The seemingly endless conflict in the Middle East, which has erupted again into full-fledged war between Hamas and Israel, involves not just opposing governments and their armed forces, but millions of people who, like all of us, want only to live in peace. It’s easy to take sides and to see those we oppose as an abstract “other”, but they are human beings as well, with much the same hopes and dreams as us.
To say the situation is longstanding and complex would be an understatement; the roots of this conflict go back more than 150 years, and involve not just the Israeli Jews and Arab Muslims, but geopolitical players around the world. And while both “sides” can make claim to the moral high-ground, neither is entirely blameless for the crisis that exists.
Rather than seek evidence for whom to fault, we think the best course that we, as individuals can take, is to learn more about the people who are caught up in this war. To that end, we’ve begun to collect books, videos, movies and podcasts we think will help us to better understand both sides, and the humanity of those involved. We encourage you to share your suggestions. You can do this by sending as an email at duxburyforall@gmail.com
Novels, short stories and memoirs
About Palestinians:
Pay No Heed to Rockets: Life ion Contemporary Palestine by Marcello Di Cintio
In the Presence of Absence by Mahmoud Darwish
Salt Houses by Hala Alyan
Palestine’s Children: Returning to Hair and Other Stories by Ghassan Kanafani
The Drone Eats with Me: A Gaza Diary by Ate Abu Seif
The Book of Gaza: A City in Short Fiction by Ate Abu Seif
Palestinian Walks: Forays into a Vanishing Landscape by Raja Shehadeh
Haifa Fragments by Khulud Khamis
I Saw Ramallah by Mourid Bhargouti
About Israelis:
Khirbet Khizeh by S.Y. Yizhar
The Hilltop by Assaf Gavron
The People of Forever Are Not Afraid by Shani Boianjiu
Twenty-One Stories by S. Y Agnon
Suddenly, A Knock at the Door by Etgar Keret
Apples from the Desert by Savyon Liebrecht
Front the Four Winds by Haim Sabato
To the End of the Land by David Grossman
A Tale of Love and Darkness by Amos Oz
Historical works about Israel, Palestine and the conflict between them
Sacred Landscapes: The Buried History of the Holy Land since 1948 by Meron Benvenisti
The Israel-Palestine Conflict: Contested Histories by Neil Caplan
Citizen Strangers: Palestinians and the Birth of Israels Liberal Settler State by Shira Robinson
Scars of War, Wounds of Peace: The Israeli-Arab Tragedy by Shlomo Ben Ami
Lives in Common: Arabs and Jews in Jerusalem, Jaffa and Hebron by Menachem Klein
Failing Peace: Gaza and the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict By Sarah Roy
Israel: A Simple Guide to the Most Misunderstood Country on Earth by Noa Tishby
Killing a King: The Assassination of Yitzhak Rabin and the Remaking of Israel By Dan Ephron
The Hundred Years' War on Palestine: A History of Settler Colonialism and Resistance by Rashid Khalid
Israel: A Concise History of a Nation Reborn by Daniel Gordis
Palestine: A Four Thousand Year History by Nur Mashal
My Promised Land: The Triumph and Tragedy of Israel by Ari Shavit
Videos
BBC correspondents answer questions about conflict: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9scGFj7zp5w
The Israel-Palestine conflict: A brief, simple history: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iRYZjOuUnlU
Frontline: Shattered Dreams of Peace | Israeli-Palestinian Relations After Oslo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jt3PpqaLfxo
Podcasts
Plain Speak with Derek Thompson: Two Israel-Palestine Historians Explain: How Did We Get Here? And What Happens Next?:
The Times of Israel: Seeing through the fog of war https://www.timesofisrael.com/spotlight/seeing-through-the-fog-of-war/
Al Jazeera’s The Take: Israel’s ground war on Gaza begins: https://www.aljazeera.com/podcasts/2023/10/30/the-take-israels-ground-war-on-gaza-begins
NPR: Why Is It So Hard To Talk About The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict?: https://www.npr.org/2021/05/24/999923328/why-is-it-so-hard-to-talk-about-the-israeli-palestinian-conflict
BBC: Israel and The Palestinians: Part 1 The Palestinians https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001rv11
BBC: Israel and The Palestinians: Part 2 Israel https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001rrry
BBC: Israel and The Palestinians: Part 3 Hamas https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001rv0y
Unsettled: A collection of podcasts featuring difficult conversations and diverse viewpoints on Israel-Palestine and the Jewish diaspora https://www.unsettledpod.com
Player FM: Palestinian Israeli Conflict Podcasts https://player.fm/podcasts/Palestinian%2520Israeli%2520Conflict
Documentary films
Gaza Tells the story of Palestinian residents i their own words. Available on Prime Video.
The Gatekeepers Six former heads of israeli security talk about anti-terrorism operations, extremists, and Netanyahu. Available on Amazon
Israel: A home movie. Available on Amazon Prime
Palestinian Stories A collection featuring 32 award-winning films created by Palestinians or about Palestinian stories. Available on Netflix
Promises Several Jewish and Palestinian children are followed for three years and put in touch with each other, in this alternative look at the Jewish-Palestinian conflict. Available on Amazon
Dramatic films
Paradise Now Two teenage friends are recruited for a suicide bombing. Available on Prime.
Bethlehem Tells the complex story of an Israeli Security Officer and his teenage Palestinian informant. Available on Prime.
Lemon Tree The story of a Palestinian widow who must defend her lemon tree field when a new Israeli Defense Minister moves next to her and threatens to have her lemon grove torn down. Available on DVD.
The Bubble The story of a group of young people who live in Tel Aviv, Israel. The movie follows the group's difficulties of living in Israel's reality. Their routine breaks when a young Palestinian man enters their lives. Available on Prime.
Disengagement A political drama centered around Israel's pullout from the occupied Gaza strip, in which a French woman of Israeli origin comes to the Gaza Strip to find her long ago abandoned daughter. Available on AMC+/Prime.
For Educators
A collection of resources for Educators from the New York State Department of Education is available here.