Queer Solidarity with Palestine: Resource Guide

Understanding the Occupation (history, vocabulary, and news)

History:

Timeline of Palestine’s History by Al Jazeera

What is Hamas? by Council on Foreign Relations

Vocabulary:

Israel/Palestine Vocab Guide by Solutions not Sides

Vocabulary and History of the Occupation  by Jessie Shiner

Articles:

It’s Time for a Choosing (2023) by Andrew Mitrovica

The compass of mourning (2023) by Judith Butler

Explanations are Not Excuses (2023) by Sarah Schulman

Videos:

How Israel was Created (2023) by AJ plus

The Israel Palestine Conflict: A Brief History (2015) Vox

Palestinian Lives Matter Too (2023) by Judith Butler

Palestine as a Queer Issue  (pinkwashing, queer palestinian resistance, and international queer solidarity)

Articles:

• Palestine is a Queer Issue by Ghadir Shafie, co-founder of Aswat
• Palestine as a Queer Struggle coauthored by Nada Elia
• Eight Question Palestinian Queers are Tired of Hearing (2013) by Ghaith Hilal
• Pinkwashing and Israels Use of Gays as a Messaging Tool by Sarah Schulman
• The Queer Feminist Roots of Palestine's May Uprising by Walaa Alqaisiya

• Leading LGBT activists, artists and cultural workers: oppose pinkwashing and support BDS (2012) by Nora Barrows-Friedman

• LGBTQ Palestinians Fund No Safety in Israel (2021) by Tamar Ben David and Lilach Ben David
• Tel Aviv is the Worlds Gayest Apartheid Travel Destination(2012) by Benjamin Doherty
• The Queer Israeli Youth Taking a Stand Against Pinkwashing (2023) Oren Ziv

Essays:

• Dreams of a Palestine Where I Can Hold Myself Whole (2022) by Tareq Baconi
• Tracing my queer consciousness from Palestine to the US, and back again (2020) by Sa’ed Atshan

• However and Whomever We Choose: Love in Occupied Palestine (2022) by Fahad Ali
• Photo Essay: Fighting Pinkwashing in Israel (2016) by Lihi Ben Shitrit
• I'm a Queer Palestinian. Here's How I'm Fighting for Liberation (2021) Adam Haj

• The Im/possibility of Being a Queer Palestinian in America (2021) by George Abraham

• Open Letter to the Born Again (1979) by James Baldwin

Academic Papers:

• Palestinian Visibility and Activism: The Plight of Queer Palestinians under Occupation and Homophobia  (2023) by Mohammed Abualsaid
• Reciprocal Solidarity: Where the Black and Palestinian Queer Struggles Meet by Sa’ed Atshan and Darnell Moore
• Gay Rights with a Side of Apartheid (2012) by Nada Elia
• Pinkwatching and Pinkwashing: Interpenetration and it’s Discontents (2012) by Jasbir Puar and Maya Mikdashi
• Anti-Pinkwashing as Emerging Hope: Queering the Palestinian Liberation Movement in the Context of Institutionalised Neoliberalism (2020) Sukrita Lahiri

Videos:

Workshops/Talks:

• “Queer Anti-Colonial Struggle from the US to Palestine” (2014)

workshop by: alQaws, Audre Lorde Project, Barnard Center for Research of Women

• Pinkwashing: The Queer Critique of Israel’s Pro-Lesbian and Gay Politics in Historical Perspective by Elise Chenier
• Pinkwashing, Trans*nationalism, and Queer Politics in Israel/Palestine by Atalia Israeli-Nevo
• Pinkwash, Greenwash, Hogwash: Israel’s Use of Sex and Marketing to Distract from Apartheid (2013) by Ali Abunimah

Documentaries:

• Pride Denied (2016) by Kami Chisholm
• Pinkwashing Exposed: Seattle Fights Back (2012) Amy Mahardy and Dean Spade

Books:

• Queer Palestine and the Empire of Critique (2020) by Sa’ed Atshan
• Israel/Palestine And the Queer International (2012) by Sarah Schulman
• This Arab is Queer; Anthology (2022)
• You Exist Too Much; Novel (2020) by Zaina Arafat
• Guapa (2016) by Salem Haddad

Queer Palestinian Activism:

al-Qaws (2007)

• website
• instagram: @alqaws_org
• articles and workshops:

• Beyond Propaganda: Pinkwashing as Colonial Violence
• “Queer Anti-Colonial Struggle from the US to Palestine” (2014)

Aswat ( 2003)

• website
• instagram: @aswatfreedoms
• speeches and publications:

• Palestine is a Queer Issue by Ghadir Shafie, co-founder of Aswat - Palestinian Feminist Center for Sexual and Gender Freedom

• Queer Cinema for Palestine Film Festival

Palestinian Queers for BDS (2005)

• website

Queer Solidarity Activism:

International Queer Solidarity with Palestine Letter (2023)

Queer Muslims for Palestinian Liberation (2023)

Queers Undermining Israeli Terrorism

Leslie Feinberg speaks at Aswat: ‘I am at your side’ (2007)

Queers Against Israeli Apartheid ( 2008)

Social Media Toolkit:

No Pride in Apartheid Toolkit 

Instagram:

Palestine and Queer Liberation by @makanrights

Lets Talk Pinkwashing by @letstalkpalestine

Palestine is a Queer Justice Issue by @uspcr

@queersforaliberatedpalestine

@queers.for.palestine

@queersforpalestine

Other Reading Lists:

Our History of Popular Resistance: Palestine Reading List by Palestinian Youth Movement

Solidarity with Palestine - A Radical Black Feminist Mandate: A Reading List by Black Women Radicals

Support Groups and Mental Health Resources:

• Support group for Queer Palestinians and SWANA people by @finlay.sw
• Grieving with Gaza @qtpocmentalhealth
• Holding and Sharing Collective Greif for Gaza by @ourtranshealth

Calls to Action:

• A liberatory Demand from Queers in Palestine
• International Queer Solidarity with Palestine Open Letter
• Join the Queer Bloc

This syllabus was compiled by Jessie Shiner for the Queer Solidarity with Palestine Revolutionary  Teach-In Series. Special thanks to al-Qaws, Sarah Schulman, Sa’ed Atshan, Nada Elia, and Izzy Mustafa for their support and contributions.