Books
Overview | Recently Added | Full List
![“Moment of Truth: Tackling Israel-Palestine’s Toughest Questions” edited by Jamie Stern-Weiner, featuring a chapter by Sam [Recommended]](https://epalestine.ps/sambahour/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/moment-of-truth-front-cover.jpg)
by Sam Bahour | February 21, 2018 | Books
Moment of Truth: Tackling Israel-Palestine’s Toughest Questions seeks to clarify what it would take to resolve the Israel-Palestine conflict, to assess the prospects of doing so, and to illuminate what is possible in Palestine. It assembles an unprecedented wealth of expertise-encompassing political leaders, preeminent scholars, and dedicated activists from Israel, Palestine, and abroad-in direct critical exchange on the issues at the heart of the world’s most intractable conflict.
![“The Way to the Spring: Life and Death in Palestine” by Ben Ehrenreich [Recommended]](https://epalestine.ps/sambahour/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/The-Way-to-the-Spring-Life-and-Death-in-Palestine-by-Ben-Ehrenreich.jpg)
by Sam Bahour | August 1, 2017 | Books
Over the past three years, American writer Ben Ehrenreich has been traveling to and living in the West Bank, staying with Palestinian families in its largest cities and its smallest villages… Ruled by the Israeli military, set upon and harassed constantly by Israeli settlers who admit unapologetically to wanting to drive them from the land, forced to negotiate an ever more elaborate and more suffocating series of fences, checkpoints, and barriers that have sundered home from field, home from home, this is a population whose living conditions are unique, and indeed hard to imagine. In a great act of bravery, empathy and understanding, Ben Ehrenreich, by placing us in the footsteps of ordinary Palestinians and telling their story with surpassing literary power and grace, makes it impossible for us to turn away.
![Kingdom of Olives and Ash: Writers Confront the Occupation [Recommended]](https://epalestine.ps/sambahour/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/KingdomofOlivesandAsh-708468-1.jpg)
by Sam Bahour | June 2, 2017 | Books
Proud to have contributed in several ways to this book project. Actually, it’s much more than a book project as you will see by who the authors are and what their riveting stories reveal.
![“On Antisemitism: Solidarity and the Struggle for Justice” by Jewish Voice for Peace [Recommended]](https://epalestine.ps/sambahour/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/On-Antisemitism-Solidarity-and-the-Struggle-for-Justice.jpg)
by Sam Bahour | March 31, 2017 | Books
Foreword by Judith Butler. When the State of Israel claims to represent all Jewish people, defenders of Israeli policy redefine antisemitism to include criticism of Israel. Antisemitism is harmful and real in our society. What must also be addressed is how the deployment of false charges of antisemitism or redefining antisemitism can suppress the global progressive fight for justice. There is no one definitive voice on antisemitism and its impact. Jewish Voice for Peace has curated a collection of essays that provides a diversity of perspectives and standpoints. Each contribution explores critical questions concerning uses and abuses of antisemitism in the twenty-first-century, focusing on the intersection between antisemitism, accusations of antisemitism, and Palestinian human rights activism. (Publisher’s description)
![‘The Two-State Delusion,’ a well-researched but mistitled saga of a failed peace process [Book Review]](https://epalestine.ps/sambahour/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/9780143129172-1.jpg)
by Sam Bahour | December 3, 2016 | Books, Sam's Writings
University of Massachusetts Boston professor Padraig O’Malley’s The Two-State Delusion’s title suggests that there is something paradoxical in persevering with a proposed solution of two states, Israel and Palestine, as a way forward; the thrust of the historical accounts and the arguments made, however, are actually geared more toward convincing the reader that what failed is the process rather than the two-state paradigm itself, which has never yet been tested. A more accurate title would have been “Eulogy for a U.S.-Monopolized Peace Process.”
![The frozen Chosen: Michael Chabon’s “The Yiddish Policemen’s Union” [Book Review]](https://epalestine.ps/sambahour/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/BookCover-hires-1.jpg)
by Sam Bahour | November 1, 2016 | Books, Sam's Writings
Reading fiction does not come easy for me. I guess, while living under a military occupation, there is too much non-fiction pounding at our lives to allow us to get happily lost in fiction. Reading The Yiddish Policemen’s Union may have changed that. No wonder this novel received a ton of awards; it takes fiction to new levels. Not only does Michael have a truly amazing command of the English language (proof being that my dictionary accompanied me in turning each of the 414 pages), but it turns out his Yiddish is not so bad too. Add to that a true historic premise to base his plot on, and linking the story to a few themes that are alive and well, albeit repulsive (think murder, racism, substance abuse, and more) in today’s real world, and what comes to life is something that you’ll be reflecting on long after the book takes its well-earned place on your bookshelf.
![“The 51 Day War: Ruin and Resistance in Gaza” by Max Blumenthal [Recommended]](https://epalestine.ps/sambahour/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/The-51-Day-War-Ruin-and-Resistance-in-Gaza-by-Max-Blumenthal.jpg)
by Sam Bahour | June 28, 2016 | Books
On July 8, 2014, Israel launched air strikes on Hamas-controlled Gaza, followed by a ground invasion. The ensuing fifty-one days of war left more than 2,200 people dead, the vast majority of whom were Palestinian civilians, including over 500 children. During the assault, at least 10,000 homes were destroyed and, according to the United Nations, nearly 300,000 Palestinians were displaced. Max Blumenthal was in Gaza and throughout Israel-Palestine during what he argues was an entirely avoidable catastrophe. In this explosive work of intimate reportage, Blumenthal reveals the harrowing conditions and cynical deceptions that led to the ruinous war — and tells the human stories. (Publisher’s description)
![“The Idea of Israel: A History of Power and Knowledge” by Ilan Pappe [Book Review]](https://epalestine.ps/sambahour/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/TheIdeaofIsrael-AHistoryofPowerandKnowledge2528IlanPappe2529-798828-1.jpg)
by Sam Bahour | July 20, 2015 | Books
Israeli historian, Ilan Pappe, takes the reader through the maze of knowledge creation in Israel and how that journey has interacted with power. The invaluable intellectual contribution and framing that Professor Pappe provides cannot be overstated. He documents for all serious researchers who follow how the dust (or more like blood) of Israel’s foundational moment has yet to settle. The events in and around 1948 that led to the creation of Israel and the colossal loss of Palestine were such a historic tragedy that even the well-oiled Israeli and Zionist public relations machines have been unable get traction to settle the historic account.
![“The Iron Cage: The Story of the Palestinian Struggle for Statehood” by Rashid Khalidi [Recommended]](https://epalestine.ps/sambahour/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/The-Iron-Cage-The-Story-of-the-Palestinian-Struggle-for-Statehood-by-Rashid-Khalidi.jpg)
by Sam Bahour | May 7, 2015 | Books
At a time when a lasting peace between the Palestinians and the Israelis seems virtually unattainable, understanding the roots of their conflict is an essential step in restoring hope to the region. In The Iron Cage, Rashid Khalidi, one of the most respected historians and political observers of the Middle East, homes in on Palestinian politics and history. By drawing on a wealth of experience and scholarship, Khalidi provides a lucid context for the realities on the ground today, a context that has been, until now, notably lacking in our discourse. (Publisher’s description)
![Support Palestinian women writers! “Al-Khawaja”—a new book release in Arabic from Fida Jiryis [Recommended]](https://epalestine.ps/sambahour/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/khawaja-anthology-fida-jiryis.png)
by Sam Bahour | February 21, 2014 | Books, Sam's Writings
Those of you who know me personally know how much I respect the written word. It is in this spirit that I write you as part of my ongoing efforts to support Palestinian culture and arts, especially writing, and more specifically women writers. One of the up and coming woman writers whom I’m supporting is Fida Jiryis. Fida is from the Palestinian village of Fassouta, near the border with Lebanon. She is a dear friend and dedicated colleague. AL-KHAWAJA is a sequel to Fida’s first book of short stories titled Hayatuna Elsagheera (“Our Small Life”).
![The Bible Is Not a Baton [Book Review]](https://epalestine.ps/sambahour/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/the-bible-is-not-a-baton-1790705007.png "<a class=\"amazingslider-posttitle-link\" href=\"https://epalestine.ps/sambahour/2023/09/the-bible-is-not-a-baton/\">The Bible Is Not a Baton [Book Review]</a>")
!["They Called Me a Lioness: A Palestinian Girl's Fight for Freedom" [Recommended]](https://epalestine.ps/sambahour/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/they-called-me-a-lloness.jpeg "<a class=\"amazingslider-posttitle-link\" href=\"https://epalestine.ps/sambahour/2023/09/they-called-me-a-lioness-a-palestinian-girls-fight-for-freedom-recommended/\">\"They Called Me a Lioness: A Palestinian Girl's Fight for Freedom\" [Recommended]</a>")
!["A Day in the Life of Abed Salama" [Recommended]](https://epalestine.ps/sambahour/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/A-Day-in-the-Life-of-Abed-Salama-by-Nathan-Thrall.jpg "<a class=\"amazingslider-posttitle-link\" href=\"https://bookshop.org/p/books/a-day-in-the-life-of-abed-salama-a-jerusalem-odyssey-nathan-thrall/19664070?ean=9781250854964&next=t\">\"A Day in the Life of Abed Salama\" [Recommended]</a>")
![From Wisconsin to Gaza to Jenin: An American Writer’s Lived Experience in Palestine [Book Review]](https://epalestine.ps/sambahour/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/from-wisconsin-to-gaza-to-jenin-1926401834.jpeg "<a class=\"amazingslider-posttitle-link\" href=\"https://epalestine.ps/sambahour/2023/06/from-wisconsin-to-gaza-to-jenin/\">From Wisconsin to Gaza to Jenin: An American Writer’s Lived Experience in Palestine [Book Review]</a>")
!["Peacemakers in Israel-Palestine: Dialogues for a Just Peace" [Recommended]](https://epalestine.ps/sambahour/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Peacemakers-in-Israel-Palestine.jpg "<a class=\"amazingslider-posttitle-link\" href=\"https://epalestine.ps/sambahour/2023/05/peacemakers-in-israel-palestine-dialogues-for-a-just-peace-recommended-reading/\">\"Peacemakers in Israel-Palestine: Dialogues for a Just Peace\" [Recommended]</a>")
![Non-violently resisting Israeli military occupation, with a scalpel [Book Review]](https://epalestine.ps/sambahour/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/non-violently-resisting-israeli-military-occupation-with-a-scalpel-472741138.jpeg "<a class=\"amazingslider-posttitle-link\" href=\"https://epalestine.ps/sambahour/2022/12/non-violently-resisting-israeli-military-occupation-with-a-scalpel/\">Non-violently resisting Israeli military occupation, with a scalpel [Book Review]</a>")
!["Rooted in Palestine: Palestinian Christians and the Struggle for National Liberation 1917-2004" [Recommended]](https://epalestine.ps/sambahour/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Rooted-in-Palestine-Palestinian-Christians-and-the-Struggle-for-National-Liberation-1917-2004-Xavier-Abu-Eid.jpg "<a class=\"amazingslider-posttitle-link\" href=\"https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/65167107-rooted-in-palestine\">\"Rooted in Palestine: Palestinian Christians and the Struggle for National Liberation 1917-2004\" [Recommended]</a>")
