The Truth Shall Set You Free: The Story of a Palestinian Human Rights Lawyer Working for Peace and Justice in Palestine/Israel

By Jonathan Kuttab. Hawakati Publishing, 2023. 328 pages. $21.95/paperback; $9.99/eBook.

It was heartbreaking to have the optimism engendered by listening to the audio version of The Truth Shall Set You Free in early October dashed by the October 7 attacks by Hamas and the subsequent response from Israel. But despite—or perhaps because of—the tragedy of these events, Quakers will find much of interest in the work of Palestinian human rights lawyer and cofounder of Nonviolence International Jonathan Kuttab. His memoir offers an engaging and enlightening account of the evolution of his lifelong commitment to ending injustice toward Palestinians through nonviolent direct action that speaks to the Quaker testimonies of peace and equality.

Born into a Pentecostal Christian family in West Jerusalem, Kuttab grew up in Bethlehem and was baptized in the River Jordan at the age of ten. His religious upbringing told him that politics were an “evil, worldly matter” and not his concern. He explains that in Palestine “Christians of all denominations understood Jesus’ teachings to clearly forbid violence and killing.” But as a boy and a teenager facing the hardships and humiliations of life under occupation, he was tormented by the contradiction between his desire to fight for his homeland and the dignity of his people with what he believed were his obligations as a Christian to ignore politics.

He says it was “probably a blessing” that he left Palestine at the age of 16 to attend Messiah College, a Brethren in Christ college in Pennsylvania. Had he stayed in Palestine, he believes he would have ended up dead or in prison as a result of his rage over the circumstances of the occupation.

In the United States, he was excited at first to be among U.S. college students who were grappling with their faith. Yet he was soon astonished by the conservatism and ignorance of students at Messiah in the midst of the Vietnam War and the Civil Rights Movement. Despite the fact that there were males at the school who were conscientious objectors for religious reasons, most viewed opposition to the war as unpatriotic. Nor did the largely White students believe that racism was a problem in the United States. Kuttab’s opposition to the war at that time stemmed not from pacifism but from his commitment to anti-colonialism and anti-imperialism. During his time at Messiah College, he realized that Israel had been far more successful than Palestinians at communicating its perspective in the United States. In addition, the conservative Christians he encountered believed that the triumph of Israel over the Palestinians was preparing the way for the second coming of Christ.

When his studies later took him to Temple University in Philadelphia, he befriended for the first time Jews who were not Israelis. These new friends expanded his understanding of the history of Christian antisemitism and particularly of the Holocaust. As his understanding of the situation in Israel grew more nuanced, he found his way to a determination to work for the liberation of Palestine through the nonviolent methods espoused by Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. But the question remained: how to put these ideas into action.

As a Universalist Quaker, I was initially dubious as to whether I would find Kuttab’s Christian perspective one that would resonate for me. But I was so impressed by his passion and his expansive personality in a Zoom presentation that I wanted to read this book. His description of his spiritual struggles is honest and straightforward. We learn a great deal about circumstances in the Palestinian territories: why olive trees are so important, for example.

Kuttab eventually becomes a human rights lawyer, a member of the bar in Israel, Palestine, and New York State. Again and again, we see him assiduously applying the need for evidence and facts, refusing to rely on hearsay or rumor, even in situations where he suspects that the rumors are accurate. He uses Israel’s own laws to combat injustice, and he sometimes steps out of his role as a lawyer to become an activist, as in a dramatic moment when he stands in the path of a settler driving a bulldozer and is filled not with a fear of death, as he expected, but with a deep sense of peace and serenity. He turns his back, then is astonished when the driver of the bulldozer miraculously stops less than a foot away from Kuttab and turns off his engine. Kuttab does not claim that the use of nonviolence is without risks, however. He describes how, only a couple of weeks after his experience, peace activist Rachel Corrie was bulldozed to death for attempting to block the destruction of a Palestinian home.

Kuttab is also the author of Beyond the Two-State Solution, which he describes as “a vision for the future of Palestine/Israel that accommodates Israeli Jews and Palestinian Arabs in an inclusive democratic state.” A cousin of famed Palestinian activist Mubarak Awad, he is a cofounder of Al Haq, a Palestinian human rights organization, and a nonresident fellow at the Arab Center of Washington, D.C.

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Lynne Weiss writes fiction and essays and is a co-presiding clerk of Friends Meeting at Cambridge (Mass.). You can find more of her opinions and reviews at lynneweisswriter.com.