Dear colleague in letters,

The Irish Writers Union wish to express our solidarity with you at this terrible time.

We honour you as a poet, author of Things You May Find Hidden in My Ear: Poems from Gaza (2022, City Lights), which we note won a 2022 Palestine Book Award and was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award for Poetry in the USA in early 2023. And we also honour you as the founder of The Edward Said Library & Bookshop (ESLB), which you founded in the summer of 2017 in North Gaza. Named in honour of the distinguished Palestinian literary critic, Edward Said, we appreciate that the ESLB is the first English-language public library in Gaza, and that it has become a hub of educational and cultural activity in the Gaza Strip: the densely populated Palestinian enclave, which since 2006 has been under military blockade by Israel.

We condemn all war crimes and these, we feel it important to say, include those of Hamas and Israel’s response. The attack on civilians by Hamas was appalling. The disproportionate bombing of innocent civilians in Gaza and cutting off of their water supply is more appalling still.

Given the scale and intensity of Israel’s combined bombing and siege tactics against Gaza, there is a clear danger that the ESLB, a public library and centre of community learning since 2017, will be damaged and/or destroyed during the aerial attacks. Additionally, the children, students, readers, and local writers who use the two branches of the ESLB, unable to leave Gaza due to Israeli restrictions, are at serious risk of injury and death due to the ongoing bombardment.

We note with deep concern your last social media post was made on the evening of 9 October 2023, from where you remain in Gaza with your wife and children, in which you said: “They have bombed the telephone and internet company in Gaza. We may lose internet connection any time. We may die any moment.”

We are concerned too that Irish poet Ciarán O’Rourke has attempted to contact you by email, but as yet has received no response.

It is clear that you and the local patrons of the ESLB are at risk of serious harm: your human rights, creative capabilities, freedom of expression, and freedom of movement have all been severely compromised by Israel’s policy of “collective punishment” during the present war.

We affirm the human rights and cultural importance of Gaza’s writers and arts community, with specific reference to you and the ESLB.

We very much hope that you and your family are alive and that when this terrible time is over we can deepen the links between Irish and Palestinian writers.

Update 21 November:

Mosab Abu Taha been kidnapped by Israeli soldiers as he was attempting to flee with his family. The IWU joins with Pen USA’s call for his protection.