A Rebel in Gaza: A Daughter of Rafah Speaks
“Gaza has always been rebellious... stubborn, addictive. I’m her daughter, and I look like her.”
Born in Rafah, raised in Gaza, subjected both to Israeli bombs and to Islamist tyranny, and in the face of prison, death threats, abuse, misogyny, violence, and repression, Asmaa al-Ghoul has continued to speak her truth. She has continued to live and to love, to laugh and to protest. In this moving memoir of growing up Gaza with a hunger for freedom and a passionate attachment to the places she calls home, journalist, writer, and activist, al-Ghoul recounts her lifelong resistance to religious fanaticism, state sponsored violence, and all forms of repression and subjugation. Al-Ghoul has been called “too strong minded,” criticized for not covering her hair, derided for ignoring warnings and speaking out against injustice. Her pure, clarion voice is raised wholly in support of dialogue, peace, love, and honesty.
Nothing, it seems, can stop her.
Offering an intimate look into life, politics, and survival in Gaza in recent years, al-Ghoul’s A Rebel in Gaza offers readers a nuanced and singular perspective on the current conflict.
Reviews
“Fierce and defiant, Alghoul’s book is as much a celebration of Gazan resilience in the face of raging internal and external conflicts as it is of one woman's life-affirming strength of will. An eloquent, provocative, and timely memoir.”—Kirkus Reviews
“Debut author Alghoul, a journalist from Rafah, picks apart the paradoxes of being female in Palestine, illustrating in vivid and direct language how Hamas and Fatah, on one hand, and the Israelis, on the other, conspire to restrict acceptable behavior for women in the territory... This searching exploration illuminates the crossroads of gender and Palestinian identity.”—Publishers Weekly
“Refreshing and eye-opening... This memoir was a page turner, and I appreciated Asmaa’s challenging perspective, her outspokenness and her strength... I would recommend this memoir to anyone interested in the ongoing conflict in Gaza, or to anyone who wishes to read a thrilling memoir by a strong, brave and inspiring woman living under difficult circumstances.”—Sayeh Hassan, sister-hood
“A Rebel in Gaza is a love letter to an unloved place... a sparkling memoir... Asmaa Alghoul, who was born in the Rafah refugee camp at the southern end of the Strip, writes with clarity and tenderness of [Gaza's harsh] realities... Despite it all, she insists: ‘People continued to laugh in Gaza.’ Her own laughter bubbles through the pages of A Rebel in Gaza: a stubborn, defiant joy in living, as keen as her rage or her grief... The world would be poorer without Alghoul’s voice, without her warmth, her fury and her laughter.”—Ben Ehrenreich, The Guardian
“Alghoul dares to build bridges, to pierce through propaganda, stereotypes, and bigotry, and to provide multicolored snapshots of a conflict that’s too often presented in superficial black-and-white sketches. Her stunning book celebrates women’s role in resisting hatred, in affirming life while oppressive patriarchal regimes perpetuate war and death. It’s a powerful self-portrait of a woman who refuses to cave, who, in fact, chooses to put on a ruby-colored dress and stand out from the crowd: a rebel from Gaza and for a more just world.”—Women’s Review of Books
“Alghoul [makes] much of literature’s ability to subvert doctrinaire conceptual frameworks. [In so] doing, [she] enables Palestinian society to retain a measure of psychological health. Nothing could be more important, as the sad truth is that the occupation shows no sign of coming to an end.”—Rayyan Al-Shawaf, The Believer
