Gaza and Palestine: Ten Key Words to Understanding an Endless Conflict


A Palestinian fishes in the sea off Nuseirat after the truce. (Photo by Eyad Baba/AFP)
Never before has the world been so vocal about Palestine and Israel . But amidst the abundance of information that's not always verifiable and the conflict between supporters of one side and the other, there's a risk of losing sight of the complexity and resorting to slogans. Among the attempts to shed light on the history and current events of a conflict as long-standing as it is significant for the fate of the world, particular merit goes to the "Palestinian Lexicon" by Alba Nabulsi, an Italian-Palestinian educator, researcher, journalist, and activist.
Through ten "key words," "Alba Nabulsi shows us a Palestine that is first and foremost a people, a collective body resisting a colonial process," writes Francesca Albanese in the preface. "Removing Palestine from the reductive framework in which it is often trapped means restoring it to its most authentic horizon: that of an indigenous people fighting for its survival, identity, and dignity, on a land that is not just the place it inhabits, but a part of its being." But that's not all: "Another merit of the book is its ability to restore the political dimension of memory : a map for the future, written by those who resist. Every word, every image, every testimony presents itself as an indicator of a path to liberation, connecting the present to decades of past struggle and to possible scenarios of future emancipation."
Luce



