Essays

The Museum of Gush Etzion

Dina Awwad-Srour

The occupational system holds us all to its endless bureaucratic and security laws. In this revealing story, Awwad takes you along with her daily reality—the unfathomable insanity of Gush Etzion.

Apr 17,2024

The Nameless Soldiers that Kill Us & the Palestinian Call for Abolition

By Nicki Kattoura

Today, on Palestinian Prisoners' Day, the words of Nicki Kattoura resonate as we stand up against the systemic violations of human rights in occupation prisons. By highlighting the impunity of both the state of Israel and its anonymous individual soldiers, Kattoura invites us to embrace an abolitionist approach to our struggle. He argues that “...we are not interested in reforming a brutal occupation, we are committed to abolishing it.” And so we stick to our demands and scream as loud as we can: Free free Palestine.

Apr 05,2024

The Specter of the Palestinian State

Translated by Hazem Jamjoum

Kanafani’s resistance as a writer and a politician is still felt today. This translation of his 1971 essay on the Palestinian “failed” state allows us to reflect on our current leadership from a historical perspective. Over the past 55 years, has our resistance movement been successful in resisting “Falasteenistan”, the artificial and collaborator state?

Jan 27,2024

I Don't Want to Be Civil Anymore

By Mariam Masud

"Civility is the oppressor’s way of policing our behavior. It keeps us docile in the shackles of structures that were never built for us." Masud forces us to consider our own political awakening. Her bold narrative reveals the bravery needed for a colonized people to claim their freedom.

Nov 14,2023

EXCERPTS ON/FROM GAZA

By Samar Batrawi

Read about the unwavering connection between cousins; one currently located in Gaza, the other in London. With her eloquent and vulnerable prose, Batrawi tries to make sense of what's been happening in Gaza and with Palestinians around the world over the past weeks. Writing in times of war is incredibly difficult and painful, but Palestinian authors like Batrawi remain steadfast.

Jul 27,2023

Huda’s Salon and the Art of Witness: An Interview with Director Hany Abu-Assad

By Nicolas-Bilal Urick

Director Hany Abu-Assad spoke to Fikra Magazine in his first interview since the film’s controversial circulation. His words express an emotional understanding of this nascent criticism as he discusses his motivations as a Palestinian wrapped up in the cruel politics of exploitation, colonial subversion, and the imperial rape of native integrity. Abu-Assad earnestly insists that we confront the horrors inflicted on the Palestinian people by the “comatose Zionist regime,” irrespective of the taboos we must witness.

Jul 27,2023

A Loud and Hungry Darkness

By Samar Batrawi

Remembering the second intifada through the personal lens of forgotten friendship and collective suffering. Batrawi brings us back to a dark history that is often only spoken about during late evenings behind closed doors. She asks us to keep remembering the past, so that we may imagine a new future.