occupation.

Grade Level: Elementary, Middle, High School

Key words: Hebron, Israeli Occupation, Israeli Military repression, Violence against children, Children's rights, UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, Education as a human right

Secondary and Above

Darin J. Sallam, dir. (2021) TaleBox, Laika Film & Television, Chimney.
Arabic with English subtitles.

Farha is a story about the 1948 Nakba ("catastrophe") told through the perspective of a teenage Palestinian girl. The film is set in the 1948 Palestinian countryside on the eve of the Zionist military campaign of ethnic cleansing. The viewer sees the world through the eyes of Farha, the daughter of the village's leader, and learns of her dreams of going to school in the city. Her hopes and excitement for a big life change are quickly diminished when Farha becomes aware of the looming threat against her father and their village. When her village is suddenly attacked by Zionist militias, the viewer watches Farha's entire life fall apart. In the chaos of the invasion, Farha is locked in a cellar by her father to keep her safe. She escapes and is left to tell her story and bear the burden of what she has witnessed.

This film will be interesting for high school students as the story is told from a youth perspective. Farha's youthful hope while on the cusp of an exciting life change will be sure to resonate with high schoolers. This film is also a great conversation starter and addition to any lesson on Palestine, human rights, ethnic cleansing, and forced migration as it adds a personal and emotional tone that is necessary when discussing the Nakba. FARHA also accurately portrays the events of the 1948 Nakba.

Grade level: secondary and above

Emad Burnat and Guy Davidi, dirs. (2012). Kino Lorber. In Arabic with English subtitles.

Emad Burnat, a Palestinian farmer, chronicles the struggle of Bil'in-a West Bank village threatened by illegal Israeli settlements on their land and the construction of Israel's "separation wall." Burnet receives his first camera in 2005 to film the protests in his village as his youngest son, Gibreel, was born. Structured around the destruction of each of Burnat's 5 cameras, the film chronicles 5 years of Bil'in's creative resistance, the price the community pays for their almost unbelievable determination, and the Israeli forces' increasingly brutal repression-contrasted with Gibreel's growth from infancy to childhood.

This film is a strong vehicle for talking about why Palestinians are so committed to staying on their land and for looking at the impact of Israeli settlements on Palestinian land and communities.

Note: One could get the impression from this video that Palestinian women are only marginally involved in fighting for Palestinian land and independence. As an additional resource, the video Budrus, also about Palestinian struggle against the "separation wall," focuses on the leadership of young women.

Grade Level: High school, Post-secondary

Key words: Separation wall, Israeli occupation, Forced displacement, Ethnic cleansing, Illegal settlements, Zionism, Land theft

3000 Nights, 1hr 39 min.

Mai Masri (2015) Nour Productions Film. Arabic with English subtitles.
Available on Netflix.
After false accusations of conspiring to help a Palestinian child accused of being a terrorist, Layal is arrested and taken to an Israeli women's prison. From the moment she arrives, we see the discrimination and oppression that Palestinians face outside of prison compounded within. Israeli women who are incarcerated are allowed personal goods in their cells and their own clothing; the treatment by the guards is noticeably better and less volatile. The Palestinian women, on the other hand, are easily identified (and thus targeted) by their uniforms and barren cells; they are forced to work the worst jobs, and often terrorized by the Israeli prisoners.

Soon after she is imprisoned, Layal discovers she is pregnant. The warden coerces her, in exchange for a visit with her husband, into informing on the other Palestinian prisoners. After she gives birth in chains, Layla is repeatedly forced to decide between the Palestinian women who have supported her and the future and wellbeing of her child.

The film's climax occurs when the women prisoners organize a hunger strike, and Layal must decide what to do.

This film does an excellent job portraying the situation of Palestinian political prisoners, and the proximity of Palestinian and Israeli women within the prison spotlights the differences in their experiences. We see the constant targeting they face, and their constant insistence on defending themselves and asserting their dignity.

Finally, with the birth of Layal's son, the film showcases how committed Palestinians are to fostering hope and cultural identity into new generations; despite their bleak circumstances and surroundings, the Palestinian women inside create a community that loves and provides for the child in the best ways they can.

Key words: Incarceration, legal discrimination, Israeli military, Palestinian resistance

Grade level: Secondary and above.

Julia Bacha, dir. (2009). Just Vision. In Arabic and English with English subtitles.

This film is about the struggle against the Israeli "separation barrier" in one village in the West Bank. Palestinian community organizer Ayed Morrar is working to unite Palestinian political factions and Israeli supporters to save Budrus, his village near Ramallah, from destruction by Israel's construction of the apartheid wall. An exciting aspect of the video is the focus on Morrar's 15-year-old daughter, Iltezam, who launches a women's contingent that quickly moves to the front lines. The video raises important issues around the role of youth in building community struggles and counters stereotypes of Palestinian women and girls as passive or victims.

Grade level: Secondary and above

Key words: Israeli separation barrier, Palestinian villages, Palestinian youth, Palestinian women, Nonviolent direct action

Ameen Nayef (2017) Odeh Films. Arabic with English subtitles.

Available on Netflix.

This short film is about three Palestinian siblings, all young adults, who must cross an Israeli checkpoint to visit their sick grandfather. The opening scenes imply the difficulty of obtaining the travel permits (which were granted only after their grandfather became terminally ill) and highlight the tension with which the siblings approach the crossing-despite their permits, it is likely they will be turned away.

Once they arrive at the checkpoint, they watch the border guard turn away other individuals who have permits in a vindictive and seemingly random fashion, denying entry and refusing to provide any reasoning or justification (and speaking to Palestinians in Hebrew or English only). At first, this is the case for the siblings as well. In a final attempt to convince the guard, the eldest sibling reveals that their grandfather is not sick but already dead. This deeply personal revelation, made in desperation to convince the indifferent guard, shocks the younger siblings and underlines the heartbreaking nature of the moment.

High school students will be interested in the family dynamics among the siblings, so The Crossing could be helpful for beginning discussions on checkpoints and their impact on Palestinians' ability to travel for work, family, education, and healthcare. The checkpoint guard appears alone; students need to be aware that his behavior and treatment of the individuals at the checkpoint is not singular in nature, but rather consistent with the systemic denial of Palestinian rights.

Key words: Apartheid wall; checkpoints.

Grade level: Secondary and above

EWASH Palestine (2014).

This short film introduces the strain under which Palestinian farmers continue to live in the Jordan Valley. Water shortages prevent farmers from growing productive crops, while right next door the Israeli water company Mekorot pumps millions of gallons from the ground in order to supply water to illegal settlements.

Palestinians have systematically been denied their right to dig wells or build water infrastruture since 1967, when the Israeli army completed its occupation of all of historic Palestine. No Palestinian has received a permit to build a water structure since 1967, and "illegal" water infrastructure is routinely demolished.

Grade Levels: Middle school, high school, post-secondary

Key words: Settler colonialism, Water, Land appropriation, Agriculture, Jordan River, West Bank, Oslo Accords, Borders, Mekerot Water Company, 1967 War

Benny Brunner, dir. (2012). 2911 Foundation and Al Jazeera English. In Arabic, English and Hebrew with English subtitles.

The story of 70,000 Palestinian books that were looted in 1948 by the newly created State of Israel. Israeli historians, Palestinian writers, and Palestinian refugees describe how Zionist forces worked with Hebrew University to seize the private libraries of Palestinian intellectuals as they were expelled from their houses, including volumes of great historical value. Palestinian prisoners were commandeered to do much of the looting. These books are still held, labeled Absentee Property, in the National Library in Israel and are inaccessible to Palestinian scholars. The interviews and cultural critiques place the book theft in a larger historical-cultural context, shedding additional light on the Palestinian tragedy of 1948. The film raises issues about the relationship between universities and military strategies that are relevant to the United States as well; another connection is to recent controversies as countries and Indigenous peoples have demanded the return of art work stolen during colonial conquest.

Note: The terms "abandoned homes" and "absentee property," both used in the film, are political ones. Palestinian families were forced to leave their homes by military order, by news of massacres in other villages and by force. Palestinians did not leave their homes by choice.

Grade level: High school, post-secondary

Key words: Nakba, Palestinian literature, Libraries, National Library of Israel, Hebrew University, Palestinian scholars, Palestinian culture

The Lobby-USA
Episodes 1 and 2 Episodes 3 and 4
Al Jazeera (2017). Released by Electronic Intifada (2018).

The Lobby-USA is a four-part undercover investigation by Al Jazeera into Israel's covert influence campaign in the United States. It documents efforts to silence discussion about Israel and Palestinian human rights, particularly on college campuses.

The film was made by Al Jazeera. Shortly before it was scheduled for release, it was censored when Qatar, the gas-rich Gulf emirate that funds Al Jazeera, came under intense Israel lobby pressure not to air the film. In March 2018, The Electronic Intifada and other independent news sources began releasing leaked excerpts of the video.

Although it is too long to show in its entirety, the exposé of Israeli intelligence attacking US college students should make excerpts compelling to high school and college students.

Abdallah Omeish, Sufyan Omeish, dirs. (2006). Triple Eye Films. In English.

A well-documented exploration of Palestinian life under Israeli occupation. The first few minutes of the video place Palestinian resistance within the historical context of Ireland, Algeria, the US Civil Rights Movement, and South Africa. It describes the first waves of Jewish immigration, rising tensions between Palestinians, Zionists and the British during the 1920s and 1930s, and the 1948 Nakba-expulsion of 750,000 Palestinians from their homes and villages. Also covered are the 1967 war, the first Intifada (1987), the Oslo Peace Process, illegal settlement expansion, the second Intifada (2000), the separation wall, and the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza. More recent events and the past decade of military assaults and the siege of Gaza are not included.

There is quite a bit of voice-over narration that may be difficult for English language learners.

Note: Within the movie a statement is made about the United Nations upholding and defending Palestinian human rights. The history of the UN in Palestine is complex; For example, the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees in the Middle East (UNRWA) provides critical food, healthcare, and education for Palestinians in refugee camps in the West Bank, Gaza, Lebanon, Syria, and Jordan. At the same time, all other refugees internationally come under the mandate of the UNHCR, the UN Agency for Refugees, which works to repatriate refugees whenever possible. The UNRWA does not work for repatriation; this categorization weakens international support for the Palestinian right of return.

Grade Level: High school, Post-secondary

Key words: Borders, Settler colonialism, Home demolition, Illegal settlements, Ethnic cleansing, UN partition, Zionism, Separation wall, Land theft, Christian Palestinians, Israeli role in Middle East

Palestinian Girls Make Videos about Their Lives

These five short videos were created by Palestinian teenage girls at Shoruq, a cultural and community center in Dheisheh Refugee Camp near Bethlehem. Each portrays an aspect of their lives under Israeli occupation.

Ana Nogueira and Eron Davidson, dirs. (2012). Journeyman Pictures. In English. Some subtitles.

A clear and accessible exposition, with many examples, of the parallels between apartheid in South Africa before 1994 and in Israel. Students will learn a lot about the history of both countries. Explains the differences between petty apartheid (drinking fountains, etc.) and grand apartheid (structures like ID cards, access to land, jobs, natural resources); this is an opening to compare/contrast with structural racism in the United States. The video may be too long for some classes; the first 30 or 35 minutes make a clear case for why Israel is an apartheid regime. Then, at approximately 1:11, the focus shifts to resistance with a discussion of the 1 st Intifada, moving on to the role of international solidarity.

Grade Level: Secondary and post-secondary

Key words: Apartheid, South Africa, Apartheid in Palestine, Two-state solution

Slingshot Hip Hop , 80 mins., Arabic, English and Hebrew with English subtitles.

Jackie Salloum, dir. (2008).

This video by a Palestinian American woman filmmaker braids together the stories of young Palestinians living in Gaza, the West Bank and inside Israel as they discover hip-hop and begin to use it as a tool to protest Israeli colonial control. The central focus is on the Lyd hip-hop group RAM. As RAM leaderTamer Nafar explains, "Our music is one-third hip-hop, one-third literature, and one-third . . . "-here he points out the window at the struggles of Palestinian youth inside 1948 Israel. Hip-hop artists in Gaza and Dheisheh Refugee Camp near Bethlehem are also featured. The video includes young women hip-hop artists and the additional challenges they face from traditional attitudes about women.

Slingshot Hip Hop is an excellent introduction to Palestine for middle and high school students and lends itself to broader discussions of the use of the arts in changing political consciousness, speaking truth to power and building collective resistance.

Grade Level: Middle School, High School

Key words: DAM, Palestine, Middle East conflict, Palestinian hip-hop, Arabic rap

Sakila Islam and Hawa Rahman.
18th Annual Brave New Voices International Youth Poetry Slam Festival Finals (2015).

This award-winning spoken word piece by two Muslim young women is an excellent introduction to Islamophobia. For teaching materials connected to the poem, see Alison Kysia's lesson "What Is Islamophobia? Interpersonal vs. Structural Discrimination."

The Wanted 18, 75 minutes

Amer Shomali and Paul Cowan, dirs. 2014. Available Kino Lorber and the National Film Board of Canada. In Arabic, English and Hebrew with English subtitles.

This excellent movie, a combination of interviews and animation, documents how the town of Beit Sahour, on the outskirts of Bethlehem, participated in the First Intifada (1987-1993). In a community effort to resist the economic impact of the Israeli occupation, they begin growing their own food and refusing to pay Israeli taxes. They buy 18 cows to supply the community with milk rather than buying it from the Israelis. The movie documents their growing resistance and Israeli efforts to repress them.

The Wanted 18 provides many examples of how the occupation affected Palestinian lives in a day-to-day way during this period and an in-depth look at a local community's participation in the First Intifada. Toward the end of the film, Beit Sahour activists describe the negative effect on their organizing of the Oslo Accords, providing an opportunity to explore the content, controversy among Palestinians, and impact of the Accords. Other issues raised include youth throwing stones at Israeli military vehicles and milk trucks, taxation without representation, organizing strategies, and the efficacy of boycotts. The narration centers on interviews with Palestinians who led the effort; unfortunately, few women's voices are included. Israeli soldiers who led and participated in the repression of Beit Sahour are also interviewed.

NOTE: Scattered throughout are animated sequences in which the cows talk. The cows were originally purchased from an Israeli settlement, and in the beginning of the film they use anti-Palestinian slurs, including "raghead," and call anti-settlement Jews "Israeli peaceniks"; these are issues you'll want to discuss with your class.

Grade Level: High school and post-secondary

Key words: Agriculture, Boycott, First Intifada, Nonviolent movements, Israeli occupation, Palestinian living conditions, Palestinian resistance

Post-Secondary and Teacher Resource

Rawan Damen, dir. (2013). Al Jazeera English (4-part series, each part just over 45-minutes long).

Most useful as background material for educators and post-secondary students, this documentary by Rawan Damen, a Palestinian woman filmmaker, is an in-depth exploration of the roots, events and continuing impact of the expulsion of Palestinians from their homes and land in 1948. Episode I starts with Napoleon Bonaparte's 1799 effort to promise Palestine to the Jewish people in exchange for loyalty to France against England and covers the early Zionist movement. Episode II starts with the Palestinian revolt of 1936-37, aimed at securing national independence from the British Empire and an end to Zionist immigration onto Palestinian land. Episode III focuses on the UN Partition Plan and the events leading up to 1948. Episode IV focuses on 1948 and the aftermath. Arab, Israeli, and Western historians and eyewitnesses provide the central narrative, which is accompanied by archive material and documents, many only recently released.

Grade level: Educators, advanced high school students, and post-secondary

Key words: British colonialism, British imperialism, Zionist movement, 1948, Establishment of Israel, Settler colonialism, Palestinian expulsion, Nakba United Nations and Palestine, Jewish immigration to Palestine.

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All of the videos listed are either in English or have English subtitles. Many can also be viewed with subtitles in Arabic, French, Spanish and other languages.

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Educator Guidance on 2023 Israeli-Palestinian Crisis in Gaza-current

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Growing up, my father always told me, "Books are the gateway to a culture's soul," and that, as Palestinians, it was important that we educate people about the history, art, literature, and beauty of our culture-to show our humanity to a world that often forgets it. Like many marginalized indigenous people, Palestinians resist through storytelling. There is a centuries-old tradition of Palestinians truth-telling through stories that continues to this day, even now in the diaspora. To understand a people, we must listen to their stories, experience their art, and honor their histories. Here are some of my favorite books by Palestinian writers for children and young adults.

Children's Books

by Naomi Shihab Nye, illustrated by Nancy Carpenter

Mona has never met her grandmother, her , before. One day she visits her in Palestine, all the way across the world. Despite coming from different cultures, and speaking different languages, Mona and Sitti share secrets under the lemon trees. This lyrical ode to a lost homeland has become a staple in Palestinian households across America for over 25 years.

is a beautifully illustrated story that can be used as a springboard to discuss how we perceive those who are different from us and how our fears and prejudices may be built on false assumptions. All the villagers in Hasan's village are afraid of "the Ghoul." For years, they've tiptoed around the village for fear of disturbing him. One day, Hasan embarks on a dangerous mission to face the long-feared Ghoul. When Hasan finally meets the Ghoul living on top of the mountain, he discovers some surprising truths that change everything.

Young Palestinians Speak : Living Under Occupation by Anthony Robinson & Annemarie Young

Hear from children, teens, and 20-somethings from all over the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, speaking in their own voices about their daily experiences living under occupation. Kirkus Reviews declares this book as "A poignant, powerful, and insightful collection of voices seldom heard."

Every Friday Musa and his family delight in a treat after Jummah prayer at the masjid (mosque). Musa's favorite is halal hot dogs, but unforeseen obstacles are getting in the way! According to Kirkus Reviews , Halal Hot Dogs is "A joyful celebration of street food and Muslim-American culture."

Farah Rocks is a 4-book early reader chapter book series published by Capstone Books. Farah Hajjar, known as Farah Rocks to her friends, is a smart, funny, and brave Palestinian-American girl. She loves her little brother Samir, Greek mythology, and-yes-her rock collection! Farah faces all of life's challenges: bullies, school drama, and even problems with her best friend.

When friends enquire, Saamidah ventures on a quest to find out what her name means and where it comes from. With help from her father, she learns about her homeland, Palestine, as well as the part she plays in keeping it alive. This important picture book includes back matter with discussion questions for readers.

YOUNG ADULT BOOKS

For Divya and Aaron, their world is online gaming. While Divya trades her rising-star status for sponsorships to help her struggling single mom pay rent, Aaron plays as a way to fuel his own dreams of becoming a game developer-and as a way to disappear when his mom starts talking about medical school. After a chance online meeting, the pair decides to team up, but soon find themselves the targets of a group of internet trolls who begin launching a real-world doxxing campaign, threatening Aaron's dream and Divya's actual life. Author Marieke Nijkamp calls it "Wonderfully geeky and deeply compassionate."

Tasting The Sky: A Palestinian Childhood by Ibtisam Barakat

In this groundbreaking memoir set in Ramallah during the aftermath of the 1967 Six-Day War, Ibtisam Barakat captures what it is like to be a child whose world is shattered by war. With candor and courage, she stitches together memories of her childhood: fear and confusion as bombs explode near her home and she is separated from her family; the harshness of life as a Palestinian refugee; her unexpected joy when she discovers Alef, the first letter of the Arabic alphabet. This memoir is an illuminating and timely book that provides a telling glimpse into a part of the Middle East that is often misrepresented.

The story begins hundreds of years ago, when our hero-Qamr-is born an outcast at the foot of a mountain in Palestine, near her father's strange, isolated village. Qamr's mother must solve the mystery of why only boys are born in this odd, conservative village. Then, in the style of 1001 Nights , this tale moves into another. Qamr's parents die and a prince with many wives wants to marry her. Qamr takes her favorite book, Wondrous Journeys in Strange Lands, and flees, beginning an epic journey of self-discovery. Publisher Weekly states "Nimr's rip-roaring feminist folktale combines legend and history to great effect."

Graphic Novels for Older Readers

Ahmed was raised in the refugee camp of Baddawi in northern Lebanon, one of many thousands of children born to Palestinians who fled their homeland during the 1948 war that established the state of Israel. Ahmad's dogged pursuit of education and opportunity echoes the journey of the Palestinian people, as they make the best of their existing circumstances while remaining determined to one day return to their homeland.

Isaac wants nothing more than to be a functional college student, but managing his epilepsy is an exhausting battle to survive. He attempts to maintain a balancing act between his seizure triggers and his day-to-day schedule, but he finds that nothing-not even his medication-seems to work. Even with an unexpected new friend by his side, Isaac is starting to think his epilepsy might be unbeatable. Based on the author's own experiences as an epileptic, is a boldly visual depiction of the daily struggles of living with a misunderstood condition in today's hectic and uninformed world. Bryan Lee O'Malley, author of the Scott Pilgrim series, calls it "Visceral, hilarious, utterly human, and unlike anything you've ever read. An explosive debut."

The Hookah Girl is a semi-autobiographical graphic novel of a childhood as a Christian Palestinian in America. Told in short stories and with narrative ranging from growing up in a refugee family to how to roll (stuffed grape leaves), this book is an account of living in two seemingly different cultures that actually aren't very different at all.

******

Hannah Moushabeck is a second-generation Palestinian American marketer, author, and editor. Born into Interlink Publishing, a family-run publishing company, she learned the value of literature at a young age. A former co-chair of the New England Children's Booksellers Advisory Committee, and a current member of the New England Independent Booksellers Association's Advisory Council, Hannah has also worked for Chronicle Books, Interlink Publishing, and The Quarto Group. Her debut picture book, Homeland: My Father Dreams of Palestine, comes out in Spring 2023 from Chronicle Books. Find her online: Twitter @HMoushabeck and Instagram @hannahmoushabeck.

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12 Children's and YA Books by Palestinian Authors

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By Hannah Moushabeck Growing up, my father always told me, "Books are the gateway to a culture's soul," and that, as Palestinians, it was important that we educate people about the history, a...

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What is Settler Colonialism? Tracing Its Footprints Through Time

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What do you know already?

Where did you get your information? What are your sources?

Are they credible?

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Do governments represent all of its people?

What does it mean to conflate or equate decisions made by governments (or the leaders) of nations with entire groups of people? Or, conversely, what does it mean to be able to separate a government's decisions from the people/groups of people living in that nation?

What are examples of how people living in nations disagree and resist the policies of their government?

Is it anti-Semitic to protest Israeli actions against Palestinians? What does it mean to be anti-Semitic? What does it mean to be anti-Zionist?

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Colonial-Settlerism is "the violent process of colonial empires establishing a dominant society by oppressing indigenous people and taking over their lands."

This process is usually driven by a set of beliefs or myths that can have religious origins and usually based in white supremacist thinking.

Connect the settler-colonial myth that the land of Palestine was free to be taken to Manifest Destiny in the U.S.

Use of religion to justify colonialism and violence

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(De)colonized is a series on the harms of colonialism, and the fierce resistance against it.

This article is part of In Session: The Teen Vogue Lesson Plan. Find the full lesson plan here.

Colonialism is defined as "control by one power over a dependent area or people." In practice, colonialism is when one country violently invades and takes control of another country, claims the land as its own, and sends people - "settlers" - to live on that land. Although the terms colonialism and imperialism are often used interchangeably, they are not the same thing. Imperialism is defined as a set of policies or practices that extend the power and control of a nation over the political, economic, and cultural life of other areas. Imperialism can be understood as the ideology, or logic, that drives colonial projects.

Two waves of colonialism

There were two great waves of colonialism in recorded history. The first wave began in the 15th century, during Europe's Age of Discovery. During this time, European countries such as Britain, Spain, France, and Portugal colonized lands across North and South America. The motivations for the first wave of colonial expansion can be summed up as God, Gold, and Glory: God, because missionaries felt it was their moral duty to spread Christianity, and they believed a higher power would reward them for saving the souls of colonial subjects; gold, because colonizers would exploit resources of other countries in order to bolster their own economies; and glory, since European nations would often compete with one another over the glory of attaining the greatest number of colonies.

Colonial logic asserted that a place did not exist unless white Europeans had seen it and testified to its existence, but colonists did not actually discover any land. The "New World," as it was first called by Amerigo Vespucci, an Italian navigator and cartographer, was not new at all: People had been living and thriving in the Americas for centuries.

Yet, in many history books, Europe's expansion is remembered as exploration, and the men who helmed ships that landed in foreign countries - and proceeded to commit violence and genocide against native peoples - are remembered as heroes. One of these men, an Italian explorer named Christopher Columbus, even has a federally recognized holiday to honor him. Columbus thought he was on his way to Asia, but found himself in the Caribbean instead. The first Indigenous people he came across were the Taíno, who accounted for the majority of people living on the island of Hispaniola (which is now divided into Haiti and the Dominican Republic). They had a highly evolved and complex culture. But this did not stop Columbus from claiming the island and its inhabitants for Spain. By 1550, a mere 58 years after he first landed on the island, what was once a thriving culture and community was severely decimated by European diseases and the brutality of a newly instated slave economy.

The second wave of colonial expansion began during the 19th century, centering around the African continent. In what is called the Scramble for Africa, European nations such as Britain, France, Portugal, and Spain sliced up the continent like a pie, creating arbitrary borders and boundaries, and claiming large swaths of land for themselves. These artificial borders split cultural groups, resulting in fierce ethnic tensions that have had devastating ramifications throughout the continent. Indigenous political, economic, and social institutions were decimated, as were traditional ways of life, which were deemed inferior.

Among the most brutal of colonial regimes was that of Belgium under King Leopold II, known as "the Butcher of Congo." His well-documented acts of violence against the Congolese people resulted in an estimated 10 million deaths.

The history of settler-colonialism

The treatment of the Indigenous people on the land now known as the United States is just as horrifying. The primarily British Europeans who settled here - just like the Europeans who settled in Africa and the rest of the Americas - overall did not care that there were people already living on the land. The majority did not want peace and harmony between cultures; they wanted the land for themselves. They did not want to share the abundant resources; they wanted to generate wealth to fill their own pockets. Most had no respect for Indigenous cultures or histories; they wanted to enforce their own instead. These colonizers did not care that land was considered sacred and communal. Most believed that everything, including the earth, was meant to be bought and sold.

Unlike the colonial occupation of much of the African continent, however, the Europeans who settled in the United States never left. This is called settler colonialism, a distinct form of colonialism that seeks to replace, often through genocide and forced assimilation, an Indigenous population with a new settler population. A settler is defined as any non-Indigenous person living in a settler-colonial state like the United States, Canada, Australia, or New Zealand. Understanding settler colonialism allows us to see colonialism not as a singular event, but an ongoing process of violence against and erasure of Indigenous people.

The Europeans who first settled along the East Coast of the United States believed it was their Manifest Destiny, or God-granted right, to claim territory for themselves and their posterity. As they spread across the entirety of the continental U.S., they pushed the Indigenous populations - who had lived on and tended to the land for millennia - farther and farther west. Native Americans were moved to reservations - parcels of land that were barren and far from economic opportunities. In 1830, President Andrew Jackson, hailed by President Donald Trump and commemorated on the U.S. $20 bill, signed the Indian Removal Act, which led to the forced removal, relocation, and mass death of thousands of Indigenous people. In 1838, the Cherokee were forced west by the U.S. government, which seized control of their land. Forced to walk thousands of miles, an estimated 4,000 Cherokees died on what would later come to be called the "Trail of Tears."

How colonialism shaped the world

It may be easy to brush colonialism off as a relic of the past, but we are all living in a world shaped by these histories of brutal and violent conquest. The wealth and prosperity of what were once the most powerful colonial nations in the world can be attributed to the theft of land, resources, and people from former colonies.

Walter Rodney's book How Europe Underdeveloped Africa asserts that systemic poverty on the continent can be directly linked to European exploitation and resource extraction. After Haiti's liberation from France, the island nation was ordered to pay $21 billion in reparations to cover the cost of France's losses during the Haitian Revolution in exchange for its independence. This calculation included the cost of lost slaves. Haiti, the poorest nation in the western hemisphere, made its final payment to France in 1947. Here in the United States, Native reservations have extraordinarily high poverty, alcoholism, unemployment, and suicide rates. These are the effects of what Maria Yellow Horse Brave Heart, a social worker and professor, describes as historical trauma: intergenerational emotional and psychological damage.

The violence of colonial thinking continues to shape the trajectories of countries that were once colonizers too. Colonizers believed the world was theirs for the taking, saw Black, Indigenous, and other people of color as disposable, and believed that nothing mattered more than the currency in their pockets. The world's wealthiest countries continue to hoard the earth's resources, and their unending quest for profit continues to trump the needs of the majority of people.

Indigenous resistance

Wherever colonialism has manifested in the world, from all over the Americas to every corner of the African continent, it has been met with a fierce struggle of resistance. Throughout history, Indigenous people have routinely risen up and successfully overthrown colonial powers, demonstrating that while colonizers may steal land and resources, they can never steal the dignity of a people determined to be free.

In the United States, ongoing protests in Minnesota are being waged against the proposed Line 3 oil pipeline, which the tribes who live along its planned route say would violate their sovereignty. Led by the Ojibwe people, the protestors, or water protectors, decry the pipeline's potential impact on climate change, historic and sacred sites, and the water supply and food systems. Just a few states away, NDN Collective, an Indigenous organization based in South Dakota, launched a Land back campaign in 2020 calling for the return of all public lands to Indigenous people, beginning with Mount Rushmore. The Land back manifesto says the campaign's goal is a "reclamation of everything stolen from the original Peoples: land, language, ceremony, medicine, kinship." These are just a few examples of protests across the country being waged to remind us that decolonization, or the struggle to free oneself from the shackles of colonial rule and tyranny, is not a metaphor.

If colonialism is to be understood as an ongoing process, then so too is the fight for Indigenous self-determination.

Want more from Teen Vogue? Check this out: Treaties Between the United States and Indigenous Nations, Explained

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How Colonialism Destroyed Cultures and Shaped the World

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In this explainer, writer Jamila Osman explains the global history of colonialism and its two major waves, which shaped the global landscape.

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Rashid Khalidi summarizes in his essential book, The Hundred Years’ War on Palestine, “the modern history of Palestine can best be understood in these terms: as a colonial war waged against the indigenous population, by a variety of parties, to force them to relinquish their homeland to another people against their will.”

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The historian-activist Howard Zinn was fond of saying, "If you don't know history it is as if you were born yesterday. And if you were born yesterday, anybody up there in a position of power can tell you anything, and you have no way of checking up on it."

There is nothing in the world today more in need of an accurate historical account than the violence in Palestine-Israel - or more infected with obfuscation. Many people's historical reckoning seems to go back no further than October 7, 2023. Even those more committed to understanding the present in terms of the past often reach back only to the Six Day War and occupation in 1967 or the UN partition of Palestine in 1947 and the 1948 War for Independence - for Israelis - or the Nakba, the Catastrophe - for Palestinians. Or they may simply say: It began with the Holocaust.

But as this activity demonstrates, the roots of today's violence can be seen much earlier - from the first years of Zionist immigration and land purchases in Palestine in the late 19th and early 20th century, the expulsion of Palestinian peasants, the Zionists' partnership with the British Empire to effect its goal of "a national home for the Jewish people," and Palestinians' gradual recognition of the sweeping nature of the Zionists' ambitions. As Rashid Khalidi summarizes in his essential book, The Hundred Years' War on Palestine, "the modern history of Palestine can best be understood in these terms: as a colonial war waged against the indigenous population, by a variety of parties, to force them to relinquish their homeland to another people against their will." Seemingly to frighten teachers and students from grappling with the origins of today's crisis, politicians, as well as corporate media and textbooks, have a thousand ways to warn us how "complex" the Israeli-Palestinian struggle is. And it is. But Khalidi distills this complexity in the simplicity of that single sentence. In a participatory way, the "Seeds of Violence" mixer/mystery seeks to do the same thing for students - applying that framework to the conflict's earliest days.

And I want to underscore the "earliest days." It may be an obvious point, but this activity does not deal with a huge amount of essential history: the almost-30 years of British rule in Palestine; British Mandate conflicts between Palestinians and Zionist settlers, between Zionists and British, between Palestinians and British, especially the Great Palestinian Revolt of 1936-1939; the rise of Nazism and the Holocaust; World War II; as mentioned above, the UN partition of Palestine and the violence of the Palestinian Nakba/the Israeli War of Independence and the creation of more than 700,000 refugees. The "Seeds of Violence" depicted in this activity happened before all these life-shattering events. The more I read about this early period, up to the beginning of the British Mandate in 1922, the more I realized how much of this history foreshadowed the conflicts to come.

The activity begins with the acknowledgement that there is tremendous violence today, but that the violence did not begin with the Hamas attacks on October 7 - it began long before. And that is the mystery students address in this activity: What is the source of this violence?

With this "mystery" as the lesson's central problematic, students get a crash course in some of the foundational knowledge they will need to understand the real-world individuals they meet in the mixer - for example, that for centuries Palestine was part of the Ottoman Empire; that Jews were victimized by pogroms and other forms of horrific violence in eastern Europe, and as a result, some Jews embraced Zionism, seeking a Jewish homeland of safety and community; Palestine was drawn into the Great War (World War I), with the Ottoman Empire joining the Central Powers and ultimately losing to the Allies; Palestine was invaded and occupied by the British, who came to control Palestine as a League of Nations' "Mandate."

Yeah, I know: It's a lot. But students work with this information to create maps that help them visualize some of the geography of these events. And a bunch of this information is fleshed out in the stories of people students meet, so the aim of this first segment of the lesson is familiarity, not mastery.

In the mixer, students "become" individuals to bring this history, and more, to life. Note that they do not act anything out. They try to internalize their roles to represent to one another their characters' experiences, opinions, and aspirations. There are 17 of them. Here is a summary. The Zionists and pro-Zionists include: Theodor Herzl, Viennese "founding father" and theoretician of Zionism; Arthur Ruppin, director of the Palestine office of the Zionist Organization, and a purchaser of land for Zionist settlement in Palestine; Joseph Baratz, Zionist settler, who fled pogroms in Russia as a teenager as part of the Second Aliyah (migration) of Jews to Palestine, and worked there in one of the first kibbutzim; Lord Arthur Balfour, the British foreign secretary, who issued the fateful Balfour Declaration, announcing British Empire support for a Jewish homeland in Palestine; President Woodrow Wilson, supporter of the Balfour Declaration and the Zionist movement; and Herbert Louis Samuel, British High Commissioner for Palestine during the early years of the British Mandate period. Two Jews in the mixer are anti-Zionists: the Sephardic Jew, Yosef Castel, whose family had lived in harmony with Arab Christians and Muslims in Palestine since Jews were expelled from Spain in 1492; and Pati Kremer, a member of the socialist Jewish Bund, which sought to transform rather than flee eastern Europe, and saw Zionism as divisive and numb to the exploitation of working-class Jews by capitalist Jews.

Three roles are Palestinian peasants: Ahmed Sharabi, evicted from his land by Zionists of the First Aliyah (migration from Europe), who bought Sharabi's land from an absentee landlord; Mahmoud Khatib resisted his land being taken over by Zionists of the Second Aliyah, who also had bought it from a wealthy landlord in Beirut; and Razan al-Barawi who lived in Gaza and was caught between warring empires, the Ottoman and British, made a refugee and reduced to dire poverty. Shukri al-'Asali, the Ottoman (and Palestinian) district governor of Nazareth, refused to approve the Zionist purchase of land from absentee landlords that would result in peasant evictions.

Scholars and journalists wrote defiantly about the waves of Zionist migration and the Zionists' separatist vision for Palestine, which would turn Palestinians into "strangers in their own land": Palestinian scholar Yusuf Diya al-Din Pasha al-Khalidi knew Theodor Herzl from his time in Vienna and wrote to him: "In the name of God, let Palestine be left alone"; Najib Nassar, the Christian publisher of the newspaper al-Karmil, wrote about Zionist land purchases and Palestinian expulsions; 'Isa-al-'Isa, editor of Filastin, wrote critically about the Balfour Declaration and the British-Zionist partnership during the early years of the British Mandate; and Musa Kazim al-Husayni, a leader with the Palestine Arab Congress organized against the discriminatory nature of the British Mandate in the years after the Great War. And finally, there is Elias Sursuq, one of a number of absentee landlords who took advantage of an 1858 Ottoman law to claim ownership of huge tracts of land in Palestine and later sold that land to Zionists, who were committed to empty the land of Palestinians.

In the mixer activity, students encounter different individuals' perspectives as they circulate throughout the class, soliciting answers to eight questions - e.g., "Find someone who supports Zionism. ... Why do they support Zionism?" And: "Find someone who opposes or is critical of Zionism. ... Why are they critical of Zionism or oppose it?" One question encourages students to: "Find someone you have something in common with. Perhaps it is something important that you agree on. It could be that you have similar concerns, or similar hopes. ... What is it that you have in common?"

Following the mixer activity, students write about people they met who made an impression on them - people who angered or puzzled them; people who they admired, people they want to know more about. They surface key themes in the early "seeds of violence" planted in Palestine. In post-mixer discussion and writing they begin to explore choices made in the late 19th century and early 20th century that created the conditions that would ultimately lead to the violent collisions that Palestinians and Israelis have experienced for the past 100 years. And, finally, in small groups, students assess: "Who or what in Palestine's early history was 'guilty' of laying the groundwork, or somehow contributing to today's violence?"

The fine print: Inevitably, an activity like this tells some people's stories and leaves others' out. I sought to give voice to Zionists confronting antisemitism who saw Palestine as a future national home, but also to Jewish opponents of Zionism, as too often Zionism and Judaism are conflated. I included Palestinian peasants because they were losing their land to Zionist settlement - and resisting - as well as Palestinian newspaper editors and activists, who came to awareness, thanks to this peasant resistance, about the Zionist movement's ultimate aims for a Jewish-only state. From the beginning, the Zionists understood that they needed an imperial sponsor, and so I wrote key British roles, as well as one for President Wilson, a Christian Zionist whose side-taking foreshadows later U.S. sponsorship of the Zionist project in Palestine. And I included a representative of the wealthy absentee landlords, who in many cases were not themselves Palestinian, yet made immense profits off Palestinian land sales to the new arrivals from eastern Europe. Estimates vary, but at the end of World War I (referred to as The Great War in the mixer), Jews constituted a scant 6 percent of the population in Palestine; and not all of those were Zionists. The mixer's "math" was not to have the ethnic representation in the role play match the ethnic percentage in the population - that would have led to almost every role being a Palestinian. What I aimed for was a collection of roles that could tell students a complex but coherent story about the unfolding tensions in historic Palestine - a story that would help them identify the "seeds of violence" that have grown so horribly today.

The individuals in the mixer are actual people. Although each role is written in first person, unless language is in quotation marks, the role's narrative is my attempt to make the individual's story more easily accessible for students. The literature that I drew on did not name any Palestinian peasants, so Ahmed Sharabi, Mahmoud Khatib, and Razan al-Barawi are not the exact names of peasants. I took a bit more liberty in the case of al-Barawi as I could not find the story of a particular individual who fled Ottoman-British fighting in Gaza, as she did, but all the information in the role is accurate. A caution with the stories of peasants: As Rashid Khalidi pointed out in a 1988 article, "Palestinian Peasant Resistance to Zionism Before World War I": "Because those we have focused on could not speak for themselves in the sources which are left to us after seven or eight decades, we have seen their actions through a glass darkly, largely via records left by foreigners, who did not speak their language or understand their culture, who had little sympathy for them, and often were their enemies." This is a necessary caveat. But to omit Palestinian peasants from this activity because we don't know their precise names or have their exact words recorded would be to ratify the conditions that silenced them in the first place.

And another caveat: The people included in the mixer are mostly men. I wanted the roles in this activity to represent specific individuals, to the greatest extent possible; and not surprisingly, the people in history who left written records - the newspaper editors, scholars, politicians, diplomats, et al. - were overwhelmingly male. I did not want to imagine people into the role play who were not part of the historical record. Can students accurately inhabit the lives of the individuals they represent in the mixer activity? Of course not. Every activity that seeks empathy, that asks students to assume the personas of distant others - historically, culturally, geographically - is imperfect. This reaching for empathy - which strives for understanding, not necessarily agreement or approval - is the heart of social studies. Yet as teachers know, role plays can be tricky, sometimes risky. Before teaching any role play, I recommend reading the Zinn Education Project statement, "How to - and How Not to - Teach Role Plays."

One more thing. In the mixer, I try to be as precise as possible with place names. Although there was no independent state of Palestine under the Ottoman or British Empires, Palestine was recognized as a definite place, and as abundant scholarship demonstrates, Palestinian national aspirations grew from the late 19th century onward. So when describing this region in the late 19th century through the 1947 UN partition, I refer to Palestine. When describing this area today, I use the term Palestine-Israel, to acknowledge this as a contested site, that Israel exists as a nation, that Palestine preceded Israel and also exists, albeit not as a nation state with defined borders.

Finally, the land tenure system in Palestine during the Ottoman Empire was complicated. I want to acknowledge Dr. Kristen Alff of North Carolina State University, who read these roles and tried to help me grasp the complexity of what was happening on the ground as the "legal" occupants of the land began to change. Thanks, too, to Dr. Stephen R. Shalom, emeritus professor of political science at William Paterson University, who read the entire activity and made valuable comments. Needless to say, any errors are mine.

Classroom Stories

Add your feedback on this new lesson. Let us know how it worked, student insights, classroom stories, and suggested edits or additions. You will receive people's history books in appreciation for your time.

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Teaching the Seeds of Violence in Palestine-Israel - Zinn Education Project

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Teaching Activity. By Bill Bigelow. 2024. 33 pages. A mixer/mystery activity on Zionism, anti-Zionism, peasant resistance, the Great War, the British Mandate, and more.

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Teaching For Black Lives - Media Literacy on Israel and Palestine

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Teaching For Black Lives - Media Literacy on Israel and Palestine

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Jesse Hagopian (he/him): I am pleased to welcome Norman Solomon, journalist and author of many books, including the one we're going to focus on this evening, War Made Invisible: How America Hides the Human Toll of Its Military Machine . Norman, thank you so much for joining us this evening.

Norman Solomon: Well, I'm so glad to be part of this session.

Jesse Hagopian (he/him): Right on. I've just been really enjoying your book and finding it so rich to think about using the examples you give in the classroom and thinking about how to teach our students media literacy skills, and also how to help them understand U.S. foreign policy better - it's just such a treasure trove of information. I just thought I'd begin with something that you wrote, because you write in it that "in the United States, nationalism masquerades as journalism." I love that line. Can you share some examples of how you see that happen? And do you think that nationalism also masquerades as education?

Norman Solomon: A lot of it is so routine that we don't really give it a second thought. It sort of blends into the scenery. If a news reporter refers to us as America, in the world the perspective is what we are doing on different parts of the planet. And then the specifics, there's a couple that come to mind offhand. We tend to think of or are encouraged to perceive the venerable journalist Walter Cronkite as the epitome of good journalism. But there's footage of him on CBS. And, of course, then there were only three channels during the Vietnam War to speak of. He would get off a jet bomber and say on camera, on CBS Evening News, "That's a great way to fight a war, general."

Or you fast forward a few decades and you have Dan Rather also on CBS Evening News, pumping the hand of a general and saying, "Congratulations on a job well done." Or, during the so-called "shock and awe" with the bombing of Baghdad during the invasion of Iraq in March of 2003, where, on NBC and the other networks, we had these remarkable statements from journalists saying "it was like a tremendous light show." Or we had reporters, anchors like Katie Couric telling the viewers - millions of them - that Operation Desert Storm had been virtually flawless. Well, we had hundreds of people who were incinerated in one attack on Baghdad in a bomb shelter, who were civilians literally burned alive. And yet you have that sort of nationalism that comes to the fore that says, in effect, that any untoward or negative event that the United States is part of is an anomaly. and anything bad that happens that we can be attributed to as the U.S. government, that is an anomaly. The default is that we mean well, we do well, and that's what we do in the world right now. Perhaps more than at any time in our lifetimes, educators are on the frontline. Many journalists, especially in the United States, are keeping their heads down. They're running for cover. And we know there are all too many instances where teachers who were having the temerity to teach history or refer to current events in a matter of fact, accurate way, are under pressure. I think it's doubly important for us to recognize that nationalism is a way of polluting the terrain through which we walk as people, as human beings, and it separates us. So, to sum up, whether it's journalists, whether it's teachers, we have the challenge to go higher than simple nationalism, to say that we're on a planet with seven or eight billion people and our fates are intertwined.

Jesse Hagopian (he/him): That's absolutely right. I just love the way you reveal the humanity of the people that those nationalistic narratives hide. My mom helped to work on the study that showed how many excess deaths were a product of the war in Iraq, and it really drove home for me the mass death that was caused by our government, that was often just hidden by the media. In one of the epigraphs in War Made Invisible , in your book, you quote Aldous Huxley, written in 1936, "The propagandist's purpose is to make one set of people forget that a certain other set of people are human." I was hoping you could address how you see that happening right now with the situation in Gaza.

Norman Solomon: Unfortunately, there's a hierarchy of empathy in U.S. media coverage, with some exceptions. As I stress in the first chapter of War Made Invisible , the essence of propaganda is repetition, it's not what's exceptional. I give an example, including to young people, when I speak to folks that if you watch a lot of TV, you don't just see one McDonald's commercial. If you watch a lot of TV, you see a lot. That's because it's about repetition. So, the ways in which human beings, who, in this case, are being terrorized frankly, as well as maimed and sometimes killed, with the help of U.S. military aid, they're largely objectified and there's an arm's length tone and distancing that takes place.

The problem in this instance, I believe, is not that there is empathy towards the Israelis who were killed on October 7th. Of course, there should be complete empathy and condemnation for the terrible killing of those civilians. What's imbalanced is the relative lack of empathy, of humane and human connection. And let's face it, we have no way of knowing about people in Gaza right now except through journalism. Just in the last few days, again we're told through news media in the United States, in a sort of passive voice way, that communications have not been functioning for the last few days. So, it's even impossible, when an outlet like NPR wants to talk to a doctor in a hospital in Gaza, they've lost touch with a doctor for a few days. It didn't happen as an act of God that there's no communication in Gaza. These are actions taken by the Israeli Defense Forces, and we have to look at words like defense. It's advertising. Just like the U.S. Defense Department, the Israeli Defense Forces really is that what they're engaged in. They've made a choice to cut off communication in Gaza because basic information about what's happening to human beings is a threat.

So, it goes back to that principle that Aldous Huxley was alluding to way back in 1936, which is, if we can distance ourselves or we are induced to distance ourselves from the humanity of certain others, then all kinds of atrocities become possible.

Jesse Hagopian (he/him): Yeah, they do. I mean, it's breaking my heart every day to see what's happening in Gaza, the bombing of hospitals, the bombing of schools, the killing of journalists who are trying to actually get some truth out about what's happening. So that quote, I think, is just so critical to help us understand how that is allowed to occur. So, thank you for bringing that to our attention. I wanted to expand the lens a little bit, because you quote the brilliant writer Viet Thanh Nguyen, who wrote that, "The severity of anti-Black racism is inseparable from the endurance of American imperialism." So, I was hoping you could elaborate on the linkage between anti-Black racism, imperialism, and militarism.

Norman Solomon: I grew up around Washington D.C. during the 1960s, when I was in high school. I learned a lot, not per se from the media. As a matter of fact, I learned very little from reading the Washington Post every day in terms of what was happening. But I learned a lot from music, and I learned a lot from lyrics of music, and I learned a lot from talking to people and listening to people. When I learned that there was an encampment in Washington called Resurrection City , as a 16 year old, I went down there. I subsequently learned about the vision of a Poor People's Campaign .

Then, two decades later, with the [Jesse] Jackson campaigns of 1984 and 1988, that vision of a Rainbow Coalition is a humanistic vision about what can be created in this country and the world. After the murder of George Floyd , the Black Lives Matter movement was very clear about solidarity with people around the world. If the 20th century issue was the issue of the colorline, the 21st century is also an issue of the colorline, and not only in the United States. As a matter of fact, that gets to the broader lens that we're talking about, the planet. This is another hot button issue and it's hidden in plain sight.

The so-called "war on terror" since October of 2001, with the initial attack on Afghanistan. When we step back and think about it, and look at the data coming from the Brown University's Costs of War Project , for instance, the reality is that of all the people killed by Pentagon fire power in the last 22 years or so, virtually all of them are people of color. Yet we cannot find that talked about in U.S. news media or on Capitol Hill. That is a hot stove topic that is not touched, even if people were aware of it. And yet, in the last few years we've heard more and more, certainly in the last several years, about systemic racism. We've heard more about it. Not nearly enough, but it's been a real step forward in terms of public discourse. Yet, somehow, we're encouraged to believe that systemic racism stops at the water's edge, that it only affects domestic government policy, it only affects institutions with purview and power over the United States internally. But, of course, that's absurd. It's the same institutions, the same power blocks, and the same individual biases and trainings that have a view on the world.

And I think it's important to emphasize that the United States does not bomb countries because they're inhabited by people of color. But when those countries are inhabited by people of color, it makes it easier for the U.S. government to engage in warfare on those countries, for all the same reasons that we have these pernicious and ongoing overt and covert aspects of institutionalized racism in the United States - from educational institutions to media to the so-called justice system to the prisons and the jails. I think we have an opportunity, it's not just a teaching moment, it's a teaching decade to say we can now look at systemic racism and systemic bias in a deep way and a wide way and understand not only the role of power centers within our country but the role of the power centers based in the U.S. for much of the rest of the world.

Jesse Hagopian (he/him): Yes, thank you so much for making those connections. It's like Muhammad Ali , who refused to be drafted into the war in Vietnam, who said, "No Vietnamese ever called me the n word. My fight is right here at home." We need to start making those connections again today when we look at how much the U.S. is spending to supply Israel with the weapons that are perpetrating the destruction of so many lives in Gaza. Thank you for that.

I want to ask you another question before we move to some video clips to have you comment on. In your book you write about the protracted silences and the power of omissions that allow U.S. war-making to go unchallenged. What are some of the key silences and omissions in our media and in our schools today?

Norman Solomon: The silences are just so important because they tell us tacitly what doesn't matter, and about the people who don't matter and the events that don't matter. A lot of this is a convenient amnesia, I think. For instance, say Dick Cheney, he's been rehabilitated largely. He was greeted with open arms a year after the January 6th attack on the Capitol by Democrats and Republicans alike on Capitol Hill. We've had so many instances of people engaged from the top ordering aggression on another country, which, according to the Nuremberg Tribunal judgment, was the supreme international crime.

And yet we had Ellen DeGeneres, we had Michelle Obama, making a point of saying that George W. Bush - the former president who had launched that war based on lies - that actually he was their friend, that they had the same values. We were told, "we have the same values, we just have different politics." Well, what is the value of saying it's okay to attack another country based on deception, violating international law, causing so much death and destruction? So, I think the silences are just so powerful, and it's in ways that are omissions. Paradoxically, you can have silences by commission, because talking around it, making nice with those who actually should have been called to account and perhaps put on trial, that's a way of saying it doesn't really matter. All those Americans who died in Iraq and Afghanistan? No big deal. The people who live there in much later numbers, dying? No big deal.

And it's also prefigurative, preemptive, because it's saying if we can forgive Dick Cheney and George W. Bush, and hold them up as actual paragons of virtue, then when something like this might happen again not only will those leaders not be called to account or be prosecuted, but they will be held up in the future. So, it's the annihilation, you might say the preemptive annihilation of history - saying history won't matter. There is an Orwell 1984 aspect of this. I do think that part of the role of authentic journalists and authentic educators is to break the silence.

Jesse Hagopian (he/him): Yes, I hope everyone on this call will be breaking the silence with us in their classrooms this week, and in the weeks and months to come. Thank you for that framework. I want to look at some clips from the media that deal with the current attacks by Israel on Gaza, and I want to look at it from various perspectives because media literacy has always been something that's important to me in my classroom. I've taught elementary/middle for ten years at my alma mater, Garfield High School here in Seattle. A big focus in my classroom was helping students understand that every document that we read or video that we saw all had a thesis, and that that thesis was being created by someone who had an opinion and a viewpoint on the world. I wanted them to not passively receive that information but actually analyze what is the argument in this text and do I agree with the argument in this text? So, I would often have students create a t-chart when we watched a video, and on one side of the chart they would write what they saw, and the other side they would write what they heard. And they would talk about how the images and the oral arguments put together a thesis and try to identify what that thesis was. So, that's one strategy I could recommend for educators today.

But let's play these clips and then I would love to get your comment on what's going on with these clips and how educators could use them. We'll start with this one from the nightly news.

Good evening and welcome everyone. We'll show you some of what we saw in Ashkelon, close to Gaza earlier. But we start here in Tel Aviv tonight, where for six days now the world has watched and waited for the full might of the Israeli response to the horrific attacks inflicted on it, anticipated by many to be a massive invasion of the Gaza strip, making good on its promise to destroy Hamas after last Saturday's brutal terrorist rampage in Southern Israel.

The toll keeps getting worse. 1,300 in Israel now reported killed; more than 1,500 lives lost in Gaza as Israel steps up its bombing. At least 27 Americans have been killed. And the fate of as many as 150 hostages, including some Americans, remains uncertain tonight. Secretary of State Antony Blinkin, who was here today, says the U.S. is doing everything it can to secure their release. I pressed him on it when we spoke one on one. As the humanitarian crisis in Gaza deepens, a UN agency estimates 340,000 Palestinians have been displaced as Israel's air campaign intensifies.

Jesse Hagopian (he/him): And now we'll see from the same time period, the same same day, another news clip from Democracy Now!

Jesse Hagopian (he/him): And we wanted to show just one more clip. Those two are from the same day, so early on. But I wanted to show one more clip and then get your comment.

Jesse Hagopian (he/him): Norman, can you help us make sense of what we're seeing in these various clips, and how we might be able to use the media to teach our kids?

Norman Solomon: One aspect is the way in which adjectives are used. For instance, the NBC Report quite properly in the repertorial voice referred to the Hamas attack on civilians as "horrific." But we're not getting the same repertoire of voice from that media outlet or other mainstream U.S. outlets to use that kind of adjective to describe what the Israeli military is doing to the civilians in Gaza. So it's horrific when it's done to the Israeli civilians, according to the media, and it's unfortunate and sad when it's done to the civilians in Gaza.

There's a similar problem with the use of words like terrorists and terrorism. If we're going to use words like that, then we can and could justifiably apply it to what Hamas does, then why is it that, to my knowledge, there has never been a big mainstream U.S. media outlet reporting that the Israeli military is engaged in terrorism in Gaza? It's a complete disconnect because there's an unwritten rule that is so unconscious in the pervasive atmosphere of U.S. mass media that you would never do that. Can you imagine what would happen to a TV news anchor who matter of factly had just referred to the Hamas attack as terrorism then went on to say that meanwhile the Israeli forces engaged in more terrorism today in Gaza? I mean, leave your keys on the desk and don't let the door hit you on the way out. That's what would occur.

And of course journalists understand. Basically, if they want their career they would never dream of doing that. What we heard from Senator Fetterman is very typical, and that is to say, Hamas started it. So that seems to be an open-ended license to kill for the U.S ally Israel. But it's not logical, because history doesn't start at point X just because we wanted to start at point X. There's a history going back months and years before it. You could talk about the , which started this. Not to find faults is to say that there's always a context, there's always a backstory, that as human beings it's better for us to understand because that's the way the real world operates.

Jesse Hagopian (he/him): Yes. Well, I think you've given the educators here today so much to think about how to frame these issues and ways to raise this in the classroom.

In the book you note that Biden requested a record $813 billion in military spending in 2023. You write, "This war budget stops up funds that could be devoted to health care, education, housing, job creation, and much more." Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. called military spending a "demonic, destructive suction tube." How can teachers. teachers' unions, parents, students, how can we all challenge these priorities?

Norman Solomon: The example you give, I think, is a great teaching moment, if you will, about the distant mirror of when Dr. King spoke in 1967. As I say in the book, he went down to Riverside Church in New York City and he got tremendous media abuse by pointing out what he called that terrible demonic suction tube. Here we are at the end of 2023, and most communities don't have to walk very far to see that absence of health care, education, housing, and resources.

I think we have this opportunity. Maybe you could say it has something to do with what Paulo Freire talked about that starts with where people are, what they experience, and the deficits in basic social safety nets, social services, public space, and community. How is it that there's hardly any place to go that isn't bought and sold, where something is set up to sell you something? Where is our common space and community that nurtures everybody, not to require any money from them? There are so many countless aspects of how our society is suffering, not only as something happening far away, but nearby where all of us of any age are having tremendous impact.

I think another aspect is the culture of violence and the tacit, absurd assumption through omission, through silence, that literally millions of people, mostly men, can be run through boot camps, and can be trained and encouraged to learn how to kill people and use firearms to do it. Then the theory is that somehow, or the pretense is somehow, there's an off switch, and they come home, and all of them are suddenly discarding all of that training, all of the emotions, all the reflexes and psychological synapses, however you want to describe it. I think the culture of violence is one of those throughlines that we can really talk about, beginning where people are.

Jesse Hagopian (he/him): Yeah, you're breaking it all down this evening. I really appreciate this. People may have seen in the chat that we dropped a link to resources for educators to teach more about Israel, Palestine, and war . We hope that you check that out. I also just wanted to point out that Rethinking Schools magazine just had an editorial in our new winter edition inspired by your book. We write, quote, "We need schools to nurture a disgust for war and to expose students to the human consequences of the U.S. war machine. We need young people to come to see themselves as activists for peace and justice, to recognize our common humanity, and to do something about it." So, I just wanted to recommend that Rethinking Schools also has a resource for educators.

As we move to our next question, I wanted to also point out that Sylvia has an article in the winter issue of Rethinking Schools magazine that describes our country's long history of activism against militarism in our schools. Peace activists, educators, veterans, labor organizers, social workers, clergy. The Socialist leader Eugene V. Debs , who went to prison for opposing World War I, said, "I would no more teach school children military training than to teach them arson, robbery, or assassination." So how do we account for the weakness of the movement against militarism in our schools today?

Norman Solomon: Of course schools are part of society. The walls don't keep out all the different pressures and attitudes. Media is such a powerful educator; usually a miseducator. As you spoke of that memory and information about Eugene Debs, that aspect rarely taught about the history of World War I and the nonviolent, emphatic, articulate resistors, someone earlier in our session mentioned Muhammad Ali, and I think it's very instructive. I'm old enough to remember the tremendous abuse that he took when he simply took a principled stand, and he said, "You want to send me to prison? Okay, that's better than me going out and killing people who I have no reason whatsoever to want to harm at all." I think that's potentially instructive.

We have many examples, and Daniel Ellsberg is another one. But there are so many. Many whose names we don't know. People who went to prison during the Vietnam War, not as draft dodgers as the media would put it - there we go with the words again - but draft resistors. And if we can give examples, again, Muhammad Ali is such a great one, somebody who was vilified at the time. Then, with the wisdom of hindsight, we see how heroic their actions were.

Jesse Hagopian (he/him): Yes, no doubt. Howard Zinn often urged teachers to use Dalton Trumbo's novel Johnny Got His Gun to teach about the realities of war. So I wanted to ask you if there are other resources that you think teachers should incorporate into their curricula to help them teach against pro-war propaganda, to help them make war visible?

Norman Solomon: It's such a powerful book, Johnny Got His Gun , and perhaps sometimes teaching or sharing it, he mentioned Dalton Trumbo. He was targeted by the McCarthy era and suffered as a result, as those who challenged institutionalized violence so often do. I think, in tandem with that book, also of Born on the Fourth of July . I was lucky enough to meet , and his book is such a powerful call for peace, for dealing with realities of war. If students are not familiar with the book, they are more likely familiar with the film, which was perhaps the best star turn that Tom Cruise ever provided to the world. The film Born on the Fourth of July is powerful and would bring home to people of that age or younger what's involved with going to war and the reality of it. In terms of other resources, I think in real time it's so infuriating to read the mainstream press in the United States, to watch the mainstream news, and, as has been alluded to here, I think it's absolutely correct. The daily coverage by Democracy Now! is just crucial - It is bringing us in real time the human realities of this war machinery as it bears down on exterminating people in Gaza. I'm a big fan of, and have been a bit involved with, the media watch group , which is online at Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting. The website is just . For decades now, FAIR has been analyzing news media bias. One of the terrific things is it's like walking on two legs - FAIR analyzes and organizes activism. So, quite often, when there's an analysis - whether it's the New York Times or NPR or anywhere else - they're very specific. They're very clear. It's fact-based. Often it's empirical. Then they say, "You can send an email to this director of news at this media organization." So to pressure. Sometimes in a matter of hours they have generated, for instance. hundreds of emails to the New York Times demanding a correction and pointing out the inconsistencies in the flat out lies that are transmitted as actual journalism. I think one of the benefits there is not only that it helps us to get more in the habit, so to speak, of being our own media critics, but also it says we don't have to just sit back and take it. We can organize effectively, we can talk back to our TV sets, or our scroll, our newspapers, our magazines.

Also, if we wanted to, we could get out the picket signs and picket a media outlet that we think is inappropriate. There are a couple others I want to briefly mention. Commondreams.org , I think, is an excellent source of daily news and commentary. Also, among the many silences that is so atrocious and outrageous in the U.S. media for the last eight years is the slaughter of people in Yemen and the fact that we've had three presidents - beginning with Obama through Trump, through now Biden - who have winked a nod and supported the Saudi-led slaughter of people in Yemen. The largest cholera epidemic in modern history was inflicted by that war on Yemen. The UN says close to 400,000 people have been killed in the last eight years, with the U.S. supporting through intelligence and weapons sales to Saudi Arabia that killing. You may remember, a year and a half ago was the fist bump that the President of the United States gave to the de facto leader of Saudi Arabia. Talk about silences and fears documented. You could watch MSNBC for years and barely see any mention of it whatsoever. I would just add that at one level we would say, "Well, gee, why isn't their coverage? Because the United States is involved," you would think. In spite of the fact that the U.S. is involved, there's minimal to no coverage of this killing in Yemen. And yet when you step back and you look at the patterns, it's even the United States is involved that the silence has been maintained through the media here.

Jesse Hagopian (he/him): It's astounding that when the U.S. has interests in some region of the world, the abuses that they will turn a blind eye to. My heritage is both Black and Armenian and growing up I always knew that our government didn't recognize that there was a genocide perpetrated against my Armenian family. It wasn't recognized for over a hundred years, until just recently it was finally recognized because Turkey was an ally of the United States. So, those atrocities go overlooked. But I really appreciate you sharing those resources with us, and I hope that the educators here this evening will let us know how they're using those resources. If you use one of the books - Johnny Got His Gun or Born on the Fourth of July - or you start using Democracy Now! or FAIR, if you use some of these resources in your classroom, send us a note at the Zinn Education Project and let us know how you're using it so we can share that information with other educators across the country.

Norman Solomon: Something I forgot to mention in connection with Yemen, a resource there, which is fantastic, is an organization called the Yemen Relief and Reconstruction Foundation . On their website they're very clear, they have tremendous information, slide shows, and so forth. The Yemen Relief and Reconstruction Foundation brings us up to speed on what's really happening in that country and the relationship with the United States.

Jesse Hagopian (he/him): Wonderful. Yeah, I would love to hear from teachers if they begin teaching about Yemen, how that goes and what they teach. I just have one last question that will wrap up with this wonderful conversation. You write that in the media, "militarism is euphemized, accepted, internalized, and honored with silence, if not praise. Habits of abstraction, buffering and blocking human connection, enable continual war, and scarcely glimpsed consequences for people who are unseen and unacknowledged." So, how would you respond to teachers who ask how they can teach a curriculum that centers the reality of war, but does not at the same time depress students or destroy their hopes?

Norman Solomon: When I think of that, I pull out from my files a quote from Noam Chomsky, because hope is so crucial, and we can't really live without hope. For young people, or any people, to feel hopeless is just a nonstarter. This is what Noam Chomsky said, "If you assume that there is no hope, you guarantee that there will be no hope. If you assume there is an instinct for freedom, that there are opportunities to change things, then there is a possibility that you can contribute to making a better world." In the long run, I think it's understandable that people will say, "This is too depressing. I can't wrap my mind around it. It brings me down to try to learn what's happening in the world paradoxically," and we can share these experiences. What is the most depressing, the most debilitating, in terms of feeling some hope and optimism to the world is to be passive, and that when we engage, when we connect with the humanity of others, when we work together, when we find ways to be organizing and be proactive about the future instead of consuming dreadful history like it's Wonderbread on the shelf, it's enlivening. We're not going to be told that by the news media. But the fact is, when we're activists, we're going to feel much better, quite likely, about the way the world is and can be than if we, on the other hand, just consume the bad news.

Jesse Hagopian (he/him): Thank you so much for lifting my spirits this evening, and I bet a whole lot of other people. I mean, it's just been an impossible time to see this genocide being perpetrated against the Palestinians in Gaza. It's so hard to see these images day in and day out, but we do have a way to resist.A nd we had an amazing conversation about how to do that this evening. So, I want to thank you deeply from my heart for helping us in this conversation to learn how to resist better.

Norman Solomon: Well, I really want to say that the Zinn Education Project is really inspiring, and I can't think of a better organization to be named after, and in tribute to, Howard Zinn. Howard Zinn Presente! He's here and he's enlivened by this organizing, and also, Rethinking Schools and Teaching for Change. This is how we can elevate our lives. So thanks for all you're doing to everybody on this call.

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Teaching Media Literacy on Palestine and Israel - Teaching for Black Lives

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On December 18, journalist and author Norman Solomon joined Rethinking Schools editor and high school teacher Jesse Hagopian to discuss how Solomon's book, War Made Invisible: How America Hides the Human Toll of Its Military Machine, relates to coverage of current events in Palestine and Israel, and strategies for teaching media literacy.

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What is epistemicide?

Examples include the devaluing, silencing, or annihilating of Indigenous wisdom and culture in the U.S., the creation of the slave trade and dehumanization of the enslaved, and the destruction of Palestinian schools, universities, libraries...

Is/How is this related to the policies in the US such as book bans or policies in Israel, such as the one that bans the use of the word Nakba in curriculum?

How have people resisted the denial or erasure of their ways of knowing? In Palestine, witnessing "is refusing to be silenced and standing in solidarity with the targets of the grand inquisitors of knowledge who strive strenuously to smear, subjugate, and muzzle knowledges that expose and challenge Zionist myths and crimes." Palestine has always been forced to seek “permission to narrate” (Said) against multiple denialisms: existence, Nakba, genocide, occupation.

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A few weeks ago, I got an upper molar filling at one of those hip dental practices targeted towards millennials, all green tiles and personalized screens. In the dental chair, I watched an Anthony Bourdain episode on Beirut, then lunged for my phone as soon as I was alone.

For months, I've watched hundreds of clips of dead children. Men with their limbs blown off. Babies whose faces are covered in burns. Mothers cradling white-shrouded children. These children, these babies and men, are somewhere I've never been, somewhere my father was born, somewhere my grandparents, my uncles, my great-grandparents, lived for years. For months, I've watched American officials scrunch their foreheads in consternation at press conferences. My dissociation has become more norm than exception: I walk down Metropolitan Avenue in Brooklyn as though I'm gliding, as though someone is transporting my body through sheer will. I enter rooms and freeze, stop speaking mid-sentence, forgetting where I'd begun. My grief is dormant during the day, masked by alternating helplessness and frenetic bursts of energy.

The exiled has the option to look away, but that option is only an illusion: to look away is to further disconnect yourself

In the millennial dentist office, my fingers moved like their own orchestra: the swipe, the tapped bright pink heart icon, the hungry scroll through stories. This was during the ceasefire and the stories were about what was being discovered: clips of destruction, people finding their dead. This story was about the Gaza zoo. It showed a baboon starved to death. It showed a wolf whimpering and darting around in circles in fear. The animals, the zookeeper told us, were nearly all dead. The ones that remained were terrified from the bombings. They wouldn't let us get to the animals for weeks, he said. One of the zoo staff had been shot trying. There was a close-up on a trio of Palestinian foxes, flies swatting around them. The bodies were gathered together. Their eyes were ajar. Dead.

~

The foxes shake my grief awake. I'd forgotten about zoos. I'd forgotten about animals. I let out a sob so loud someone knocks on the door to see if something is wrong. Everything OK? the technician says when I emerge. It is no longer clear where is safe to grieve Palestinian life, even Palestinian foxes, so I shake my head. Just a long day, I say in my perfect American accent.

~

"Where would history be without the witness?" Robin Wagner-Pacifici writes in Dilemmas of the Witness, and later clarifies: "What will the witness record? Will the witness attend to the scene or will he or she turn away? How will the witness recount and represent the act after its occurrence?" But this is the modern role of the witness. In Greek, the word for witness is martis, as Giorgio Agamben writes, derived from the verb remember: martis becomes martyr. Those "who thus bore witness to their faith", as Agamben defined them. In Arabic, the word istashid means to have borne witness to God: that is, to have been martyred.

Palestinians stand amidst the rubble of a mosque and buildings following Israeli bombardment around Rafah, on Wednesday. Photograph: AFP/Getty Images

~

One of my favorite lines by Darwish: I am from there. I am from here. / I am not there and I am not here. Five thousand six hundred miles away, the diasporic witness is witness to their dying, to their bearing witness to God, and witness to their witness. Therefore: a diptych of witnessing. Only one is left to speak on it.

~

Instagram has become a boneyard: a site of demolition, of howling children, amputations and third-degree burns and heads flattened between slabs of concrete. I watch a boy with half a face let out garbled sounds through rubble. Here's a hand under a crushed building. Here's an ambulance wading through flooded water. Here's a doctor stripped of clothes, his hands held over his head.

~

"Exile is strangely compelling to think about," Edward Said wrote, "but terrible to experience. It is the unhealable rift forced between a human being and a native place." This rift is by design. It is not theoretical, the mere poetic byproduct of longing. The disconnection between the here and there, between the diasporic and the person on the ground, is an extension of the violence of dispossession. It means that the exiled has the option to look away, but that option is only an illusion: to look away is to further disconnect yourself. The diasporic witness must root themselves in steadfastness, must engage not in the individualistic, late capitalist tacks of avoidance, detachment, distraction, productivity, but in the practices being modeled for us by those that are still there.

~

Here is the most shameful thing I could confess: I forget about the land all the time. I forget about the sea. I forget about the stones stacked into houses, forget my grandparents and great-grandparents lived next to water. I forget about their sage, their za'atar, their olive trees. I forget about their sunsets. This is connected to a larger grief: I forget about land in general. I've spent my life in cities. I am American and Arab, but come from a long line of farmers and peasants and merchants - a great-grandfather who traveled the sea for textiles and garments, another who spent his life caretaking the earth, people who knew the land and water intimately, as recently as two generations ago.

~

This forgetting feels like treachery. When I finally do dream of Gaza, after weeks of nightmares about shrieking children, nightmares about debating talking heads, my dream-self drives down a road, finds a rooftop, kneels to touch water, with the same thought echoing: This is a place and I'm here.

~

On a July day in 1948, David Ben-Gurion wrote in his diary: "We must do everything to ensure they never do return."

~

Let me start at the beginning. Let me start at a beginning: my father was born in Gaza. What, then, is my claim to Gaza? A good witness should be wary of how the I rearranges the air in the room. Nonetheless: my claim is my father. My oak tree of a father, born without a passport, now an American. His mother and father married in Gaza in 1954. My grandfather's family was living in a refugee camp near the beach. My grandmother had a house in Haret el Daraj: the neighborhood of stairs. He was born on a Wednesday by a midwife, the third son. One year later, his family moved to Kuwait, and he spent every summer of his childhood in Gaza. He played with chicks in a courtyard. He learned soccer there. He was bathed by his grandmother. He ate her hot bread. He was born in Gaza because the other villages - Iraq Sweidan, al-Majdal, places of farming, of almond trees and grape crops - were eradicated.

~

The idea of sumud has become a multifaceted cultural concept among Palestinians: it means steadfastness, a derivative of "arranging" or "saving up", even "adorning". It implies composure braided with rootedness, a posture that might bend but will not break.

'When I say I forget about the land, I am naming the truest defeat of all.' Illustration: Samin Ahmadzadeh/The Guardian/Hala Alyan/Getty Images

~

Diasporic identity is a matter of engagement: how coupled you feel to your roots, to your homeland, to language, to your kin across the world. The most effective displacement is that which becomes metaphysical. Ben-Gurion wasn't just talking about physical return, a horde of Arabs brandishing keys, but something more embedded. The fantasy he had was the diasporic not returning even in imagination. I am not there and I am not here. When I say I forget about the land, I am naming the truest defeat of all.

~

What is the role of the diasporic witness? To remain steadfast in what she has seen, what she has understood and learned. To remain undistracted. I write a poem. I write another poem. I cut my hair. I watch a young child's skin burn from white phosphorus. I spend my time on the L train clicking through headlines. I construct arguments that go nowhere. I give talks about endurance, about reorienting our thinking around care, about building our capacity to keep watching. Then I go to a holiday gathering and spend two hours trying to convince a woman why withholding water in Gaza is a war crime. Eventually, she acknowledges that this is terrible - if that is the case. I decide this scaffolded concession is the best I'll get, and pretend to take a phone call.

~

In the courtroom, a witness is the most precious resource there is. Entire cases are made, or broken, based on their presence, their legitimacy, their trustworthiness. A good witness doesn't debate the truth, she stewards it. A good witness doesn't get sidetracked. A good witness is the evidence of what has happened.

~

Who, then, does my shame serve? It further cuts me off, further dislocates me

Every morning, I see new, soft-cheeked children. Sometimes they are dead. Sometimes they are shaking so violently, I can hear their teeth through my AirPods. Across five thousand miles. Their onesies. Their mouths slightly parted. Their glassily open eyes. My consent is required to see the children: I must click to unblur their bodies, the cut of their screams. Who is the blurring for? Who does it serve? The more dead you witness, the more dead the algorithm will serve you. The algorithm needs emojis, cheeky spellings of cities to circumvent the algorithm, a watermelon emoji, so that you can continue to witness. The algorithm then needs your solemn face, a photograph of your latte, your daughter's hand, to grant the witness you bear access to more views.

~

I always sign out of my Instagram. I watch and watch. Then I log off. At the core of this is the shame. The shame of the here. The shame of all that the here offers: spare water, radiators, antibiotics, the ability to log off. The additional step of logging on, a farcical pretense of distance or discipline, I'm not sure which. My fingers can beckon disaster; they can tuck it away.

Who, then, does my shame serve? Shame is an emotion of contraction. It further cuts me off, further dislocates me from there.

~

How to believe the diasporic witness?

~

In legal settings, there are guidelines on how to cross-examine a witness, make a question of her truth. A witness is most easily discredited by showing they've already been discredited, using their past or selfhood as indictment.

There is a story about five babies left to rot in a hospital. They were found decomposing, insects nesting in their limbs. I wait for the story to break in English before sharing it, then marvel at how well the project of delegitimization has worked on me.

The diasporic witness is discredited for their proximity to the land or disputed for their severance from it. Why don't you go back to Gaza, I've been told. Or: Keep writing from your warm house. Compared to those there, the diasporic witness is ridiculously buffered: by our passports, our time to muse, our code-switching. But in the end, we are Palestinian mouths, are Palestinian eyes: those wayward thresholds, they are to be doubted. Our allegiance will always be questioned. Our truths will always come with an asterisk.

~

When the list of martyrs is released, I don't search the names for my own, for my father's last name, his mother's last name. What could I do with that name, in black ink, next to people I've never known, will never know? How to explain that when I do see that name, my name, later that day - in my office with the succulents and art poster from Reykjavik - in an email from my boss, I think for a brief, disorganized moment, Who?

A group of volunteers distribute food to displaced Palestinians who were forced to migrate to the south and are struggling to find food as Israeli attacks continue, in Rafah on Wednesday. Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Images

~

We have been let into the lives of the people in Gaza in the most awful, intimate ways. We've watched them bury their granddaughters. We've watched them recognize their mother's limp arms. We've watched them keel and mourn and beg, in their most despairing moments, in the face of inexpressible physical pain. We've watched their home videos. Their befores. We've watched their first and last birthday parties.

~

In my graduate psychology training, one story haunted me. The story of Kitty Genovese, a bartender in her late twenties, who in 1964 was raped and stabbed outside her apartment building in Queens. There were dozens of witnesses reported, only two of them called the police. By the time I was taught the case, much of it had been debunked - the number of witnesses, the extent to which witnesses had been aware of the attack and remained unresponsive - but it nonetheless launched a body of research into the bystander effect and diffusion of responsibility in times of crisis. The causes of silence were eventually believed to be more complicated: elements of male-female power dynamics, as many believed it to be a lover's quarrel; the assumption that others would intervene; not recognizing the severity of the attack; only hearing or seeing parts of the attack, not the entirety. But some core facts have remained unchallenged: there was an attack and people ignored cries for help; dozens witnessed something and their witnessing ended there.

~

Tragic, the newscasters say, as though the starvation and massacres are acts of God. Tragic, the government representatives say. Tragic, the president with my vote says. The president I toasted a mimosa to on election day. Fourteen years sober and I still sipped that sugar. It was sunny and strangers played music and I danced on the pavements of Williamsburg. Now I watch that president bypass Congress to send in more weapons, and in the coming days witness what those weapons do to the bodies of my kin. The task of the witness is to cultivate steadiness. The task of the witness is not to raise her voice or shake her hand, to stay calm, to remain legible.

~

The thing about diaspora is that the option of looking away is a trick mirror - doing it is never a relief. In the courtroom, on our phones, in the streets: a witness who does not speak, does not act, does not remember, cannot be called upon.

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What the diasporic witness must remember: our claim to the land is non-negotiable. It requires no permission. It requires no mediation. I don't need that claim sanctioned by anyone. That is where my grandparents lived. Their grandparents. Their grandparents. You can destroy all the libraries and archives and villages in the world, you can make return impossible, you can rename a city, you can blow up a university, refashion a history book, and it still won't change that fact.

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In the face of incomprehensible destruction, what does the diasporic witness have to offer? What do we build in a rift the size of countries? Our poetry? Our hoarse voices at a protest, seared by what we've been spared? A last name pronounced in two languages. The promise of a long, unruly memory.

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'I am not there and I am not here': a Palestinian American poet on bearing witness to atrocity

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For months, I've watched devastation from five thousand miles away. But what is the task of the diasporic witness?