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Siegebreakers
Under the crushing weight of the siege of Gaza, Laila and Nasser are members of the Palestinian resistance fighting desperately to free their people. Together, they learn of a plan to unite the disparate Palestinian factions and break Israel’s siege. Unknown to them, Ari, a brilliant Israeli spy, has decided that his conscience can no longer allow him to participate in the starvation of Gaza. A double agent whose every move is under mounting suspicion, Ari reaches out to the American contractors who trained him with a secret plan. As they all struggle to break the siege, they face the wrath of the Israeli military machine.
- GenresFiction
308 pages, Paperback
Published September 2, 2019
2 people are currently reading
117 people want to read
About the author
Justin Podur
9 books63 followersJustin Podur was born in Toronto in 1977. He was first published on ZNet around 1999, where he became a volunteer translator and editor - and continues to volunteer. Inspired by the community at ZNet, including Noam Chomsky, Michael Albert, Cynthia Peters, and Stephen Shalom, his writing is about international politics with an activist point of view. He has reported from Chiapas, Colombia, Israel/Palestine, Haiti, Pakistan, India, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Afghanistan.
He has also worked as a scientist, publishing work on forest fires in journals like the International Journal of Wildland Fire, Ecological Applications, and Ecological Modeling. He teaches at the Faculty of Environmental Studies at York University, where he is an Associate Professor.
He has also worked as a scientist, publishing work on forest fires in journals like the International Journal of Wildland Fire, Ecological Applications, and Ecological Modeling. He teaches at the Faculty of Environmental Studies at York University, where he is an Associate Professor.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
February 19, 2021
Life in Gaza under siege. The daily threat, the daily danger, the attacks, the privations, the deaths, the destruction. Members of the Palestinian resistance constantly struggle against the Occupier and we follow them in this dramatic and powerful novel that brings home all too vividly the plight of the Palestinians under Israeli oppression. More powerfully than any reportage, this novel portrays what it’s like to live in Gaza and as we get to know the characters we empathise with them all the more. On the one hand it’s an exciting political action thriller but it’s much more nuanced and multi-layered than that, a truly human story. Based on real-life events, as the author makes clear in the notes, we see how Israel has dehumanized the Palestinians in order to justify their actions. I can’t understand why this novel hasn’t made more of an impact – at the time of writing this review (Feb 2021) there is just 1 review on Goodreads and none on Amazon. It deserves much more attention. I found it both compelling and illuminating and recommend it to all those concerned about and interested in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
August 9, 2019
A thrilling action/espionage romp with a Palestinian setting, which is not a common one in this genre. Even though it's fast-paced and action-oriented, it manages to flesh out its characters as humans and show us a glimpse of life in Palestine. Some of the events in the book are based on real events and the author provides notes and further reading suggestions at the end, in case people want to know more.
Disclaimer: I read this as a Net Galley ARC because I was intrigued by the title and setting.
Disclaimer: I read this as a Net Galley ARC because I was intrigued by the title and setting.
January 15, 2026
My review of Siegebreakers by Justin Podur published by @fernpub.
This book follows the fictional story of people living under the crushing weight of the siege in Gaza and working towards freeing their people. Together, they learn of a plan to unite the Palestinian factions and break Israel’s siege. Working along with an Israeli whose conscience pushes him to do what is right, as well as savvy Americans, they try their best to oppose the devastation.
Saying that the themes in this book were powerful would be an understatement. The book did a great job of featuring the true themes of Palestinian resistance efforts such as them taking a longer route just in order to avoid walking through a crowded area of children, compassion for occupiers even in instances of battle, willing to be a target as opposed to more vulnerable people, etc. I loved that the book also made a point to humanize Palestinians all while juxtaposing that with the point-of-view of the occupation’s military side such as how most of them changed their names in order to sound more Hebrew, and how they label Palestinian men as a terr*rists after they murdered his entire family.
This book was well-written, and I liked that it mentioned major aspects of Palestine’s history, but I believe it may be confusing for those without a solid enough background about this topic. I think the story also did unfortunately lean towards an inaccurate, romanticized version of Gazans’ culture but I can definitely see why the author decided to try to lighten the darkness of the chain of events. While this read included many subtle positive themes like heroism, and relentlessness, be aware that it did also include many heavier themes as well.
I do not say this often, but I believe this book would make an incredibly compelling film. This book deserves a second read in order to fully do it justice. This gripping read is perfect for those that want to learn about aspects about Palestinian resistance and government through fictional means.
This book follows the fictional story of people living under the crushing weight of the siege in Gaza and working towards freeing their people. Together, they learn of a plan to unite the Palestinian factions and break Israel’s siege. Working along with an Israeli whose conscience pushes him to do what is right, as well as savvy Americans, they try their best to oppose the devastation.
Saying that the themes in this book were powerful would be an understatement. The book did a great job of featuring the true themes of Palestinian resistance efforts such as them taking a longer route just in order to avoid walking through a crowded area of children, compassion for occupiers even in instances of battle, willing to be a target as opposed to more vulnerable people, etc. I loved that the book also made a point to humanize Palestinians all while juxtaposing that with the point-of-view of the occupation’s military side such as how most of them changed their names in order to sound more Hebrew, and how they label Palestinian men as a terr*rists after they murdered his entire family.
This book was well-written, and I liked that it mentioned major aspects of Palestine’s history, but I believe it may be confusing for those without a solid enough background about this topic. I think the story also did unfortunately lean towards an inaccurate, romanticized version of Gazans’ culture but I can definitely see why the author decided to try to lighten the darkness of the chain of events. While this read included many subtle positive themes like heroism, and relentlessness, be aware that it did also include many heavier themes as well.
I do not say this often, but I believe this book would make an incredibly compelling film. This book deserves a second read in order to fully do it justice. This gripping read is perfect for those that want to learn about aspects about Palestinian resistance and government through fictional means.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews