Everything We Thought Was Beautiful: Interviews with Radical Palestinian Women

Palestinian women are an essential—often silenced—part of global struggles for freedom. They are at the forefront of the anti-colonial struggle against Israel’s occupation of their lands, as well as being comrades in intersecting movements worldwide.

This series of interviews with Palestinian women living across Palestine and in the diaspora include a journalist on the front line of resistance against settlers and the Israeli army in the West Bank, a BDS activist, a doctor exposing Israel’s deliberate targeting of medical infrastructure as part of its genocidal assault on Gaza, an organiser who critiques the Palestinian Authority’s repression of social media and those making their voices heard in the diaspora, and others.

Everything We Thought Was Beautiful: Interviews with Radical Palestinian Women broadcasts these women’s struggles in their own words and on all fronts—against colonialism, white supremacy, conservatism, patriarchy, state control—and Israel’s occupation. They discuss their politics, the fight for freedom, and their hope for the future.

Complied by Shoal Collective, a co-operative of independent writers and researchers writing for social justice and a world beyond capitalism, the voices include Ayah Al-Ghazzawi, Lina Nabulsy, Samah Fadil, Diana Khwaelid, Shahd Abusalama, Sireen Khudairy, Lama Suleiman, Shrouq Aila, Rana Abu Rahmah, Shatha Abu Srour, Ghada Hamdan, Mona Al-Farra, and Faiza Abu Shamsiyah with a Foreword by Huwaida Arraf.

Praise

"This collection of interviews is a breath of fresh air, a window into the hearts and minds, the challenges and aspirations of Palestinian women in the homeland and in the Diaspora, as they not only dream of social and political liberation, but organize, write, dabke, and struggle to achieve the society they want to live in—beyond borders, beyond Zionism, beyond authoritarianism."
—Nada Elia, author of Strange and Difficult Times: Notes on a Global Pandemic

"A powerful and timely introduction to the lives and struggles of Palestinian women, finding ways to survive and even thrive under the weight of networks of oppression and under the shroud of global silence."
— Nanjala Nyabola, author of Greater than the Sum of Our Parts: Feminism, Inter/Nationalism, and Palestine

"A powerful book, one we need to read to understand that we cannot turn our eyes away from the injustice perpetrated against the Palestinian people. Listening to the voices of these brave women we see that despite their losses and their suffering there is still much beauty in their lives, born out of their deep love, solidarity, and shared struggle with their community."
—Silvia Federici, author of Witches, Witch-Hunting, and Women

About the Contributors

The Shoal Collective is an independent co-operative of writers and researchers. We produce news articles, investigations, analysis and theory-based writing as a contribution to, and a resource for, movements that are attempting to bring about social and political change.

Huwaida Arraf is a Palestinian American activist and lawyer who cofounded the International Solidarity Movement (ISM), a Palestinian-led organization using nonviolent protests and international pressure to support Palestinians.

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