Israel/Palestine and the Queer International

"The transformation of my own personal relationship to the state of Israel has been a long, subtle, slow, stubborn journey that has taken a lifetime. One of the strangest things about willful ignorance regarding Israel and Palestine is how often 'progressive' people, like myself, with histories of community activism and awareness, engage in it. It this way it somewhat parallels the history of homophobia, in that there are emotional blocks that keep many straight people from applying their general value systems to human rights for all. The irony, in my case, of being a lifelong activist and not doing the work to 'get it' about Israel is deep and hard to both understand and convey. But I have come to learn that this insistent blindness is pervasive, and I want to use the opportunity of this book to confront and expose my own denial in a way that I hope will be helpful to others." from Israel/Palestine and the Queer International "Schulman's 'willful ignorance regarding Israel and Palestine' is both acknowledged and interrogated through her own self-questioning and activism in this concise yet powerful activist-roman... Is homonationalism the activist's cry of the 21st century? Are you ready to interrogate your privilege? It is this call to acknowledge and interrogate our privilege and our ignorance that concludes Schulman's fine work..." - Marcie Bianco, Lambda Literary Review "[T]he US playwright Sarah Schulman's Israel/Palestine and the Queer International (Duke, 2012) undermines the idea that Israel is the bastion of social freedom in the region. Her careful, analytical memoir of her 2010 visit to Palestine and Israel, and of the tour she organized for queer Palestinians around the US in 2011, bristles with the possibilities of genuine solidarity if patience allows various political agendas committed to freedom to find the common space for their differences and unities to find each other." - Vijay Prashad, Jadaliyya "[Schulman] eloquently and cogently describes how her awareness and transformation happened. She presents interesting stories about the queer Palestinians she meets, and bonds with, including anti-occupation activists, as well as details about the unique coming-out process for Palestinians." - Gary Kramer, Philadelphia Gay News "...this powerful narrative will be particularly helpful for folks struggling to understand the intersection of Jewish identity, queerness, and anti-occupation work"--Wendy Elisheva Somerson, Bitch Magazine, Spring 2013