New York, NY — August 23, 2025 — Casa Carlini is proud to announce the forthcoming release of Fearful in Gaza by Palestinian-Swedish political scientist and author Abdalhadi Alijla. Now available for presale, this luminous and unflinching memoir offers an intimate portrait of a life shaped by war, family, and the stubborn endurance of hope.
What if the place you called home could disappear overnight, and the world simply looked away? In Fearful in Gaza, Alijla answers this question not with abstractions or ideology, but through the voices of memory: his own, and those of his mother and sisters.
Born into a family of ten in a Gaza neighborhood where concrete crumbles under airstrikes and childhood dreams blur with nightmares, Alijla tells a story that is at once personal, familial, and universal. We meet a mother who defies tradition to educate her daughters and fights daily for dignity against occupation, patriarchy, and poverty. We meet a boy who labors in the streets and on construction sites, sleeps amid gunfire, and ultimately claws his way across borders in search of freedom.
But this is not merely a tale of survival or escape. It is an act of witness. With lyrical and unsparing detail, Alijla conjures the textures of Gaza: the scent of za’atar at breakfast, the sea that both heals and haunts, the aching bond between those who stay and those who go.
“At once a memoir, a family chronicle, and a piercing social history, Fearful in Gaza is a profound meditation on resistance, belonging, and the enduring human spirit,” said Charles Carlini, publisher at Casa Carlini. “Abdalhadi’s story is not only his own, it is also Gaza’s story, and in many ways, it is all of ours.”
About the Author
Abdalhadi Alijla, PhD, is a Palestinian-Swedish political scientist, writer, and advocate for social justice. He is the author of Trust in Divided Societies, co-editor of Rebel Governance in the Middle East, and a senior fellow at the Arab Reform Initiative. A scholar of governance and democracy, he has worked across Europe and the Middle East. In 2025, Alijla lost his mother and more than fifty relatives during the genocide in Gaza. Fearful in Gaza is his reckoning, his tribute, and his call to remember.
Availability
Fearful in Gaza will be released in November 2025. Presales are now open through Casa Carlini: 👉 https://casacarlini.com/product/fearful-in-gaza/
About Casa Carlini
Casa Carlini is an independent publishing house dedicated to amplifying diverse voices and bold ideas that shape culture and conscience. With imprints spanning literature, philosophy, history, and global affairs, Casa Carlini publishes works that spark dialogue and deepen understanding.
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