A reading list about the Middle East crisis
If it’s good enough for politicians, it’s good enough for teachers.
In mid-November, a group of high-profile Australian writers and advocates launched the Summer Reading for MPs campaign, which aimed to send a curated selection of five books to all 227 Federal senators and MPs. The hope was that by encouraging politicians to read the books over their summer break, they would develop a deeper understanding of the conflict in the Middle East.
Endorsed by the Australian Palestine Advocacy Network and the Jewish Council of Australia, the four non-fiction and one fiction titles offer a nuanced understanding of the Israel-Gaza conflict.
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The campaign was funded by 60 authors, including Anna Funder, Tim Winton, Charlotte Wood, Trent Dalton, Anita Heiss, Pip Williams and Michelle de Kretser. Many of these authors felt that the mainstream media often oversimplified the Israel-Palestine conflict, missing the region’s complex history and the perspectives of its people.
Accompanying the books was a letter that said in part: “The political debate in Australia and internationally rarely touches on the issues, events, and historical analyses that these books reveal – despite their direct relevance to what is happening today.”
This message should also resonate with educators who seek to promote a deeper, more thoughtful exploration of global issues in the classroom.
As stated by one of the campaign’s creators, the reading list is not intended to change people’s minds or take a particular view of the conflict but to encourage people to read widely and think deeply.
The reading list
Balcony over Jerusalem is a memoir by Australian journalist John Lyons, who lived in Jerusalem with his family for six years and who resists the tendency to see one side as good and the other as bad.
A Very Short History of the Israel-Palestine Conflict by Jewish historian Ilan Pappé. Going beyond the events of October 7, 2023, Pappé offers historical context that illuminates the deeper roots of the conflict, making it an excellent resource for educators looking to present a more balanced view of the region’s history.
The Hundred Years’ War on Palestine by American writer and historian Rashid Khalidi is a comprehensive and systematic history of the conflict told from a Palestine perspective.
Palestine A-Z, an alphabetised list of definitions and common terms by Irish author Kate Thompson. It’s a useful resource for educators looking to demystify the terminology surrounding the Israel-Palestine issue, and make it more accessible to students.
The Sunbird is a novella by Lebanese Australian author Sara Haddad, inspired by the author’s aunts and grandmother, who were among the 700,000 Palestinians who fled the Territory in 1947, and the personal and historical impact of the UN Resolution which divided the territory into separate Arab and Jewish states.
Why educators should consider this reading list
The campaign’s emphasis on reading widely and thinking deeply is a message that should resonate in classrooms, and this curated list is a valuable tool for educators seeking to understand the issues in order to open discussion on complex global issues in their own classroom.
