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, women taking part in the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement, 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 Palestinian movements, those making their voices heard in the diaspora, and many 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.

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.