The most important critical work of the renowned Palestinian author
Ghassan Kanafani’s remarkable extended essay Palestinian Resistance Literature Under Occupation, 1948–1968 is an unyielding act of cultural and political endurance. Writing in the wake of Israel’s devastating territorial expansion in 1967, Kanafani elaborates his theory of resistance literature and offers a visceral account of life under occupation. Translated for the first time into English by one of the greatest living translators from Arabic to English, Tarif Khalidi, Kanafani’s essay offers one of the sharpest social and political analyses of life in Palestine in this early period of occupation.
In the two decades following the Nakba, Palestinian writers undertook the gruelling task of advancing a cultural struggle to protect their language, culture, and heritage. In addition to Kanafani’s groundbreaking essay, the book includes a selection of poetry, prose, and dramatic writing curated by Ghassan Kanafani himself. Alongside writing from Mahmoud Darwish, Hanna Abu Hanna, and Samih al-Qasim, among many others, Kanafani’s essay and the accompanying pieces stand as a defiant declaration of cultural survival in the wake of Israeli expansion.
This first English edition of Palestinian Resistance Literature Under Occupation is a joint publication with the Institute for Palestine Studies.
About the Author
Ghassan Kanafani remains one of the most important figures in the history of Arab literature. Born in 1936 in Acre, Palestine, he lived in exile from 1948, displaced by the Nakba. He was killed at thirty-six — assassinated, along with his teenage niece, in a car bombing carried out by Mossad in Beirut in July 1972. A novelist, playwright, and political theorist, he is the author of Men in the Sun, Returning to Haifa, four other novels, and six short story collections. His political works published in English include On Zionist Literature (2022) and The Revolution of 1936–1939 in Palestine (2023).
Rashid Khalidi (Foreword) is the author of the bestselling Hundred Years War on Palestine, as well as Palestinian Identity, Brokers of Deceit, and The Iron Cage. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Boston Globe, Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, and many other journals. He is the Edward Said Professor Emeritus of Modern Arab Studies at Columbia University in New York and editor of the Journal of Palestine Studies.
What People Are Saying
"No other author has been as profoundly formative for me as Kanafani." Mohammed El-Kurd
"One of Palestine’s foremost intellectuals and leaders. Kanafani’s universalism and commitment to Palestine will eternally serve as a model." Ilan Pappe
"The great Palestinian writer." John Berger
"More than fifty years after his assassination, Ghassan Kanafani continues to educate, mobilise and advocate for Palestine." Ghassan Abu Sittah
"Ghassan Kanafani was a Palestinian resistance writer and revolutionary politician who produced some of the Arab world’s most celebrated works of fiction before he was assassinated by Mossad in 1972. In this seminal extended essay, published in English for the first time, Kanafani expands on his theory of literature as an act of resistance and gives a powerful account of life under Israeli occupation." Most Anticipated Books of 2026, Lit Hub
"Kanafani’s remarkable extended essay Palestinian Resistance Literature Under Occupation, 1948–1968 is an unyielding act of cultural and political endurance…Translated for the first time into English by one of the greatest living translators from Arabic to English, Tarif Khalidi, Kanafani’s essay offers one of the sharpest social and political analyses of life in Palestine in this early period of occupation." Palestine Festival of Literature
"This volume is a valuable contribution for bringing together, so succinctly and yet in tangible detail, the Palestinian literary trajectory that renders a different experience by way of immersion rather than mere observation." Middle East Monitor
