Reading List on the Crisis in Gaza, the West Bank, and Jerusalem

 Below is a message and list of resources compiled by Encounter, an educational organization based in Israel. We are deeply grateful to Encounter for providing these resources and giving us permission to share them. We do not necessarily endorse any of the opinions mentioned in these sources.

“As events in Jerusalem, Gaza, the West Bank, and across Israel have evolved quickly over the past several weeks, it can be hard to process the many new developments, let alone to support others in learning about and understanding the rapidly shifting situation. 

Many of you have reached out to ask about recommended reading on recent events. While there is no simple or one-stop answer to that question, below is our modest attempt to provide helpful resources.

Our goal here is not to provide a comprehensive or objective overview of the current situation, but rather to provide access to new and less frequently heard perspectives, especially from Palestinian civil society leaders whose voices are so often absent from Jewish communal discourse.”

Here is the PDF version of the below list

Big Picture and Thought Pieces

• The Israel-Palestine Crisis: Causes, Consequences, Portents: Overview of the current crisis from the International Crisis Center, an “independent organization working to prevent wars and shape policies that will build a more peaceful world”

• Painful Paths through the Darkness: On acting from a place of being “pro-solution”, by Palestinian nonviolent leader and veteran Encounter speaker Ali Abu Awwad

• Coexistence activists respond to the violence in Israel’s streets: Article on responses to the violence across Israel, featuring veteran Encounter speaker Lama Abuarqoub

• Fellow creatures, can we not see one another?: Sermon by Rabbi Sharon Brous, Founding Rabbi of IKAR (Shabbat Bamidbar, May 15, 2021)

• Six Unsettling Truths Laid Bare by the Present Violence: Insights by Rabbi Hanan Schlessinger, Director of International Relations for Roots/Judur/Shorashim

• Writing by our Chief Education Officer, Leah Solomon, on the events of recent weeks:

  • Now, when rockets are falling, is exactly the right time to talk about building a better future for Israelis and Palestinians, in JTA

  • We’ve been here before, often, and the children on both sides pay the price, as well as her other pieces in Times of Israel

  • We Are Destined to Share This Land, in Lilith Magazine

• Where the Line is Drawn: A book by Palestinian author and lawyer Raja Shehadeh, which is a helpful starting point for understanding Palestinian experience of the past 50 years and the dynamics that helped shape the current situation

Sheikh Jarrah

• In East Jerusalem’s Sheikh Jarrah, Palestinians brace for battle over evictions: Overview of the current situation in Sheikh Jarrah, in Times of Israel (May 6, 2021)

• My Neighborhood: Film exploring the ongoing situation in Sheikh Jarrah through the personal story of Mohammed El Kurd, a Palestinian boy growing up in the neighborhood whose family is required to give up part of their home to Israeli Jews. Also check out the associated in depth discussion guide.

• Why So Much Rests on the Fate of a Tiny Neighborhood in East Jerusalem, by community organizer, filmmaker, and veteran Encounter speaker Rula Salameh, in the New York Times (May 11, 2021)

• Why Are They Really Demonstrating in Sheikh Jarrah?: A summary of the history and legal processes from Ir Amim, an Israeli organization whose mission is “to render Jerusalem a more equitable and sustainable city for the Israelis and Palestinians who share it” (from 2010, but as a historical survey, still equally relevant)

Gaza War

• We Are Not Stones: Personal narrative by Mosab Abu Toha, Palestinian poet and founder of the Edward Said Library in Gaza (May 24, 2021)

• ‘We Have No Option but to Die’: Living Through an Airstrike in Gaza: Personal narrative by New York Times reporter Iyad Abuheweila (May 21, 2021)

• My Grandfather Bought a Home in Gaza With His Savings. An Israeli Airstrike Destroyed It.: Personal narrative by Laila al-Arian, Palestinian-American journalist (May 20, 2021)

• I spent the night in a bomb shelter with my kids before. Last night was different: Personal narrative by Sharon Weiss-Greenberg, Director of Education Partnerships for My Jewish Learning (May 13, 2021)

• The Toll of Eight Days of Conflict in Gaza and Israel: Maps and timeline in the New York Times (from May 17, 2021, three days before the current ceasefire took effect)

East Jerusalem and the Temple Mount/Al Aqsa

• Article in Times of Israel about the events at Al Aqsa on May 10, 2021, published hours before Hamas launched rockets on Jerusalem ostensibly in response to the events at Al Aqsa, setting off the recent Gaza war

• Youth-led protests can make a difference for Palestinians: Article on nonviolent protests in East Jerusalem in recent weeks, by Mahmoud Muna, veteran Encounter speaker

• Young Palestinians are changing old geographies: Article exploring the role of young Palestinians in demonstrations on both sides of the Green Line, by Mahmoud Muna

Questions to ask yourself and others as you read these sources: 

• What is my reaction?

  • What am I feeling as I read or listen? If I am feeling validated, supported, or vindicated -- or defensive, uncomfortable, or angry -- why might I be responding that way? What core beliefs make this perspective feel threatening or validating to me?

• Where is the writer coming from?

  • What might the person whose words I’m reading be feeling as they wrote this? What is their lived experience that leads them to the conclusions they are making?

• What am I curious about?

  • What can I learn from this perspective? What assumptions might I be making? What do I still not know? What more do I want to understand?