Terms of Servitude: Zionism, Silicon Valley, and Digital Settler Colonialism in the Palestinian Liberation Struggle

by Omar ZahZah

Genres: Nonfiction

304 pages, Paperback

Published September 23, 2025

Reviews

[Andy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Challenging but extremely well researched read. I consider myself generally informed about the Palestinian plight but this book thought me a lot. Highly recommended.

[sara · Rating 5 out of 5]

will definitely be considering this as an essential read for anyone who wants to learn more about modern forms of suppression towards palestinian liberation and how we can fight against big tech/social media. it's obvious the author put in the work to make this as current and detailed as possible (especially with how quickly big tech/social media changes) and despite the deep dive this was such an accessible read for anyone to pick up.

[Anton Alexandrov · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great catalogue of the ways in which big tech is complicit in the genocide in Palestine.

[Ben Sayer · Rating 5 out of 5]

crucially relevant. Zahzah thoroughly demonstrates that while digital media, especially social media, has opened new doors for Palestinians to directly share their experiences with the world, unfiltered by legacy media, these apparatuses are still ultimately controlled by hegemonic powers that will do everything in their power to silence counter-hegemonic narratives. the analysis can be a bit redundant at times, likely in part due to the construction of the book as mostly inspired by past essays, but it may not feel that way in the future when this issue is not so visible. we must give credit to Zahzah and other Palestinian activists for creating the circumstances in which censorship of anti-zionist narratives is obvious to anyone paying attention.

[Tai · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought the authors argument about digital settler colonialism made a lot of sense and is very poignant but this bih was so repetitive like omg. I think it’s bc every chapter was what seems like was a stand alone essay at some point, but could’ve used some major editing to make the ideas more cohesive. I definitely understand the argument and agree with it but I wouldn’t necessarily say it was always cogent—prob bc the writing was esoteric at times.