A book stall in central Gaza is keeping literature alive amidst genocide.
Photo by Esraa Abo Qamar
A small bookstall in the central Gaza Strip is keeping reading alive amidst Israel’s unrelenting chaos and violence, The Electronic Intifada reports. The stall, called Eqraa Ketabak (Read Your Book), is run by Salah and Abdullah Sarsour, brothers who lost their home and are sheltering in a school in Nuseirat camp. They spoke to Esraa Abo Qamar for a profile of the shop and about their passion for sharing their love of books.
The Sarsours are lifelong readers, and despite the danger, have continued to make trips to bookstores that are still operating in northern Gaza. But since many in their community couldn’t make the same journey, they decided to open their own small shop, pooling their money to stock a stall with books.
“It is about sharing our passion with people, not just starting a business,” Salah told The Electric Intifada. And true to that mission, the stall has become a community hub, a place for conversation and for people to reconnect with books and literature.
It’s no surprise that people are flocking to the stall. Palestine has a rich literary culture and one of the highest literacy rates in the world. The Electric Intifada cites a study that nearly 98% of people over 15 in the Gaza Strip can read and according to Wikipedia, Palestine overall has a 97% literacy rate. By comparison, the United States has an 86% literacy rate among adults.
The brothers’ stall has become the kind of place that’s in short supply in Gaza, as Israel has destroyed most libraries, universities, and schools, and is killing many poets and writers.
Palestinian writer Amal Abu Saif told the The Electronic Intifada that the “book stall has become my priority destination and the only place that makes me feel my old self again.” And novelist and academic Hassan al-Qatrawi wrote on social media that the books from the Sarsour brothers have been a lifeline, and a way to “build ourselves from within.”
“The hunger for food is temporary,” he said, “But the hunger for reading is eternal.” Read the full profile here.
