An Israel-Palestine Reading List: Recommendations from Experts

This extraordinarily popular book by an expert on the conflict tells the story of a bus accident in Jerusalem in 2012 from the perspective of Abed Salama, father of one of the children in the accident. "The Must-Read Book of the Current Moment" — LitHub

"This definitive history draws from generations of the author’s own family’s archives to assert that this isn’t a modern, fair fight between two equal states: Instead, it’s a complex colonial war of continual dispossession of a homeland belonging to Palestinians." — Recommended by the staff of Slate

"A non-fiction graphic novel that tells the story of an Israeli massacre of 111 Palestinians in Rafah in 1956 — partially in response to the armed Palestinian raids — evokes and explains a forgotten moment in history that helped lay the seeds for Saturday’s assault into southern Israel. Joe Sacco is a gentle and compassionate storyteller, and in his hands, the suffocation of life in the blockaded strip feels suddenly real." – Financial Times

"An acclaimed nonfiction graphic novel about Gaza, which pioneered the medium of “comics journalism”, has been rushed back into print after surging demand since the fresh outbreak of the conflict two months ago...Edward Said, the Palestinian American academic and critic, said in his introduction to the book: 'With the exception of one or two novelists and poets, no one has ever rendered this terrible state of affairs better than Joe Sacco.'" —David Barnett in The Guardian

"This extraordinary bestselling book from 2013 is a thought-provoking and thorough examination of the profound meaning of Israel to Jews, married with the nation's complex reality. Written by journalist Ari Shavit, it is both rigorously researched and powerfully personal." —Marie-Claire Chappet in Harper's Bazaar

"A meticulously detailed oral history of the founding of Israel — day by day, minute by minute — constituting a portrait of heroism and struggle on all sides, as kaleidoscopic as “War and Peace,” only true." —The Los Angeles Times

"Hala Alyan’s Salt Houses is a multigenerational saga that tells a story of Palestinian exile with great pathos and attention to character." – Gal Beckerman, The Atlantic

"In 2000 the author, a British doctor, accompanied her husband, a un official, and three small children to Israel. A month later the second Palestinian intifada erupted. This moving memoir—which spans three years—documents the events she witnessed. She gave birth to a fourth child in a hospital in Bethlehem, which was shelled by the Israeli army. A Palestinian suicide-bomber blew himself up near her children’s school, with his head landing at the foot of their teacher." – The Economist

"Written by a collection of Israeli, Egyptian and Palestinian scholars, this is a broad and brilliantly executed discussion on the topic. It provides a wider context to the situation in Gaza, situating it within the complex and ever-shifting world of Middle Eastern politics. Views are well-balanced and considered, making this an essential read for anyone new to the subject." —Marie-Claire Chappet in Harper's Bazaar

"This widely acclaimed memoir draws you into the life of Ghada Karmi; a childhood spent in Palestine and a life of displacement and struggle in Britain. Here is the human cost of the loss of one's home and the reshaping of one's identity written with wit, humour and often heart-breaking insight." —Marie-Claire Chappet in Harper's Bazaar