Letters to Palestine: Writers Respond to War and Occupation
Edited by Vijay Prashad
American writers respond to the 2014 Gaza war with essays, poems, and open letters — a document of conscience edited by Vijay Prashad.
In the summer of 2014, during Israel’s seven-week assault on Gaza, something shifted in American public opinion: for the first time, polls showed a majority of young Americans judging Israel’s actions unjustified. Letters to Palestine, assembled by Vijay Prashad in the assault’s aftermath, gathers that moment — essays, poems, and open letters by American writers, most of them not specialists, addressed to and written for Palestinians. Junot Díaz contributes a foreword; other contributors include Teju Cole, Mumia Abu-Jamal, and Robin D.G. Kelley, alongside Palestinian American writers and activists such as Huwaida Arraf, Noura Erakat, Remi Kanazi, Naomi Shihab Nye, and Randa Jarrar. The pieces move between grief, solidarity, and anger — at the bombardment, and at the United States’ role in enabling it — and several draw lines between Palestinian and Black American struggles. The result is less an analysis than a document of conscience: a record of American letters turning toward Palestine.
About the editor
Vijay Prashad is an Indian historian and journalist. He is the executive director of Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research, chief editor of LeftWord Books, and the author of many books, including The Darker Nations and The Poorer Nations.
Details
- Published by Verso Books, London, 2015
- Foreword by Junot Díaz
- ISBN 9781784780678
The edition
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Connected in the archive
19 connected records19 records elsewhere in the archive are linked to this one, each by a piece of evidence you can read below.
named in this record — 2 records
One record names the other. A pointer for reading, not a claim that they belong to each other.
- Naomi Shihab Nye
Evidence — Inferred from the text — read the evidence: Kelley, alongside Palestinian American writers and activists such as Huwaida Arraf, Noura Erakat, Remi Kanazi, Naomi Shihab Nye, and Randa Jarrar.
- Noura Erakatنورة عريقات
Evidence — Inferred from the text — read the evidence: Kelley, alongside Palestinian American writers and activists such as Huwaida Arraf, Noura Erakat, Remi Kanazi, Naomi Shihab Nye, and Randa Jarrar.
names this record — 1 record
One record names the other. A pointer for reading, not a claim that they belong to each other.
- Running Orders
Evidence — Inferred from the text — read the evidence: The poem was collected in Tuffaha's debut book, Water & Salt (Red Hen Press, 2017), winner of the 2018 Washington State Book Award, and anthologized in Letters to Palestine: Writers Respond to War and Occupation (Verso, 2015).
on a related subject — 16 records
Filed near each other — the same Mandate district, or the same uncommon subject tags.
- 30 Seconds from Gaza: Diary of Genocide
Evidence — Inferred from the text — read the evidence: Shared tag: "gaza".
- A Long Walk from Gaza
Evidence — Inferred from the text — read the evidence: Shared tag: "gaza".
- Angela Davis: Freedom Is a Constant Struggle — From Ferguson to Palestine
Evidence — Inferred from the text — read the evidence: Shared tag: "solidarity".
- Beit Hanounبيت حانون
Evidence — Inferred from the text — read the evidence: Shared tag: "gaza".
- Desmond Tutu: Israeli Apartheid is Worse Than South Africa's
Evidence — Inferred from the text — read the evidence: Shared tag: "solidarity".
- Gaza in Crisis: Reflections on Israel's War Against the Palestinians
Evidence — Inferred from the text — read the evidence: Shared tag: "gaza".
- and 10 more
Cite this page
Every claim above carries its sources — citation is the point.
- Chicago
“Letters to Palestine: Writers Respond to War and Occupation.” Library, FALASTEEN.AI. Accessed 22 August 2026. https://falasteen.ai/library/letters-to-palestine/.- MLA
“Letters to Palestine: Writers Respond to War and Occupation.” Library, FALASTEEN.AI, 2026, https://falasteen.ai/library/letters-to-palestine/. Accessed 22 August 2026.- BibTeX
@misc{falasteen-letters-to-palestine, title = {Letters to Palestine: Writers Respond to War and Occupation}, howpublished = {\url{https://falasteen.ai/library/letters-to-palestine/}}, organization = {FALASTEEN.AI — A Living Archive for Palestine}, year = {2026}, note = {Accessed 2026-08-22} }