In the past month, Israel’s illegal dispossession of Palestinians in Sheikh Jarrah has led to increased tensions and violence in Palestine. Israeli forces have deployed tear gas, smoke grenades, and rubber bullets on praying citizens at a mosque during Ramadan. Residential buildings, the headquarters of the Associated Press, Gaza’s only COVID-19 testing lab, hospitals, schools, and bookstores have been bombed. Hundreds of Palestinians have died, including at least 63 children. If you’re looking to understand the history a little better, the latest episode of NPR’s Throughline did a 55-minute overview of the history of the conflict with historian Rashid Khalidi, author of The Hundred Years’ War on Palestine: A History of Settler Colonialism and Resistance, 1917-2017.
Books for Palestine (BFP) is an online auction to provide emergency relief and financial aid for children in Palestine, with funds supporting Middle East Children’s Alliance and Palestine Children’s Relief Fund. The team putting the BFP auction together is made up of writers, booksellers, illustrators, publishers, and readers; auction items have been donated by authors, agents, illustrators, bookstores, and publishing professionals from both adult and children’s literature in 25 countries.
The approximately 600 items up for bid include signed books, book bundles, query critiques, one-on-one video chats, artwork, gift certificates, and more. The auction opens today, June 1, and will close on Friday June 4 at 11:45 p.m. Eastern. About two-thirds of the items went live at 8 a.m. (Eastern) today; more will be added over the next few days and will be featured in the “New Items” category. Near the end of the auction, look for some of the items to add a “buy it now” option. At the close of the auction, all winners will be sent an invoice and have 72 hours to make the donation to one of the two charities through the links provided. Once winners have made the donation and emailed the receipt to Books for Palestine they’ll be connected to the prize donor to arrange delivery.
Some highlighted auction items for readers include:
Some highlight auction items for writers include:
So head on over to the Books for Palestine auction before Friday to help raise much-needed funds for Palestinian children. Follow @books_palestine on Twitter and Instagram to stay updated on the effort.