The affinity between the West and Israel is due in part to an affinity with white settler life. Our task, in face of the ongoing Israeli onslaught in Gaza and the ongoing white settler attachment to it, is to struggle against this social order.

While Palestinian and Arab poets once likened the Fall of Granada to the loss of Palestine, a newer generation is recasting “al-Andalus” as the Palestine yet to come.

Yara Hawari’s “The Stone House” is a story of unending Palestinian trauma rooted in the Nakba. However, it is also an expose of steadfastness, resistance, and I dare say – hope.

Rabbi Michael Davis sought to further his Arabic studies by visiting his teacher in Hebron. She took him to the armed Jewish-Israeli settler encampment in the heart of the Palestinian city. “Despite the show of military force, the hospitality of my hosts reminded me: an outstretched hand provides greater security than all the guns in the world.”

From the indomitable poet Fadwa Tuqan to the fearless medic Razan Al-Najjar, Ancestors of Palestinian Liberation marks seven decades since the Nakba by telling the stories of seven Palestinians whose lives and work helped to build a steadfast foundation for the ongoing struggle for Palestinian liberation. Yes Razan only lived 21 years, but she faced huge obstacles with courage and compassion, and died during a remarkable moment in Palestinian history.

Mourid Barghouti, beloved Palestinian poet and the author of the stirring memoir “I saw Ramallah,” died earlier this month in Amman at the age of 76.

Susan Abulhawa says the Palestine Writes Literature Festival is a moment for Palestinian writers to demonstrate that “the power of culture is stronger than the culture of power.” Said Abulhawa, “As those with extraordinary political, economic and military force shrink the land beneath our feet, we will definitely expand our cultural and intellectual presence in the world.”

In Shoshana’s latest installment, what she appreciates most about Ramallah on Thursday night (party night) is how committed her friends are to partying, with no hesitancy to dance, an appreciation of letting loose. Shoshana thinks it is a world away from the tension she often encounters in Jerusalem.

Sinan Antoon’s translation of the Mahmoud Darwish poem “Silence for Gaza.”