“As the past and the future wrestle over the present, as time halts between violent speed and excruciating stasis, the now takes shape for many from Aleppo to Rafah as a singular source of refuge.” –Sherene Seikaly
Dear Friends and Colleagues,
The Journal of Palestine Studies’ last issue of 2024 comes against the backdrop of the long-awaited ceasefire deal, which has given the indomitable Palestinians of Gaza the freedom from genocide they so rightly deserve. In the weeks since January 19, as we anxiously monitor the pulse of the world under the new chains of US empire, we continue to watch with awe and admiration our people in Gaza create life amid a hellscape of rubble and destruction. This moment of bearing witness to their strength, their humanity—this now, as Sherene Seikaly describes it—offers “a singular source of refuge.”
The issue features two research articles that lay bare the hypocrisies, double standards, and violences of the neoliberal world order amid genocide. Razan Shawamreh coins the term “biased impartiality” to explain China’s peculiar foreign policy on Palestine and Israel, both historically and at present—on the one hand purporting to support a negotiated settlement to the so-called conflict that ensures peace and Palestinian rights, while contributing to the status quo of Israeli settler colonialism. The second article by Evelyn Alsultany is open access and exposes the ways in which US universities have deliberately obfuscated Israel’s genocide on Gaza. Looking at several universities’ diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives since October 7, Alsultany shows that university administrations serve to prop up and normalize the Zionist position that is used to justify Israeli atrocities against Palestinians.
Seven powerful essays capture significant moments from the last fifteen months. Deema Dalloul, a young writer in Gaza, vividly shares her intimate experiences surviving genocide in a selection of letters introduced by Laura Albast, originally submitted to the Institute for Palestine Studies’ Letters from Gaza blog series. Mohammedwesam Amer, an educator and father who fled Israel’s genocide, reflects from exile on Israel’s war on Palestinian education in Gaza. In her open-access essay, Caitlin Procter explains the intellectual and human impetus behind building a digital database of testimonies of genocide in Gaza, shared with her by audio and text messages from friends and colleagues since October 7.
Four other authors zoom out from Gaza to offer reflections from a spectrum of geographies. Khaled Furani tells us about his neighborhood of Wadi al-Nisnas, in the heart of Haifa, that has withstood decades of Israeli settler-colonial violence and erasure, and remains, to this moment, a center of political dissent. Anas Iqtait offers a much-needed critique of the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah since October 7 in his open-access essay, explaining its ongoing inaction against the genocide as a function of its skewed priorities aimed at consolidating its authority. Rana Anani exposes the violent hypocrisy of Western art institutions, which have been canceling, silencing, and excluding Palestinian artists and their supporters for condemning Israel’s genocide. And Gabriel Levine-Drizin takes us to Colombia in this open-access essay situating unprecedented Colombian solidarity with Palestine since the genocide within the country’s longstanding close ties with the Israeli regime.
Sherene Seikaly and Sinan Antoon pay tribute to the late Elias Khoury (1948–2024), the great Lebanese novelist who committed his life to Palestine until his last breath. The issue ends with two book reviews. Atef Alshaer reviews the coedited volume Light in Gaza: Writings Born of First and Things You May Find Hidden in My Ear: Poems from Gaza by Mosab Abu Toha—two works of literary brilliance authored by Palestinians from Gaza. Last but not least, Nadia Yaqub introduces us to Driving in Palestine, by Rehab Nazzal, in this open-access review of the visual account of a journey through the segregated roads of occupied Palestine.
The full table of contents can be found here.
In Gratitude and Solidarity,
The JPS Editorial Team
