Come My Children

Hekmat Al-Taweel (1922-2008) was a native Palestinian Christian from Gaza City whose narrative unearths a version of history long excluded from mainstream discourse and provides an unfamiliar perspective on Muslim-Christian relationships. Her stories about life in Gaza highlight shared history, vibrant culture, and cherished traditions. Al-Taweel continued her education after marriage, sought community volunteer work, worked as a teacher and supervisor, and committed to activism throughout her life, all of which contradicts widespread Western orientalized stereotypes of Arab women. She also shares insights into life in Gaza during the British Mandate period as well as the 1948 Nakba and its aftermath. This is the third book in the Women’s Voices from Gaza Series, which honours women’s unique and underrepresented perspectives on the social, material, and political realities of Palestinian life. Foreword by Ilan Pappe.
Sales Tips:
- Come My Children is the third book in the Women’s Voices from Gaza series. The series honours women’s unique and underrepresented perspectives on the social, material, and political realities of Palestinian life.
- Each book in the series is centred around an oral narrative from a Palestinian woman who was invited to recount her life story from before and after the Nakba, the dispossession of Palestine in 1948.
- Each book also has an introductory chapter written by the volume editors, relevant maps, a chronology of events in Palestine, a glossary, and a bibliography.
- The series shows a richness, versatility, resistance in everyday lives in Palestine, throughout different époques. The result is a rich canvas, which succeeds in combining the personal and the political. This creates a legacy for future generations, who are able to assess that era, in these times and places, through a personal touch.
- Hekmat Al Taweel was a native Palestinian Christian from Gaza City. Her reflections provide an unfamiliar perspective on Muslim-Christian relationships in Gaza, highlighting shared history, culture, customs, and traditions.
- Al Taweel’s lived experiences, continuing education after marriage, volunteer work, activism, and aspirations portray an image that contradicts widespread western orientalised stereotypes of Arab women.
- Hekmat Al Taweel is a reflective, knowledgeable and perceptive woman who weaves her story with her perspectives on the historical events she lived through.
- She highlights shared history, culture, customs, and tradition, as well as insights into life in Gaza during the British Mandate period and the 1948 Nakba and its aftermath.
- The book is beautifully written, and Al Taweel’s voice is very powerful, exposing readers to Palestinian history in a direct and intimate way.

Audience:
- Anyone interested in Palestine, and indeed the Middle East in general. The book covers, for example, life in the Gaza Strip under Egyptian rule. That makes this a particularly interesting and rare account.
- The book is intended for both general and scholarly readers. It will particularly appeal to oral historians and those teaching the history of the Middle East.

Hekmat Al-Taweel was a native Palestinian Christian from Gaza City. Ghada Ageel is a visiting professor of political science at the University of Alberta, a columnist for the Middle East Eye, and the editor of Apartheid in Palestine (UAlberta Press). Barbara Bill lived and worked in Gaza for six years and currently resides in New South Wales, Australia.