On Gaza Writes Back

This is an excellent collection of short stories edited by Refaat Alareer, many of them by his own creative-writing students. It takes on a particular resonance now that Alareer was killed last year by Israelis and has himself become a symbol. The standout is his own story, “The House,” shot through with a humor and absurdity that throws real light on the experience of the occupation. Another story, on the inequalities between long-established Gazan families and refugees within Gaza, opened up something I’d known nothing about. There’s a great deal of death here — night raids, lost parents, air strikes, the struggle to make ends meet — and altogether it’s a powerful collection.