Out of Gaza: A Tale of Love, Exile, and Friendship

Grand Prize Gold Winner for the 2025 Reader Views Literary Award in Nonfiction
Gold Winner for the 2025 Reader Views Literary Award in Memoir
Gold Winner for the 2025 Reader Views Literary Award in Societal Issues
Winner of the Award of Excellence from Religion Communicators Council
Finalist for the 2026 Last Syllable Book Award

Out of Gaza tells the story of Dima Mansour, a young Palestinian who suffers hardship growing up in Jordan and Gaza during the Gaza War of 2014, later escaping to be with the man she loves in Belgium, where she is held in a detention center for illegal immigrants. Her harrowing story is told by Katharina Galor, an Israeli Jewish scholar who forms a close and unexpected friendship with Mansour. Despite the profound asymmetry that defines the geopolitical context of their lives―one marked by Palestinian loss and exile, the other by Jewish trauma and persecution―their bond uncovers surprising parallels in their shared experiences of displacement and survival.

As their friendship unfolds, Galor and Mansour come to intimately understand the lasting impact of ethnic cleansing from the Holocaust and the Nakba, and how these pivotal events have shaped their families, identities, and ties to the region. Out of Gaza delves into themes of identity, belonging, and the enduring effects of historical trauma, showing how empathy and resilience can bridge even the deepest divides.

Katharina Galor is the Hirschfield Senior Lecturer in Judaic Studies at Brown University. Born in Germany, where her parents had fled from communist Romania, Galor was educated in Germany, France, Israel, and the United States. She is the author or coauthor of four books, including The Moral Triangle: Germans, Israelis, Palestinians (with Sa’ed Atshan), and writes for or appears in various media outlets, including the Forward, Die Zeit, NPR, Israeli TV, National Geographic, and the Discovery Channel.