Communicating Palestine

Communication as a Tool of Erasure

As new “peace plans” for Palestine are drafted far from Palestinian life, Palestinians find themselves once again spoken for - another reminder of how communication is weaponized to sustain Zionist colonialism. Colonialism doesn’t just seize land; it seizes the story and its agents. From early myths like “a land without a people for a people without a land” to today’s narrative spin that frames Palestinians as “rejecting peace,” the Zionist project has aimed to erase not only a people but also their agency, voice, and narratives.

Today, as Israel continues its genocide on the ground, its propaganda apparatus, known as Hasbara (“explanation” in Hebrew), wages a parallel war over narrative in the media, in diplomatic halls, and online. From smear campaigns, to lobbying governments and media outlets, to pressuring digital platforms like Meta, the machinery of erasure is well-funded and relentless.

As Edward Said wrote in Blaming the Victim, Zionist success was not just military - it was narrative. They won the global narrative battle long before 1948. Narrative control is not symbolic - it justifies policy, enables displacement, and legitimizes genocide.

Our Response

For Palestinians, the narrative struggle has never been separate from the struggle for liberation. We recognized that incredible work is already being done to amplify Palestinian narratives and counter disinformation—through platforms like MAKAN, Decolonize Palestine, Let’s Talk Palestine, Newscord, and others. But what was missing was a one-stop toolkit that brings together the best practices and resources across all areas of communication, for everyone who communicates Palestine: media, policymakers, artists, content creators, advocates, and more. A space rooted not in defensiveness, but in reclaiming our agency and our narratives.

So we built one.

Communicating Palestine is more than a guide; it’s a manifesto for liberatory and decolonised communication. It is the outcome of a Palestinian-led process, woven from the wisdom of focus groups in Ramallah, Battir village, and Dheisheh Refugee Camp as well as journalists, activists and analysts. It centers Palestinian narratives on their own terms, refusing to be defined in reaction to the propaganda that seeks to erase them.

What does the guide look like in practice? It’s a one-stop platform for anyone communicating about Palestine—journalists, activists, artists, policymakers. It’s organized into four core sections:

Narratives and framings – analysis and recommendations to counter harmful tropes and disinformation.
Visual representations – guidance for photographers, artists and video journalists on ethical imagery.
**Communication and engagement practices **– tips and tools for ethical reporting and centering Palestinians with dignity,
Tools – user-friendly resources that can be day-to-day support in your work.
Practical checklists on key take-aways from across the guide
Terminology guide for accurate wording and reporting.
Photography and video guidelines to avoid harmful visuals.
Resources countering disinformation, bias and fallacies.

**This is a call to action. **It’s an invitation to unlearn the narratives we’ve been fed, to relearn how to engage with dignity and integrity, and to finally practice a form of communication that doesn’t just talk about justice, but actively builds it—one word, one image, one story at a time.