Your Presence Is a Danger to Your Life is not an easy book to read. I say this not to put people off, but to acknowledge what it requires of its readers. To stay with the words, to bear witness, not to look away.

For my part, it was not an easy book to edit. I had previously worked on another collection of testimonies – What Have You Left Behind? by Bushra al-Maqtari, tr. Sawad Hussain – and so I thought I was prepared for what this work would entail. But nothing can truly prepare you for what human beings can do to one another, or for what they can now do at such a remove: the mechanised cruelty enabled by AI, drones and iris scanners. At times, too, there is a feeling of madness that takes hold. You find yourself focused on minor, inconsequential matters – the placement of a comma or en dash –  when the substance before you is one of such horror. Yet that experience mirrors the broader reality: day-to-day life continues, platitudes abound, and the material reality of genocide remains unchanged.

While I found this book difficult to edit, I was always conscious that the burden on me was slight compared to that borne by Leri Price, who spent months translating these testimonies, and by Samar Yazbek, who has carried the stories and faces of survivors with her ever since. Most of all, though, I think of the twenty-six people whose testimonies appear in this book; of all those whom Samar met and listened to, whether or not their stories found their way into these pages; and of the people of Gaza more broadly. I think of what they have endured, I think of their courage and their resilience, and I realise what’s required of me is very little; it is the least I could do.

You are invited to explore Alan Gignoux’s photography exhibition Homeland Lost at P21 Gallery and attend a presentation by Ahmad al-Bazz of his recently published book, The Erasure of Palestine. The presentation will be followed by an in-conversation between the two photographers, moderated by Milena.

Homeland Lost is an exhibition of works by award-winning documentary photographer Alan Gignoux. The project juxtaposes portraits of Palestinian refugees displaced in 1948 and their descendants with photographs of their former homes and villages inside Israel. Created between 2004 and 2005 and first exhibited in 2006, this is the first time that works from Homeland Lost have been shown in the UK since their exhibition at the Barbican as part of the Palestine Film Festival in 2008.

Published in 2025, twenty years after the creation of Homeland Lost, Ahmad al-Bazz’s The Erasure of Palestine is the culmination of a three-year journey to document what remains of the hundreds of Palestinian villages and towns depopulated and destroyed during the creation and expansion of Israel from 1948 to the present.

Bringing these two projects into dialogue, the conversation will explore the photographers’ motivations and experiences of making the work, as well as the enduring significance of Palestine’s depopulated villages as places of memory, loss, and continuing presence. Reflecting on two decades of change, the discussion will consider what these landscapes reveal about history, identity, and the ongoing struggle against erasure.

Find out more and register here.

Voices for Lebanon is a fundraiser show at DROM Taberna, featuring powerful spoken word and music performances by Zico, Janice & AJ, Mir Kashif Iqbal, and Sam-r.

This group of Toronto-based musicians are coming together for one night of incredible music, along with amazing raffle prizes and vendors, and donating all proceeds from ticket and raffle sales to the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund’s (PCRF) Lebanon Urgent Relief program. This fund provides children and families in Lebanon with lifesaving services, like medical care, food, hygiene kits, and other essential supplies during a time of great hardship.

Don’t miss out on the chance to connect, contribute, and make a difference while enjoying an unforgettable experience with community!

Find out more and reserve your tickets here.

At dawn on October 13, 2023, a week after the Hamas attack on Israel and the start of the war in the Gaza Strip, Palestinian journalist Sami al-Ajrami locks the door of his home in Jabalia, where he has lived all his life. According to the instructions of the Israeli army, he and his family are evacuating to the south.

For the Italian newspaper La Repubblica, Al-Ajrami begins a diary in which he reports on the escalating conflict and the journey to southern Gaza. He writes about the constant search for a safe shelter, for food and warmth, but also about the sadness of leaving everything behind and the constant fear of the bombings. These daily reports form the basis for this book.

He writes without embellishment, only what he sees and hears. Al-Ajrami describes the days, the waiting, the bombs, the hunger and thirst, the deaths. He describes the little things people do to keep each other going: the jokes they make, the stories they tell each other. What he does to distract children during bombings: he solves a Rubik's cube, while the children look on as if hypnotized.

The Keys to My House is a chronicle of an immense tragedy, of daily life in the bomb-ravaged Gaza Strip, but also an intimate portrait of a family experiencing the drama of war firsthand.

This is the human story behind the cold numbers from Gaza. The story of a father who cannot protect his daughters, of a son who cannot bury his father properly and has to leave his mother behind. But this is also monumental journalism: factual, informative, and detailed. As if it wants to say: “This is how it is, this has happened, this is happening now. It's on paper, you just have to read it.”

The Keys to My House is out tomorrow from Interlink Books.

Thanks for reading. More next week.