Stories of Resistance: Reading Palestinian Authors

How literature became my lens for understanding Palestine, history, and the human cost of occupation.

One of the most powerful acts of reading is stepping outside the boundaries of our own culture and the dominant histories we were taught. Since the beginning of Israel’s bombardment of Gaza in 2023, I’ve dedicated myself to reading stories by Palestinians that showcase their ongoing histories and resistance against Israeli occupation and genocide. Below are some of the most eye-opening reads I’ve encountered.

Minor Detail by Adania Shibli

This chilling novel weaves together two timelines: the 1949 rape and murder of a Palestinian girl by Israeli soldiers in the Negev desert, and a contemporary Palestinian woman’s obsessive investigation into the crime decades later. As she searches for truth, she is confronted by the suffocating realities of occupation, surveillance, and historical erasure. Rooted in themes of memory, violence, oppression, and the weight of the past, Minor Detail exposes the unsettling continuity of injustice and the power of storytelling as an act of resistance.

They Called Me a Lioness by Ahed Tamimi

While Minor Detail reflects on past atrocities, They Called Me a Lioness turns the lens to a young woman living that resistance in real-time. In this powerful memoir, Ahed Tamimi recounts her life growing up under Israeli occupation in the West Bank, from her childhood protests to becoming an international symbol of Palestinian resistance. Her story is one of resilience, defiance, and the relentless fight for justice in the face of systemic oppression. The book grapples with themes of resistance, courage, family, and sacrifice; They Called Me a Lioness offers an intimate look at the realities of life under occupation and the strength it takes to keep fighting for freedom.

Things You May Find Hidden in My Ear by Mosab Abu Toha

This deeply personal poetry collection captures the grief, rage, and quiet moments of beauty that exist within life under siege in Gaza. Abu Toha’s words illuminate the daily struggles of survival, the longing for home, and the unbreakable spirit of a people who refuse to be erased. Themes of exile, resilience, memory, and the power of poetry as testimony run throughout the collection, making it both an elegy for what has been lost and a declaration of existence.

Power Born of Dreams by Mohammad Sabaaneh

Told through the perspective of a Palestinian prisoner, this graphic novel intertwines personal and collective history, using stark black-and-white imagery to depict the brutality of occupation and the unyielding hope of resistance. Through themes of imprisonment, storytelling, identity, and perseverance, Power Born of Dreams highlights how even in the darkest circumstances, the act of remembering and sharing one’s truth can be a form of defiance.

The Hundred Years’ War on Palestine by Rashid Khalidi

Historian Rashid Khalidi presents a sweeping analysis of Zionist settler-colonialism and the Palestinian struggle, reframing the conflict as a century-long war against an indigenous people. Blending personal history with meticulous research, he exposes the global forces that have shaped Palestine’s dispossession. With themes of resistance, historical revisionism, imperialism, and betrayal, The Hundred Years’ War on Palestine is both a necessary corrective to dominant narratives and a powerful call for justice.

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These books haven’t just informed me—they’ve reshaped how I engage with the news, how I talk to others about Palestine, and how I understand resistance as both global and deeply human. Reading Palestinian authors gives heartbreaking insight and context to the current conflict, allowing us to dispel propaganda and create multi-dimensional opinions around political conflicts of our time. The resistance of the Palestinian people parallel stories of resistance from across history, laying down a blueprint for rebellion against oppression I hope to see conclude in my lifetime.