Gaza Rising: Voices from the Rubble

The highly individualized essays of Gaza Rising: Voices from the Rubble share a basic message that years ago was issued by a respected Palestinian civil society organization, “We Are Not Numbers.” While an informative portrayal of Palestinian suffering by reporting casualties as divided among children, women, seniors, and the disabled may be a more concrete demographic profile of victimization, this breakdown of casualties nonetheless only amounts to a more detailed abstraction, while continuing to remain aloof from the individuation of the experience of every single Palestinian. What Gaza Rising contributes is an existential rendering of genocide as imparted by autobiographical storytelling as the only acceptable way to experience the unspeakable.

This is much more than a metaphor for Gazans. Gaza Rising provides a cohering tapestry of salient and diverse personal experiences, concrete existential stories of a series of richly textured lives of people subject to the lethal stresses of an ongoing genocide that has lasted over two years. As the authors gathered in this volume shared the daily realities of genocide as lived experience, memory assumes a crucial role in mitigating what has been lost by way of devastation. Anecdotes drawn from this unfolding genocide preserve “the presence” of lost or mutilated children or of parents, family life, friendships, joyous recollections of marriages and births, and celebrating martyrs, what Abu Kan’an aptly calls “beautiful moments.” At the same time, the experience of genocide is not sugar-coated by sentimentality.

This book sheds light on the power of the Palestinian people of Gaza emanating from the voices of its own intellectuals, journalists, doctors, teachers, civil defense workers, artists, and community leaders. These powerful accounts illuminate Gazans’ struggles and unwavering commitment to persist as a people against all odds, facing the future with enduring solidarity and unshakeable resolve.

Truly, can Palestine ever, then, be extinguished?

Dr. Ramzy Baroud is a US-Palestinian journalist, media consultant, an author, a columnist and Editor of Palestine Chronicle. He is a former Managing Editor of Middle East Eye and former Deputy Managing Editor of Al Jazeera online. His books include "The Last Earth" and “My Father Was a Freedom Fighter”. His books were translated to several languages. Baroud has a Doctorate of Philosophy in Palestine Studies from the University of Exeter (2015) and was Non-Resident Scholar at Orfalea Center for Global and International Studies (UCSB).

Ilan Pappé is an Israeli historian and socialist activist. He is a professor with the College of Social Sciences and International Studies at the University of Exeter, director of the university's European Centre for Palestine Studies, and co-director of the Exeter Centre for Ethno-Political Studies. His latest book is Ten Myths About Israel. His books also include "The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine" and "The Idea of Israel: A History of Power and Knowledge". Pappé’s research focuses on the modern Middle East and in particular the history of Israel and Palestine.

Romana Rubeo is an Italian writer and the managing editor of The Palestine Chronicle. Her articles appeared in many online newspapers and academic journals. Rubeo holds a master's degree in Foreign languages and is pursuing independent research and academic projects related to Palestine, media, and political communication.