Dear Reader, While the world fights, I write. I won’t bore you with my assessment of the war. You can read it here, Iran War Balance Sheet. Instead, this newsletter is dedicated to celebrating the women of Palestine and the Palestine movement, starting with a short story honoring my mother published in Scene48. Inaugurating a series of posts featuring books by Palestinian women authors, you get a review of Lisa Suhair Majaj’s Geography of Light. I also review Abby Martin’s movie Earth’s...
about 2 months ago • 2 min read
Dear Reader, “In a world of automata, being human is revolutionary.” It is a formidable feeling to finally see the first layout of my long-awaited second book. Reading it brought back the years of blood and tears with which it was written. “The book I never wanted to write.” Many thanks to my publisher from Fomite, Donna Bister, for an excellent layout and for bearing with my last-minute additions “We all must understand Gaza to survive in this new world. We cannot go back to the same blinded...
3 months ago • 3 min read
Dear Reader, A new year accentuates the uncertainty we live. The future is wide open. We do our best, but it never ceases to surprise. I concluded 2025 in mourning. My publisher, Marc Estrin of Fomite Press, passed away in August. Amid the train of lives lost that year, and the flurry of events surrounding the non-ceasefire, my grief for this personal loss was deferred. Marc Estrin, co-founder of Fomite press, novelist, cellist, puppeteer at Bread and Puppet Theater, and activist in...
4 months ago • 3 min read
Dear Reader, It is a blessing to have a voice at times like these. In the spirit of Thanksgiving, I recognize, with deep gratitude, all those who hear and enable this voice, including you, dear readers. You may have noticed my retreat from social media. I am now on chapter 25 of my romantic novel, which has morphed into a dystopian sci-fi set in the digital age. Thankfully, I have also participated in many Palestine-related events, the recordings and photos from some of which I share below....
6 months ago • 2 min read
Dear Reader, How does it feel to be a Palestinian American at this time? What are the implications of the ceasefire for Palestinians here and in the Middle East? Join me tomorrow at noon on Midday with Tom Hall, WYPR-Baltimore, 88.1 FM or online. You can also catch me in person Saturday at the Palestine Youth Movement’s fundraiser picnic, ‘Gaza is the Compass’ (Arlington, VA). I will be tabling, so it’s a good opportunity to pick up your signed copy of Fugitive Dreams. In this newsletter, I...
7 months ago • 2 min read
Dear Reader, “Palestine lives!” I write in an 800-word essay published in Scene48 magazine in Haifa earlier this month. “Our brightest light in this enveloping darkness is our own century-long history of struggle; to keep Palestine alive, to unite, to forge our collective dream.” In this issue of my newsletter, while the genocide continues, I celebrate Palestinian culture and its ceaseless resistance to erasure, and affirmation of life. In that spirit, I share highlights from the Al-Bireh...
8 months ago • 2 min read
Dear Reader, ‘How do you cope?’ I sometimes get asked. ‘How do you function, with everything that’s going on in Palestine and the world?’ Truth is I don’t. I try. I do what little I can. I plan only for plans to be derailed by the morning news. It looks like nothing is changing. Hopelessness hovers near like a vulture. Then I hear from one of you. A compliment here, an argument there. It doesn’t matter which. I see a constant stream of new readers engaging – new people interested in learning...
10 months ago • 2 min read
Dear Reader, A short note as I ready to travel: It’s an honor to be delivering this Sunday’s sermon (6/22) at West Hill United Church in Scarborough, Ontario (also live-streamed, details below). I will be speaking at two more events next week in St. Catharines, Niagara region. Please reply to this email if interested in the latter. Thank you for all the contributions to my Gaza 5k fundraiser for UNRWA-USA. While the world is focused on the Israel-Iran war, Gaza remains in the dark, it’s...
11 months ago • 1 min read
Dear Reader, As the Catholic world awaits a new Pope, and Pakistan and India brace for a new war, 290,000 children in Gaza face starvation because of a two-month blockade that Western governments are supporting. It is not accidental that “hostilities” are erupting in South Asia at the same moment the Russia-Ukraine war is coming to an end. Weapons manufacturers, who nowadays include big tech and big media, need to keep the business going. The narrative is written in favor of war because the...
about 1 year ago • 2 min read