A Moon Will Rise from the Darkness: Reports on Israel’s Genocide in Palestine

Francesca Albanese
Paperback, 224 pages
9780745352312

A devastating indictment against international complicity in Israel’s genocide in Palestine

‘Albanese is perhaps the one figure of our times that future historians will recall as the one who did the most to redeem our generation from its guilt over the genocide of the Palestinian people. Her reflections in this book are not just timely – they are for the ages’ – Yanis Varoufakis

Israel’s genocide in Palestine and the complicity of powerful Western states are undermining international human rights and the UN system. The United States has imposed sanctions on lawyers, UN experts, and Palestinian officials in an attempt to bully and intimidate them into silence. One prominent example is UN special rapporteur Francesca Albanese, who has played an important role in documenting Israel’s atrocities and those who profit from its oppression of Palestinians.

This book compiles Albanese’s indispensable and damning reports on Israel’s conduct in Palestine since October 2023. First outlining the case that this period should be understood as a genocide, Albanese goes on to explain how the ongoing violence fits into a longer history of Israel’s settler colonialism, and finally presents a devastating indictment against the international corporations that treat mass killing and destruction as a business opportunity.

The volume also features a reflection by Albanese on the current state of affairs; revelations by her predecessors Richard Falk, John Dugard, and Michael Lynk of their experiences as UN special rapporteurs; and a preface by Lex Takkenberg, a 30-year veteran of UNRWA, co-authored with scholar Mandy Turner.

The book’s title is a variation on a line from a poem by the Palestinian national poet Mahmoud Darwish. It is a metaphor for hope and strength even in the darkest of times.

Francesca Albanese is an international lawyer specialising in human rights and the Middle East. Since 2022, she has served as the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Palestinian territories occupied since 1967.

Contents

Preface: Bearing Witness at a Time of Genocide. Speaking out against Israel’s Atrocities and Western Complicity – Mandy Turner and Lex Takkenberg

Foreword: Sanctioning a UN Special Rapporteur for Truthfully Reporting on the Gaza Genocide and the Complicity of States and Corporations – Richard Falk, John Dugard, and Michael Lynk

Introduction: The Arc of History Bends Towards Accountability Only When We Refuse to Look Away – Francesca Albanese 

1. Anatomy of a Genocide

2. Genocide as Colonial Erasure

3. From Economy of Occupation to Economy of Genocide