Two new books are worth knowing about and, I believe, worth reading. Please check out the websites for each to see for yourselves.
Michael Riordon’s website is especially useful. It even includes the voices of some of the people about whom he writes, each of whom in his/her own way is non-violently opposing the occupation and colonization of Palestine and Palestinians. Check out all the links for insight into what the book is about.
All the best,
Dorothy
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Dear Dorothy,
This is a quick note to let you know that my website for the forthcoming book is now up and running, at http://www.mywaytofight.ca.
The book’s title, Our Way to Fight, came to me from a young Palestinian who makes and teaches film at the Freedom Theatre. At one point in our conversation he said, “This is my way to fight.” It struck me as a good way to describe the long, difficult struggle for human rights, justice and peace in Israel-Palestine. Since none of the people I feature in the book is fighting solo, ‘my’ became ‘our.’
Pluto Press plans to release Our Way to Fight in January, and Between the Lines will release a Canadian edition shortly after. In the meantime, my goal is to build a modest presence for the book on the internet. As the release date gets closer, web activity will increase, perhaps including a blog.
On the Links page, links are provided to organizations that I feature in the book. It’s a small gesture, in hopes that people won’t wait for the book in order to make vital connections.
I’d be grateful if you would let others know about the website.
The Attack on the Gaza Freedom Flotilla and How It Changed the Course of the Israeli/Palestine Conflict
Moustafa Bayoumi, Editor
“We have been attacked while in international waters. That means the Israelis have behaved like pirates … The moment they start to steer this ship towards Israel, we have also been kidnapped. The whole action is illegal.” – Henning Mankell, aboard the Gaza Freedom Flotilla
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— About the Book
“We have been attacked while in international waters. That means the Israelis have behaved like pirates … The moment they start to steer this ship towards Israel, we have also been kidnapped. The whole action is illegal.”—Henning Mankell, aboard the Gaza Freedom Flotilla Eastern Mediterranean, Monday, May 31st, 2010, 4.30am: Israeli commandos, boarding from sea and air, attack the six boats of the Gaza Freedom Flotilla as it sails through international waters bringing humanitarian relief to the beleaguered Palestinians of Gaza.
Within minutes, nine peace activists are dead, shot by the Israelis. Scores of others are injured. The 700 people on board the ships are arrested before being transported to detention centers in Israel and then deported. Within hours, outrage at Israel’s action echoes around the world. Spontaneous demonstrations in Europe, the United States, Turkey, and Gaza itself denounce the attack. Turkey’s prime minister describes it as a “bloody massacre” and “state terrorism.” Lebanon’s prime minister calls it “a dangerous and crazy step that will exacerbate tensions in the region.”
In these pages, a range of activists, journalists, and analysts piece together the events that occurred that June night, unpicking their meanings for Israel’s illegal, three-year-long blockade of Gaza and the decades-long Israel/Palestine conflict more generally. Mixing together first-hand testimony, documentary record, and illustration, with hard-headed analysis and historical overview, Midnight on the Mavi Marmara reveals why the attack on Gaza Freedom Flotilla may just turn out to be Israel’s Selma, Alabama: the beginning of the end for an apartheid Palestine. Contributors include:
Omar Barghouti, Max Blumenthal, Juan Cole, Sara Roy, Norman Finkelstein, Glenn Greenwald, Rashid Khalidi, Alia Malek , Lubna Masarwa and Raja Shehadeh. About the Author
Moustafa Bayoumi is the author of How Does it Feel to be a Problem? Being Young and Arab in America, which won an American Book Award and an Arab American Book Award. His writing has appeared in The Nation, The London Review of Books, and The Village Voice. He teaches at Brooklyn College, New York. HomeOur Books
