My poetry is a record of what happened. I will not forget what happens to me. I do not want people who come after me to forget what happened.

— Mosab Abu Toha, from an interview with Syracuse University News

IOF soldiers posing with 100 year old, well-maintained Jewish headstones in a Gaza graveyard.

Meanwhile, Israel has created a habit of bulldozing Palestinian graveyards. Here’s just one example, from poet Mosab Abu Toha:

Palestine books at the local queer bookshop!

[Image id: a small table with books laid out on it. A small sign reads: BOOKS ABOUT PALESTINE AND/OR BY PALESTINIAN AUTHORS, with a photograph of the Palestinian flag. The books on the table are: "Environmental Warfare in Gaza" by Shourideh C. Molavi, "The Skin and Its Girl" by Sarah Cypher, "The Hundred Years' War on Palestine" by Rashid Khalidi, "queer palestine and the empire of critique" by Sa'ed Atshan, "Salt Houses" by Hala Alyan, "You Exist Too Much" by Zaina Arafat, "Freedom Is A Constant Struggle" by Angela Davis, "My Name is Rachel Corrie", and "Things You May Find Hidden in My Ear" by Mosab Abu Toha. /end id]

I got copies of You Exist Too Much and Things You May Find Hidden in My Ear, and the cashier was reading the Hundred Years War. 🇵🇸

[Transcription : tweet by twitter user Moira Donegan saying : "What a Gazan Should Do During An Israeli Air Strike" by Mosab Abu Toha, a Palestinian poet who was kidnapped by Israel today.

The poem reads :

Turn off the lights in every room / sit in the inner hallway of the house / away from the windows / stay away from the stove / stop thinking about making black tea / have a bottle of water nearby / big enough to cool down / children's fear / get a child's kindergarten backpack and stuff / tiny toys and whatever amount of money there is / and the ID cards / and photos of late grandparents, aunts, or uncles / and the grandparents' wedding invitation that's been kept for a long time / and if you are a farmer, you should put some strawberry seeds / in one pocket / and some soil from / the balcony flowerpot in the other / and hold on tight / to whatever number there was / on the cake / from the last birthday.

End transcription.]

Mosab Abu Toha, award-winning poet from Gaza, has been kidnapped by Israel forces. Mosab and his family were asked by the State Dept. to evacuate to Rafah Crossing – his 3-year-old son is a U.S. citizen born in Boston. He was snatched by Israeli forces while fleeing Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza. Along with 200 other men according to his wife and reported by The Guardian.

URGENT PHONE ZAP LINK

palestinian poets: mosab abu toha

mosab abu toha is a palestinian poet, short story writer, and essayist from gaza. abu toha is the author of things you may find hidden in my ear: poems from gaza, which won a 2022 palestine book award. abu toha is the founder of the edward said library, and from 2019 to 2020, he was a visiting poet and librarian-in-residence at harvard university.

he is currently in gaza at the jabalia refugee camp with his family and has been writing about what they're all experiencing, including this piece published today (october 20, 2023) for the new yorker: "the view from my window in gaza"

IF YOU READ ONLY ONE POEM BY MOSAB ABU TOHA, MAKE IT THIS ONE

OTHER PIECES I LOVE BY MOSAB ABU TOHA

"Things You May Find Hidden in My Ear" at poetry magazine (march 2021) - some would probably put this as the One You Must Read which would also be extremely valid

"my grandfather and home" at poetry magazine (march 2021)

"Like a Cloud, We Travel" included in this article at literatures of annihilation, exile, and resistance at the university of notre dame (october 2021)

"Mouth Still Open" at poets.org (originally published april 2022)

"The Journalist in Jenin: a Poem for Shireen Abu Akleh", also read aloud, at dawn (democracy for the arab world now) (june 2022)

Mosab Hassan Yousef

Out of all of the actions of Hamas and other similar organizations I find their habit of child sacrifice to be the most depraved. There were schools and orphanages in the ghettos- Janusz Korczak's in Warsaw is probably the most famous, but there were many more- and the children weren't used as human sacrifices or raised to kill themselves. I wish everyone who throws around the words "Holocaust", "ghetto" and "concentration camp" would actually study them.

(tagging @matan4il in case I messed anything up too badly-no pressure though)

They didn’t find a place to bury you. They carried you on their shoulders, The houses never saw you. They’ve already packed their bags.

— Mosab Abu Toha, Oct 17, 2023, from "Ceasefire Cento," published by Vox Populi

Reported today by LitHub: Reports suggest Palestinian poet Mosab Abu Toha has been kidnapped by Israeli forces.

From Palfest ig account

Tobias Menzies (The Crown, Game of Thrones) reads from the social media posts of Gazan poet Mosab Abu Toha

Recorded on October 31st at a Palestine Festival of Literature event in London

id: an instagram screenshot of a post by mosab abu toha (@/mosab_abutoha). the post is formatted with black text over a white backdrop. it reads: “Hello friends. I figured it out. To fight back, let’s use strawberry 🍓 as a symbol for gaza (while watermelon is for Palestine)

🍓 city

north 🍓

south 🍓”

the (instagram) caption beneath transcribes the post. end id)

Hey! just figured this call by mosab abu toha may be useful to some on here, whether they be artists looking for further visual forms of communicating solidarity w Palestine + the people of Gaza specifically, people working against heavy + keyword based censorship such as that of meta & tiktok, etc.

29 February, Mosab Abu Toha: "They were hoping to return to their families with wheat flour and canned food. Instead, they returned to their families, motionless, on donkey carts."

By Palestinian poet, Mosab Abu Toha.

Mosab has been kidnapped by Israeli army while he was trying to flee the Gaza strip with his family. Demand his immediate release, demand ceasefire now.

When this ends, I will raise the flags of Palestine and South Africa on my rebuilt house.

🇵🇸 🇿🇦

@ MosabAbuToha

Mosab Abu Toha, Palestinian poet