“What happened on October 7th – a moment of resistance that destabilized entrenched colonial structures – opens broader horizons in imagination and practice. It is an acknowledgment that liberation is possible.”
Of Weapons and Words presents six pieces of contemporary political commentary and analysis produced by radical and revolutionary leftist movements to provide a thought-provoking vision of Palestine and the wider region, translated from Arabic to English by the New Zealand-based Al Rufaqa Translation Group.Each article addresses a key aspect of the Palestinian struggle, collectively showing that the time has come for a renewed internationalist spirit and orientation in political organizing, as evidenced by the global Palestine solidarity movement. Moussa Al-Sada draws a historical comparison between the Algerian and Palestinian popular struggles for national liberation. As for Sari Orabi, she analyzes the Israeli military and occupation strategy, known as the “Iron Wall” doctrine.Abdel Jawad Omar draws on psychoanalysis to examine how the Palestinian resistance's breakthrough of the siege on October 7 led to the tearing apart of the Zionist unconscious. Nidal Khalaf traces the history of the idea of a Palestinian state, which is often presented as a “solution,” which contradicts the basic demands for the liberation of Palestine.Amer Mohsen addresses the international discourse on methods and practices of resistance, and their limits when considering the necessity of armed resistance. In the concluding discussion session, Abaher Al-Saqqa, Lina Meri, and Mudar Kassis discuss the feasibility and limits of the analytical framework of “settler colonialism,” and resort to the language of fascism to understand this third wave of the Nakba.
