“Urgent, poignant, and erudite. Haidar Eid provides a much-needed analysis on how the genocide in Gaza did not start in 2023 and why Palestinians continue to bang on the walls of their imprisonment to affirm their humanity and their inalienable rights to freedom, equality, and return. Drawing on the example of South Africa, among others, Eid’s collection of essays make the strongest case for the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions campaign, international solidarity, and why the only way forward is a single democratic secular state between the river and the sea.”

– Leila Farsakh, professor, University of Massachusetts Boston; editor of Rethinking Statehood in Palestine

Banging on the Walls of the Tank is a collection of reflections and analysis written over eighteen years in Gaza by Palestinian academic and activist, Haidar Eid. Providing an insider’s perspective on the blockade of Gaza since 2007, the Israeli attacks in 2009, 2012, 2014, and 2021, the Great March of Return, and the ongoing genocide committed by the apartheid Israeli state, Eid’s essays examine political alternatives, opportunities for resistance, and prospects for a just peace after more than a century of dispossession.

Join BTL and Mayworks for the Toronto launch on May 24, 2025. 

Haidar Eid was raised in Gaza City after his parents were violently expelled from their home village of Zarnouqa in 1948. In 2023, Haidar, his wife, and their daughters become the second and third generation to be forced from their home as Israel continues its genocidal war in Palestine. The short documentary Returning to Zarnouqa depicts a vision that remains as relevant as ever: The time for return is now. Watch it here.  

Watch Haidar Eid's book talk with the Archives and Heritage for Palestine speaker series on Decolonizing the Palestinian Mind and listen to his calls to action on the Archives & Digital Media Lab Instagram.