When a society experiences oppression and trauma, literature helps its people by giving them a voice and reinforcing their identity. It gives the trauma those people have suffered a universal resonance. So it is for Palestinians, whose literature – particularly that of resistance – plays this role. Indeed, Palestinian writers have been noted for articulating their pain and suffering, but also for their contribution to bringing hope and aesthetic enrichment through literature.
Palestinian literature is part of a broader Arabic literature that extends back to the pre-Islamic era. It is linked to the story of the Arabic language and its longstanding literary production. Yet it was under the British Mandate in Palestine (1918-1948) that the first distinct stirrings of Palestinian poetry of resistance emerged.
