The problem is that it's European.
People who say that it's the Jewish side of Israel that is causing it to be a murderous ethno-supremacist genocidal apartheid state are being anti-Semitic. All of that comes from the European part of Israel's nature.
In my end of March blog post I stated that I wanted this month to be far more focused on marketing my book.
That mostly did not work as expected. But still I was able to get stuff done and it has been an eventful month.
If you do not wish to read further then the TL;DR is:
Summary: This is a collection of short form poetry and prose by one of the many shining lights of Palestinian literature, Refaat Alareer. It feels like both a journal and journalism as it describes the reality of Palestinian life under Israeli occupation and oppression.
My conclusion: This book proves one thing more than anything else. Israel is built on myths that shatter on contact with Palestinian reality. Refaat Alareer's words, demonstrate that reality with stunning clarity and is necessary reading.
This review has been posted on other platforms with code words to avoid suppression. The version here does not.
Ramadan started a week after my last monthly post, please accept my belated congratulations for all those who celebrate the blessed month. And since Eid will be in a week from now please accept an early Eid Mubarak!
Ramadan has gone well this year, not only did all denominations start Ramadan on the same day, which is rare, but it also coincided with the month of March. This has made tracking the days of the month incredibly easy. It has also not been a particularly hard three weeks as this year the month has fallen between the long and thirsty days of summer and the shorter and far more pleasant winter fasts.
That last sentence of the paragraph is the second sentence from my novel, only slightly re-written. Think of it as a little preview six months out from launch!
I took a bit of an unplanned break from social media since I made my cover reveal and preorder opening posts. Life has been happening pretty fast and there were a few family things to take care of. I've learned from Palestinians to say Alhamdullilah for it all and get back to it. I'm blessed to be able to rest for a bit but I do not want to let it lead to stasis or despondency.
So what I want to do here is to write out my ideas as 'scripts' for the short videos that I want to make. That way I'll get my thoughts out of my head and onto paper and it might make for interesting blog content as well. It'll definitely shed some light on how I approach social media posting. More after the click.
The deathly silence that surrounds the ongoing genocide of the Palestinian people has been to a significant degree dented since the 7th of October 2023, but, here in January 2025, more than fifteen months in, it has proven to be still resilient.
If we are fortunate enough to have a future in which honest histories get to be written, there will be volumes written about all of the reasons that the people of conscience in the West were not able to voice their condemnation of the genocide happening in the name of their values and with their tax dollars, let alone organize against it.
So there's way more than three reasons for the silence, but I feel the need to express my thoughts on why I feel so lonely when I'm wearing a kuffiyeh out in public in Canada and why the topic is so repelling to so many. I have three.
If you do not wish to read further then the TL;DR is:
Summary: This book argues the root cause of the conflict in Palestine is not that Palestinians were dispossessed, but that they wish to no longer be dispossessed and go back home.
My conclusion: I read it so you don't have to be subjected to the ugly idea professed here that for there to be peace, Palestinian voices need to be smothered. I suggest reading something else by someone like Rashid Khalidi, or Illan Pape instead.
Or here are two upcoming books that I have far more hope for:
If I Must Die, by Palestinian Poet Refaat AlAreer
Genocide Bad by Jewish Author and Activist Sim Kern
To expand slightly I find this book to be of almost no value, read on if you wish to know what those bits of value may be.
Here I am again, late at night, writing a blog post and trying to get a newsletter out because I want to, at the very minimum, post on the 23rd of every month until my book comes out.
So as the last hours of the 23rd of October slip by, let's hear it for achieving the bare minimum!
But that bare minimum included some major progress on a number of different fronts. Read on for more!
So it's been four months since my last blog post, which was definitely NOT what I had planned. But a lot of progress has been made and I do have a lot of updates to provide.
The biggest being that I do have an 'official' date of publication for Under The Full and Crescent Moon and that is, Inshallah, the 23rd of September 2025! Which is, Inshallah, exactly a year from when I plan to put up this blog post!
That's a lot of Inshallah's already! Read on for a few more.
My life has been very busy lately and I am feeling a little overwhelmed. I am just grateful that at least a little bit of the chaos I'm navigating is caused by what I want to achieve and that I am able to direct some of my efforts towards those ends. It is a privilege that not everyone has and I try to be mindful of that.
But still, because of all the things I need to get done, I need to prioritize. And with that comes the constant sense that maybe I'm focusing on the wrong things.