Envisioning Liberation with Hannah Moushabeck

Hannah is an unapologetically fat and queer Palestinian American. She is the author of Homeland: My Father Dreams of Palestine and she works at her Palestinian family-owned publisher, Interlink. When I was first learning about Palestine in October 2023, I turned to books, which is what I have always done when seeking answers, inspiration, or healing. I came across Homeland and immediately took a copy home to my children. It still brings me to sobbing tears to remember sitting in my daughter’s room, learning alongside these pure, innocent souls, about the unjust loss of Palestinians’ homeland. In our conversation, we talk about the complexity of identity, and how both Hannah and I understand marginalization as well as privilege. We share stories about growing up having wanted to lean into whiteness and how our values have evolved to fight for the equality of all.  Hannah shares her concerns about the censorship happening in schools, which is something I personally think of constantly as the mother of school-age children. She also explains how queer liberation is tied to Palestinian liberation and she calls on us as Americans to use our privilege to fight for humanity. I love the way our conversation ends…in a shared vision of a liberated Palestine, in our lifetime. Inshallah. Hannah’s IG Leah’s IG