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Palestinian bookseller on 'shocking' raids on Jerusalem's Educational Bookshop: 'It's a different world'
On 9th February, Palestinian bookseller Mahmoud Muna was arrested with his nephew Ahmad, and taken from the "nicely-lit" Educational Bookshop in Jerusalem to a "cell underground" by Israeli police, as books were confiscated from their store.
Speaking to The Bookseller at London Book Fair (LBF) 2025, just a day after his older brother Imad was arrested and then subsequently released by police without charge – while their shop was raided once again – Muna reflected on the "shocking" events of the last month and a half.
The "mind-blowing" speed with which everything was upended remains "difficult to comprehend", according to Muna: "The absolute easiness of completely changing my context, my life, my surroundings; from being in the centre of my country’s literature and culture to becoming almost treated as criminal, and being dressed as criminal, and being presented to court as criminal. The quickness of that transfer is really mind-blowing until now, it changes your perspective on life."
The co-owner of the Educational Bookshop arrived at LBF on 12th March, after an uncertain 24 hours, during which Muna was unsure he’d even make it to London. After delivering his talk on Publishing Responsibly in Times of Conflict with English PEN, Muna noted the stark contrast between the open discussions taking place at the Fair, and his recent experiences. "Bookstores, publishers, writers, critics [in London] enjoy so much freedom, as they should," he said. "Compared that to where I am, it’s almost a different world."
With three locations, the Educational Bookshop stores stock a range of books in Arabic and English, specialising in the history of Jerusalem and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The authorities confiscated "all types of books" during the raids, although Muna said some of these have since been returned. Muna highlighted examples by Palestinian-American historian Rashid Khalidi, Israeli-American anthropologist and political activist Jeff Halper and Maltese-American cartoonist and journalist Joe Sacco.
The booksellers said they are trying to understand the "logic" behind the types of books the police are confiscating, beyond the titles and the covers alluding to Palestine: "It’s not like they are taking radical Palestinian literature." Muna stressed that these books have made it to the shelves through "legal means", having been imported into Israel and passed inspection by authorities. Many of these titles are also available in other bookshops and online retailers, and via The National Library of Israel, he noted.
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He said that the booksellers should not be expected to go down the "slippery" and "endless" road of censoring the books they stock if there are no official guidelines specifically outlining which titles are banned. "If they wanted to censor books, they should give us a list of books that are censored and we will comply with the law," he said.
Muna added that the arrests have also been "damaging for business" and have had other ramifications. "We’re trying to promote tranquility and a peaceful atmosphere, and if the police keep coming, also our customers will also start to feel like this is not a peaceful place to be in," he explained. In February, the booksellers were placed under house arrest for 20 days after they were released from detention. To help the booksellers replace their stock and hire interim booksellers, independent publisher Saqi Books launched a GoFundMe campaign.
Muna explained that the response from the UK and European literary community has been positive overall – with some exceptions – but the booksellers claim they got "very little support from America". Muna also expressed disappointment and concern about the reaction from the literary community at home. "We received some support, but hardly enough and hardly representative," he said.
The hope is that the bookshop will be able to continue being a hub for "conversations" through events and books. "Real peace or stability or reconciliation or whatever has to start with a very candid, honest, maybe painful conversation; we can’t skip that," Muna said. "One of the places for that conversation is our bookshop and we want to continue to do that because we believe it’s the right time for it now."
