Perfect Victims: And the Politics of Appeal
Mohammed El-Kurd
An argument against making Palestinian dignity conditional on innocence, deference, or an audience's approval.
Perfect Victims asks what happens when Palestinians are required to prove their humanity before their political claims can be heard. Mohammed El-Kurd examines the demand that an oppressed people appear blameless, grateful, and easily legible to the very audiences judging them. His answer refuses both the performance and the premise.
The book moves among personal testimony, history, reportage, and political argument. Its subject is not only hostile representation, but the quieter bargains that can enter solidarity itself: which Palestinian emotions are welcomed, which forms of resistance are made unsayable, and what is lost when dignity depends on appeal.
Details
- Published by Haymarket Books, 11 February 2025
- Paperback ISBN 979-8-88890-315-5
- 256 pages
The edition
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Connected in the archive
10 connected records10 records elsewhere in the archive are linked to this one, each by a piece of evidence you can read below.
on a related subject — 10 records
Filed near each other — the same Mandate district, or the same uncommon subject tags.
- Abd al-Rahim Mahmoudعبد الرحيم محمود
Evidence — Inferred from the text — read the evidence: Shared tag: "resistance".
- Diana Buttu on Negotiations and Media Framing
Evidence — Inferred from the text — read the evidence: Shared tag: "media".
- Fadwa Touqanفدوى طوقان
Evidence — Inferred from the text — read the evidence: Shared tag: "resistance".
- Hamas Contained: The Rise and Pacification of Palestinian Resistance
Evidence — Inferred from the text — read the evidence: Shared tag: "resistance".
- Institute for Middle East Understanding — media resource organization
Evidence — Inferred from the text — read the evidence: Shared tag: "media".
- Jeninجنين
Evidence — Inferred from the text — read the evidence: Shared tag: "resistance".
- and 4 more
Cite this page
Every claim above carries its sources — citation is the point.
- Chicago
“Perfect Victims: And the Politics of Appeal.” Library, FALASTEEN.AI. Accessed 22 August 2026. https://falasteen.ai/library/perfect-victims/.- MLA
“Perfect Victims: And the Politics of Appeal.” Library, FALASTEEN.AI, 2026, https://falasteen.ai/library/perfect-victims/. Accessed 22 August 2026.- BibTeX
@misc{falasteen-perfect-victims, title = {Perfect Victims: And the Politics of Appeal}, howpublished = {\url{https://falasteen.ai/library/perfect-victims/}}, organization = {FALASTEEN.AI — A Living Archive for Palestine}, year = {2026}, note = {Accessed 2026-08-22} }